Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1916)

July 22, 1916 MOTION PICTURE NEWS 399 exhibitor-member. In the same way, the actors, exchange men, and others who are members, have come to understand each other's values. This kind of friendly social intercourse between the component parts of the industry cannot help benefitting the entire trade. The Reel Fellows Club was originated in March, 1914, by fourteen prominent film people, including R. R. Nehls, Charles Ver Halen, Don Meaney, Richard Travers, Walter Early, L. A. Boening and others. I Club Moves to Larger Dining Rooms 1 The first meeting was held in the Union Hotel, and was purely informal in character. After two more meetings ,the formation of a regular club seemed advisable. When the membership increased to fort}-, the Fort Dearborn Hotel became the club's headquarters. About six months after the founding of the society, the Advertisers Club invited the Reel Fellows to use its rooms. This offer was accepted. The membership at that time was seventy-five. When the club roster showed one hundred members enrolled it was decided to move to larger dining rooms at the Hotel Sherman. It was at this period in the club's history that it conducted a huge ball. The 2,000 guests occupied two entire floors of the Sherman. The grand march was led by Mayor Carter Harrison and his wife. Scores of prominent screen players came to Chicago for the event. In July, 1915, the club moved to its club rooms at the Movie Inn. At this time there were 140 Reel Fellows. But these quarters were out-grown in May, 1916, when the membership touched the two hundred mark. The club then transferred itself to its present rooms in the Hotel Morrison. The officers during 1914 were: R. R. Nehls, president; L. A. Boening, treasurer, and Charles Ver Halen, secretary. President Nehls and Treasurer Boening were reelected in 1915. Walter D. Hildreth was chosen secretary, but on his resignation in October, M. G. Watkins was elected in his stead. The present officers are: R. R. Nehls, president; Frank J. Flaherty, vice-president; Richard C. Travers, vice-president; William J. Sweeney, treasurer ; M. G. Watkins, secretary ; Freeman H. Owens, assistant secretar}'. The board of governors now serving consists of Watterson R. Rothacker, H. C. Miller, Fred W. Wild, Jr., Louis A. Boening and George Berg. One Hundred Thousand Miles of Positive Film is Needed to Make Subjects in West Coast Studios These Figures, Based on Laboratory Records, Which Also Show That Six Thousand Miles of Negative Film Is " Shot," Indicate the Tremendous Output Necessary to Help Supply Demand for Motion Picture Entertainment— Statistics Compiled Reveal a Total of One Hundred Thousand Feet of Negative in Daily Use — This Amount Is Said to Be Fully Forty Per Cent. Greater Than That Required a Year Ago By J. C. Jessen LABORATORY records show that more than one hundred thousand miles of positive film is needed annually to make prints from subjects produced at the west coast studios, where six thousand miles of negative film is " shot." Figures compiled show a total of one hundred thousand feet of negative in daily use. This amount is said to be fully forty per cent, greater than required one year ago. More than thirty millions of dollars have been expended by motion picture manufacturers in and about Los Angeles for production, improvements of studios, and real estate, since the first and only complete review of this producing colony was made in the West Coast Number of Motion Picture News, in April of last year. Plans now made point to a still greater expenditure during the coming year, and it is estimated the monthly disbursements for the next twelve months will average three million dollars. Permanancy and stability have been the watchwords of manufacturers with respect to studio improvements. The Selig Polyscope Company, the first to invade this field, were likewise the first to build permanent plants of the better class for production. The most emphatic examples of this policy are Universal City, where since the opening in March of last year, additional producing facilities have been added to double the production capacity; the Thomas H. Ince mammoth plant at Culver City, said to have cost a half million; the enlargement of the Keystone studio at the expenditure of a sum aggregating more than one hundred thousand; the tripling of space, and building of more stages and a perfect laboratory at the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company studios; the construction of a mammoth studio and laboratory by the National Drama Corporation, of which Thomas H. Dixon is president; the purchase of thirteen acres in Hollywood, and the building of a big studio by the Vitagraph Company; and the erection of the David Horsley enterprise almost within the business district of Los Angeles. Practically all of the larger productions of the past year have come from the Los Angeles studios. A list of such includes Thomas H. Ince's " Civilization " ; Rev. Thos. H. Dixon's " The Fall of a Nation"; " Ramona," by the Clune Film Producing Company; "Carmen," from the Jesse L. Lasky studio; "The Dumb Girl of Portici," the Universal Pavlowa picture ; " The Ne'er-Do-Well," by the Selig Polyscope Company ; " The Argonauts " ; "Macbeth," with Sir Herbert Tree from the Fine Arts; " Damaged Goods," by the American Company ; " God's Country — and the Woman," by Rollin S. Sturgeon of the Vitagraph plant, and a number of others. Several big subjects are now in the course of production. D. W. Griffith will soon complete a film which has required his attention for more than a year ; Cecil B. deMille is now making a big picture; at the Fox studios, "The Honor System," in ten reels, is about completed by Director R. A. Walsh ; Lloyd Brown and Donald Crisp are filming " The Eyes of the World," and the Monrovia Feature Film Company, " The Daughter of the Don." i Production Costs for Settings Have Doubled = Production costs have been doubled and trebled with respect to settings representing both interior and exterior scenes. The size for these has gradually increased, and in many instances this has had a very marked effect upon the enlargement of studios. At every plant are to be seen mammoth structures of every type, but the largest perhaps were those built by Ince and Griffith. That of the former was for " Civilization," and consisted of two entire streets of a supposed European monarchial capital. Another large one is that now being used by Griffith for his forthcoming spectacle known as " The Mother and the Law." Great sets are now built for one and two reel subjects, which a year ago were thought to be extravagent for a five or six reel photoplay, a most striking illustration of this being at the Christie plant where a complete Japanese street was built for a few feet of film for a one reel comedy. Corporation attorneys have been busy throughout the year drawing papers for new companies, it being estimated a new film corporation is formed every day. Many of these progressed so far as to begin production. Some even completed pictures, many of which rest in the sepulchral safety deposit vaults in the city. A small percentage has been released. It has been said there has been sufficient film made in Los Angeles which has never been released to supply the market for months, provided of course, that it be of acceptable quality. It is a generally accepted fact that among all the producing plants on the Pacific Coast, that of Thomas H. Ince at Culver