Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1916)

August 19, 1916 McGOVERN GOES WITH POWELL PRODUCTIONS AS GENERAL SALES REPRESENTATIVE E. J. McGovern, assistant to Adam Kessel, president of the New York Motion Picture Corporation, severs his connections with that concern this week to become general sales representative of the Frank Powell Productions, Inc. Mr. McGovern, one of the youngest executives of the motion picture industry, made his advent into the picture field with William Johnston, the president of Motion Picture News, as an assistant in the advertising department four years ago. He then became connected with the New York Motion Picture Corporation as advertising and publicity manager and began at that time a series of ads in the vari MOTION PICTURE NEWS 1091 Elmer J. McGovern ous trade papers which created favorable comment. .Shortly afterward he was promoted to the position of assistant to the president of the corporation. Mr. McGovern is widely known throughout the trade, is a member of several organizations pertaining to the picture industry, and is a charter member of the Screen Club. FLAGG DRAWS PORTRAIT OF MAE MURRAY, LASKY STAR Mae Murray, the Lasky-Paramount star, is getting a world of publicity these days from a black and white sketch which James Montgomery Flagg drew of her at the Allied Bazaar in New York City. The sketch is a profile and does the pretty star full justice. Mr. Flagg has been complimented upon it many times. Paramount Picture Corporation, through various mediums of publicity, has popularized the sketch until now it is well known in many of the larger Paramount houses in the country. Photographs of it were issued to large newspapers in cities of good size, and to smaller dailies mats were sent. It has been used as a cover design for Paramount Progress and has illustrated several articles about Miss Murray appearing in other magazines. Many Faces " Dissolve In " the Big Four List for August Morrison Will Be Seen in " The Alibi " on th« 7th, Walthall in " The Sting of Victory " on the 8th, Richman in " The Dawn of Freedom " on the 14th, and " Footlights of Fate " on the 24th stinging satire on the death of those ideals WALTER W. IRWIN, general manager of the V-L-S-E, announces the program for the month of August. " The Alibi," a play of intrigue and crime, in which James Morrison and Betty Howe are featured, is a Vitagraph release for August 7. The play is from the pen of George Allan England and was picturized by George H. Plympton. Paul Scardon directed it. " The Sting of Victory," in which Henry B. Walthall of Essanay plays double roles, supported by Antoinette Walker, will be released on August 8. Mortimer Peck wrote the story and J. Charles Hayden produced it. On the 14, will be released " The Dawn of Freedom," featuring Charles Richman, Arline Pretty, James Morrison and several other Vitagraph stars. This play, written by William J. Hurlburt and directed by Paul Scardon and Theodore Marston, is a that guided the founders of the United States. " The Country That God Forgot," a Selig contribution to the V-L-S-E program, will be released on Aug. 21. In this Tom Santschi is exploited for the first time in a Big Four feature. Supporting him will be George Fawcett, Mary Charleson, Sidney Smith and Cecil Holland. Marshall Neilan, who is responsible for several of the big Selig successes, is directing the feature picture. " The Footlights of Fate," a five-part Vitagraph feature adapted from Louis Joseph Vance's " Joan Thursday," will also be released on the 21st. This play features Naomi Childers, Marc McDermott and others. William Humphrey directed it. " The Kid," a newspaper story featuring Lillian Walker and produced by Director Wilfred North, is slated for August 28. Kalem Mid-August Output Consists of 5 Reels a Week From August 14th to the 21st, Two Episodes of "Girl from Frisco" Are Promised — On August 16 "Turquoise Mine Conspiracy" WUl Be Issued, Followed by " Oil Field Plot" MID-AUGUST on the Kalem release schedule brings an output of five reels a week, with the " Girl From Frisco " series taking the place of honor. For the weeks of August 14 and August 21 two episodes of the Western series are promised. On August 16, " The Turquoise Mine Conspiracy," second of the series, is issued, followed on August 23 by " The Oil Field Plot." Marin Sais and True Boardman are featured in " The Girl From Frisco," which will consisst of fifteen two reel episodes, each telling a complete story. In addition there will be two single reel "Hazards of Helen." "With the Aid of the Wrecker," is issued Saturday, August 19. A novel thrill is supplied^ to " At Danger's Call," released on August 25, when Helen Gibson, suspended from a bridge by means of a rope, lifts a boy from a runaway flat-car loaded with dynamite. Ham comes to the bat on Tuesday, August 15, with " Ham's Strategy," a single reel comedy. Ham buys a donkey, and the succeeding action tells of his troubles with the docile beast, whom neither dynamite, fire nor speeding trains will move. The three-star combination of Ham, Bud and Ethel Teare is in the principal roles. Ivy Close is represented on Kalem's midAugust schedule with two subjects. " He Wrote Poetry?" released on Friday, August 18, finds the comedienne in a comedy of rapid-fire action with Henry Murdoch as a misguided versifier. Trick ef¥ects are used in " The Stolen Jail;" the Ivy Close and Henry Murdoch comedy for the date August 25. L-Ko Bucks the Hot Weather with Two More Companies This Move Made Necessary by Increased Number of Orders — Quality of These Comedies Has Been Steadily Improving in Last Three Months Jack G. Blystone, director-general of the L-Ko, has been an untiring worker in the interest of the company and the results at DESPITE the hot weather and the fact that a great many manutacfurers looked for a slump in business during its stay, the L-Ko Motion Picture Company, producing one, two and three reelers for the Universal program, has increased its business to a great extent during the last three months. Two additional companies have been secured in order that the studio may keep pace with increased orders for the new L-Ko pictures. During the past three months the quality of L-Ko comedies has been steadily improving. More money and time have been spent on each one of them with the results that various exchanges of the Universal are sending in orders for a larger number of prints. Aside from the addition of two new producing companies to the organization, several new officers have assumed active charge of the managerial end of the business. tained in the latter pictures of the company speak well for his work. Aside from exercising general supervision over all companies at work for the company, Mr. Blystone has a separate company of his own included in which is Alice Howell. METRO-YORKERS NEAR DEATH The fourteen members of the MetroYorke company of players headed by Harold Lockwood and May Allison, who went to Lake Tahoe, California, for the exterior scenes of " Mister 44," a forthcoming romance-picture in five parts, narrowly escaped being buried alive when an avalanche in the Sierra Nevada Mountains obliterated a camp that had been used in several scenes. The players escaped death by a matter of minutes.