Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1918)

October 5 , 1918 2171 Reviewers See More Liberty Pictures The fourteen Liberty Loan pictures which the committee was unable to show at the Rivoli on September 18, were exhibited for the press in the Paramount projecting room on Monday. These include pictures with a number of Vitagraph stars, ai well as the Goldwyn all-star appeal. Corinne Griffith appeared as a girl who received money to invest in whatever pleased her most, and after looking at a number of pretty things decided to buy bonds. Alice Joyce was a factory girl who invested her money in bonds instead of buying clothes. Her soldier-boy sweetheart neglected her at first, but soon saw her worth. Edith Storey held up Joseph Kilgour, bandit, at the point of a gun and relieved him of his stolen money to put in bonds. Kalem's " My Country " gave a pathetic picture of a woman who lost her grandson in the war, but still considered her duty undone unless she bought bonds. Wallace Reid as Mr. Average American appeared in a very clever little picture with his wife and baby and members of the Lasky stock company. George Cohan's consisted of a series of pictures of the star speaking and fine titles by Jerome Beatty. It's one of the best of the lot. Elsie Ferguson dismissed maid and chauffeur and sent them into war work. Enid Bennett tried to enlist in the army but was contented finally in doing her work at home, soliciting bond subscriptions. In a conception of Charles Maigne's Alice Brady looks on the work which one bond accomplishes. Harry Morey and Betty Blythe in " The Grouch " carry patriotism into a restaurant and succeed in putting the skids under a pro-German waiter. Gladys Leslie reforms a burglar and gets his promise to buy bonds. William Faversham spoke the words of O. R. Geyer. Earle Williams, as the American army, used each bond issue as a file to break the chains binding Civilization. The Fourth File did the trick. The Goldwyn All-Star film, which included in its cast Tom Moore, Pauline Frederick, Madge Kennedy, Mabel Normand, Mae Marsh and John Sainpolis, had some fine, clever subtitles, as the various nations were seen seated around a table playing poker. This is entitled " Stake Uncle Sam to Win Your Hand," and was written by Willard Mack. Many of the pictures contain flashes of parades and some effective scenes of the battlefields. Earle Will Direct for Lillian Walker William P. S. Earle will direct Lillian Walker, according to Lester Park, and the new director leaves with Mr. Park for Los Angeles today. The story will be an adaption of " Frau," by John Breckenridge Ellis, and will be the second of Miss Walker's new starring venture. Well Organized Theatre Owners' Association of Southern California Will Meet Weekly Hereafter— Sets the Pace for Similar Organizations Keep This in Mind: LET us unite in making the next Liberty Loan a success beyond anything heretofore accomplished in Government finance and a victory comparable to those now being won by our army in France. ALTHOUGH reports are coming in from all over the country that the motion picture industry is well organized and keyed up for the Liberty Loan campaign, exhibitors in Southern California seem to have advanced faster in perfecting a strong and permanent organization. Patriotic talks concerning man-power, liberty loans, and co-operation with the Four-Minute-Men made up the program of the bi-weekly meeting of the Theatre Owners Association of Southern California this week, and it was then decided that the meetings hereafter would be conducted weekly every Wednesday instead of every other Wednesday as heretofore. Recently many of the theatre owners of Los Angeles were presented with messages from President Wilson thanking them for the co-operation given the Four-MinuteMen. These were presented to the theatre men at the theatres, and in each instance they were asked to respond. A feature of the luncheon this week' was that each of the theatre men was asked to again give their speech of acceptance. This provided a very enjoyable feature. Report of what the Motion Picture Producers' Association is doing to add manpower in compliance with the " work or fight " ruling was made by W. J. Reynolds, secretary of the association in Los Angeles. His remarks showed that the number of extra men working at the studios had been reduced from 3,000 to 500. The 500 are now registered, and a report is made weekly to the local exemption board showing how much time each man has worked during the past week. The extra men are now booked at the studios through an agency conducted by the Producers' Association. This prevents the police department and officers of the Army and Navy from raiding the studios, as was done before, in the search of slackers or men who should be working at occupations which would help toward winning the war. Leo Ryan, who is conducting a school instructing women to operate projecting machines, reported that four had completed the course, taken the examination of twenty-four questions provided by the Fire iiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiBUY LIBERTY BONDS»'iii«iiniiiitiiiiii for Loan Drive Examiner, as well as the oral test on the operation of a machine, and that all had passed with a 100 per cent grade. Four graduates from this school are now employed in theatres. The school is conducted under the auspices of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners' Association, and the members plan to fill vacancies caused by men leaving to serve in the army and navy, with graduates. Mr. T. B. Miller, theatre owner of Salt Lake City, who is ' in Los Angeles as representative of the Exhibitors' Booking Association of the western states, made a short address on co-operation and its effect in the world war. His talk was a very eloquent one and brought those in attendance to a high pitch of enthusiasm. In a discussion as to the handling of the Four-Minute-Men, it was decided that all theatres would carry a slide instructing the patrons of their theatres to remain seated until the end of the speech by the Four-Minute-Men, and also that the FourMinute-Man would be properly introduced to the audience in each theatre by the owner when appearing upon the stage for his talk. Plans for making the theatres one of the most important factors of the Fourth Liberty Loan drive were explained to the exhibitors by J. C. Jessen, of Motion Picture News, and these provide that stars shall be booked to appear at practically all of the theatres five nights of each week — Monday to Friday inclusive — and following the Four-Minute-Man make a short speech on the purchase of Liberty Bonds. The player or director who makes the personal appearance at the theatres will be accompanied by salesmen from Liberty Loan headquarters, and a sales campaign will be carried on in the lobby as the people leave the theatres. Every theatre owner or manager is the executive of his respective institution, and will be in charge of the loan subscriptions there to his patrons, and also will be expected to see that every employee of the house purchases one or more Liberty Bonds. All bonds sold at the theatres will be turned into the motion picture subscription receipts on the theatre men's night at the Tank Victory in Central Park in Los Angeles, on October the 18th. The proposition was presented to the theatre owners by Dave Bershon asking that one night each month they donate 10 per cent of their receipts to the Smileage Book Fund for the purchase of Smileage Books to be given men in training camps. A pledge to do this was circulated and signed by every theatre owner present. Ten per cent of the receipts will be forwarded the War Department Commission on Training Camp Activities, Washington, D. C. Universal Buys Interest in Symphony Theatre It is announced that the Universal has become interested with Thomas Healy in the Symphony theatre, New York City, and that the initial production will be a Universal production. iiiiiiiHiniiniiiiiiiiiiiiiimiliiimmi