Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1918)

October 5 , I 9 I 8 2191 Select Passes Its First Milestone Shows Remarkable Progress Since General Manager Kane Took Over Eleven Original Offices — Exchanges Now Located in Principal Cities WITH the first week in October Select Pictures organization rounds out its first year as a releasing concern. For it was at the beginning of October that the first Select Picture was presented to the country. This was " The Moth," with which Norma Talmadge started her series of Select successes. Altogether October is a momentous month in Select's calendar, for it was also during this month that the first phase of Select's business organization was brought into shape. The corporation started business August 6th, 191 7, with sales branches throughout the United States to the number of eleven, which, before the week was out, had been increased to thirteen. New Exchanges Opened These existing exchanges were located in New York, Boston, Buffalo, Washington, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Cincinnati, the latter being a sub-office, to be elevated to the dignity of a buying exchange at a later date. General Manager Arthur S. Kane took hold of the eleven original offices on August 6 and immediately opened exchanges in Boston and Washington. With these as the nucleus of Select's present sales system, he applied all the organizing genius for which he has won a reputation in the moving picture industry. Bringing to the situation methods which he had formulated and proved in the past, Mr. Kane bent his energies to establishing Select's sales organization upon the high plane which it today occupies. And his efforts have been crowned by a repetition of the success which he had previously met in launching new enterprises and organizing them. In a statement this week concerning Select progress, the company said: "Aiding Mr. Kane in getting the new machine going smoothly was John J. Rotchford, who joined the Select forces early in September, 1917, becoming assistant general manager. Mr. Rotchford had assisted Mr. Kane in 1914 in establishing the' exchange system of Pathe Exchange, Inc., which, organized in March, had established by mid-summer a reputation as the hardest hitting selling organization in the business. It is interesting to recall that when Mr. Kane left Pathe Freres, in October of that year, it was to go as assistant general manager with Mr. Lewis J. Selznick, now Select's president, in his then newly organized World Film Corporation. Chicago Joins Forces " Following the opening of its original thirteen offices, Select on September 1 took over the Chicago exchange now in charge of Fred C. Aiken, and on October 1 took over exchanges previously handling in part the same product in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Kansas City and Des Moines, the latter branch being subsequently moved to Omaha. On October 15 an exchange was opened in Detroit, bringing the number of Select branches up to twenty. At this figure the list remained until February 10. when Select opened its New Orleans exchange, completing the organization now in opera Norma Talmadge, Select Star, in " A Tale of the Forbidden City" tion. Meanwhile, on November 10, the Cincinnati office had been raised from a sub-office to a buying exchange. Both this and the Detroit exchange were placed under the efficient supervision of Sam E. Morris, East Central general manager and manager of Select's Cleveland branch. "As evidence of the good judgment and acumen with which men have been selected for positions as managers of the various Select exchanges, it may be recorded that although the exchange manager is supposed to be a man without a home, eighteen out of the twenty-one branch executives were branch employees of Select at the time that its exchange system was completed, and seventeen of these branches are now administered by the same men then holding positions as branch managers. In addition, J. S. Woody, who was a branch manager at the time of the completion of Select's exchange system, has been promoted to the position of field manager, which he now occupies. Eleven are managers in exactly the same exchanges as when first appointed by General Manager Kane at the opening of the Select system. Two others are still with Select as branch managers, but have been transferred to other offices. One man, previously an employe of a Select exchange, has been elevated to the managership of that exchange. " Stability Counted Rare " " Such stability in a sales organization is an exceedingly rare thing in the moving picture business. It shows that splendid selections were made by General Manager Kane in choosing men to command the various Select branches ; and it also shows the success with which Select is conducting its exchanges. Not only do the executives in the field satisfy the home office, but also the home office manages to keep its men on the firing line happy and contented. " If any confirmation were needed of the success which has attended Mr. Kane's efforts in the organization of his field forces it would be found in the fact that competitors throughout the industry acknowledge the strength of the Select organization and the desirability of gaining identification with it. The reports of district managers and traveling representatives who circulate throughout the various branch territories affirm this condition. Managers and executives of other companies have openly advised their friends to seek places with Select. A place in the organization has become the goal of many. " There is a reason for this, and it can best be summed up by quoting from a recent sales bulletin issued by the general manager to all exchanges just before the beginning of the new film season last August. Mr. Kane wrote his managers : Highest Quality Present " ' No account of the fortunate position in which the Select organization finds itself would furnish a complete explanation which overlooks the unusual character of the goods which Select has upon its shelves. The man selling Select pictures deals with the highest quality of product presented in its highest form— in short, with feature photoplays made by famous stars. Here are no short-ends of production; no sixes and sevens of the film factory ; no experiments of today to disappear on the morrow. No other company can present so clean-cut and concise a line. Select pictures typify the salesman's ideal merchandise.' " A complete list of the men who represent Select in its twenty-one exchanges at this beginning of the company's second year of production comprise : " Atlanta, T. O. Tuttle ; Boston, Charles R. Rogers ; Buffalo, Sherman S. Webster ; Chicago, Fred C. Aiken ; Cincinnati, A. M. Muller (under supervision of Sam E. Morris) ; Cleveland, Sam E. Morris (East Central general manager) ; Dallas, Claude C. Ezell ; Denver, H. E. Lotz ; Detroit, James O. Kent (under . supervision of Sam E. Morris) ; Kansas City, A. H. McLaughlin ; Los Angeles, Bernard E. Loper; Minneapolis, Harry A. Rathner; New Orleans, H. G. Till; New York, Henry Siegel ; Omaha, C. W. Taylor; Philadelphia, M. Milder; Pittsburgh, Leo F. Levison; St. Louis, J. C. Ragland ; San Francisco, H. L. Knappen; Seattle, Harry H. Hicks; Washington, Vivian P. Whitaker, and John S. Woody, field manager.