Motion Picture News (Apr-Jun 1919)

3223 Jack Pickford Makes Statement May 17, 1919 H. F. Jans, Handling Tom Mix Reissues and Ham and Bud Reissues Newman Display Cabinets Equip Theatres The Newman Manufacturing Company, 719-721 Sycamore St., Cincinnati, with branch located at 68 West Washington St., Chicago, manufacturers of brass and wood poster and photo frames, easels, railings and ticket choppers, have just equipped the four theatres, of which A. F. Brentlinger is director general, with the very latest corrugated brass poster and photo display cabinets, with hinged doors and glass, made to fit around the theatre front. The four theatres referred to are the Libert}', Terre Haute, Orpheum, Fort Wayne, Murray and Murret of Richmond, Indiana. Mr. Brentlinger decided on the Newman's Brass Display Cabinets because of their neatness and beauty, and the convenience for the insertion of new posters and photographs by means of the hinged glass doors. William V. Hart Now with Dooley Films William V. Hart, one of the oldest men in the history of the game, is now associated with the Johnny Dooley Film Comedies, in the Longacre Building, as business manager. Mr. Hart was one of the first exchange managers of the General Film Company. At the inception of the Mutual Film Company he became associated with them also in a managerial capacity. For a number of years it is said Mr. Hart looked after the booking interests of several Broadway houses, including the U. B. O. Mary Miles Minter Back in New York City After three years' absence from New York City, Mary Miles Minter, the little motion picture star, has returned to the east. While it is declared that several of the largest producing companies and various individuals are besieging Miss Minter and her mother with offers, she is revelling in the delights of merely being back in New York again, and is having her first vacation in 12 years, ever since she started on the stage, at the age of five, with William Farnum, in " The Littlest Rebel." Denies Emphatically He Was Dishonorably Discharged from Service. Kept Silent Because Ordered To Do So JACK PICKFORD has broken his long silence relative to the recent charges that he was discharged from the navy "because he was unfit to be in the service of the United States." In a statement issued by him this week he denies emphatically that he was dishonorably discharged from service, and added that he had not talked on the subject previous to this, because he had been ordered by the president of the court martial to maintain silence relative to the matters regarding which he testified in a recent naval investigation. His discharge from the navy, he claimed, came four months after the court martial of officers in the east, and was granted so that he could engage in a propaganda picture for the army. His several assertions are made to dispel rumors. Pickford's complete statement is as follows : "I was granted an honorable discharge which shows that my standing was of the very highest, and Avhich recommends me for further enrollment. 'Needless to say the government is not in the habit of recommending men for further enlistment who are not fit for service, and the rating shown in my discharge indicates that I am eligible for further enlistment at the present time. " The reason I have not denied recent newspaper reports which declared I was dropped from the service, was that I had been ordered by the president of the court martial not to discuss the naval case in which I testified, and I felt I owed it to the government to abide by this order. "However, these reports have grown to such proportion, I have been forced to make a statement in my own behalf." It was declared at the Pickford studio that the testimony of the motion picture actor at the court martial of the eastern officers was of minor importance. Pickford said supplementary to his statement that he has been accepted as a member of the Allied World War Veterans of Los Angeles, an organization composed of veterans who were honorably discharged from service. He said the organization had made a complete investigation of his case, and that he would not have been accepted by it if it had found that he was dishonorably discharged from the United States navy. "The Man Who Turned White" Is Arab Story ((THE MAN WHO TURNED 1 WHITE," starring H. B. Warner, which will inaugurate the Superior Picture series released by Robertson-Cole through Exhibitors' Mutual, is undoubtedly the most pretentious production made by Jesse D. Hampton since he began his career as a motion picture magnate more than a year ago. In this story of the Bedouins, laid in the atmosphere of mysticism, romance and treachery, it became necessary to use not only a big cast of carefully selected players, but hundreds of extra people for the street and desert scenes. Each one had to be selected with the greatest care, as film audiences these days are critical and demand absolute realism in every detail of a story. A number of real Arabs were found, and,, after much parleying, camels were secured from a circus which happened to be wintering in Southern California. One of the greatest difficulties encountered by Mr. Hampton was his inability to obtain real types for the Arabian characters. His assistants scoured all of Southern California for real desert characters. Plenty of Hindus were to be found, and there were scores of Mexicans who had doubled man} times for Arabs, but no real natives of the Soudan were to be found. Finally a number of them were discovered, however, and the gold of the producer induced them to become screen actors, at least for the time being. Biggest Novels of Great Authors for Screen BENJAMIN B. HAMPTON announces that the recently organized Great Authors Pictures, Inc., will produce photoplays from nothing but the biggest novels of great authors. President Hampton declares that his first connection with an attempt to put into practice the theory of a balanced picturization of a great novel was with " The Barrier " made by Edgar Lewis from Rex Beach's book. The success of "The Barrier" caused Mr. Beach and Mr. Hampton to .form the Rex Beach Pictures Co., which they owned and operated personally until they sold an interest in the company to another producer. Eltinge F. Warner and Zane Grey formed an alliance with Mr. Hampton by which Zane Grey's own pictures company was organized with Mr. Hampton as president and Mr. Warner as vice president. So many other famous authors are said to have approached Mr. Hampton with the request that he put their novels into pictures, that he organized " Great Authors Pictures, Inc.", in order to handle a few carefully produced pictures a year in accordance with his own ideas. Mr. Hampton has been in Los Angeles several months, building a producing organization to handle the Zane Grey and Great Authors pictures. The first author selected by Mr. Hampton for Great Authors series is Stewart Edward White. New Story for Russell William Russell's new feature, " Six Feet Four," now being filmed at the American Studios, is from a novel by Jackson Gregory. It is being directed by Henry King. Stephen Fox made the adaptation from the book.