Motion Picture News (Jan-Feb 1920)

1236 Motion Picture Nexus News from the Correspondents BUFFALO The General Theatres corporation has been organized in Buffalo with offices at 301 Brisbane building. The officers are Harry Marsey, president and general manager; Albert Becker, first vice-president; Herman Lorence, second vice-president; Henry C. Price, secretary; Harry G. Ess, treasurer. The company plans to buy and build theatres in Buffalo and vicinity. The head office of the Canadian Exhibitors' Exchange Company at Toronto, Ontario, has been moved from 143 Yonge Street to 39 Queen Street West. The club quarters of the Moving Picture Exhibitors' Protective Association of Ontario are located at the former address. Clayton Sheehan, district manager of the Fox Film corporation, is making a tour to the Pacific coast, stopping off at the principal Fox exchanges en route. T. " Paramount " Kelly, formerly connected with Pathe in Pittsburg and Detroit and recently with Famous Players-Lasky in Cincinnati, has joined the local of P. P.-L. exchange sales staff. Mr. Kelly is one of the veterans of ihe uim j^ame anu has many friends in the Buffalo territory, it is said. Buffalo's newest house, the Rivoli, located on Broadway, three blocks from the market w-U open to the public April 1, unler the management of Harry T. Dixon, iiow manager of the Modern Feature Film exchange at 47 West Swan Street. The house is being built by Joseph Kozanowski. The theatre will have a seating capacity of 2000 and will cost $200,000. The Ariel Theatre Amusement company. Inc., has capitalized at $75,000 with Joseph J. Geigand, Joseph and George Schwartzott, Paul J. Batt, Alice F. Kronenwetter and Daniel W. Keating as directors. The company at present is operating the Ariel theatre on High street near Michigan avenue. Work on the new Shea Metropolitan theatre will commence May 1, according to an announcement by Harold B. Franklin, managing director of Shea's Hippodrome. George L. Rapp of Rapp and Company, Chicago architects, was in Buffalo recently when the first contract for steel was placed with the Ferguson steel company. President J. A. Berst of the United Picture Theatres of America was the guest of honor at a banquet Hiven in the Hotel Statler Thursday, January IS, which was attended by directors in the organization and local exhibitors. James B. Kelly, manager of the Buffalo office was in charge of the event. Negotiation by the Central Amusement Co. of a ninety-nine year lease on the property whereon the Alhambra photoplay theatre is located near Washington and Illinois streets and the outright purchase of a fifteen foot strip adjoining the leased property on the east, upon which part of the seating space of the theatre is now situated, have been announced. The ground purchased cost $150,000, it is reported. CANADA Ben Soskin, Vancouver manager of the Exhibitors' Distributing Corporation, Toronto, resigned recently in order to join the Sterling Films, Limited, an independent exchange company with offices in Toronto and Montreal. Wiley Pettis is slated as the successor to Ben .Soskin in the Vancouver office. dent, Edwin W. Anthony; vice-president, Charles D. Macomber; recording secretary, Edward Hamilton; secretary-treasurer, Samuel Taylor; business agent, Thomas E. Shannon; executive board, Eawin W. Anthony, Edward D. Hamilton, Samuel Taylor, Fred Catalozzi. A new organization for the moving picture business in Canada sprang into existence at Toronto, Ontario, on January 9, when the Canadian Moving Picture Distributors' Association was formed. Announcement is made that the new association will deal with matters of general importance to the trade, particularly legislative subjects. The first president of the new association is Clair Hague, Toronto, who is president and general manager of the Canadian Universal Film Company. The vice-president is W. F. Barrett. Toronto. The secretarytreasurer is J. P. O'Loughlin, of Regal Films, Limited, Toronto. Thomas Shields of Saskatoon, Sask., has purchased the Grandview theatre. Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B. C, and has assumed the management of the theatre. DETROIT The serial picture has been the object of special and unusual attention in the Provinces of Ontario and Nova Scotia. In Ontario, the Government has adopted a regulation which requires moving picture exchanges to have all episodes of a serial before it can be offered for examination by the Ontario Board of Moving Picture Ccii sors. There are several changes in Detroit's film exchange colony. C. G. Kingsley, of Realart, is to go to Omaha and will be succeeded as local manager by Ralph Quive, of San Francisco. Robert Lucas, of Chicago, comes to take charge of United Artists, succeeding Robert Churchill, who resigned to enter the states right field. Fred Young has succeeded W. A. Hayes as Hallmark manager. The week of January 19 might be con • sidered a Kealart week in Providence. Four features were .-hown. The Rialto showed "Soldiers of Fortune"; The Strand, "The Mystery of the Yellow Room "; the Modern, " The Fear Market," and the Emery, " Erstwhile Susan." For the production of " In Old Kentucky," which will run two weeks at the Madison, Manager John H. Kunsky has o.k.'d plans of Howard Pierce, publicity and production manager, for the staging of a horse race scene with treadmill and other effects, secured from the New York Hippodrome, it is stated. At Sydney, Nova Scotia, the Local Council of Women has asked the Nova Scotia censors to prohibit the showing of serials on Friday and Saturdays because, it is pointed out, many children attend the theatres on the two days mentioned. The object of this queer request is to restrict the showing of the serials to adults as much as possible. The thrilling stuff in the serials is not considered proper for children's minds. No immediate action was taken by the Nova Scotia censor board. Norma Talmadge and her sister Constance fought it out at the Madison and Adams theatres this week, one with " A Daughter of Two Worlds " and the other with " Two Weeks." The honors were declared even, as both houses broke their Sunday records, according to reports. Winnipeg, Manitoba, moving picture men are wondering why there is so much discussion about the concave moving picture screen which was recently " discovered " by a Frenchman. A screen of this type has been used in the Province theatre, Winnipeg, for a number of years, according to Manager J ernberg. " Everywoman " has started off on its second week at the Broadway Strand. The attendance is said to have broken all previous records, including " The Miracle Man " and " Male and Female," and on Sunday, the record for " The Unpardonable Sin," the picture that had played to more mohey on one day than any other film in Detroit, was excelled by just $24, it is stated. INDIANAPOLIS S. Barrett McCormick, manager of the Circle at Indianapolis, announces the permanent engagement of Frank J. Zimmerer as art director for the theatre. The Manitoba Exhibitors' Association has secured a suite of five rooms in the McGreevy Block, Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, for a club and the premises have been fitted with expensive and appropriate furniture. Luncheons will be served at regular intervals in the club. Herb Weil, of Port Huron, W. A. Hayes and Robert Churchill, who formed the Commonwealth Pictures Corp., report that they have purchased state rights for Equity pictures. John H. Kunsky held the franchise. The Moving Picture Operators of Providence, R. I., have held a banquet welcoming home thirteen of the fourteen members who went into service during the war. A special cable was run to the building where the affair was held that power might be furnished for the pictures that were shown. A banquet, musical and picture entertainment were the features of the evening. The service men welcomed home were John Burke, Carl O. Johnson, Charles B. Mo Phillips, Earl E. Madden, James E. Sullivan, William G. Evans, Lincoln S. Sheldon, Albert R. Cobb, William A. Heywood, Charles D. Macomber, Thomas E. Shannon, Eugene A. Arnold and Charles H. Fuller, Jr. Practically the same forces who opposed the Sunday baseball bill last year are lining up to defeat, if possible, the bills pending before the General Assembly, to permit motion picture exhibitions on Sundays. It is understood that the majority leaders are disposed to favor the passage of one or the other of the motion picture bills, although opposition of no small power is expected to develop. Senator Saugy, who introduced one bill, believes his bill will meet with the favor of the Assembly. There was considerable opposition when the Sunday concert law was passed and still greater force was opposed to the passage of the Sunday baseball bill. Both are quite generally believed to have had beneficial results. T. H. Ealand, at the Majestic, part of the Miles circuit but showing first run pictures with vaudeville, has booked " The Lone Wolf's Daughter " and will start it off with a big advertising campaign. 57-. LOUIS Colored citizens of Montreal, Quebec, held a mass meeting a few nights ago for the purpose of arranging to carry the case of Reynolds vs. Loew's theatre to a higher court. This case has attracted considerable attention because of the big point at issue. Sol Reynolds, a negro, was refused a seat on the orchestra floor of the theatre, it is declared, and he was turned out of the theatre, it is stated. He entered suit against the theatre and was awarded damages in the lower court. The theatre appealed the case with the result that the decision was reversed, the effect of the ruling being that theatre managers could draw the color line if desired. The William Fox Washington has raised its night prices to 30 and 50 cents and matinee seats to 20 and 30 cents. The prices were 15 and 25 cents in the afternoon and 30 and 40 cents at night. A trade showing of " The Eyes of Youth " was held at the Fox Liberty theatre. Earl Lawson controls the state rights for the production. The Fox Liberty orchestra furnished the music for the showing. Stock of the Blackstone Theatre Corporation of South Bend, Ind., has been withdrawn from the market because enough has been sold to meet the cost of erecting a 2,600 seat photoplay house, it is stated. PROVIDENCE, R. I. Because of the personal appearance of Alice Brady in a speaking drama at a local theatre this week, her " Marie, Ltd." at the Emery drew big during the three days of its showing. The Moving Picture Operators. Local 223. has installed the following officers: Presi June Caprice is expected to appear personally at the Loew's Garrick theatre January 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st. Harry Koplar and " B-ll " Sievers left for Atlantic City to attend the First National convention. They have the " Mississippi Marbles " with them. S. S. Fox, representing the Merit Film company of Denver, is :n town handling " The Hushed Hour," for this territory. Motion picture theatres and schools were closed last week at Orleans, Ind., because of a scarlet fever epidemic, according to recent advices. The Rialto theatre, Toronto, Ontario, has passed away. This theatre has been torn down to make way for a large store structure and with its passing is seen the finish of one of the oldest of the small downtown houses. Paramount theatres, Limited. Toronto, the large Canadian moving picture theatre enterprise which is affiliated with Regal Films, Limited, Famous-Lasky Film Service, Limited, and Alex. Pantages, has decided to erect a large theatre in Oshawa, Ontario. The Paramount Company has arranged to build a theatre to seat 1,500 people and to cost approximately $200,000. John T. Fiddes, formerly manager of the Holman theatre, Montreal, has undertaken to present Sunday concerts at the Gayety theatre, Montreal, which is the only burlesque house in the city. He has leased the Gayety for Sundays only and has arranged to give combination programmes in the afternoon and at night at popular prices. AN ALL-THE-WAY APPRECIATION THE producer, star, cameraman and the Rothacker Laboratories which turned out the print, all come in for their measure of praise in the following whole hearted letter: First National Exhibitors' Cir., Atlanta, Ga. Gentlemen: It's a one hundred per cent picture all the way — and by all the way we mean right on thru the laboratories. The picture to which we refer is " A Daughter of Two Worlds " featuring Norma Talmadge. The production is the kind that makes a fellow feel like thirty cents when he realizes what physically imperfect pictures he has been screening. Allow us to congratulate you on the finished product as delivered to us. There is such a marked improvement in developing and printing that even our laymen patrons commented on it most favorably. When laboratories turn out prints like this, one of the most important essentials in picture making has been accomplished. 100', r is perfect and that is exactly what the developing and printing in " A Daughter of Two Worlds " is. Keep the good work up and you are bound to be rewarded. Yours very truly, Mudd & CoUey Am. Co., Inc., Birmingham, Ala. Here Is a Brickbat for the News (Continued from page 1235) industry and it is usually' " pulled " by the exchange on one prong and the producer on the other. On this wishbone is " wished " the junk film, the " gyp " rentals and the lying, bull throwing film peddler, who is careful not to make the same territory twice, but in spite of all this the " Eighty Per Center " will continue to hold his own and make a living for his family if he does not have to submit to some scheme like percentage bookings which will reduce him to a position of janitor and bill poster for the e.xchanges, and watered stock producing companies. I do not expect this letter to be published. It is intended as a little heart to heart talk only. Yours trulv, E. E. SPRAGUE. The Lyric, Goodland. Kansas. Editor's Note — Of course ire are glad to publish Mr. Sprague's letter, as ice are any honest difference of opinion. We heliei e that William A. Johnson's editorial on Page 1225 of this issue states the position'of The Xetcs on Pereentage. Aa for the ten per cent figures — ire trere right, and ire are right. It is up to Mr. Sprague and the rest of the " Eighty Per Centers " to find ichere the lecA-age is. f