Motion Picture News (Dec 1920-Feb 1921)

January 22, i p 2 i 881 News From Our Correspondents ST. LOUIS The Skouras Brothers Enterprises entertained 170 of their male employes with a midnight banquet at the Hotel Jefferson the night of January 3. This is the tirst of a series of annual affairs to be given the members of the organization, mcluding everyone from president to doormen. A specially arranged program by leading musicians of the city and a variety of cabaret entertainers featured the festivity. Various prominent citizens of St. Louis made short addresses commending the wonderful achievements of the three brothers who in less than six years rose from the ranks of bus boys in the very hotel in which the affair was held to the heads of one of the city's largest and most prominent motion picture enterprises. As an unusual stunt Publicity Manager Baker engaged the services of a newspaper cartoonist to draw pictures of the speakers while malting their addresses. Manager William Goldman, manager of the Missouri Famous Players Corporation, annomiced that Wallace Reid in " The Charm School " coupled with a Chaplin revival, " Easy Street,'! broke all records for attendance during the past week. The New Grand Central drew capacity crowds during the entire week of the run of Otis Skinner's " Kismet." A special showing of " Midsummer Madness " for newspaper and trade publication men was held at the Statler Hotel Monday night. A banquet was held by the scribes following which the feature was presented. " Midsummer Madness " will ixm during the entire of next week at the Missouri, Delmonte and Criterion theatres. The Missouri Theatre Owners will convene at the Statler Hotel in St. Louis January 20, 21 and 22. The subject of censorship will be the most discussed. A formal ball, preceded by a banquet, will be held on the night of the 22nd., at which the association will entertain all persons in the city who are connected with the film industry. St. Louis primary and high schools were recently equipped with motion picture projectors as the beginning of a movement to give weekly shows to the students not only of strictly educational features, but of presentations of the higher order. SAN DIEGO Erie E. Doherty, for several years associated as auditor, with the Broadway Amusement Company, owning the Bush theatres, has taken the position of manager for the James B. Mason theatres — the California and the Dream. V. Russo, who recently secured the interests of Mrs. Anna B. McVey in the Casino theatre, has had installed a very elaborate illuminated front and sign, incorporating more than a thousand small bulbs of dif?erent colors. The front lights are arranged in the form of two great sun-bursts. At the Plaza theatre a change has been made in the day of starting the new weekly program from Sunday to Saturday. " Shore Acres," one of the recent features at the Plaza, was shown to big houses for a week. " Buster " Keaton in " The Scarecrow," shared the honors of the seven days' run. After being a long time dark, the Isis theatre was again opened for a two weeks' showing of " Way Down East," at prices ranging from 50 cents to $2.00. The film production was presented under the direction of Dodge & Hayward, lesees of the Isis, who also operate the Spreckels Hippodrome, showing vaudeville and occasional road shows. The Kinema, the new motion picture theatre in Escondido, this county, was formally opened on the evening of December 23, the initial picture being "The Mark of Zorro," featuring Douglas Fairbanks. The Kinema occupies a building 50 by 140 feet, constructed of reinforced concrete. The lobby is 11 by 16 and the foyer 16 by 20 feet. The prosceniimi arch has a width of 28 feet and a height of 16 feet. There is a balcony 30 by 50 feet. Indirect lighting is used for the auditorium. The building is owned by A. H. Nelson and the architect was Walter P. Williams. The Kinema has a seating capacity of 1,000, and on the opening night was filled. Hobart Bosworth and Mrs. Cecile Kibre Percival came down from Los Angeles and were married here on December 23 by Justice of the Peace Lacy D. Jennings. The event was a surprise to the groom's many friends in the motion picture circles. CANADA Changes in policy have been made by two of Ottawa's moving picture theatres to meet new conditions. One change, adopted by Manager MacDonald for the Family theatre, involved the extension of the programme to incorporate musical features and an increase in admission prices. This became effective on Monday, January 3, with an added attraction of a tabloid musical offering headed by Joe Carr, a former favorite of the Canadian capital. Prices were raised five cents, the new evening scale being 20 cents and 30 cents. The film feature for the occasion was Pathe's " Help Wanted, Male." Manager Harry Pomeroy of the Strand theatre, Ottawa, also instituted a new plan at the Christmas season which consisted of the elimination of the " supper show " so that four performances would be held daily, two in the afternoon and two at night. Prices remained unchanged at the Strand. The Fox Film Corporation has sued Mayor Moreau of Gatineau Point, Quebec, for $720 to cover the alleged cost of moving pictures which were destroyed by fire when the one and only theatre in the town was wiped out by flames a few weeks ago. Mayor Moreau was the owner and proprietor of the theatre which had the singular distinction of being probably the only theatre in Canada the patrons of which were not required to pay an amusement tax either directly or indirectly. Incidentally the big day for the mayor's show each week was Sunday. The Fox Film Company demanded payment for the films lost in the disastrous blaze but a dispute arose over the value of the pictures, and the court action resulted. A burglar with a leaning toward destructiveness secured entry into the Imperial theatre, Ottawa, Ontario, a few nights ago and caused considerable damage to box oflice and other fixtures without obtaining one cent in cash as a reward for his work. The crook broke up a costly coin-changing machine, smashed the ticket chopper and wreaked other damage. The theatre is owned by Harry Brouse, one of the direct franchise-holders of the First National. Following the abolishment of the Canadian luxury tax on practically all forms of merchandise by the Federal Department of Finance through an Order-inCouncil, a number of exhibitors in the Dominion encountered difficulty because numerous patrons at theatres refused to pay the amusement tax on theatre tickets. It was believed by these people that the amusement tax had been removed along with the Federal luxury tax until it was pointed out that the theatre ticket levy was imposed by the Province or, in the case of Quebec, by the municipalities and not by the Canadian government. The staff of the head office and of the Montreal branch of the Specialty Film Imported, Limited, Canadian distributors of Pathe and other releases, celebrated the occupation of the firm's new offices in the Albee building, the brand new moving picture exchange structure in Montreal, on December 24, by presenting L. E. Ouimet, president of the company, with a set of handsome office furniture and furnishings in mahogany. All employes of the company from coast to coast contributed for the handsome gift which was also intended to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of Mr. Ouimet's entry into the moving picture business in Canada. All employes of the several Allen theatres in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with their families, enjoyed a Christmas party in Manitoba Hall on Sunday evening, December 26. Presents were distributed from a large Christmas tree. An outstanding event in the moving picture sphere in Toronto, Ontario, was the grea,t banquet in the Walker House, Toronto, on Wednesday evening, December 29, under the auspices of the Famous Players' Canadian Corporation with its subsidiary company, the Eastern Theatres, Ltd. The dinner brought together representatives from every department of the moving picture business. The guest of the evening was Theda Bara. Mr. H. M. Thomas, formerly of Omaha, Neb., general manager of the Eastern Theatres, Ltd., was the toastmaster. An outline of all attractions to be presented at the Imperial theatre, Ottawa, Ontario, for the first four months of 1921 has been announced by Mr. Harry Brouse, owner of the theatre, in a newspaper advertisement. The schedule of bookings listed comprises the chief attractions which will be shown during the seventeen weeks, with programs being changed weekly except in one instance when a special feature has been booked for two weeks. A brand new Board of Moving Picture Censors for Ontario was established and became operative with the start of the New Year as a result of the decision of Hon. Peter Smith, Provincial Treasurer, to reorganize the film censorship branch of the Provincial Government. A fresh outbreak in the battle over the subject of Sunday shows in Sherbrooke, Quebec, is expected as a result of the decision of several of the local moving picture theatres to resume the holding of Sunday performances. It appears that all but one of the citizens of Sherbrooke are heartily in favor of Sunday presentations in the .local theatres. It has been claimed that the " objector " is a representative of the Lord's Day Alliance which is an organization whose apparent purpose is to limit the liberties of the people in Canada. In reply to various rumors regarding the so-called " war tax " on theatre tickets in Manitoba, Hon. Edward Brown, Provincial Treasurer, has announced that there is no intention on the part of the Province of Manitoba to remove the ticket tax. A rumor that the tax would be abolished spread after the Dominion Government had discontinued the luxury tax on many articles of merchandise. PROVIDENCE " Way Down East " is the first moving picture to have ever been shown in this city more than two weeks. It began its third week on January 3, and it is the intention of the management of the house to carry it at least four weeks. The picture has run, now, ahead of what it was expected it would do. Two performances are given daily, and every seat has been sold thus far. Charles I. Luther, for 27 years financial secretary of the Theatrical Mechanics' Association, has just been installed president of the association. Lieut. Richard H. Gamble, the amusement censor in this city, was made a life member of the organization at the annual installation. Bert Lytell, the Metro star, will during the week of January 10 appear in person at the Rialto and Emery theatres. Manager William J. Mahoney, of the former, who succeeded in getting Lytell to come here has arranged to have him meet the governor and mayor and will entertain him royally during the short time he is here in the city. s^ tj u z ERBOCRAPH IlUDWIGC.B.ERB presJ 263-211 West 146th St New York / udubon-37JS Motion PiGturen Djevelopinq Printinq