Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1921)

October 15, i 9 2 i 2021 SEE THE r BELL HOP AND LAUGH WITH LARRY ^,^ON — Two scenes from Thomas H. Ince's production, " Hail the Woman," a First National attraction "Hail the Women" Completed New Fox Office Opened in Switzerland ANNOUNCEMENT of the opening of an exchange in Geneva, Switzerland, is { made by Fox Film CorporaI tion. Winfield R. Sheehan, ) general manager of Fox Film Corporation, when last in Europe, was the recipient of I many requests for the estabi lishment of this exchange. The new exchange is at No. 1 Rue du Commerce, Geneva, and is under the management of J. M. Boimond, a man widely known and well liked in motion picture circles throughout the country. It will form the distributing base for all Switzerland. Such pictures as " Over the Hill," " A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," " Queen of Sheba " and the other Fox super-specials will be placed through the Geneva exchange. ANNOUNCEMENT came this week from the studios of Thomas H. Ince at Culver City of the completion of " Hail the Woman," the big Ince drama which is scheduled for release late in the fall as a First National attraction. Built on a broad and absorbing theme depicting a new phase and appreciation of the economic womanhood, " Hail the Woman " is pronounced by Mr. Ince to be the greatest production that has ever come from his studios. C. Gardner Sullivan, the celebrated writer who is a member of the Ince literary staff, wrote the story and it was placed in production under the direction of John Griffith Wray whose genius has been manifest in some of the more recent of the Thomas H. Ince screen successes. The story is distinctly American. It is a drama of real people. Its background is the harsh New England hills, and into the characters Mr. Sullivan has built the moral severity of a New England village. It is a story of New York as well, contrasting the coldness of New England's rugged countryside with the warmth of the city's skyscrapers. MR. EXHIBITOR :— YOU ARE NEGLECTING THE BIGGEST PART OF YOUR PROGRAM IF YOU SIMPLY ASK FOR "A COMEDY"— THERE'S A DARN GOOD REASON WHY YOU SHOULD INSISTON HALLROOM BOYS COMEDIES FEATURING SID SMITH, EXHIBITOR'S TRADE REVIEW SAYS "THEY RANK WITH THE BEST COMEDIES ON ITHE market." WID'S DAILY SAYS "YOU ICAN DEPEND ON THEM TO TICKLE 'tour audience with new, SURE-FIRE LAUGHS." IF YOU ARE A LIVE-WIRE EXjHIBITOR WHO WANTS COMEDIES THAT \RE "CLEAN, REFINED— WITH PLENTY 3F PEP AND A LAUGH FOR EVERY INCH 3F FILM " — BOOK HALLROOM BOYS :OMEDIES AT FEDERATED FILM EX:HANGES of AMERICA, INC. Ince Drama Scheduled for Fall Release by First National Fundamentally " Hail the Woman " is a drama of American life. It pictures the vigorous manhood, and the meek womanhood of the generation past with the new type of manhood and the independent womanhood of the new generation. It portrays the slowness of the rural communities in their adjustment to new conditions, and the more rapid assimilation of the new order of things among the people of the larger centers. It is a drama of woman's prog ress, not sermonized, but subtly told by contrast and dramatic development. It is filled with big situations, such situations as have been revealed under the master craftsmanship of Ince in his great screen successes. The climax in the tiny church in Vermont, and a Christmas scene in a New York orphanage are declared to be tremendous in their human appeal. To portray the roles of " Hail the Woman," Mr. Ince chose Lloyd Hughes, Florence Vidor, Theodore Roberts, Gertrude Clair, Madge Bellamy, Tully Marshall, Vernon Dent, Edward Martindel, Charles Meredith, Eugenia Hoffman and Mathilde Brundage, every one a player of note. Nationwide BusinessBoom Only a Few Districts Where Poor Conditions Persist, Says Ginsburg EXCEPT for two or three very limited districts where local business conditions are still unfavorable, the motion picture industry is showing very spirited activity all over the country. This is the cheering message brought back by Henry Ginsberg, domestic sales director for Educational Film Exchanges, after a trip of four weeks visiting branch exchanges as far west as Omaha. While discussing conditions as he found them on his trip, Mr. Ginsberg showed that business done by Educational during four weeks in September showed an increase of 75 per cent over the business done during the corresponding four weeks last year. " Last year," said Mr. Ginsberg, " we were new in the field, and many exhibitors in contracting for our product felt that they were really buying an unknown quantity. We have demonstrated most forcibly the wisdom of their judgment in placing faith in us — for we have kept faith — and the results now that our new year's products are being contracted for give striking evidence of this fact. "The short subject, too, is certainly holding a place of importance in the exhibitor's calculations that it did not occupy at this time last year. Many exhibitors, I found, are voluntarily giving programs consisting entirely of short reel subjects." Several changes in the Educational organization were instituted by Mr. Ginsberg on his tour, the most significant of them being the opening of a new and bigger branch exchange in Kansas City, under a new corporation. The branches conducted by the Educational Film Exchange of Iowa and the Educational Film Exchange of Missouri were closed, and on September 18 Mr. Ginsberg opened a better equipped branch in the Film Building, which will be under the management of H. E. Schiller, formerly a salesman for Educational in Kansas City. The new branch will be known as the Midwest Educational Film Exchange, Inc. Mr. Ginsberg also introduced Joseph Koliski as the new manager of the Pittsburg branch, and A. Kahn as manager at Des Moines. Branches all the way from Pittsburg to Omaha were visited by Mr. Ginsberg, who spent much of his time, however, with the exhibitors in the key cities. •