Motography (Jul - Dec 1915)

Tuly 31, 1915. MOTOGRAPHY 189 charge: the M. P. Nczvs with W. A. Johnston; the N. Y. Telegraph vvitli a man in charge. Next was Motography with copies, N. G. Caward in charge. Then the Western Union Telegraph office. The Art Slide Company, 964 Market street, San Francisco, with Al Williams, president, in charge, assisted by P. Young and Mabel Young, occupied a booth at the east end of the building with a display of slides, motion and still. Also a display of Balopticon machines. Next this was a double booth of American Photoplayers Sales Company, 130 Kearny street. San Francisco, with A. L. Abrams in charge. One big' Fotoplayer in operation all day. Tuesday afternoon a brief session of the convention was held at which the principal address was delivered by Walter Bloeser of the Chicago Tribune's advertising department. Mr. Bloeser spoke as follows : Time does not permit me to say all the good things I would like to have you know — consequently I will try to confine my talk to a few words of cheer. In this day of disturbed commercialism the question "Is business good?" is heard everywhere. As one exhibitor to another then, it reminds me of a short colloquy I had the pleasure of hearing over the shoulders of two exhibitors the other day. Jones queried of Smith, "Is business good?" And Smith replied curtly, "Even." Jones, somewhat befuddled with his answer inquired, "Just what d'ye mean, even?" And Smith retorted with a deal of surprise mixed with fury, "Why, old man, just this. Night before last I took in $400, and last night I lost $400." So from this little anecdote, gentlemen, we can extract a nucleus for the exhibition business — a basis for its being, as it were. May we say that an exhibitor is a business man, strictly speaking? Or shall . we say blatantly and intrepidly that the rules and standards of practice in every day business do not apply to the exhibition business? From what I have seen I would prefer the latter statement as the best and safest axiom for an exhibitor to follow. The show business proper is a gamble, try hard as an exhibitor will to gird his game with business principles. He buys and sells like the ordinary merchant, I will admit, inasmuch as he pays out money for an article and then tries to vend it: but he cannot do so with the same keen judgment, good discrimination or professional experience that the merchant can, because as Artemas Ward would say, there ain't no sech animiles in the film zoo. Poor exhibitor, his case is really pathetic. Like Sisyphus he tries to roll his stone to the top of the hill of fame and when the goal is within sight something slips, the props go from under him and down goes all that represents money, labor and energy. Truthfully putting it, the exhibitor is the agent for the manufacturer, the servant of an uncompromising and selfish public — and unto himself he is the victim of the circumstances in which he moves and lives and has his being. Try to analyze his case and you have nothing left except startling incongruities. His chances for existence are as hopeful as they are hopeless. He makes and breaks alternately. He is a failure and he is a success. He is necessary and unnecessary in the business. In short, and oh how painful to say, he is and he is not. My heart goes out to the exhibitor though, as does yours. Some day when the wrack and ruin of evolution ceases and the process of reconstruction begins anew, I can see Mr. Exhibitor the idol of the motion picture industry — a businessman with a place in this world — a place exalted, dignified and respected. Allow me to make this comparison if it illustrates my point more clearly. The exhibitor is like the vanishing element in a chemical compound. In order to make a film concoction that is full of zest and flavor, you need him above all other ingredients. But after the mixture is complete you can't find him there no matter how good a chemsit you are, because as I have said before he is the vanishing element. So much, exhibitors, for what you are and now let me say the word of cheer I started out to do and what I think you will be. First, a few suggestions. Let's not preach brotherhood — the kind that is usually embodied in the form of a certificate of a league, prevention of trouble, or mutual protection society. I believe the present condition of the business will not allow you to practice it. You would all like to, I know, but somehow it is proven that it can't be done. However, I am going to proclaim patience on your part and fraternalism not on the sleeve or lapel but in your very heart and soul. Rules and regulations never eliminated the crooks in any business. Laws are organized mimicry on which a body of lawmakers batten and fatten. The only hope lies in what you yourself think, act and do. Don't worry about the "guy" who is crooked, the outsider who ventures into the business and makes it hard for you. He'll soon fall on his own sword because men by habit and nature who are untrue to a trust are a menace to themselves, a trial to their neighbors and a burden to their friends just in the proportion that they are crooked. About the business man with some money who ventures into the game and makes things hard for you — he should have no terrors for you. His end begins when he makes the first step into the game. And why worry? Because a man can pack the cards is no indication or proof that he can play. Isn't that true? Consider, gentlemen, that you are in a business that is newer than any in the world and it is quite natural to assume that there is yet a lot of fixing, rearranging and constructing to be done. For instance, the steel business was not built and made in a day. The world was created in seven days, but you know — and don't you dare deny it — that it is still in a deplorable condition. So be hopeful and happy, gentlemen— get your smiles limbered up — let's have a little more real optimism and a clearer perception of the rosy side of things, for we know where there is one. Now, gentlemen, I don't feel that I have told you anything new. Probably, though, I did tell you things you already know, but didn't know you knew. I did show you, I hope, how I appreciate what your work is and the hard part you have to play ; and knowing this as I do, I can frankly say in a few words: Work on day by day — wear rose-colored spectacles when things look blue — await patiently the day of reconstruction in the film business which we are actually passing through right now and withal look to Truth as your standard and practice it whenever and wherever you can at all times and success is bound to be yours. David W. Griffith's address on "The Rise and Fall of Free Speech and Personal Liberty in America," was given before one of the most enthusiastic assemblages for which a speaker might hope. Applause upon his arrival in the Civic Center Auditorium convention hall on the morning of July IS was continued and hearty and when his talk was finished three cheers and a rising vote of thanks were accorded him. The talk was the feature of the day's business session and was well delivered. President Marion S. Pearce, presiding at the meeting, introduced Mr. Griffith and afterward expressed the League's thanks to him for his presence and talk. Mr. Griffith had the following to say : Freedom of speech and publication is guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States and in the constitutions of practically all the states. Unjustifiable speech or publication ma}' be punished, but cannot be forbidden in advance. The Supreme Court of California held that a regular theatrical production could be protected from injunction on the ground that it was a publication. Mayor Gaynor — that great jurist who stood out from the ordinary, gallery-playing, hypocritical type of politician, who plays for that hydra-headed monster called "public clamor" in America, as a white rose stands out from a field of sewer-fed weeds, said in vetoing a censorship ordinance in the city of New York : "Ours is a government of free speech and a free press. That is the corner-stone of free government. The phrase 'the press' includes all methods of expression by writing or pictures * * * if this (moving picture) ordinance be legal, then a similar ordinance in respect of the newspapers and the theaters generally would be legal." We do not fear censorship, for we have no wish to offend with indecencies or obscenities, but we do 'demand as a right the liberty to show the dark side of wrong, that we may illuminate the bright side of virtue — the same liberty that is conceded to the art of the written word — that art to which we owe the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. The rise and fall of free speech in America — add to this the rise and fall of Liberty in America — and when you go home tonight and have your glass of beer, which the long-haired angels of reform, walking through their mis