Motography (Jul - Dec 1915)

968 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. XIV, No. 19. The Board of Trade and the League THE Motion Picture Exhibitors' League of America, which was organized by and for exhibitors only, has just had a very good convention. Those who attended and those who read the convention report in this number should be more than ever convinced that the exhibitors' association is a necessity. Meanwhile the newly inaugurated Motion Picture Board of Trade — organized for all branches of the business, manufacturers, exchange, exhibitors, press — is going out after all the substantial members it can get. That means that the bigger exhibitors, at least, will be invited to join. And we believe they should join. The Board of Trade is, potentially at least, a splendid institution. It is too young to make very definite statements as to where its greatest strength will lie. No doubt changes will have to be made before it achieves its full power, as is the case with all new organizations. But the men who have put their fortunes into the business, as exhibitors or as anything else, should want to sit in the councils of the trade the board represents. They will want to get in early, to have a voice in whatever reconstruction may be necessary to perfect the new federation. The point of this editorial is that the Board of Trade is in no sense a substitute for an organization of exhibitors. The exhibitors of this country must continue to have their own society ; indeed, they must continue to work for its increase and prosperity. There is no reason why every exhibitor with a well established business and an investment to protect should not be a member of both organizations. They can well afford it, for a good trade association is like the paint on a house — the Dutch have a saying that good paint costs nothing. Looking upon the Board of Trade with the utmost favor, as we do, we still maintain that the thing of prime importance to the exhibitor is the exhibitor's own exclusive association. There is no reason for any interference between the two bodies. We are certain it is not the intention of the Board of Trade to disturb any previously existant organization. Problems such as legislation, censorship, taxation, etc., affect all branches of the business. The Board of Trade is in a splendid position to handle them, and that should be its main function. There are many other problems which affect the exhibitor alone ; and they should be handled by the exhibitor's own association. It is impossible to merge these separate responsibilities; therefore it is necessary to develop separate organizations to the last limit of strength. No exhibitor should withdraw his support from the League, no matter how many other societies he may think it desirable to join. For after all, the League is the only organization that is wholly and entirely for the benefit of the man whose whole fortune and time is tied up in the theater end of the business. Just c ase We've been called all sorts of things in a long and varied career but Ed Kaufman, writing from out on Bill Russell's ranch near Santa Barbara, California, pulled a new one this week when he addressed us as a "Jeffe Politico." It sounds like one of Lloyd Robinson's oldtime insults, Ed, but we'll forgive you until we have time to dig out our Mex dictionary and give a look. In the meantime we'll ask all our other friends (?) to address us by terms we can understand, thus avoiding any possibilities of offense and saving us a lot of trouble. GIVE US A HARD ONE. Dear Colyum: Please tell me what the w. k. P. A.'s would do were those ever-handy words "Petite and Charming" barred when describing a feminine lead? Mac. What's the matter with "Winsome and beautiful?" Or perhaps you prefer "Svelte and bewitching?" The next contribution that comes to hand is a corker, however, and we frankly admit it. Don Bell of Bell & Howell is the chap who slipped it to us and now that we've got the darned thing we scarcely know what to do with it. However, perhaps some of our most faithful followers can help Don out by telling him what the gent wants. The letter is reproduced without a change in punctuation or spelling: Fullerton la oct 14. 1915 dear sir i have gitbin turch with themotin pitcher film manufacturers and since that i would like to know if yo do keep any of the bible senry i would like to no i would like some of them from you so write at once W T T r. Here we are in the middle of the column only to discover that the space which two weeks ago we found so hard to fill at the bottom of this Pinnacle, of Persiflage, and which last week was found to be at the top, is now at this particular spot. However, with a paragraph or two like this, we are safely past the obstacle and once more running smoothly along toward the end. Thus demonstrating our ability to meet any emergency which arises. OUR BURG. Our John R. Freuler of Noo Yawk was back to visit old friends Burg for a few days this wk. J. W. Binder, the silver tongued spell binder of the Board of Trade stopped a couple o days at the La Salle house last wk. and on Sat. last give a free feed to some of Our Villages w. k. epicures. Mae Marsh, the pop. actress of Los Angalaize, was to Our Village but hurried along after being shut out of the Colonial Opry House on acct. she being lessen 21 yrs. old. Ah there Fiske. Some more of your dirty work ! Jack Cunningham, the effete demonstrator of a is abt. our Village these days telling the natives the stock and introducing Cap. Lambert. Art Sawyer what represents the Cort Fillim Co. hereabouts is spreading the gospel about the Cort-Castle fillim what features Vern Castle and his Missus. He's agoing to give a show at the Opry House some day this wk. American Industries for October suggests if catalogs are useless and personal representatives too expensive, why not send to all the Latin American countries an animated catalog? A moving picture of the production and uses of any article. With titles in correct Spanish, or Portuguese for Brazil, the moving picture will introduce an electric heater, a machine-made shoe, cement, or an automobile, more effectively and to more people than a single salesman. By golly, our mention of Christmas last week has sure had an effect we never dreamed of when we wrote it. All the elevator men in our Bldg. has ditched their summer uniforms for the blue they wear in Winter. And strange to say the cold snap hit the S. end of the Bldg. first. Brrr'r! N. G. C.