Motography (Jul-Sep 1916)

376 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. XVI, No. 7. district where race suicide is unknown, and if so make a direct play to the children and see if it does not result in a large attendance of the parents also. 52. I have a very poor attendance at my theater during the summer months, just about one-half the regular patronage. I have thought that it would be better to close it up for the receipts simply pay expenses and there is no profit at all but the same amount of work. Lots of people have advised me not to close because they thought it would hurt my business when I opened up again in the fall. You see there is one other motion picture theater in town and that keeps open all summer and if I closed all the people coming to my house would probably go to him. I think the town could support one theater during the summer all right, but it is just starvation for two of us. What do you think about it, Mr. Rothapfel? Do you think my regular patrons would get so used to the other house that they would go there entirely after I opened again? Cannot you and the other theater man get together and agree to both close during the hot weather? This would be the easiest solution of the whole matter, for then it would not hurt either of you and your net profits at the end of the year would probably be just as great or greater. You might make an agreement whereby you each stay open every other night and both run on Saturdays and Sundays and so make an equal division of the profits as well as the losses ; or perhaps open only on Saturdays and Sundays. If you happen to be deadly rivals and will not co-operate with each other then you are the best judge of whether you dare to close and leave the field to him entirely. It seems to me in many cases it would be wiser for the exhibitor to close right up entirely instead of trying to drag along through the one or two summer months when business is so poor that he is making no profit and at times running at a loss. I do not believe the possible decrease in attendance when he opens in the fall on account of the people having become accustomed to another theater would result in as much of a loss as would result from running with no profit during the summer. There is no real reason either why there should be a falling off of patronage when the theater opens if the manager is alert and active to the possibilities of arousing the curiosity of the townspeople. Herald your opening in some very spectacular fashion. Have some special feature or some novelty which will be a drawing card and make a big event of your coming back in the fall so that the people will all want to be there on the first night. The public is fickle, you know, and after they have been going to the other theater all summer when you were closed they will be ready for a change and will come back to you. At any rate it is up to you to inveigle them back. Your question brings out a situation which is very much to be regretted in the exhibiting business, and one which it is to be hoped will be improved in the coming years — this is the fact that there is no co-operation between theater managers in the same locality. It seems to be a case of no friendly rivalry but a cutthroat, fight-to-the-death matter. Why is it that just because two men are in the same business they should be deadly enemies? Why is it that competition cannot be carried on in a fair and square way with the idea of the survival of the fittest? What would business be if we did not have competition? We would jog along in the same rut and never advance, but rather deteriorate. There would be no impetus to keep us up to standard and we would soon get out of the habit of exerting ourselves. But when by getting together you can increase everyone's profits and join in compe tition against greater forces in rival localities which are trying to put you out of business or overshadow you, why should not competitors in the same neighborhood co-operate? If two or three theaters are simply struggling to make both ends meet during the summer why not get together and all close? Why not agree on a standard admission price and all stick to it? This would not be bridling any exhibitor's ambition or originality, but simply giving him the added co-operative foundation and strength on which to build. Hughes on Censorship in Campaign Hon. Charles E. Hughes, nominee of the Republican party for President of the United States, through his personal secretary, Lawrence Grim, has promised that he will discuss the question of the regulation of the motion picture industry in his pre-election campaign addresses. At the request of numerous persons connected with the industry Motography recently sent a letter to Governor Hughes requesting that, for the benefit of the motion picture industry as a whole, he define his position on the question of regulation. At the time Motography made the request explanation was made that while the industry as a whole was against all forms of censorship certain manufacturers and distributors had taken the stand that if there must, be a censorship it should be a one board control in the hands of the national government. Governor Hughes was requested to express his judicial opinion as to whether a national board of censorship would eliminate all forms of local censorship and express his opinion if the matter of states' rights would be involved. His attention was called to the fact that the motion picture business is strictly interstate and not intrastate. In answer to this communication Secretary Grim wrote under the date of July 24 as follows : "Your letter of the 20th instant addressed to Governor Hughes has been received. The demands upon the governor for expressions of various kinds are so numerous and the pressure upon him at this time is so great, that he is compelled to confine his expressions to public addresses. If you will read these, you will obtain a clear idea of his attitude toward the various issues of the campaign." Exhibitor Enters Producing Field Nathan Hirsh, a New York exhibitor and president of the Pioneer Feature Film Corporation, has entered the field of producing, and at present is taking "water-stuff" at Block Island for his first feature. This will be a five-reel drama with Em. Gorman, the celebrated juvenile star, in the lead. To get the correct atmosphere Mr. Hirsh is sparing neither time nor expense, and is taking his company to a number of different localities in search of local color. Being a successful exhibitor for the past ten years, and an equally successful exchange man for two years, Mr. Hirsh is peculiarly adapted to understand the various requisites which combine to make a feature a smashing box office attraction. The feature will be released on the state rights basis. Henry Kernan, latest of the directors to join the Vogue-Mutual studios, is now at work on his first production.