Motography (Jan-Jun 1917)

March 17, 1917. MOTOGRAPHY 561 "Split Reel" Notes for Theater Men HOW OTHERS ARE STEERING THE SHIP T HE Drury Lane Theater, London, will present D. W. Griffith's "Intolerance," beginning April 7. Owing to the lack of coal, the military authorities of Munich, Bavaria, have decided to close all theaters, meeting and concert halls. The Japanese Gardens on top of the Riviera Theater, New York, playing a picture policy similar to the Strand since November 1, has been closed. Paris cinema managers have countered the government's new taxes by charging an increase of twenty-five per cent on the price of admission, and they find that the oublic pays it willingly. At a meeting of the Northside Chamber of Commerce in Pittsburgh recently a definite movement to secure better and cleaner picture shows was started. John Gestal, proprietor of the Cozy Theater at Dollar Bay, Minnesota, will erect a new theater in the near future. The old building of the Christian church of Newcastle, Indiana, is being converted by Cicero M. Bailey into a moving picture theater. The second installment of the Prizma pictures in natural colors which are being shown each week at the Strand Theater in New York will be "Uncle Sam's Troops on the Mexican Border." Thirty Milwaukee theaters have offered their services to the Red Cross publicity campaign. They will show Red Cross slides in connection with their performances. The magistrates in a certain district in England, in renewing picture theater licenses, have asked the exhibitors to show educational pictures to children and to submit programs for children's performances to the Bench. A correspondent at St. Charles, Minnesota, writes of a recent visit of W. H. Strauss, assistant manager of the Vitagraph office in Minneapolis, commending Mr. Strauss for his efforts to bring about closer co-operation between exhibitors and the editors of their local newspapers. F. E. Wilk, manager of the Opera House, of Syracuse, Nebraska, announces the early opening of the new theater. Two Powers machines and transverter have been installed by the Western Supply Company of Omaha. Vitagraph, Bluebird and Mutual pictures are to be shown at the new playhouse. Under the terms of a resolution adopted by the Oklahoma branch of the Motion Picture Exhibitors' League, members who disregard their pledge to show only clean pictures, are subject to expulsion. The city prosecutor of Richmond, Indiana, has been asked by a committee of citizens to close picture houses on Sunday. Every picture house proprietor in Reading, Pennsylvania, has received a notice to install gas lighting systems, auxiliary to electric lights. Trouble with electric lighting circuits was the cause of the order. Clifford R. Trimble, manager of the Apollo Theater, of Princeton, Illinois, is offering one act of vaudeville and six reels of pictures at each performance and a complete change of bill every day. Manager S. L. Rothapfel of the Rialto Theater, New York, will personally direct the orchestra during the showing of Sarah Bernhardt in "Mothers of France," in the absence of Hugo Riesenfeld, conductor of the Rialto orchestra. Mr. Riesenfeld is taking a vacation. The x\lfred Hamburger theaters in Chicago, numbering a dozen or more, issue admission books entitling the bearer to admittance to any Hamburger theater, for which the buyer pays a sum twenty per cent smaller than the single admissions would cost. Joseph Silverman, an exhibitor at Kansas City, Missouri, was recently arrested on a charge of violating the child labor law. The board of public welfare complained that Silverman employed Earl Dillard, ten years old, as janitor, keeping him out of school and working him until about 2 o'clock every morning. Topeka, Kansas, is favored as the headquarters of the proposed Kansas movie censorship board by the senate committee on federal and state affairs. The house bill passed by the house was concurred in by the senate committee with exception of the location of the board's headquarters. J. Louis Rome, manager of the Broadway Theater, Baltimore, Maryland, distributed cards to advertise "The Pearl of Paradise," a Mutual production, on one side of which he printed the following: SHE is the only white girl within 1000 miles. does not understand why people wear clothes. discards her clothing and dives into the water. WHO IS SHE On the reverse side of the card was a picture of Marguerita Fischer and the message "See Marguerita Fischer in 'The Pearl of Paradise' at the Broadway Theater tomorrow." Joe La Rose, master of effects at The Rialto, was ill recently, so Mr. Rothapfel stepped into his place, operating the color harmonies, managing the various curtains and scenic effects, and putting in the sound-illusions whenever the action on the screen demanded it. The Rialto staff is agreed that the boss is quite a handy man to have around the place.