Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

774 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. XIX, No. 16. Realty Corporation. The new house, according to Mr. Mark, will seat more than 4,000 persons. There will be a roof garden which will accommodate 1,500. 4* 4? 4? Men employes of Loew's Bijou Theatre at Birmingham, Ala., recently had a "smokeless Monday," all donating the money they would have spent for tobacco toward the Loew Theatre employes' ambulance to be maintained on the west front. 4> 4? 4? The First National Exhibitors' Circuit has been elected to membership in the distributors' division of the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry. Paralta Plays, Inc., was elected to membership in the producers' division. rj* »J* rj* The Louisiana Moral Photoplay Association has been formed at New Orleans "to correct abuses of the pictures." Thirty local societies representing more than 20,000 members have become affiliated. The head of the organization is Dr. W. Schettegrell. 4? 4* 4? The motion picture fraternity of California, it is announced, will establish what will be known as the Motion Picture Home for Convalescent Soldiers in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce has approved the proposition. Charles Murray, the Paramount-Mack Sennett .comedian, has been appointed president of the organization back of the venture and Mrs. J. Stuart Blackton secretary. Mrs. Cecil B. DeMille is treasurer. The advisory board consists of David Wark Griffith, Thomas H. Ince, Mack Sennett, Jesse L. Lasky, Cecil B. DeMille, Dustin Farnum, Charlie Chaplin, William S. Hart, George Beban, Frank Keenan, J. Stuart Blackton and What must the wild waves be saying? Ifs Mary Thurman of the Paramount-Mack Sennett Comedies. William D. Taylor. A fund of $35,000 will be raised. •ic 4 41 Frank Crane, director and supervisor of the Goldwyn production of "Thais," with Mary Garden, has signed a long term contract with World Pictures and is already at work directing Madge Evans and Johnnie Hines in "Clarrissa" at the Fort Lee studio. 41 4* 4? Sam E. Morris, general manager of the central eastern states for Select, with headquarters at Cleveland, recently spent several days at the home office in New York. 4? 4* 4? The city commission of Birmingham, Ala., is considering the erection of an open air theatre at Capitol Place, with a seating capacity of 5,000 to 7,000. 4> 4> 4> Theatres in Tiffin, O., will be closed on Sunday after June 1, under orders of Mayor Eidt. The action follows a protest of the ministerial association. ■$>. 4? 4? Charles Garner, manager of the Toronto office of the George Kleine system, has resigned to take up farming near Cleveland, O., his home city. 4* 4* 4? Vincent McCabe, Canadian manager for William Fox, has returned to Toronto after a trip through the eastern coast provinces. 4 4* 4" E. J. Allen of Ogden, Utah, is planning the erection of a combination motion picture theatre and hotel at Lander, Wyo. New York Bill Now Before Senate (Continued from first page) William A. Brady, president of the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry, delivered a strong appeal for the passage of the bill. He said : "Every Y. M. C. A. organization and the cantonments have motion picture exhibitions on Sunday and the reason is that they keep the soldiers from going to worse places and now we find the disreputable places closed. Opposition More Lenient "I am glad to note the ladies and gentlemen in opposition to this bill are handling the motion picture business a little more tenderly than they did a year ago. A year ago I understand we were referred to as second story workers, children of the devil and people raised in hell. And now I wish to read a letter. ''The motion picture theatres of the country are rendering so substantial a service in aiding the 'fourminute men as spokesmen of the national cause that I could not willingly fail to acknowledge the debt the country owes these theatre managers. Their response to requests has been hearty and their co-operation has been mos't helpful.' The letter was signed Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States." In behalf of organized labor, Peter J. Brady said that motion pictures are a great factor in keeping the families of the working classes together, and while the rich enjoy their automobile rides, golf and tennis on Sundays, others should not be restrained from enjoying their entertainment on the Sabbath. The great mass of people want to go to the motion picture theatres, he said, and they should have that privilege if they desire. Pastor Speaks for Bill Rev. William IT. Jackson of Glen Head, Long Island, who has in the past been opposed to films on Sunday, declared he is strongly in favor of them now. Cthers who spoke in favor of the measure were: Helen Duey, associate editor, Woman's Home Companion : William Capes, secretary of the Mayors' Conference, and Judge Kenefick of Buffalo. Among the prominent film men present were Frederick H. Elliott, secretary of the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry; Arthur Friend, counsel for the Metro Film Corporation; John Manheimer. president of the Brooklyn Exhibitors; John Whitman. Cinematograph Exhibitors', Club; Sidney Cohen, Manhattan Exhibition League ; M. J. Gerson, vice president. Queens Borough Exhibitors' League, and Charles O'Reilly of the Harlem Exhibitors' League. The speakers against the bill were Mrs. Ella Booles of the Women's Temperance Union, Rev. T. R. Good of Schenectady and W. W. Duncan of the Kings Countv Sabbath School Association.