Movie Age (1927)

PAGE 6 MOVIE AGE Has the Industry Forgotten ‘the Picture’s the Thing?’ M. P. T. O. A. Plans Nation-wide Exploitation Service Based On the Merits of the Picture — Not on ‘Presentation’ Frills NOTE — The M. P. T. O. A., in the following official statement to the trade, sounds a warning against present trends in which mo¬ tion picture theatres are playing up the “prologue,” the “special acts” the “atmospheric presentation” to the detraction of the feature pic¬ ture itself. It attacks present ex¬ ploitation methods as being untruth¬ ful, and often entirely devoid of the elements of appeal which might otherwise have put the picture over on its own merits. Accordingly, * the M. P. T. O. A. promises shortly to formulate a super-exploitation service, based on the theory in ac¬ tual practice that the “picture’s the thing”, and not the ‘extras’! — (The EDITOR) New York. — (Special) An exploita¬ tion division will soon be in full opera¬ tion at the headquarters of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America in New York City through which theatre owners will be aided by practical exhibi¬ tors of nation-wide prominence in mak¬ ing their business pay. National President Woodhull and Business Manager O’Toole brought this matter to the attention of the Columbus convention in their reports and it was since approved by the Administrative Committee. The primary pui’pose of this Exploita¬ tion Division or Bureau is to make the “Picture the Thing” in motion picture theatres; giving it first place and if pos¬ sible avoid all artificial stimulants like presentations, special concert or musical acts. This is not due to any aversion to these side entertainment elments. But the danger of relegating the motion pic¬ ture to a secondary position in many mo¬ tion picture houses is so obvious that it may upset production calculations en¬ tirely and add to business uncertainties now entirely too prevalent in the in¬ dustry. It is the purpose of the officials of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of Am¬ erica to enter into conference with pro¬ ducing elements along this line with a view to so elevating picture standards from an entertainment and box office standpoint as to make it entirely prac¬ tical to stand on the picture alone, and with intelligently directed exploitations sell it to the public. As matters stand now in the greater number of instances the exploitation books give little infor¬ mation. One would suppose that many were written academically without the writer ever having seen the picture. In fact this is too often the case, the M. P. T. 0. A believes. In such instances the finer and more outstanding appeal points in the picture may not be taken into consideration and the reading notices in the different city and town newspapers are so lifeless at times as to betray this condition. In this way millions of dollars are thrown away in foolish and non-applicable moves in exploitation and many extra millions side-stepped by the trade which would come to us if we made more intelligent moves. Fancy books of pictures, with stars and other personages displayed mean nothing. It is the gasoline and other products which tell the story with the Standard Oil company and John D. Rockefeller never yet stamped his face on a barrel of oil. Henry Ford keeps his face off the automobiles and the buyers of any product are never as much (Continued on Page 8) Music Society To Demand A Music Tax Of Ten Cents Per Seat Under New Rule Payment of the license fee of ten cents per seat will be insisted upon by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, according to Silvio Hein, of the Society’s Administra¬ tive committee. The only exceptions to be made will be in cases where exhibit¬ ors prove they cannot pay this amount. Notices are being sent out to exhibit¬ ors all over the country that the present agreements below the ten-cent scale will not be renewed and new applications must be made for the use of copyrighted music. In most cases these rights start September 1. The former practice generally has been to extend the copyright contracts from year to year, but it is stated the society’s plan is to discontinue this ar¬ rangement in order to make the ten cent license effective, with concessions only in a few cases. It is stated that settle¬ ments of three and four cents have been made in the past in order to avoid law¬ suits. Federal Trade Commission To Launch Sweeping Probe Of all Phases of Indtistry Washington. — Following the filing of complaints from many branches of the industry charging unfair trade practices, the Department of Justice has made known its intention of widening its scope of investigations of the motion picture industry, to include virtually every phase of the business. In addition to the sweeping investigation which will be immediately started, it was learned that renewed agitation for national censor¬ ship and a “blue law” for the District of Columbia would come before the next session of congress. Following the Federal Trade Commis¬ sion’s order to prevent alleged unfair trade practices of the Paramount-Famous-Lasky Corporation, many reform elements have demanded consideration of the national censorship law. The business methods and habits of both exhibitors, distributors and producers and even individual stars will be placed under the official X-ray of the depart¬ ment, and particular scrutiny of sever¬ al completed and contemplated mergers, in which unfair practices are charged, and also several alleged combinations of exhibitors, will be conducted, the de¬ partment has announced. Special agents have already been des¬ patched to Hollywood and New York and other centers of the industry from whose reports Attorney General Sargent will base future action. Several complaints have come to the department’s attention from exhibitors, asserting certain combines of distribut¬ ors to dictate prices and programs, while other charges have been filed from pro¬ ducers relating to several combinations of exhibitors who have joined hands to force their terms on the distributors. Eddie Cline Back Again To Direct Sennett Girls Eddie Cline, who directed the original Mack Sennett beauties in the days when the array included Gloria Swanson, Mabel Normand, Marie 'Prevost and Phillis Haver, has returned to make the new series of Sennett Girl Comedies for Pathe. When Sennett concentrated his ef¬ forts on other comedy series, Cline found himself in demand as a director of feature comedies. He directed Bus¬ ter Keaton, Jackie Coogan, Douglas MacLean and others. Cline began his motion picture ca¬ reer in the Sennett organization as an actor — one of the widely popular “Key¬ stone cops.” Later, he became Sennett’s assistant.