Moving Picture World (Jun 1916)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD June 17, 1916 Keystone Cops, L-Ko Cops, Carter De Haven and Pat Rooney, Universal. Fifth event — Bicycle challenge race; the Masked Marvels, Keystone; McGuire and Turpin, Vogue. For the comedy championship. Sixth event — Two-mile challenge auto race; Frank Goode, Fine Arts; Andy Anderson, Keystone. Seventh event — Ten-mile championship, Barney Oldfield trophy; William Russel, American Film Company; Arthur Houson, Thomas H. Ince; "Dutch" Megers, Keystone, Keystone special; Louis L. Cody, Mabel Normand studio; Phile Goodfriend, Vitagraph. Special events — Filming motion picture comedy, L-KO and Keystone companies. Free for all stunt contest. Prize for most spectacular. Exhibition, "How Not to Drive," open to all film comedians. Al Levy, judge. Opposes Mayor on Film Commissioner Question. Despite Mayor Sebastian's announcement that he would make no appointment to the new office of film commissioner on the ground that Los Angeles needs no censorship of motion pictures, the civil service commission has ordered examination for the office continued and completed. The written examination for the film commissionership, which will pay a salary of $175, already has been held. The oral examination for the forty-eight candidates will be caljed for the latter part of next week. The examination for police detectives, called for June 5, has been postponed by the civil service commission until July 5. "Gloria's Romance" Heads the Bill at Pantages. The advent this week of Billie Burke in George Kleine's serial. "Gloria's Romance," as the headliner at Pantages, makes a new departure in the policy of this popular vaudeville house. Heretofore Mr. Pantages has never played anything on his program which could be billed above his vaudeville acts. He has run a number of serial pictures and feature films, but no one before has been advertised as the exclusive head-liner of the program. There are very few stars before the public who are more universally popular than Billie Burke, and her sweet and winsome personality transfers to the screen in most attractive fashion, and the producers of "Gloria's Romance" have not overlooked any opportunity to make use of it. The serial will be shown in Pantages' Spokane and Tacoma houses at the same time it is running here. Los Angeles Film Brevities. The fifteen-thousand-dollar St. James Methodist Episcopal Church, now under construction, is to be equipped with a projection machine and a complete outfit for putting on educational and biblical pictures. Several other churches are trying to secure moving picture machines for such purposes. William J. Fahey, proprietor of the Joyland Theater in Long Beach, has taken a lease on a theater which is being constructed in his city at a cost of $15,000. The new house will be at 30 Pine avenue and will be modern and up to the minute. It is to be called The Paramount Theater, and will be opened in about three months. Writers at the American have organized an informal club. The first dinner has been held in Santa Barbara with over a dozen present. The pen pushers and scenarioists who enjoyed the feast were Editor in Chief William Pigott, "Pop" Hoadley, one of the veterans; William Parker, author of the submarine serial now being made by the Flying "A"; Al Santell. Harold Hoadley, Donald W. Rayburn, John Wall, E. H. Gooden, Julian L. Lamothe, A. W. Coldewey, George Wight and Karl Coolidge. R. S. Sturgeon at the Vitagraph is finishing the big detective story that he has been working on for some weeks. One set he used represented a courtroom. In the audience he had several hundred extras yelling and protesting. In this scene George Holt, the heavy, runs through the crowd and jumps from the window. In the picture he did a real leap from the fourth story of the real court house, into a firemans' net, and was uninjured. Clem Pope, manager of the publicity department of the E. & R. Jungle Film Company, has invested in a natty red racer. Ollie Kirkby, one of Kalem's social buccaneers, is in the hospital suffering from an injury sustained in picturemaking. A skating rink in Long Beach was the scene this week of a jolly party when the Balboa gave one of its regular month ly skates for the employees. Art Acord, who is known in Mutual films as a great cowboy, was slightly injured last week when he was pitched from a bucking broncho. Tom Chatterton, who is featured in the submarine serial for the Flying A, last week came to town to see old friends, do a few scenes, and incidentally drop into the World office and leave his subscription for a year. He says he likes the American and Santa Barbara, but it is good to see the old faces. Kalem has rented a ranch for James W. Home, who is starting work on the first installment of the new serial he is making with Marin Sais. Hal Lloyd, who is creating quite a character in Lonesome Luke in Rolin-Pathe comedies, together with Director Hal Roach, Cameraman Jim Crosby and Harry Pollard went to Tia Juana again this week to get additional scenes for the comedy which they made there last month. Cecil B. De Mille has returned to the Lasky studio in Hollywood after a trip to New York and return, via the Mexican border. He dropped off in the south to look over locations for a coming Paramount picture. Ruth Stonehouse, who was injured while making scenes for a big five reel circus picture when she jumped from a trapeze to a horse's back, is out of the hospital and is hard at work on a new picture in which she plays a leading part. This week the Lasky company burned a small village for the newest Wallace Reid-Cleo Ridgley picture. The town was specially built for this purpose on the Lasky ranch. About 500 persons took part in the fire scenes at night. Ranchers from miles around stayed up all night to see the film actors doing their stunts. Here's a note that shows how the folks of the American up at Santa Barbara are progressing: Fortune has dealt a royal hand during the last month to the members of Carl Le Viness Company of the American Film Company, presenting them with four baby girls. The fathers are Mr. Le Viness, William Parker, Abe Monlan and Al Vosburgh. George Kleine has opened an exchange in the loft of the Knickerbocker Building on South Olive street, where the Billie Burke serial, "Gloria's Romance," will be distributed to the southland exhibitors. All of the pictorial exhibit made at the great motion picture exposition recently in New York has been returned to the Chamber of Commerce and may be seen by the people of Los Angeles and vicinity at any time. The film division will be shown every morning beginning at 10 o'clock. Seeing this picture is the same as visiting nearly a dozen of the leading film studios of this vicinity. Another moving picture is "The Wining of the Peach." The scene is laid in Tulare County. The pictures are free, as are the lectures and concerts that fill every half-hour period of the day. The work on the photoplay feature, "Saul of Tarsus," will be resumed this week by the American Woman Film Co. Although J. Farrell McDonald, the director, has not entirely recovered from the effects of the automobile accident in which he and a number of the members of the company were injured Wednesday last week, still the work will be carried on in his absence, the directing being temporarily in the hands of P. Z. Hartigan. All the persons injured in the accident are now reported out of danger.