Moving Picture World (May 1919)

May 3, 1919 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 677 "DEATH VALLEY" THEATRES PROSPER Oregon Territory Familiarly Known by This Sobriquet Feels Business Impetus — Hill Expanding DEATH Valley to the front! This may be doubted by a lot of road men who have made this district of Oregon in the good old days, but the fact nevertheless remains. Travelers invading the Willamette Valley are getting the business as they never have before. True, the prices the Oregon exhibitors are paying for service are right down to rock bottom, but they are booking service and that's a big consolation and a lot more than they did in wartimes. A recent trip south from Portland finds the theatres in the district in question open on an average of five nights a week. There is a prospect of additional show days now that the boys are coming home and the "flu" scares are over. Rental Prices Practically Nothing. "Death Valley" theatres are paying no prices for service, the road men say, and New York home offices not having a thorough knowledge of the true situation, should not expect too much of their representatives on the price question in this district. The low film rental is due to the lack of competition in most of the Williamette Valley towns. They are "one man towns." South from Portland such are Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Newberg, Silverton, Mt. Angel, Woodburn, Lebanon, Albany, Corvallis, McMinnville, Dallas, Sheridan, Independence, Eugene, Cottage Grove, Harrisburg, which is at the lower end of the Valley. C. F. Hill, former manager of the Goldwyn Company and now head of the Globe Theatres Company, controls the situation in Albany, has the biggest house in Roseburg and the new Rialto in Aledford. Rumors are that Mr. Hill's company plans a new theatre in Grants Pass which will give him a complete string of houses down the valley and incidentally the key to the film buying question. That Mr. Hill is going after the business strong in his towns is indicated by the installation of a new organ in Albany and improvements in his other theatre. L. J. Percy, of the Medford firm of Moran and Percy, managers the Antlers in Roseburg for Mr. Hill and A. J. Moran manages the Rialto in Medford. Nelson and Henkle, who control the situation in Independence, are planning to expand. A Scenarist Gains Salary Verdict in Appeals Court VERDICT for $1,600 against the World Film Corporation and in favor of Virginia Tyler Hudson, scenario writer, was handed down in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on April 17. In January, 1918, at the time of the reorganization of the World Film Corporation and when William A. Brady retired as DirectorGeneral, Miss Hudson, who had been in charge of all of the scenario work for the corporation, was released with nineteen weeks of a j-ear's contract still to run. She sued for $1,900 salary and won a verdict with costs in the City Court. On appeal by the World Film Corporation, this verdict was affirmed in the Supreme Court. The World Film Corporation again appealed to the Appellate Division. The -Appellate Division reduced the verdict by $300 because of three weeks spent by Miss Hudson in a local hospital at the time of the reorganization of the company. The validity of the contract was sustained. Miss Hudson is the wife of Grant L. Brightman, a ^ c'v ^'o• ' lie" spaper man. Dorothy Dalton and Her Dad Leave Los Angeles for New York, where Dorothy Will Make a Big Production for Paran ount. Dorothy's in the Big Town Now. Dorothy Dalton Comes East to Make Big Production DOROTHY DALTON, Thomas H. Ince's Paramount star, slipped into New York recently quite unheralded except for the announcement, made some weeks ago from California, that her trip to the East was contemplated. Miss Dalton was accompanied on her journey by her parents and maid and is stopping at the Hotel Algonquin. Mr. Ince has sent Miss Dalton to New York to do what, it is said, will be the most sensational picture of her career before the camera. The picture is to be a veritable de luxe production, it is said, and will have as locales New York and Paris — hence the advisability of doing it in an Eastern setting. It is to be highly dramatic, dealing with the Apaches of the French capital and with people in the higher strata of both cities. Seabury Out of Organization. W. M. Seabury announces that he is no longer connected with the Film Clearing House, the Independent Sales Corporation, the Rothapfel Picture Corporation or any other enterprise with which these companies are now affiliated. Mr. Seabury says it is a pleasure for him to express publicly his best wishes for the continued success of his friends and associates in the companies named. He is devoting his time to his professional duties. It Was Night in the Jungle. No Sound Save the Soft Pad, Pad of the Lion's But We're Giving Away Inside Stuff. All We Can Say Is That the Above Is a Scene from a Forthcoming Universal Comedy. Rowley to Build in Ranger. Announcement has been made by E. H. Rowley, one of the owners of the R. and R. picture shows of West Texas, that he has closed a contract for the location of a moving picture theatre at Ranger, the town made famous by the discovery of oil, and will soon have it in operation. This gives the R. and R. interests movie houses at Abilene, San Angelo, Sweetwater, Hillsboro, Ranger and a number of other Texan towns.