Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1922)

business meeting in the session at Lexington was in peril of being terminated without consideration of measures that a number of members believed urgent, exclaimed, "Let's not let any member go home without having had a chance to say what's on his mind !" — and this statement stands sufficient as an indication of Mr. Hays' calibre. He believes that every man is entitled to a hearing; he knows that the Academy can achieve the greatest good only by the self-forgetting cooperation of its officers and other members ; and he makes it entirely plain that the duties of the chief executive will be very actively and promptly carried out according to his lights. One of the most interesting bits of news received is the information that the new organization, the Visual Instruction Association of America, is carefully considering whether or not its existence shall be continued. The avowed purpose of this organization has been to serve those phases of visual-instruction work which it was claimed the Academy did not serve. The feeling now seems to be present among thoughtful members of the new group that possibly the quickened activities of the Academy will enable it to serve in the broader way, and any intelligent person recognizes the diseconomy involved when the active functions of two national organizations overlap. The birth of the Visual Instruction Association has been instrumental in bringing the Academy to a realization of a need for the defining and strengthening of its activities; and it is complimentary indeed to the new organization that it is ready, if the welfare of the field demands it, to merge with the organization that is older, nationally recognized, and on a sound ethical basis. The accomplishment of such an affiliation would be an exemplary lesson in the submersion of the less-developed project for the more rapid progress of the greater, thus making for the highest welfare of the field. IT SEEMS NECESSARY TO comment editorially upon a matter that is ordinarily merely editorial routine. Response to a request for an article on slides includes the following comment : "Frankly, I would make a little more desperate effort to contribute to this magazine if it were not in name and in effect so exclusively the agent for a motion-picture propaganda. ... It counts for very little that now and then the magazine has a little squib on slides. It must be clear to the most casual reader that the publication is heart and soul in the movie game and little else." We find ironic amusement in a letter which, after practically declining an invitation to discuss visual aids other than motion pictures, protests because according to his claim the publication does not discuss visual aids other than motion pictures ; the answer to his charge will be found in the carbon copy of the correspondent's letter! Lack of time, or some other reason, has postponed the receipt of a number of articles dealing with slides, museum exhibits, and other still visual aids ; and the one point we want to emphasize is that those visual educators who are primarily interested in still visual aids will not find their interests given commensurate attention in this publication until they co-operate by furnishing editorial material for its columns. A publication can be no more than a reflector for the field it treats ; and Moving Picture Age will gladly reflect thoughts concerning still visual aids as frequently and to as great a degree as the editorial current generated by these visual eduvators will allow. As for being "the agent of a motion-picture propaganda," we are at least interested in the statement, even if not impressed. Authoritative contributors who doubt the worth of films have always had and have now an opportunity to say so in this magazine, and state their reasons ; and the Editor has commented editorially a number of times on the danger of considering motion pictures the be-all and end-all of visual instruction. If the writings of Mr. McClusky and Mr. Freeman— both of these educational psycholo gists advocating investigation of the film rather than blind enthusiasm — and of recognized visual educators, and the less pedagogical records of the experiences of other users of visual aids, constitute motion-picture propaganda, the publication gladly admits the charge. HOW LONG CAN ONE class of citizens determine the policies and acts of the religious and educational institutions of our country? The question is relevant in view of the dictatorship established by a certain proportion of the motion-picture theatre owners in the United States. This group, evidently goaded to desperation by the falling off of receipts and the steady growth in the number of schools and churches installing projectors, threatens to withhold all business from distributors that supply non-theatrical institutions with dramatic films of any kind or age. And for a time this radical measure, this travesty of democracy, has actually accomplished its purpose. But now the distributors are becoming restive. No man with any backbone is ready to assent meekly when one of his customers says : "If you do businesss with this or that person I will take my trade away from you !" The weakness of this demand is that thetheatre owner, while seeking to cut off from the distributor a steady source of revenue on used theatrical films, offers him nothing to compensate for the lost business ; in other words, in this period when every dollar counts, the theatre owner expects the film distributor to junk pictures that have a definite and immediate cash value. One of the safest indications that this application of the lash is bringing its reaction is the fact that Moving Picture Age has been requested by a prominent producer and distributor to put the facts before the public. It is merely a question of values. Which does the more to make your community a better place to live in : the film theatre, or the school and church? Which is operating only for the mental and spiritual welfare of your community, and which is conducted purely for private gain ? Which, then, is entitled to all possible aid from every possible source? If your church is a more effective church through the use of films — and this is the pastors' claim — its film service should not be contingent upon the permission of the local theatre owner ; nor shall the use of school motion pictures rest upon authority from the same commercial interest. Think of this matter seriously, if this blockade is in force in your territory, or keep it in mind so that you may act to terminate it should it arise. Do more than that: Discuss it; talk it over with the theatre owner, and let him know what the public sentiment is on the subject; keep it a live proposition. To surrender this point is to grant that the boasted freedom of our land is a dead issue. HOW KEEN IS HE who heeds the voice of experience ! Dropping in for a momentary chat with , who operates a non-theatrical film exchange, we found him all aglow "with enthusiasm — and all prepared to give us the benefit of his inspiration. "You know," he exclaimed, shoving a chair in our general direction, "I'm going to make money this summer!" We listened, open-mouthed ; already we had been informed of one non-theatrical distributor who had planned a protracted summer vacation, although his present business was hardly paying expenses. "Yes, sir," continued the Man with the Idea, "this is the how of it. Last summer I followed the crowd and took a long vacation, for I thought there would no business in sight even if I stayed here. I went back to the old home town — and I 'certainly learned my lesson there. The people had started outdoor community film showings, twice a week, and you know such a crowd came out each time that scores of them had to stand out of decent range of the screen. Within a radius of several miles around this town are a number of other tiny communities, and these folks would regularly drive or walk over to take in the community exhibitions, and they'd always contribute when the hat was passed ! "But I'm not learning lessons this summer; I'm making the money I should have made last summer ! Already I've booked some of these communities for regular service — enough so that I know it will more than pay me to keep my business going this summer. And I've got a"-' then he stopped short and grinned. "But perhaps you're out hunting for magazine material today, and this story will make better telling ■afterward ! Watch me get the business, that's all !" There's a non-theatrical distributor who has the right spirit! If the man with the films closes up shop for the summer it is certain he will get no business; but if he stays at the helm and works he can uncover business that would have gone to another. The year 1922 is no time in which to take vacations and trust to providence that business will be piled upon one's desk when he returns ; but it is an ideal period in which to develop new customers, show prospects the opportunities for successful summer exhibitions, and in all such ways turn the warm months to advantage and lay a sound foundation for winter business.