The Moving Picture Weekly (1918-1919)

18 THE MOVING PICTURE WEEKLY "Heads Win" A Tremendous Hit Industrial Department of the Universal shows I. C. S. iive-reeler in Scranton to tumaway business and books it to the Bureau of Commercial Economics and to all exhibitors. JT is an unusual thing for a film made on order as an industrial to start on its career with the oration and all round success which attended the launching of "Heads Win" at the Strand Theatre in Scranton, Pa. But "Heads Win" is an unusual film and the Industrial Department of the Universal is acquiring a reputation for doing brilliant and unexpected things. In the first place, "Heads Win" is a five-reel production which cost every bit as much as the average five-reel drama now on the market and it was produced from a highly exciting and dramatic scenario, with a real story, real actors and all the advantages which the finest features enjoy. The result is a drama of actual incident and human emotion as poignant and as appealing as life itself. The fact that the basic idea is the carelessness of a workman toward any development of his own mental resources by home study, and that that fact is particularly abhorrent to the Intel-national Correspondence Schools, need not bother any exhibitor who once knows that fact. Many a feature he has run has had a much less wholesome theme, and he has run many which have not had a quarter of the ability to inspire and uplift his audience. "Heads Win" will return any exhibitor a hundred-fold the "price of admission." "Heads Win" was produced under the supervision of Harry Levey, head of the Industrial Department, with a cast which includes Roy Adams, formerly leading man for Alice Brady, Miss Eva Gordon as leading womMi, and Irma Ward, one of the most famous of child actresses. M. E. Camerf ord, manager of the Strand Theatre, where the first, showing was made played and advertised Billie Burke in a recent feature as an added attraction, as shown in the advertisement on the next page. The Scranton Republican, Tuesday, April 8, 1919, said: "Heads Win" is Fine Picture. "Heads Win," the International Correspondence School story, shown yesterday at the Strand Theatre for the first time on any screen is a recital of the evolution of a man from a plodder, barely able to hold his place and earn a livelihood, to a position of great efficiency and commanding power. This wonderful change came, after years of discouragement, because The lobby display for "Heads Win." he elected to study, made himself efficient, and in a great emergency was able to show his employers that he was "the man of the hour" and a proper subject for promotion to a position of responsibility and trust. It is, in fact, a true story on the screen of what the I. C. S., Scranton's wonderful educational institution, has been doing for the men and women of many lands throughout the twentyeight years that it has been such a notable feature of local activities and one of the most widely known of world enterprises. It possesses two remarkable, extremely absorbing features which caused the great audience that gathered at the Strand yesterday to watch it with bated breath. It tells a human interest story, heart gripping, in which the pathos is intermingled with the practical, emotion with comedy, and at the same time it gives those watching it a fine idea of the great plant of the I. C. S. in this city as well as of the machinery and the devices used in institutions. The picture in itself is highly educational and as such will win recognition. There is another matter deserving of special mention. For the first time. on any screen, in the history of the moving picture industry, an educational film was made the principal feature on the program at a leading theatre. The first performances were made notable by the presence of several guests of wide reputation. These included Dr. Francis HoUey, a man with a most remarkable career, who is the director of the Bureau of Commercial Economics of Washington, D. C, which is the official organization for the distribution of moving pictures to be exhibited throughout the world free of charge. Others there were Harry Levey, manager of the Industrial Deoartment of the Universal Film Company, which prepared the picture; Preston Kendall, under whose direction the picture was made, and Roy Adams, the leading man of the company engaged to do the acting. The story of the picture is from the pen of G. L>Tin Sumner, of Scranton, head of the publicity department of the International Correspondence Schools. All of these, with the exception of Mr. Kendall, who positively refused to appear, were introduced to last evening's audiences and made brief addresses, being received with great enthusiasm. In his short talk, Mr. Sumner stated that arrangements were completed yesterday for the presentation of the picture in eight thousand of the theatres of this ^country, so that it is expected that' during the next year it will be exhibited before twenty-six million people. Dr. Holley, in his official capacity, ordered twenty of the pictures to be exhibited in this country; and soon viill puixhase eighteen more to be thrown on the screens in various countries of the world. "Heads Win" tells the story of Jim Godfrey, who was employed in a humble capacity at the works of the Goliath Electric Company at Springfield, N. J. When he sought to advance himself to an assistant foremanship he was rejected because of his lack of knowledge of any useful occupation. He lost his temper when he was "turned down," was dismissed from his position, and when he sought a new one, found many doors closed to him because he was incompetent to perform skilled work. His wife induced him to take a course with the I. C. S. Electrical Engineering was his selection, and he studied so faithfully and so well that while acquiring