Moving Picture World (Jan-Mar 1914)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 387 J. P. Chalmers, Founder. PubUshed Weekly by the CHALMERS PUBLISHING COMPANY 17 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY. (Tdephone, 3510 Madison Square.) kP. Chalmers, Sr President J. Chalmers Secretary and Treasurer John Wylie Vice-President and General Manager The office of t3ie company U the oddreas of the officers. Western Office— 169 West Washington Street (Post Building), Chicago, 111. Telephone, Main 3145. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. United States, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Rico and Philippine Islands $3.00 per year Canada 3.50 per year Foreign Countries ( Postpaid) 4.00 a year ADVERTISING RATES. Display Advertising Rates made known on application. Classified Advertising — no display — three cents per word ; minimum, charge, 50c. NOTE. — Address all correspondence, remittances and subscriptions to Moving Picture World, P. O. Box 226, Madison Square Station, New York, and not to individuals. {The index for this issue will be found on page 482.) Entered at the General Post Office. New York City, as Second Qasa Matter. Saturday, January 24, 1914. Facts and Comments THERE is no mistaking the sentiment of the reputable tihn producers touching the threatened inundation of films purporting to picture the so-called secrets of the white slave trade. The producers have almost unanimously gone on record as violently opposed to this degradation, or attempted degradation, of the motion picture. The public conscience has revolted against these exhibitions. The police are on the alert and, fortified with the decisions of the courts, they will be able to prevent any attempted public exhibition of the offensive films. The authors of the most reprehensible of these productions, we are glad to observe, have had no previous connection with the making of pictures and the motion picture art can in no way be blamed for their action. Of course, some part of the public will be unable to discriminate, but the larger part, we hope, realize that these "enterprises" are undertaken by strangers to the industry, men to whom the motion picture appeals as a quick way of making money and who care nothing whatever about the reputation of the motion picture." Their investment is of the most picayune sort. They are gambling — "taking a chance," as it is called. They have it in their power to harm the picture, but they will harm themselves and their pocketbooks much more than the motion picture. A FRIEND of The Moving Picture World in Kansas writes that "Facts and Comments'" inspired him to invoke Apollo and the Muses and finally mount the immortal Pegasus with this result : From week to week, in the M. P. World, I read of imprecations at the pictures hurled. Some from the pulpit and some from the press. Some from people who like to knock, I guess. How do you know in what way to mend The pictures today, if you never attend. Brother! you're narrow and in your own way. For the pictures are here and here to stay. If you've never seen one, how do you know So much vice attends the picture show? See "Star of Bethlehem" or "From Manger to Cross," Or any Bible story, and you'll be at a loss. To know why you were so narrow and small, As to rant and rave at the pictures at all. There are people in pictures, players I mean, Who are Christians and held in high esteem By those who know them for what they are. They are better than you, "Brother," better by far. While no classic values are claimed for these rhymes, they drive the point home and we hope that our clerical friends will give them due consideration. ^ FROM present indications it seems altogether probable that the reviewer of features and pictures in general will soon be replaced by the reviewer of posters. We will soon read something like this: "The one sheet of this feature is remarkable for its color scheme, while the three sheet abounds in startling action. The drops of blood on the six sheets were most realistic. It is suggested that the bottom of the mounted six sheet be saturated with red ink and that the crimson fluid be permitted to flow dropwise into a bucket under the banner." The slogan seems to be: "I care not how abominable your picture is if I can only make the paper for it." BY AFFIRMING a judgment of punitive damages against the Vitagraph Company for publishing the picture of a man without his consent, the Court of Appeals in this state has classed the motion picture with the newspapers, regarding both as '"publications." If the motion picture is held responsible just as the newspaper is then the motion picture ought to enjoy the same privileges that are accorded to the newspaper and among these is absolute freedom from the previous restraint of censorship. ACCORDING to a news item in the daily press, a spectator at a moving picture entertainment died of heart failure resulting from a laughing fit superinduced by a funny picture. Let us not be too rash in drawing conclusions from these facts. Possibly the man was suffering from an overdeveloped sense of humor and apt to see the funny angles in a funeral, or the bright spots in a railway disaster. Perhaps he was fortunate, or in his case, unfortunate enough to see a really funny picture which has escaped the notice of the critics. With few exceptions, the flow of filmed humor seems to be running pretty low just now in the opinion of a good many exhibitors.