Moving Picture World (Jan-Mar 1918)

1210 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD March 2, 1918 Must Pay For Heatless Day Films Decision of Toronto Exchange Managers' Association Affects All Ontario Exhibitors. IMPORTANT business sessions were held by the Exchange Managers' Association of Toron'o on February 9, at the Regent Theater, and on February 12, at the King Edward Hotel, to deal with several important matters. The most important decision reached at the first session was the resolution requiring all exhibitors in the Ontario territory to pay for service on the five heatless Mondays starting February 18. The members declared that exhibitors were getting their films at a lower price than ever before and the exchanges in Canada were paying both the Canadian and American war taxes, duty, etc. Therefore, the exhibitors would be called upon to pay for the service which they would have used on the heatless Mondays had the theaters remained open. There was a subsequent discussion as to whether the exhibitors and exchange managers should ask the Government to make Tuesdays instead of Mondays the weekly dark day or not, but no definite stage was reached in the question. Officers of the association for the coming year were elected as follows : N. L. Nathanson, managing director of Regal Films, Limited, president; Merrick R. Nutting, formerly of Montreal, secretary; executive committee, J. Allen, of the Famous Players' Film Service, Limited, and Clair Hague, president and general manager of the Canadian Universal Film Company, Limited. At the Saturday conference an invitation was extended to Max Finkelstein, the Winnipeg attorney, to address the local film men at the Tuesday evening gathering in the King Edward. Mr. Finkelstein has been aiding the Manitoba exhibitors in their fight against the Amusement War Tax in that Province. Thanks to his guidance and advice, exchange manager of Winnipeg have not had a cancellation of contract or a bad debt for more than three months. The success of the co-operation between Winnipeg exchange managers and with Mr. Finkelstein led the Toronto exchange managers to believe they could follow the example of their western confreres in their work. Mr. Ludwig, the Toronto lawyer who has handled a number of moving picture law cases in the past, was invited to be present also, so that he could hear the good word. meetings to come to this understanding. It took no discussions or agreements to bring it about. It was the repeated box office deficits, together with increased war expenses, which culminated a few months ago in a grand awakening to the situation and an unconcerted movement toward putting prices in Portland back to where they ought to be. Exhibitors and Distributors at Odds Rumors of Combination of Former in Pacific Northwest to Keep Down Film Rentals Make Exchanges Threaten to Show Own Product. IT seems as if the exhibiting end of the industry in the Pacific Northwest is about to take a new turn. If the threats of exchangemen are carried out the relations between distributors are going to change considerably. The conditions that cause these sentiments are as follows: For the past few months Pacific Northwest exchangemen have had it in their heads that a combination has been formed among Portland first-run exhibitors and certain of those in Seattle to cut film rentals to a ridiculously low figure. The members of the Pacific Northwest film board of trade have evidently compared notes, found the prices coming down and came to this conclusion. That this feeling exists is evidenced by the actions of the exchange managers. Indications are that there are those among them who are preparing to go into the exhibition game when the occasions present themselves, in direct competition with exhibitors, in an effort to keep the rental prices up. Most of the foregoing is deduced from recent activities in film circles, but there is one instance where the scheme has already been put into practice. A film was recently put up to first-run exhibitors, they declined to take it at the rental demanded, a showhouse was leased for one week by the distributor and the film presented by him to the public. It is the frank opinion of the writer, from a fairly intimate knowledge of exhibiting conditions in Portland, that no combination exists among first-run Portland exhibitors that warrants distributors going into the exhibition game. Any attempt by exchangemen personally to show their films in competition with the legitimate moving picture man will prove this to be true. As a rule, Portland exhibitors are as willing as they ever were to pay an equitable price for film. But they are not going to be oversold as they have been in the past. They are not going to permit themselves to be played one against the other for the distributors' sole benefit. They have learned their lesson. It took no exhibitors' Joe Mogler, Exhibitor Leader President of the St. Louis Branch of the League Has Done Much for That Organization. JOSEPH MOGLER is a live-wire exhibitor and the president of the St. Louis Motion Picture Exhibitors' League. Joe was elected president of the League two years ago, and has occupied the chair of honor by unanimous agreement ever since. He is what might be termed an aggressive leader, as he is always on the look-out to protect and uphold the rights of the organization, even at the loss of his own time and finances. A short time ago, when the tax question brought up such dissension among the exhibitors, Mogler put an assistant in charge of his two theaters — the Mogler and Bremen — and at his own expense took a train to Washington and stayed there for two weeks, endeavoring to bring about an amicable understanding between the Government, exchanges and exhibitors. He took a prominent part in the recent lightless night order, and it was through his untiring efforts that the St. Louis Fuel Administration granted the motion picture houses to burn 150-watt exterior lights, which will mean a saving of thousands of dollars to the exhibitors of the city. It was through data compiled by Mogler, showing the loss occasioned by the Missouri two-day closing order, that the Fuel Administration subsequently lifted the ban on movie houses on Mondays and Tuesdays. Mogler has steadfastly refused to allow the League to pay any of the expenses incurred by him in the various activities in which he has participated, and is known to have given more time to the League in the last two years than he has to his own enterprises. In fact, he is an allaround good fellow — a credit to the trade. Joe Mogler. Daylight Saving Will Go Through Favorable Report Made to House on Measure to Conserve Fuel — Will Hurt Airdromes. THE daylight saving plan, against which a large number of exhibitors have protested, is about to become a reality, as its sponsors claim that there is a real war need for it. The House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce has just made a favorable report upon the bill passed by the Senate on June 27, 1917, declaring that agitation in favor of what has come to be known quite generally as "daylight saving" is widespread throughout the United States. The measure is designed to standardize time for the United States and to advance the standard time one hour, beginning in the spring. The Senate would make the change at 2 a. m. the last Sunday in April and continue it until 2 a. m. the last Sunday in September. The House favors the change to occur in March and continue until October. The exhibitors and others connected with the moving picture business have opposed the proposed law on the ground that it would cause the cutting out of one show. They declare that they are unable to get their patrons out early in the evening and people would not want to go to the theaters until it was really dark. By so advancing the clocks it will mean that the airdromes will have great diffi