Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1923)

December 8, 1923 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 573 Begins Tenth Year as Art Department Head Vincent Trotta, pioneer art manager of the motion picture industry, has just entered upon his tenth year as head of the art department of Paramount. One of the real veterans of the Famous Players-Lasky organization, Mr. Trotta began his term of continuous service even before the formation of that company, for it was with the old Paramount Pictures Corporation that he first assumed the duties of his present position, when the Paramount headquarters were in the World Tower building in West 40th street. A year previous to his association with Paramount Mr. Trotta had organized for the Gaumont Company the first art department in the industry. His work with Gaumont was largely confined to posters. His connection with Paramount, where he assumed charge of all the art work on the trade and newspaper advertising, heralds, booklets and other advertising accessories, marked the beginning of the use of the modern art lay-outs in motion picture advertising and he was also one of the pioneers in the creation of colored inserts in trade paper advertising. Mr. Trotta’s department is not only said to be the largest in the motion picture industry but it is one of the largest in any line of commercial business outside the art specialty houses and some of the leading advertising agencies and engraving concerns. An aggregate of between seventy-five and one hundred men have worked under his direct supervision since the department was organized and the personnel averages between ten and fifteen artists, including apprentices. All of the work is supervised by Mr. Trotta himself and many graduates of the so-called Trotta school are now in charge of art departments of motion picture companies and in other branches of the business. The Paramount advertising department’s colored inserts on the special seasonal announcements in the trade papers have long been looked upon as models of advertising art and never fail to draw favorable editorial comment, not only in the picture trade publications themselves but in the advertising and printing trade journals. The same is true of the direct-bymail booklets, one of which issued in connection with the Paramount “First Forty-one” and entitled “Your Contract for Paramount Pictures,” won second prize against hundreds of entries in a contest at the International Advertising Exposition at Springfield, Mass., for the best piece of direct-by-mail advertising submitted. Goldwyn Spectacle Goes Into Capitol Goldwyn’s Emmett Flynn production, “In the Palace of the King,” a dramatic motion picture spectacle directed by Emmett Flynn and based upon F. Marion Crawford’s popular novel, will be screened at the Capitol Theatre, New York, next week. This picture is Goldwyn’s biggest contribution to the costume-spectacle films. In the beauty of settings and photography and excellence of acting and directing it ranks among the year’s best offerings. June Mathis made the adaptation and has kept the spectacular subservient to the very human and highly emotional drama in which the King of Spain, his brother, one of his generals and the latter’s two daughters are the principal actors. Filming this story was a tremendous and costly undertaking, it is stated, involving the construction of a palace 280 feet high and 300 feet long and one of the greatest sets yet constructed for motion pictures. Blanche Sweet heads the cast as Dolores and others are Edmund Lowe, Pauline Starke, Sam de Grasse, Hobart Bosworth, Aileen Pringle, William V. Mong and Lucient Littlefield. “Call of the Wild” Cut to Six Reels In line with his recent pronouncement in favor of a maximum of six reels for feature productions, Hal Roach has cut “The Call of the Wild” from seven to six reels. This production was adapted from Jack London’s famous dog story of the same title and made under the direction of Fred Jackman. The picture was released by Pathe on September 23 and has since been played by leading firstrun houses throughout the country. Will Film “The Yoke” Continues Run The Preferred picture, “The Virginian,” continues its successful run. Max Allen, manager of the Allen Theatre, Windsor, Ontario, wired B. P. Schulberg: “Abso lutely broke all records.” Announcement comes from the Warner Brothers home office that screen rights have been procured to “The Yoke,” Hubert Wales’ novel. This story is to be adapted to the screen by Warner scenarists for production by Harry Rapf. Fox Releases for the Week of “The Net,” the latest William Fox special production, two star series pictures and one Sunshine Comedy are announced for release the week of December 2 by Fox Film Corporation. “Johnny’s Swordfish,” an Educational Entertainment, will be released December 9. “The Net” is an emotional drama of mystery and thrills adapted from the book and play by Maravene Thompson. J. Gordon Edwards directed. Barbara Castleton, Raymond Bloomer and Albert Roscoe are the three principals in the notable cast. “Cupid’s Fireman” is the Charles Jones feature on this week’s re December 2 lease. It is adapted from the Richard Harding Davis story, “Andy McGee’s Chorus Girl,” and presents Jones in a series of dramatic situations behind the footlights. William Wellman directed the picture. Life in the interesting and dramatic days of 1849 in the South and West is pictured in Dustin Farnum’s latest starring picture, “Kentucky Days.” Margaret Fielding, who plays Mabel in “If Winter Comes,” Bruce Gordon and William DeVaull are the principals in the cast. The Sunshine Comedy on this week’s release is "The Income Tax Collector.” Pickford — F airbanks Studios Hum with Work Great activity is going on at the Pickford-Fairbanks and Chaplin studios. Mary Pickford in “Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall,” is reported as being nearly one-half under way, while Marshal Neilan, the director, is making great progress on the exterior scenes surrounding Haddon Hall. Douglas Fairbanks’ “The Thief of Bagdad” is more than threefourth completed. The biggest mob scenes are scheduled for shooting this week. “The Thief of Bagdad,” Mr. Fairbanks asserts, will show some of his greatest screen work, both dramatically as well as from the athletic standpoint. -q Charles Chaplin, the creator \S “A Woman of Paris,” has goninto seclusion and is preparing the story for his next picture which, his associates say, will be a rip-snorting comedy of possibly not more than three reels. Kiwanis Club Endorses “Michael O’Halloran’’ That the Kiwanis Club endorsement of “Michael O’Halloran,” the screen version of Gene StrattonPorter’s popular novel, is proving a boon to exhibitors, is evidenced by the marked increase in bookings on this picture reported by W. W. Hodkinson Corporation. Mr. G. A. Falkner, branch manager for Hodkinson at Washington, D. C., reports private advance reviews of “Michael O’Halloran” by the Kiwanis Club of Richmond, Va., the Kiwanis Club of Norfolk, Va., and the Baltimore, Md., Kiwanis Club. The Columbus, Ohio, Kiwanis Club has also asked permission to review “Michael O’Halloran” with the view of co-operating with the exhibitor in his showing at Columbus. From the Lufkin Chamber of Commerce, Lufkin, Texas, comes a request to Hodkinson that “Michael O’Halloran” be given a special showing at the first-run house there. Reports from the Orpheum Theatre, Quincy, 111., state that the Quincy Kiwanis Club will co-operate with the Orpheum in its showing of the picture. Many new exploitation aids are now in course of preparation by Hodkinson on “Michael O’Halloran,” among them a special broadside showing the various Kiwanis tie-ups now in operation, and containing many novel and attractive exploitation stunts. These will be available for the exhibitor at an early date. “Grit” Has Premiere at Greenwich, Conn. Crowds which taxed the capacity of the Greenwich, Conn., theatre at three performances on Wednesday, witnessed the world premiere presentation of the Film Guild feature production, “Grit,” starring Glen Hunter, scheduled for early January release through W. W. Hodkinson Corporation. “Grit” is from an original screen story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Clara Bow, Osgood Perkins, Dore Davidson are also members of the cast. “Grit” is the fourth of the Film Guild productions with Glenn Hunter to be distributed through Hodkinson.