Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1924)

MOVING PICTURE WORLD 223 November 15, 1924 Pathe and du Pont Form; $1, 200, 000 Corporation The duPont-Pathe Film Manufacturing Corporation has been formed by Pathe Exchange, Inc. of New York, E. I. duPont de Nemours & Co. of Wilmington, Del., and! Pathe Cinema Societe Anonyme of Paris, France. This new corporation has been incorporated at Dover, Del., for the manufacture and sale of cinema film and has an authorized capital of $1,200,000 8 p. c. cumulative preferred stock and 10,000 shares of common stock of no par value. It will commence business with a fully equipped manufacturing plant and research laboratory located at Parlin, N. J. where manufacture of cinema film has been developed and carried on for several years by the duPont Company. The sales office will be located in the Woolworth Building, 233 Broadway, New York. Commission Continues Uneventful Sessions in Paramount Inquiry This Week Due to the holiday, Election day, the Federal Trade Commission hearing into Famous Players-Lasky affairs, which was resumed last week in New York City, was adjourned several days this week. On October 31 Emanuel Mandelbaum of Cleveland told of his experiences in 1907 when he opened up the Columbia Film Exchange. In 1916 he came to New York and built the Stillman which a year later was taken over by Marcus Lowe, he said. He stated that he had originally negotiated with Adolph Zukor on this matter but the latter withdrew in favor of Loew. That year, he testified, he aided in the incorporation of First National Exhibitors Circuit Company. The hearing on November 1 was devoted mostly to the taking of Charles McDonald’s testimony. McDonald is the house manager of B. S. Moss’ Broadway, New York. His testimony had to do mostly with theatrical conditions on Broadway. He expressed a preference for good second-runs; stated that his house believed in first-run exploitation and that it invested weekly from $500 to $1,000 in newspaper advertising. Before taking the temporary adjournment the testimony was also taken of E. M. Clark, secretary of the Saenger Amusement Company: Lee Ochs, owner of the Piccadilly Theatre and William A. Sherman formerly with the now defunct First National Exhibitors Company of Ohio. Their testimony afforded but a part of the routine necessary to complete the record of the case, and thus was of a strictly formal and uneventful nature. Publisher Lewis Dies William E. Lewis, president of the Lewis Publishing Company, which publishes the Morning Telegraph, succumbed at his home at Great Neck, L. I., on October 28 to an illness of over a year. Mr. Lewis was a journalist of note. Born in Cleveland, he became a lawyer in 1890 but abandoned that profession shortly after being admitted to the bar for a newspaper career. He is survived by his wife and two children and a brother and sister. Independent Producers Should Have Own Outlet, Says Chadwick INDEPENDENT producers should have their own outlet for their own pictures, urged I. E. Chadwick, president of the Independent Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association, at the first formal session of that organization in New York on October 30. The keynote of Chadwick’s address, that the independents need a leader like Will Mays, was published in last week’s issue of Moving Picture World. As to the outlet, Chadwick laid stress upon the open market, in which, he said, lies the artistic advancement of the motion picture. Existing combinations were compared by the speaker to European nations combining to maintain “the balance of power” and, as the result, being led into warfare. “Balaban & Katz, of Chicago, have an enterprise with a huge investment and when they see an encroaching company coming into the field they go out from their city and get more strength, which gives them a chance to talk to other producers and distributors.” He continued : “If we really think we can show the independent exhibitor a way out, he will take it. The independent exhibitor doesn’t want to be a night watchman in his own theatre. It is about time these exhibitors were permitted — indeed even the largest exhibitors were permitted to buy pictures not with a threat of what might happen if they didn’t. Maybe it is time we had some new first runs. We are not interested altogether with the 400 — the class theatres — but with the 16,000 of mass theatres, the hoipoloi of the exhibiting field.” New MidWest Circuit Interstate, of 75 Theatres, Seen as Serious Balaban-Katz Rival The Interstate Theatres, Inc., of Chicago has just been granted a charter. This corporation, reported to be sponsored by Lubliner & Trinz, is said to align 75 theatres in Chicago, Northern Indiana and Illinois. In this respect comes the news that the company will handle bookings from a central office. The directors of the new corporation are: Harry Lubliner and Emil Stern of Lubliner & Trinz; James Costan of the Sixty-third Street Theatres, Chicago; Leo Spitz, a lavyyer, and V. T. Lynch, who has large theatre interests. Already the inception of this new corporation has aroused exhibitor interest all over the country, especially in the mid-west territory. This is centered in just how largely and to what extent the Interstate will prove itself to be as an opponent of the Balaban & Katz group. Score 1 for T. O. C. C. According to Charles O’Reilly, chairman of the T. O. C. C., Warner Brothers have notified him that they will abide by the uniform contract as it effects the jurisdiction of that exhibitor organization. The theatre owners’ committee is now working on the matter of prohibiting all clauses except those agreed upon in the contract form as decided by the Hays office and the T. O. C. C. Chadwick urged that every one present give the subject discussed considerable thought and suggested that at a meeting to be held within the next fortnight, that they be prepared to discuss the matter and to support the idea financially as well as otherwise. Among those present : Nathan Hirsh, Aywon Film Corp.; W. E. Shallenberger, Arrow Film Corp.; Geo. B. West, Arrow Film Corp.; H. Turrell, ArrowFilm Corp.; Max Weiss, Artclass Pictures; Louis Weiss, Artclass Pictures; I. E. Chadwick, Chadwi -k Pictures Corp.; H. Gluckman, Capital Exchange; Henry Ginsberg, Henry Ginsberg Picture Corp.; Jack Cohn, C. B. C. Film Sales Corp.; A. Goodman, C. B. C. Film Sales Corp.; H. Cobb, C.B.C. Film Sales Corp.; M. A. Krauss, New York City; Arthur A. Lee, Lee-Bradford Corp.; A. J. McAllister, LeeBradford Corp.; W. F. Barrett, Lee-Bradford Corp.; Jesse J. Goldburg, Independent Pictures Corp.; J. P. Bethel, Philadelphia, Pa.; W. Ray Johnston, Rayart Pictures; Harry Thomas, Merit Film Corp.; Oscar A. Price, Tri. Stone Pictures, Inc.; Harry Deitz, TriStone Pictures, Inc.; Horny Siegel, Apollo Trading Corp.; Bobby North, Weber & North; Whitman Bennett, Whitman Bennett Productions; John Marx, Wm. Steiner Productions; B. Coraff, Wm. Steiner Productions; H. E. Coffey, Wm. Steiner Productions; Charles B. Hoy, Hoy Reporting Service; E. S. Peter, Unity Pictures; L. L. Alterman, Biltmore Pictures; Geo. E. Kann, Simmonds-Kann Enterprises; B. H. Mills, First Graphic Exchange; J. Bellman, Renown Pictures Corp.; H. Goldstone, Truart Film Corp.; M. H. Hoffman, Truart Film Corp.; Geo. H. Davis, Banner Productions; S. Briskin, Banner Productions; Oscar Neufelt, De Luxe Exchange, Philadelphia, Pa.; Herman Rifkin, Eastern Features, Boston, Mass.; Chas. E. Goetz, Dependable Exchange; H. P. Decker, Dependable Exchange; W. M. Hern, Dependable Exchange; M. Broskie, Jans Films; B. Levine, Jans Films; L. W. Kastner, Interocean Film; B. Levine, Interocean Film; Jack Gluckman, Capital Exchange; S. Goodman; M. Blumstein, Commonwealth Film Corp.; J. A. Coran, Bay State Film Exchange; John S. Spargo, Exhibitors Herald; Jos. Dannenberg, Film Daily; Robert E. Welsh, Moving Picture World; L. A. Urbach, Moving Picture World; C. Schottenfels, Moving Picture World; Sam Comly, Morning Telegraph; C. J. Smith, Motion Picture News; A. E. Langer, secretary; Wm. Goldburg, California. Must Have Play Dates Universal Sales Organization So Instructed at 3 Sessions The sales organization of the Universal Pictures Corporation has just completed its series of three sales conferences, two in New York and one in Chicago. As a result, every Universal exchange manager in the United States and Canada is perfectly set on Universal new spring product. The meetings afforded the first opportunity the various sales managers have had to get acquainted with their new superiors, the Universal sales directorate, consisting of Ned Marin, Ned Depinet and Jules Levy. The assembled Universal managers were emphatically instructed not to sell these pictures without play-dates. All contracts to be accepted, by Universal, must have specific dates for all pictures, or a definite playing arrangement, with commencing and expiration dates. It was announced during the meetings that efficiency measures had been instituted in the supply department, so as to give 100 per cent, service on accessories.