Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1924)

708 MOVING PICTURE WORLD December 20, 1924 Million for Production Not Excessive When Art is Achieved, Mayer Declares LOUIS B. MAYER, first vice-president of Metro-Goldwyn Distributing Corporation and in charge of the production of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, returned Tuesday, December 9, to New York on the Aquitania from Rome, where he has been for the past three months inspecting the progress of his company’s mammoth production of “Ben-Hur.” Returning with Mr. Mayer were Mrs. Mayer and their daughters, Edith and Irene. The party went abroad the last week in September. Since then Mr. Mayer has been on the scene of Fred Niblo’s production. “Ben-Hur" is being rushed toward complection, Mr. Mayer said. A print is expected in New York shortly after January 1. Mr. Mayer stated that “Ben-Hur” is the greatest motion picture, both in quality of entertainment and in magnitude, that has been produced in screen annals. Building a Monument “We started out to make ‘Ben-Hur’ a masterpiece that would stand as a monument, not alone to our organization, but to the whole industry, to the art of motion pictures, and that I am convinced is what we have succeeded in doing,” Mr. Mayer told reporters. “We have assembled the finest cast of players that ever appeared in a single production. Ramon Novarro, May McAvoy, Francis X. Bushman, Carmel Myers, Kathleen Key, Frank Currier, Claire McDowell, Nigel de Brulier and Anders Randolf, who are the leading American players in ‘BenHur,’ are favorites with film audiences throughout the world. “For the sea battle scenes of ‘Ben-Hur,’ taken at Leghorn, Italy, Fred Niblo used the largest fleet of ships built for photoplay. I do not like to use superlatives in describing any picture, but really, it is im possible to do justice to ‘Ben-Hur’ without talking ‘press agent's language." “The Circus Maximus set, for instance. That is where the famous ‘Ben-Hur’ chariot race takes place, and believe me, it is the greatest thrill 1 personally ever got from a picture. The set itself took several months to construct. It is more than a thousand feet in length, several hundred feet high, and seats the largest number of people ever seen in a picture. A Picture for the Ages “I want to state that what seems to be an LOUIS B. MAYER extravagance in production of ‘million-dollar pictures’ is not extravagance when you consider that these motion pictures are going to be exhibited years, decades from now. The time is gone when really great pictures can be made for immediate consumption by its contemporary public. ‘BenHur’ is costing a fortune, of course, but it is being made, not only for the present, but for all time. Under such circumstances, I believe that any expenditure, provided it creates a lasting achievement of art, is justified.” Mr. Mayer was asked about the comparative advantages of producing such an elaborate spectacle here and abroad. He observed that the foreign extra players, of whom a host appear in the “mob scenes” of “Ben-Hur,” entered into the spirit of the story with enthusiasm that would have been hard to duplicate. “In the battle scenes on sea they worked themselves into such a pitch of frenzy,"’ Mr. Mayer stated, “that forgetting this was. after all, a sham fight, they went into the fray so fiercely, hacking at each other with their swords, that Mr. Niblo had to halt hostilities at intervals to have medical attention administered to some who suffered actual wounds in the fighting. "I am quite sure that it needed the descendants of the ‘Ben-Hur’ Romans to give our production faithful realism,” the producer added, with a laugh at his recollection. Mr. Mayer stated that there is one other Metro-Goldwyn production unit abroad at the present time. Rex Ingram is in Europe preparing to film Blasco Ibanez’s novel, "Mare Nostrum,” on its locales in France and Spain. Mr. Mayer's associate studio executive, Harry Rapf, who has been in New York several weeks looking for new screen material, will return with him to the Culver City studios of the company. Mr. Mayer will confer with Marcus Loew, president of Metro-Goldwyn Distributing Corporation, and with other of the company’s officials before returning to the coast. Stale Rights Sales Back from Coast, Marcus Loew Sees 1925 as Biggest Year Celebrated Players Klim Corporation of Chicago and the Independent Film Company of Kansas City, independent exchanges, have purchased “Flattery” for their territories, it was announced this week at the offices of the Chadwick Pictures Corporation, who are distributing this picture. Henry Binsberg announces the following' additional territorial sales of the Benny Leonard series of two-reel features, “Flying Fists": Washington, Idaho and Montana, De Luxe Feature Film Company, 2)016 Third avenue, Seattle, Wash.; District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, Trio Film Exchange, JI26 Yew Jersey avenue, Washington, D. C.; Kentui ky and Tennessee, Big Feature Bights Corporation, 22 1 South Third street, Louisville, Ky.; I pstate Yew York, Golden Buie Pictures, Inc., 505 Pearl street, Buffalo, Y. Y. W. Ray Johnston, president of Kayart Pictures, announces the following: To Irving Mandel, of Security Pictures, Chicago, the rights for Northern Illinois and Indianapolis on the following: The series of 0 II. .1. Brown comedy-dramas starring Bccd Howe; tlic» 101 Ranch production, “Trail Dust”; “Street of Tears,” and “Safeguarded,” with Eva Yovak; to J. W. Williams, of the Independent Film Company of Dallas, the rights for Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas on the fifteen episode serial produced by Dell Henderson, “Battling Brewster.” MARCUS LOEW looks for 1925 as the biggest year, from the standpoint of box-office prosperity, in the annals of motion pictures and the theatre. Loew, as a result of his analysis of the situation which he found during his recent trip west, expresses this confident. “There will be no slump,” he stated this week, “for the reason that caution, necessary to the adjustment of business all along the line since the war, has been exercised. Conservatism has been applied where it was needed, and the period of stress has been weathered by fractional production in mills, factories, the film business, in all branches of amusement, in fact. “Especially has this been true in the motion picture field. Conditions have been foreseen, and they have been most carefully prepared for and as carefully met. The reward for this vision and its consequent fulfillment has placed the motion picture industry solidly on its feet ready to reap the harvest of the year now at hand. “Metro-Goldwyn anticipates for itself the most successful season any film organization ever enjoyed,” Loew said, “and w-e are going ahead with plans that will surpass in scope anything before attempted in the industry.” MRS. MARY SEIDER, WIFE OF N. J. PRESIDENT IS DEAD Mrs. Mary Seider, wife of Joseph M. Seider, president of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of New Jersey, succumbed on November 29 to an illness of several months at Fox Chase, Philadelphia. The funeral was conducted from the Seider home in Brooklyn. In addition to her husband, who is also head of the Prudential Film Delivery Service. New York, Mrs. Seider is survived by two sons, Daniel, 11, and Henry, 7. Mrs. Seider was 31 years of age. M. P. T. O. A. SELLING XMAS SEALS The Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America, its president. N. J. O'Toole, announces, is co-operating with the National Tuberculosis Association in aiding that organization put over its seventeenth annual Christmas seal drive.