Moving Picture World (Sep-Oct 1925)

October 10, 1925 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 461 DINNER TENDERED PATHE PRODUCERS AND HOME-OFFICE EXECUTIVES AT HOTEL ROOSEVELT Paul Fuller, President of Pathe Exchange, Inc., at head of table ( Toastmaster ) ; at right, E. C. Lynch, Chairman of Board of Directors; at left, Elmer R. Pearson, Vice-President and General Manager of Pathe Exchange, Inc. Seated at far-side 1 of table: William R. Fraser, Emanuel Cohen, Pete Carroll, Charles MacDonald , Frank Harris, Fred Aiken, Miss Regge Doran, Stanley B. Waite, W. C. Smith, Tom North, Sam Blair, Jack Peggler, S. Barret McCormick, George Gray, Harry Lewis, E. F. Supple, P. A. Parsons. Seated at near-side of table: Hal Roach, A. Van Bcuren, John Waldron,. Harry Scott, W. B. Frank, John Ragland, Mrs. E. R. Desses, Alfred Shipman, L. S. Diamond, J. E. Storey, Irving Green, R. S. Shrader, William Mack, Charles Henschel, E. Oswald Brooks and Oscar Morgan. Convention of Pathe Executives and Field Force Enthusiastic, Fruitful THE convention of district-managers and home-office executives of Pathe Exchange, Inc., held during the past week at the Roosevelt Hotel, New York, was brought to a close on Saturday with a general discussion ofways' and means to improve service in the field. Subsequent to the general sessions meetings were conducted at Pathe home office on Monday and Tuesday of this week, at which individual problems in the various districts were taken up and disposed of. The convention marked the most enthusiastic and fruitful gathering of its kind in the history of Pathe. Harry Scott, general sales manager, who presided at all the sessions, struck the key-note of the convention in his opening address by urging the company’s field representatives present to lay their problems and recommendations. “We desire to base the decisions of this convention on first-hand knowledge of actual conditions in the field,” declared Mr. Scott. “What we want are facts, not theories. If old methods and established procedure have outlived their time, we want to know it. This business of ours is constantly going forward in leaps and bounds. We must progress with it or be outdistanced. But we must proceed in accord with actual conditions as found in the field. Hence we want our field representatives to tell us completely and without reservations just what their observations are. We want your recommendations and we want your criticism without fear or favor.” Mr. Scott’s invitation to discuss all problem candidly was accepted with enthusiasm by the district managers present. On the basis of subsequent discussions was laid the ground work for lasting and far-reaching results in the matter of Pathe policy and service. Several of those present who have been prominently identified in the past with other organizations declared that the practical results secured and the actual business accomplished at this conference were truly remarkable and surpassed anything they had ever seen in their experience in the industry. The convention opened Wednesday evening, Sptember 23, and continued daily thereafter, beginning at 9.45 a. m. and adjourning each evening shortly before midnight. All the sessions were given over strictly to business, the only diversions of a social kind being a banquet tendered on Friday evening in honor of the Pathe producers and a theatre party on Saturday evening at which the managers and their wives were entertained. One of the important phases of Pathe service up for discussion was the recently established staff of field exploitation men who are to work under the supervision of S. Barret McCormick, exploitation manager. The district managers were unanimous in their approval of this plan and hailed the idea so enthusiastically that Pathe officials decided upon an expansion of the original plan. Plans also were discussed in detail for national advertising of a kind with which ex hibitors can tie-up with direct benefit to their box-offices. Recent instances of Pathe’s advertising campaigns, tying-up with Patheserial contests on “The Ideal American Family” and a beauty contest on “Sunken Silver,” were cited as descriptive of the advertising policy which Pathe intends to pursue in the future. In both these instances were enabled to tie-up locally with resultant advantage totheir own business. The matter of Pathe product for the new season was also gone into thoroughly. At the opening of the 1925-26 term Pathe has lined up the most formidable program of feature-length productions and short features of its entire career. In addition to“The Freshman,” “Black Cyclone,” “Kivalina of the Icelands” and the forthcoming Hal Roach feature release, starring Rex, temporarily titled ‘“The Devil Horse,” Pathe has acquired within the past few weeks the distribiution. of a series of Harry Carey Westerns, a group of comedy-dramas starring Larry Semon, and four of Charlie Chaplin’sfamous screen successes — “A Dog’s Life,” “Shoulder Arms,” “A Day's Pleasure” and “Sunnyside.” Also scheduled for the new season are 104 two-reel comedies from the comedy studios of Hal Roach and Mack Sennett. Four new Patheserials are lined up for release within the next year, starting with: “Wild West,” released September 27, and! (Continued on page 463)