Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

January 22, 1927 I T must have given Carl Laemmle a wonderful thrill as he looked over the notable assemblage in the Biltmore, Los Angeles, last Monday evening, gathered in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of his birth, and in imagination leaped the years that stretch behind to that day, when — a poor emigrant boy — he set foot for the first in America, the Land of Opportunity. MOVING PICTURE WORLD by the way Carl Laemmle’ s Sixtieth Birthday Marks Twenty-First Anniversary Of His Entrance Into Motion Pictures And Tenth Year Of His Famous Exhibitor “Straight-From-The-Shoulder” Talks Newspaper Advertising At Lower Rate Might Solve “Over-Seating” Problem Chaplin, Who Made Millions Laugh, Now Weeps, In Silence, Alone '"jpHERE is a 253 chance here for some real missionary work by any progressive showman, looking to a better understanding and a more intelligent co-operation between the theatre and the business office of the newspapers, which ought to be mutually financially advantageous. A GAIN he must have felt an immense and proper pride as he viewed the reproduction of his first motion picture theatre, the White Front, the modest establishment which he opened in Chicago just twenty-one years ago, as he saw it again erected in the Biltmore’s great ball room, and thought of the hopes and fears, the struggles and heartburnings, that have marked those years since in the upbuilding of the great motion picture organization, which his genius and steadfastness has created and which rejoices in his leadership more today, perhaps, than at any previous period of his long and useful career. • \7" ET great as a showman, great as a financier and organizer, * as Carl Laemmle surely is, it is not altogether or only for these things, that the company at the Biltmore last Monday gathered to do him honor, nor why unnumbered thousands elsewhere held him affectionately in their thought. • A S Carl Laemmle, President of Universal, the straightfromthe-shoulder fighter (and, by the way, add another anniversary to the two already named, the same being the tenth of those famous “straiglit-from-the-slioulder” talks, which have long been household words among exhibitors everywhere) as Carl Laemmle, the big man, ever ready to take the side of the little fellow against the greatest odds, he has won the respect and regard of all, but it is as “Uncle Carl,” the gentler, far more intimate designation by which he is known everywhere, that one gets a glimpse of what manner of man Carl Laemmle really is. • Hp HIS is the man whom Hollywood and all the world honors and holds, in sincere and affectionate esteem and he has not his counterpart in all this industry. • pA N your sixtieth birthday, and on all other days, “Uncle Carl,” we join in saluting you with the rest of this great world of motion pictures, and for many, many more birthdays, we hope it may be permitted us to do the same. • ■\70U are great, “Uncle Carl,” because you are what you are, and because your heart is always in the right place. • M AY your years be many and full of happiness ! . • 'T' HE question of “ over-seating ” regarded already as serious A in many large cities and said to be threatened in others, where theatre building activity has been most marked, has in it a distinct thought for the newspaper publisher, as well as the motion picture exhibitor, whose especial problem it is. . • \\T ERE the theatres showing motion pictures in these lo’ calities afforded the run-of -paper rate for their advertising outside of the regular amusement directory with its special high rate, which makes the cost prohibitive for the exhibitor now, who would use larger space, there would soon be a difference on the profit side of the balance sheets of both the theatres and the newspapers. T T is the box office that counts for the newspaper, quite as much as it does for the theatre, and if the exhibitor can fill his empty seats by using big newspaper space ( which he cannot now do profitably where the present penalizing rate is applied) the increased income which may be developed for both newspaper and theatre is obvious. • \AT E should like to hear from live-wire exhibitors on this subject, and do not hesitate to suggest that a special visit to the advertising or business manager of their local newspaper to discuss this idea, may well be productive of good results for all concerned. • 'T' HE marital difficulties of the Chaplins, which are having such an airing in the press, present a serious problem for the industry from many angles. • X/T UCH wrong may be done Chaplin, personally, and much injury to the motion picture, by too hasty judgment on the part of exhibitors and public alike. clubs and civic X/f AJN Y ministers, woman s have already gone on record, declaring that under no circumstances should the present notoriety, which his domestic difficulties have created, be permitted to militate against Chaplin’s pictures, on the ground that to do so would be unwise and unfair both to Chaplin and the public, until his side of the case, at least, has been fully passed upon by competent authority. /'A THER ministers and other individuals, clubs, etc., motivated largely by the opportunity for a little cheap publicity, will doubtless raise an outcry against the unhappy comedian, aimed to destroy him before he can utter a word in his own defense. • T T is against such as these, that every fair-minded and rightthinking individual, but especially all who may be interested in the welfare of the motion picture, should lift a determined voice and oppose in no uncertain way all efforts to pre-judge and condemn this man, who has made millions laugh, who has brought joy to countless thousands and who now weeps, in silence, alone. • O HARLES CHAPLIN is a great artist and like all other ^ artists, ought not to be strictly held to the rules which are supposed to govern the conduct of the common run of mankind, but rather should he be judged by the merit and value of his contributions to the world, in beauty, happiness or heart appeal. \\T AS there not One, who said : * * sin, first cast a stone ?” ‘ Let him who is without