Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

Record Details:

Title:
Moving Picture World
Date:
Jan-Feb 1927
Publisher:
New York, Chalmers Publishing Company
Volume:
Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)
Leaf #:
000709
Language:
English
Collection:
Early Cinema and Hollywood Studio System
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Moving Picture World, founded in 1907 by J.P. Chalmers, was one of the motion picture industry's first trade papers. Published on a weekly basis in New York City, Moving Picture World informed exhibitors about films available for rental and editorialized on behalf of the growing industry (improving the quality of movies through higher filmmaking standards, not government censorship, was a frequent topic). The paper reached its height in the mid-to-late-1910s--a fact reflected in the circulation figures and the huge amount of advertising that filled every issue during the period. In the 1920s, Moving Picture World lost ground to other competing weekly trade papers -- including Variety, Exhibitor's Herald, and Motion Picture News. In 1927, Moving Picture World ceased publication when it was acquired by Martin Quigley's Exhibitor's Herald. Across the 20 year run of Moving Picture World, readers can watch the transition from short film programs to feature films and witness the transition from the dominance of Edison's Trust to the rise of the "Independent" film companies that ultimately became the Hollywood studios. Silent film historians have utilized and cited Moving Picture World more frequently than any other trade paper, and the publication still has many insights left to offer. -- Eric Hoyt, 2012/2013
Date Added:
September 21, 2023
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February 26, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 651 Metro Qoldivyn Mayer Announces Roach Short Comedies; News-Reel From Hearst Nicholas M. Schenck Discloses Details of Short Subject Alignment, Providing for World-Wide Distribution THE MOST IMPORTANT film news of years was made this week, when Nicholas M. Schenck, Executive VicePresident of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, announced the creation of the M-G-M News Reels, to be produced by the Hearst organization ; and the affiliation of Hal Roach, world’s foremost producer of comedies, as the first step in the establishing of a great new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Short Subject Department. “The addition, for world-wide distribution, of the M.-G.-M. News Reel and M.-G.-M. short subjects to our elaborate feature picture and road-show enterprises,’’ Mr. Schenck said, “has been made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in response to constant pressure from theatre owners who have felt that the M.G.-M. standard of production must eventually be broadened to cover every type of screen entertainment. “We have been moved to act by the convictions of hundreds of exhibitors that their audiences whose patronage at the box-office has established the entertainment superiority of Metro-GoldwynMayer features will welcome the opportunity to see in one theatre a complete program of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer quality throughout. “The M.-G.-M. News Reel, which will be issued twice each week — 104 annual numbers — will astound the industry by the novelty of its conception and wfll inject a brand new idea into this increasingly popular short subject. Exhibitors who have learned to expect radical, daring departures from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in any project which it undertakes in catering to the amusement-seeking public may be sure that the M.-G.M. News Reel will be the greatest thing of its kind the industry has ever seen. “The time is ripe for the fur ther development of the film news reel and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in entering this field will give your public a renewed enthusiasm for this short subject that will unquestionably place the great, new M.-G.-M. News Reel in the forefront of public demand. “We are proud to announce the affiliation of Hal Roach and M.G.-M.,” said Mr. Schenck, “as the first indication of the type of siiort reels that this organization will deliver to theatres. In line with its high standards in all branches, M.G.-M. has obtained in Hal Roach an affiliation with a man who is acknowledged throughout rhe world as the leader of all comedy and short subject producers. “Thus in one initial move M.G.-M. assures theatre owners and public of the greatest and most comprehensive short picture activity ever known in the history of the industry.” Critical estimates and public approval over a period of years have established the fact that Hal Roach is without a peer in his field. Not content with having lifted Harold Lloyd to greatest stardom, he has convulsed audiences in every corner of the globe with his “Our Gang” comedies and has made the monetary value of these little classics felt at every box-office where they play. Metro Goldwyn Mayer is pleased to announce to exhibitors that next season, when the M.-G.M. Lion flashes on to twelve thousand screens throughout America it will usher in its wake not only the lengthier classic but such gems of merriment as ten “Our Gang ’ comedies : ten comedies featuring Charley Chase and ten comedies featuring Max Davidson, acknowledged the pantomimic leader of that field of screen comedy popularized in literary fields by Montague Glass and Milt Gross. In addition to these outstanding short subjects, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, through its newly announced affiliation with Hal Roach, will release six epic western comedies and six comedies played by celebrities of unrivaled magnitude. When Hal Roach, following the signing of contracts with M. -G.M., was asked for a statement to be broadcast through the trade press to the exhibitors of America, who are themselves only too familiar with the esteemed position he occupies in both a public and business sense, he replied: “For years I have been experimenting with the short feature and have raised its quality to a plane which has won, recognition from both the industry and the public. Just as the Act-inOne was once a space filler on the vaudeville bill so the short subject was once upon a time considered. Ic has been my life-long work to bring the short reel into its rightful place of importance. Today it is with gratification that we note the true feature and drawing value of these pictures which are now billed in all advertising as equal to other parts of the program and in many instances even above them!” Rin-Tin-Tin and his mate, Nanette, in Warner Bros. “Hills of Kentucky.” What does a dog think about when this is the expression?