Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1927)

MOVING PICTURE WORLD 13 November 5, 1927 Baby Days Looking Backward Twenty Years, to When the Industry Was in Swaddling Clothes (From the Moving Picture World, Nov. 2, 1907.) WHAT one of the local papers called the “vandalistic din” of the nickel shows along Market street, Philadelphia, was still in the public eye. One exhibitor refused to join the others in a compromise which would put the soft pedal on the lobby phonographs and pianos during ordinary business hours, and the merchants threatened reprisal in the form of an ordinance placing the houses under the amusement law, which would have involved a ten-foot fire alley and would have closed up the entire 112 theatres in the Philadelphia section. What was described as “one of the most gigantic schemes ever formulated to rob an employer” was uncovered by Miles Brothers, film renters. A trusted employee sought to interest capital in an opposition concern, using the figures of Miles Brothers to clinch the appeal. It was disclosed that ! the rental business was approximately $600,000 a year and that one twelve-day period they had taken in $30,000. The scheme was to give such poor bookings to the Miles customers that they would Louise Lorraine, M G M featured player, has been cast for the second feminine lead in “Baby Mine,” which will feature, Karl Dane and George K. Arthur. Louise keeps in trim by constant exercising. be driven to patronize the new concern. Two employees were arrested charged with grand larceny and breach of trust. A Minnesota exhibitor mailed a clipping regarding the disappearance of an exhibitor, mourned by a large body of creditors. He wrote “here almost everybody that can raise a hundred dollars is starting a picture show.” It costs Publix more than that, per unit, these days. 'I' ITE main editorial was an article on fire risks in the theatre and a demand for a non-inflammable film. Elsewhere the report was made of six fires fatal to the operators (they still were operators then), and the Ohio State Fire Marshal demanded that a metallined booth be employed and that th& -film pass from one fire-tight meta'l .box into another. In other states activity was reported by the insurance companies. Lewis M. Swaab, a renter, of Philadelphia, warns exhibitors against renting from irresponsible concerns, because the real owners of the film might appear to claim their stolen property, adding “the scavengers here offer three reels per week for $16 while the usual price for the same service is $25.” That means three reels a day. dailychange, thirty days or more after release. How does that compare with your present film rentals? ' I ' PIE film craze, it was reported, A had hit Lansingburg, N. Y., near Troy. One concern had taken over the old Opera House and the bowling alleys of the Phoenix Hotel were being converted into a theatre. Six incorporations were announced for the week. Two had a capitalization of $100,000 each, one was for $10,000 and three for $2,000 each. They were pikers in those days, or perhaps merely honest. ANEW YORK CITY magistrate fined two exhibitors $5 each for Sundays shows and another $10, this being his second offense. He announced that after a man had been arrested and fined three times he was immune from further police trouble. A new house was announced for Harrisburg, Pa., to be 210 feet deep by 26 feet wide, and the item adds, “it will be the largest room in the city used for this purpose.” Beautiful Ethlyne Clair, the Universal featured player who has swept to the crest of a wave of popularity through her work in the last year and a half in Stem Brothers comedies, has been assigned the principal supporting role opposite William Desmond, in the Universal series, “The Vanishing Rider.” Mrs. Wallace Reid Has Busy Week in Buffalo A/lRS. WALLACE REID made her first eastern appearance last week at the Lafayette Square Theatre, Buffalo, N. Y., in her dramatic playlet, “Evidence,” presented in conjunction with her Gotham special production, “The Satin Woman.” From the time of her arrival at 9 A. M. on Sunday morning, she plunged into a round of events that made her undoubtedly the busiest woman in Buffalo. Mrs. Reid was met at the station in Buffalo by a representation of prominent people including a committee from the N. Y. State Moving Picture Censor Commission, headed by Mrs. Karr Parker, and Neil Neely Gets Important Role Neil Neely, young Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer player recentlyUntroduced to the screen as a M-G-M actor in William Haines’ “West Point,” has been signed under a new contract and given one of the most important roles of the season, that of Olenin, the Russian officer in “The Cossacks,” John Gilbert’s new starring vehicle. Neely will play Gilbert’s rival for the love of Renee Adoree in the new picture. Many of the most dramatic scenes in the story will be between the two, Gilbert as a Cossack soldier and the other as a superior officer. Hale Has Role Alan Hale is to play opposite Jacqueline Logan in “The Leopard Lady” for De Mille. was taken as guest of honor to a special breakfast. R. C. Fox, of the R. C. Fox exchanges, Gotham distributor for New York State, had arranged a series of appearances for the star which, in addition to her daily appearances at the theatre, brought her before practically every theatregoer in the city. Lectures before women’s clubs, appearances every day in the larger stores and judge of fashion shows kept the star busy, and for the culmination of the week’s social events, Mrs. Reid presided as a judge in awarding the costume prizes at a masquerade ball at Ismaila Temple of the Masonic Lodge. Tiffany-Stahl Buys Fine Arts Tiffany-Stahl Productions, Inc. Studios. It is said that the purhcase price involves $500,000. The company will take immediate possession of the Studios and plans are being filed for extensive alterations in building additions, huge stages and every modern up-to-date method for the production of high class pictures. Alterations, when completed, will involve another large expenditure of $250,000. Cecil B. De Millers Next Cecil B. DeMille will begin camera work on his new personally directed picture about the middle of November. The theme is a melodramatic one of boy and girl life in the schools and reform schools of America.