Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1927)

November 5, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 25 SENNETT HITS THE LIME HARD WITH NEW IDEA Pathe Four Reeler Start of “Different” Comedies MACK SENNETT’S Pathe release, “The Girl From | Everywhere,” reviewed elsewhere in this issue, would seem to be the first of a series of odd length features which may be used to advantage by exhibitors. A feature of this length, 3,300 feet, is not long enough to be tedious, and yet has sufficient “meat’ in its footage to provide excellent land unusual entertainment. For instance, two pictures of this length, treating varied subjects would provide a “double” bill that could defy competition in the hands of a capable showman. THE MARQUEE of the Palace Theatre is just one example of how highly Broadway showmen regard Pathe short subjects. Similar ideas were used by other main stem showmen. “Exclusive” Playhouse “Sportlight” Offers Joins Pathe Parade Games of Other Lands Big “Combos” Possible Suppose that a picture of the i! type of Pathe’s “Alaskan Adventures” in itself is not sufficiently long to take up an entire evening’s program, were shown on a |j bill with an elaborate comedy like “The Girl From Everywhere.” The combination would provide a i bill that would be the talk of any community. Again, a four reel feature will serve well as the main event on a program made up of the feature and single reel stuff. A novelty such as “Alien Antics,” a “Sportlight,” and an interesting selection such as “Have a Drink?” a Pathe “Rarebit,” shown on the bill with a 3,000-footer, would result in satisfaction among the customers. Sennett’s Idea There is no doubt that Mack Sennett has a big idea in back of his busy brain, of which “The Girl From Everywhere” is the first announcement. With a diversity of subjects, drama, comedy, there is a rich field. And there should be a demand for this type of odd i length production to be utilized for the sort of bills suggested. An even more variegated program than is at present possible may be evolved with the use of the four reelers. And this will ; enable houses convinced that an all-film policy is best to compete more favorably with the theatres favoring costly presentation acts. ' 1 Theatre lobbies and fronts have shared their most prominent spaces between the “big” pictures and the “shorts.” The little fellows have been given a great play. And the dockers have ascribed a worth-while proportion of the business to short exploitation. The exclusive Fifth Avenue Playhouse, where films compose the whole entertainment to the entire satisfaction of the patrons, joined in Pathe Week in New York by devoting the opening day of its anniversary week to a complete rooster brand program, as well as playing its standby, Pathe News, and other subjects. The all-Pathe program offered “Nanook of the North,” Robert J. Flaherty’s Eskimo story ; “A Dog’s Life,” a. Charlie Chaplin classic and Pathe Review and News. “Alaskan Adventures,” Captain Tack Robertson’s human interest "feature of the North, played a repeat engagement, as did Harry Langdon’s Pathe comedy, “The First Hundred Years.” The Grantland Rice “Sportlight,” which Pathe booked into the State Theatre on Broadway this week, is one of the most interesting items making, up any of the first run programs. “Alien AnJapanese “stick fencing" is one sport shown; followed by Jap wrestling and Chinese “feather game.” The American Indian “stick game” and perhaps funniest of all to U. S. audiences is the Italian pastime of “rolling the cheese,” in which fifty-pound cheeses are hurled for distances of 200 yards. The picture, produced by John L. Hawkinson, made a big hit with the State customers. PATHE’S “The Girl from Everywhere” boasts the most beautiful bevy of “bathing girls” that have been seen on the screen since the present big time stars graduated from the ranks. THEY NEVER WALK OUT ON THE SHORTS Showmen Count on Them for Big Share of Profits THE great part played on Broadway during Pathe Week in particular and during every week in general, indicates the enormous importance of short subjects to showmen. In elections, it has been said “as New York goes, so goes the nation.” And the same proposition must apply to the use of shorts on any theatre’s program if that theatre is to pull the maximum patronage. It is not necessary to list the houses, first runs and others, in the Metropolitan area which have played Pathe shorts this week. But it is significant that a comprehensive survey of theatre managers shows that practically all of them depend on short subjects, which in this case include newsreels, for a surprising percentage of the program’s ruling power. Shorts on Broadway Without exception the “palaces” and “cathedrals” in New York are playing. Pathe short subjects in rounding out the various programs of Pathe features. Not counting the houses in the outlying districts, Pathe News, Pathe Reviews, Pathe’s “Aesop's Fables,” Pathe’s “Topics of the Day,” Pathe’s Grantland Rice “Sportlights,” Pathe “Rarebits,” Pathe comedies, in fact, all manner of Pathe short subjects, are being shown in the Roxy, Strand, Colony, Cameo, Broadway, Hippodrome, Capitol, Palace Theatres and others of magnitude approaching them. No “Walk Outs” In talking with one theatre manager regarding his selection of Pathe shorts, the question of these brief features in general came up. “I watch my audiences,” said this showman, “and I have yet to see any percentage of them ‘walk out’ on a newsreel, or for that matter any of the interesting crop of shorts which are now available. On the contrary, it is my experience with the more or less jaded Metropolitan crowds, that unless a feature is really something special, there will be some hard-boiled babies who will leave it flat. But the shorts hold ’em. That’s why I devote as much attention to them as I do to the five, six or seven reeler.” His idea isn’t unique. It is shared by the most successful of the big-timers and by the small fellows.