Moving Picture World (Jan-Jun 1910)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 649 "Oh, my hearl 1 weary waiting, waiting for the May" and "the flowers thai come in the Spring, tra la." I am anxious to disport myself in the merry Springtime, tra la Fo the Spring ;i young man's fancy lighth turn-. to thought! various things. "I'm to be Queen of the May, Mother." Such ;i lot of things are going to happen in May to all of us. I presume thai I shall have my share of the happenings, and shall see what 1 to be seen in the moving picture field. There will be much doing in May, it is said. * * * First of all, there will be the annual meeting of tin N'a tional Independent Moving Picture Alliance, at Chicago. Then we shall not only sec what we shall sit, but we shall know what wo shall know. We shall kn"\v tin outcome of the recent palaver at the Imperial Hotel, and the fate, temporary or otherwise, of the constitutional changes or attempted changes on the [ndependenl i< 1c of the moving picture business. So, "my heart is weary waiting, waiting for the May." * * * "Wait until May the first," people arc saying in the busiI have wondered what they have been waiting for. I think I have found out. Assuming an absolutely impenetrable disguise I have made a number of inquiries as to tin intentions of an organization which looms large in the mm ing picture field; which throws a black and sinister shadow, across the entire moving picture business of the United States, if not of the world. I mean the General Film Company, with that amazing capitalization of $2,500,000. I am enabled, after all my inquiries, to give my readers some interesting information about this Colossus of the business, that has quietly taken shape under our very noses, and which if it emerges in the open, possibly nexl May, must have a truly terrifying aspect to us all. * * * Talk about trusts, monopolies, combines! Why, they are re than pigmies compared with the potentialities and possibilities of the General Film Company. It would take your breath away if I were to tell you the amount of money that is behind this concern. It would double you up, not to asphyxiate you, if I were to put down in cold print the me which is in the minds of the incorporators of the General Film Company. It would make the Motion Pictur< nts Company look like thirty cents. Beyond that the age "i comparison can hardly go. * * * Reader, what do you say to a company like the General Film Company, which might concentrate, in its own 01. ization, the entire moving picture business of the entire world! At a very rough calculaton there are probably a hundred high class film manufacturers in the world, allowing twenty the United States, twenty for Great Britain and the remaining sixty for the other countries. Just imagine the General Film Company controlling all these! Of course it is hardly necessary to say that, first of all, a working agreement with Lumiere, Eastman and the other raw stock maknus1 be made. This clearly would give the General Film Company a control of things at the very beginning. They would be in on the ground floor. * * * Then we have the theaters, Twelve thousand in the United States. 5,000 in Great Britain, probably 40.000 or 50.000 in the other parts of the world. Manifestly, therefore, with the film agreement in its pockets, the General Film Company would find no difficulty in assuming control of all the thean the world. Isn*t it gigantic? Doesn't it take your breath away" Mr. Rockefeller must appear quite a tiny person besides the masterful Colossus who could concei\e the idea of the General Film Company and is slowly and deliberately maturing his plan. Ain't it orful. Mabel? * * * Of course, in this condition of affairs the dividing line between trust and Independent would disappear. The whole business would be swept into one net. The General Film Company would Out-Murdock Murdock. The Sales Company would be swallowed up in the same mouth. As for the Alliance, it would disappear in the voracious maw of this mammoth amongst trusts and combines. Fancy, worldwide control of th.' moving picture centered 1 in who .... lie the master of wealth beyond the dream of avai * Then come-, the tenter or film exchange man in the 1. ness. Would he be required? If so, how much of him and how man} of him? < (r would, a seems feasible, one \a-tributing agen rected in New York City, with brai in the other cities of the world? Just in the same ma a-, the Standard ( )il Company worl ider the enon control to be exercised by the General Film Company and then you will realize the mighty power it would pos Film renter-, would be dispensed with as easily as we ar< casting off our overcoats. They would be put right out of the business; there would be no film for them to handl. nobody to sell them to. I -n't this enough to make the poor renter unable to sleep at nights? * * * When the Patents Company was formed it was perceived that a big power had entered the film business, but by 1 parison with the General Film Company it must now ap pear a very -mall thing, indeed. Tin 1 the age things. Worldwide combination are the order of the day. Consider how Mr. Morgan, with a truly imperial instinct. Organized concern like the Steed Trust and wa 11 mental in bringing the International Marine Companj existence. The General Film Company would probably be as big as either of these and have command of the entire 1 ing picture business of the world. A two billion-dollar corporation is well within the bounds of feasibility. I do not know what will become of me. Still, my friend, who ha given me this information, has hinted that Lux Graphicus will be taken care of. Probably I -hall be given a million or tw< Stock in the concern in order to keep my vitriolic pen quiet So. a, 1 have said, "my heart is weary waiting, waiting the May," when, according to some authorities, all th likely to happen. To qui rge Bernard Shaw. " Never Can Tell." Ml I have to say is. ! the General Film Company, as the new-paper. "Variety." seems to be obtaining some valuable information which manufacturers, exhibitors and renters would do well to ponder over. But I (latter myself that I have e better than "Variety" and have got nearer the heart of things. * * * And — it is aim.. st too good I Everthing in Lantern Slides" THE SONG SLIDE SERVICE THAT SATISFIES Novelty Puzzlettes Announcement Slidei NOVELTY SLIDE COMPANY 10 East 1 (th Street. 221 East 53rd Street NEW YORK CITY BRANCH: Real Eitate Exchange, SCRAN'TON. PA. s O N G L I DE E R V IC E 25 cents a set per week. All sets guaranteed com" plete from Title to Chorus, Music in nice condition, and your weekly supply of sets forwarded in one consignment, which saves you express charges. Chicago Song Slide Exchange Dept. I , Ninth Floor MASONIC TEMPLE CHICAGO, ILL.