The Moving picture world (January 1920-February 1920)

January 17, 1920 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD '381 MOVING PICTURE WORLD Founded by J.P.Chalmers in 1907 ■atorad at th« Q«o*ral Fast OfflM, New York Citr, Second Class Uatter. Published Weekly by the CHALMERS PUBLISHING COMPANY 51« FIFTH AVENUE, AT 43D STREET, NEW YORK CITY (Telephone, Murray Hill, 1610, 1611, 1612, 1613) J. P. Chalmers, Sr President J^F> Chalmers Vice-President and General Manager E. i. Chalmers.......... .Secretary and Treasurer James L. Hoff Assistant General Manager George Blaisdell Editor A. MacArthnr, Jr Advertising Manager The offlQ* of the oompanr Is the address of the offlcera. OHICAOO OmCEi— Suite 017-eiO 8<dilller Bnlldlns. 84 West Randolph St., Ohloaco, III. Telephone, Central COGB. PACinC C»ABT OmCB— 610-611 Wright * Callender Baildlne. Los Aaceles, Cal. Tslephone, Broadway 4649. 0. P. Harleman, Business Heyr is satatlTe. SUBSCRIPTION RATES United States, Cuba, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Rico and Philippine Islands $3.00 per year Canada 3.50 per year Foreign Countries (Postpaid) $4.00 per year OhascM of address should (tve both old and new addresses In full aad be oUarly written. Two weeks' time should be allowed for change. ADVERTISING RATES Classified Advertising — 3 cents a word for Help or Positions Wanted, minimum SO cents; 5 cents a word for all commercial ads., minimum $1. Display Advertising Rates made known on application. NOT! — Address all oorrespondenoe, remittances and subscriptions to MOVINO PICTURB WORLD, 616 Fifth Arenne, at Forty-third Street, New York, sad not to Individuals. CINX-MTJNDIAL, the monthly Spanish edition of the Moving Plotare World,. is published at SIB Fifth Avenue by the Chalmers Publlshlag Company. It reaches the South American and Spanlsb-speaklng nurket. Tearly subscription, $2. Advertising rates on application. Saturday, January 17, 1920 The MetrO'Loew Merger BIG news was the announcement to the trade. early in the week of the affiliation of Metro and Loew, Inc., through the absorption by the latter of the producing company. We have heard much recently of producers entering the exhibiting field, but in this case the rule is reversed. The result is the same. It means production and exhibition directed from a central source. To the man in the street the combination would look like a good one from the standpoint of both of the two contracting parties. Metro is assured of an outlet for its productions and the Loew corporation has at its command a certain supply of pictures for its theatres. The only person who would seem to be justified in looking askance at the absorption is the independent exhibitor who casually or regularly shows Metro pictures and whose house is in the neighborhood of a Loew theatre. Mr. Rowland is at pains to set forth that the arrangement will in no way interfere with the independent showman, who, the Metro president declares, "will always be able to obtain Metro pictures in fair competition in the open market as heretofore." The announcement that the company always will be in the field for the purchase of free-lance productions will provide cheer for the independent manufacturers. This means another competitor for the product of the man or men who choose to work for themselves rather than to make a contract alliance with a program builder. The trend of the times is toward combination and centralization. Like it some of us may not; but it's a condition, not a theory. O Virgin Soil for Camera THE story of the visit of Frederick Burlingham to th« Suwanee River, toM on another page of this issue by the explorer hims"eKy is unusual aside from the genuine human interest it contains. It is worthy of note that this river, famous in song if not in story, was for the first time visited by a camera when Mr. Burlingham carried one there in December. It would be difficult to find any one who has not heard of the Suwanee — heard of it so frequently that no longer is it looked upon as an actuality, but rather regarded as a mythical stream. If Mr. Burlingham can bring to us on the screen a measurable part of. the charm that attaches to his telling of the story in words there will be no question of the place his picture will have in the hearts not only of Americans, but of men and women everywhere the song is known. The visit to Suwanee has value, too, as demonstrating that all the spots of larger national interest may not previously have been swept by the camera — that there may be more "virgin soil" as yet untouched by. the foot of the motion picture photographer. O Picture News Important OUT in Cincinnati Harris P. Wolfb'crg has set in motion a propaganda that well may be taken up by picture men in other parts of the country. The movement had its origin in the campaign to lessen the demand for news print paper by cutting down the number of pages printed by the larger journals. As Mr. Wolfberg feared, among the first of the departments to be sacrificed was the one devoted to motion picture news. The exchangeman is making it his business to see that newspaper editors understand just how important motion picture news is to their readers. One of Mr. Wolfberg's arguments is the comparative circulation of the leading national weekly and the combined distribution of the "fan" motion picture magazines in the territory covered by the dailies the editors of which he is trying to impress. He finds on the average where 100 persons buy the single publication for 5 cents that from 60 to 75 pay 20 cents to read magazines devoted to the screen. Therefore he declares it logical to believe there is a large proportion of the reading public which gladly will pay from 2 to 5 cents to find in the dailies new^s of screen doings. We commend the vyork of Mr. Wolfberg to our readers not only in Cincinnati, but throughout the country. O AS a battle cry for the industry in its campaign against the forces of Red revo'lution we suggest a paraphrase of another slogan not unknown to film fame: "Fewer and better inhabitants!"