The Moving picture world (April 1920-May 1920)

April 17, 1920 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 395 We Have with Us To-day Dynamic Ella Fabrique, Who Combines Feminine Intuition with Business Acumen BEING just natural," as Ella Fabrique expresses her character, is the simple reason why Detroit's woman manager of a photoplay house has made a remarkable success of her work. But that isn't all, for Ella Fabrique is a miss of 22 summers, pretty, plentifully supplied with the intuition of her sex. Ella Fabrique Detroit woman exhibitor. lots of Detroit's dynamic energy, beside "being just natural." So she knows what her patrons want, and for these manifold reasons she is acquiring a young but substantial fortune through the sale of thrills, heart throbs and a great deal of laughter. It is not because Miss Fabrique just happens to know what her pleasure-seeking audiences desire that she watches them go away satisfied. It is because she has studied these audiences as well as her own emotions and has learned the provincial tastes appealing to that part of the city which her theatre serves. So Miss Fabrique knows exactly just what sort of chills the folks like to have play tag up and down their spines, just the right kind of sob stuff to furnish a delightfully weepy time for her feminine subjects, and the variety of humor that will produce a regular man's-sized, vestbutton-bustin' laugh. A Vanity Bag? No, a Job. When the war made men almost as scarce as brass nickles, and Warren and Cohen, owners of Detroit vaudeville and photoplay theatres, were scouring Detroit for a competent man to manage their Coliseum Theatre, a neatly dressed young woman appeared at their office. "What do you want?" questioned Cohen, expecting an inquiry for a glove or a vanity bag lost in one of the theatres. "A job." Explanations followed. "I never ran a theatre in my life," Miss Fabrique told Mr. Cohen, "but I know just the way the Coliseum fans would like to have one conducted." The young woman followed this with a smile that would' have done credit to Doug Fairbanks and so ended all argument. Her only stipulation was that she should not be annoyed by any mere men employes puttering around her ajid that she should be given free rein in the selection of pictures and in the conduct of the house. Kids and Cats Denied Admission. The managing of the theatre was even more than some men might dare to tackle. Among other disagreeable matters was the presence of a "gang" of youngsters, which the neighborhood harbored, of the sort whose chief ambition in life is to make themselves known by creating disturbances ranging from sheer devilishness to the innocent pleasure of bringing a cat into the theatre and then pulling its tail. But the gang that terrorized the Coliseum in pre-Fabrique days died a sudden and ignominious demise. Miss Ella quite radically blacklisted every gangster and denied him admission until his reformation was complete. The grown-up kids that attempted roughhouse tactics were invited with severe respectfulness to enjoy the outside air. The house became a model of refinement. The young manager's smile and her strictness are not her only assets by any means. She flings a wicked paste brush or tack hammer when it comes to sticking up posters, and if the operator should fail to appear on time she steps right into the asbestos-lined booth and shoots an accurately focussed film from the projecting machine, like a veteran. Other times she will hurry back to the box office and throw Uncle Sam's silver around like a bank cashier, or check up the releases with a pencil and turn out next week's program for the waiting printer. Played Detective Successfully. Nor is that all. When Warren and Cohen suspected a cashier and a ticket taker at one of their theatres of practicing a small graft whereby they pocketed a fourth of the box office receipts, they did not hire an expensive private detective to discover the offenders. Instead Miss Fabrique was sent to the theatre to be put to work. It was explained that she was a stranded actress whom Messrs. Warren and Cohen desired to aid until she could get an engagement. The very first day Miss Fabrique learned full details of the petty grafting as well as all parties concerned. Miss Fabrique came to the conclusion many months ago that movie patrons relish the spice of vaudeville, no matter how amateurish, just as long as it is refined. Immediately she initiated an amateur booking office of Detroit talent which she furnishes to a dozen other movie houses; the cream of her amateur circuit she plays at her own theatre. Miss Fabrique is maidenly reticent about the secrets of her success, but she has said that movie owners would do well to heed the fact that men follow women's notion of entertainment. Big Demand Created for Cotton Pictures. Gerald F. Bacon's six-reel production, "Blind Love," starring Lucy Cotton, is the fourth play by Max Marcin, author of "Cheating Cheaters," "The Eyes of Youth" and "The House of Glass," to be adapted for screen presentation. The picture was released recently on the independent market by Nathan Hirsh, president of the Aywon Film Corporation, and reports from buyers in the New England and Western territories are to the effect that the bookings are above average. Buys Rights to "Road of Ambition." Myron Selznick, president of Selznick Pictures, announces that he has purchased the rights to the novel, "The Road to Ambition," written by Elaine Sterne. "The Road to Ambition" was especially purchased by Mr. Selznick as a starring vehicle for Eugene O'Brien. Rc^iezi's printed in Moving Picture World arc based nhim the production exactly as it will be shown upon your screen. And they are dependable, fair and honest in their expressions. This Shows Ella Fabrique at Work on Her Theatre. Just proving that it is not alone the man but the woman that can put on movie programs.