The Moving picture world (April 1920-May 1920)

818 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD May 8, 1920 Benjamin B. Hampton Visualizes Time When Theatre Menus Will Differ Widely them out of the box like bags of straw, but it got too hot for him; he jumped on the railing of the box, grabbed a chandeiier and swung out over the heads of the people. From this he swung to another chandelier in the center of the room, then to another closer to the stage. The crowd holiered and yelled and tried to drag him down, but old Tom just kept a-going from chandelier to chandelier, showering the crowd below with broken glass. Tony to the Rescue. Tom got above the stage, dropped, pulled his guns and held the crowd at bay. Then there was a rattle and a clatter as if some one had dumped a load of bricks on the wooden floor, and Tom's horse, Tony, charged into the room, scattering the crowd that scampered wildly to get out of the way of his flying hoofs as he made his way to the runway and up on the stage to Tom. Then Jacques Jaccard blew a whistle, the lights went out — and the thrilling stuflf was over. I talked to Tom some more that day. Few people know it, but one of Mix's arms is a full inch shorter than its mate. "See that arm?" said Tom, rolling up his sleeve. "That's another example of what hard work will do. I got it broken, along with three cracked ribs and a fractured skull in a smash-up in a chuck wagon race. When I was able to crawl around that arm was a stiff as a poker. I had just got to where I was able to make headway in my line of work when the accident happened. Exercise and Patience Effected a Cure. "It seemed as though I would never be able to use the arm again. It was a discouraging outlook, but knowing what exercise will do to the muscles, I set out to fix the arm with exercise. The bone was badly set and projected an inch above the elbow and was stiffened in that manner. I fixed it by sawing wood — two hours each morning and one hour each evening. "It was torture, but I built up a new set of muscles around the broken end of the bone. It took weeks before I saw much in the way of improvement, and the day that I could raise the arm high enough to scratch my head was one of the happiest days of my life. Now it's a good old arm, even if it is a little shy in length. A buck saw and a pile of logs and hard work did what the doctors couldn't do." "I was raised down in El Paso County, Texas, when it was pretty wild," he said. "I was always around horses and was riding the trail with the men when I was twelve. I was always fond of trick riding and took in all the contests and rodeos. I went to a big rodeo at Cheyenne, Wyoming, and won a championship, and as I went into the bank to get my check cashed, the banker told me he had a telegram from Col. Selig. of Chicago, asking him to employ a rider that could act as head cowboy for his western riders. "I took the job. My first work in the pictures was 'The Million Dollar Cowboy,' with Winnifred Greenwood, under Director Oscar Eagle. I've been in the films ever since, and I have been with Fox three years." Horse Clippers Ruined Romance. After this Tom set 'em up to roast pork and apple sass in the studio restaurant, and I reminded him of his unfinished remark about the horse clippers. "Oh, yes," he said. "That was one of the sad chapters of my life. You see my father didn't know how to handle the clippers very well, and every time he'd tune them up he'd try them out on me. I was just at the age when I was thinking of going around with the girls to parties and things, and horse clipper hair cuts weren't very fashionable. I remember getting my hair cut four times in two weeks before the old gentleman got the hang of the clippers." THE high-class small theatre and the policy of long runs for good pictures are factors that will materially influence the future of motion picture production," is the opinion of Benjamin B. Hampton, producer of Great Authors and Zane Grey pictures. "That is simply an inevitable step in advance of conditions now. Distinctive pictures will play small houses seating from 500 to 800 and have runs of a month or longer. Large houses will be more and more dependent upon a mixed program of feature, comedy and educational films, grand opera and concert. "It will come down to a basis of selection. Tastes differ so greatly that literature, art, drama and music have half a dozen different schools, each supported by its devotees. There is every reason why this should become the case with motion pictures. To use effective slang, a certain downtown house with a limited seating capacity will cater to a 'highbrow' audience, another to an audience that likes thrills for the major part of its film menu, another, perhaps, will be running a sex play, and another a human play, a 'glad story,' a children's play. Rich Man and Poor Man Now Take Pot Luck. "Pictures will be advertised for what they are, and word of mouth advertising will bring in a comfortable capacity for a small house, depending upon the appeal of the subject for weeks. The patrons will be pleased because for the most part they know what they are to be given; the type of picture they see is their choice. Then audiences will have a wider range of selection than is possible under present exhibiting conditions. Pictures are exploited now with a view to attracting every class of patron; persons who attend grand opera and those who prefer burlesque have to take pot luck together on their evening's film entertainment. The policy of our best showmen in giving quite a program tends to allay dissatisfaction, for with these houses the picture becomes of less importance, and the feeling with the audiences is that their money has not been wasted, however little the picture may appeal to them. No "Glad Stuff" for Him. This conditon reacts to the disadvantage „„i„lini 1 1 itiiiiuii.iii tiiiil imiiiininliili iiimiiiiimniiiiiiiiiiiii.iiiiirmi tmitimi Benjamin B. Hampton. Producins plays for Robertson-Cole release. of the smaller showman. It also permits mediocre pictures to 'get by,' and in many cases may injure the reputation of a film that would otherwise be very successful, by showing it to an audience which for the most part does not care for that type of picture. "Pictures suffer in popularity today when the cynical young clubman, obliged to sit through a 'glad-good-glad' picture, reports it 'rotten' to his friends, and when the little school girl who would have delighted in the 'glad' stuff reports to her friends that a stormy emotional drama she has just seen 'isn't much good.' I have two pictures in mind when I say this; two very popular photoplays recently produced, which could have played profitably many, many vreeks on end at a small downtown house on the long run system. "Of course a large theatre could not do this profitably; the problem of the large theatre owner will be to please the most number of patrons and mollify those he does not please by the variety and attractiveness of his program. But the small theatre will in the future exhibit the best photoplays for long runs to a selective audience; the standard of production will be raised, and artistic successes like 'Broken Blossoms' will become financial successes as well." Equity's Latest Young Picture Playing to Heavy Business EQUITY PICTURES' latest Clara Kimball Young production, "For the Soul of Rafael," an adaptation from Marah Ellis Ryan's popular novel of the golden days of Southern California, is nearing the completion of its second big week at Grauman's Theatre, Los Angeles. The production has broken all box-office records of the theatre, where capacity attendance is evident at every performance. Those who have been fortunate enough to gain admission to Grauman's Theatre during the second week's shewing have pronounced the production one of the finest seen there in a long time. Crowds have been turned away every night unable to gain admission. The matinee performances have been unusually large. The story offers an exceptional lore theme of old California, presented in a way that will both startle and fascinate, and is readily conceded to be Clara Kimball Young's crowning achievement — greater, indeed, than "Eyes of Youth" or "The Forbidden Woman." "For the Soul of Rafael" had its premiere at Grauman's Theatre, April 21. Since then many congratulatory telegraphic reports, too long for publication, have been received at the Equity offices. The picture received elaborate exploitation in Los Angeles under the supervision of Harry L. Reichenbach. Quick Work by International. Hearst's International News Weekly made another speed record on Saturday, .\pr'\\ 24, when it took a scene and three hours later showed that scene at all the Broadway, New York, motion picture houses. The record was made in connection with the high-price-protest parade engineered by New York's Cheese Club. As fast as the scenes were taken they were hurried over to the laboratory by special automobile, developed and printed and hurried over to the different theatres for matinee showing.