The Moving picture world (July 1920)

July 17, 1920 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 347 Good Shows Studiously Presented Are Suggested as Means to Combat Weather ACCORDING to a survey just completed among its sub-franchise owners and other independents, Associated First National Pictures, Inc., concludes that the exhibitors' annual "summer slump" bugaboo is less of a reality this year than ever before. Receipts in many theatres are said to be holding well up during the first weeks of real hot weather, comparing favorably with winter business. Exhibitors who have refused to follow the old custom of reducing expenses during the hot weather (on the theory that a motion picture house cannot keep up patronage during the summer months) are having their pioneering judgment vindicated by business which compares very favorably with those of the winter months, according to reports from various territories. The reports indicate that those who have kept their houses up to winter standards are getting first-class patronage. Larger Cities Maintain Patronage. Reports came from five first run theatres in Atlanta — Criterion, Forsythe, RialtD, Strand and Tudor. None of those theatres made any changes in policy for the hot months, and all of them report increases in patronage with an increase in prices. Fourteen theatres in Kansas City, including those of the Newman Theatre Company, Loew's Garden and the Liberty, all reported patronage fifty per cent, in excess of last year. Admissions are about on a level with those of a year ago. Louisville reported a general continuance of winter patronage through the first four weeks of hot weather, with one theatre (the Majestic) giving the detail that the theatre played to 23,000 more paid admissions in May of this year than during May of 1919. Lowell and Buffalo, as well as many smaller cities, reported the arrival of hot weather with little decrease in patronage from the winter months. "Smoky City" an Exception. Pittsburgh is the single exception to report a decrease in business. The manager of one theatre there suggests the reason why that city is affected adversely. He is Samuel DeFazie, manager of the Blackstone. He declares that the adoption of the daylight savings law has put the theatres at a disadvantage because the streets remain light enough to make walking and sightseeing enjoyable until about nine o'clock in the evening. For this reason, he declares, first performances in the evenings have shown a decided falling off, but the later performances are as well attended is at any time during the winter. N. A. Benson, manager of the Stadium, also in Pittsburgh, outlines a plan of shorter shows and more of them as a method which is successfully meeting the shortened hours for exhibiting. His method of shortening the shows is to emphasize on the quality of the feature productions and the elimination of all other films from the program. Favor Light Entertainment. Programs have been given a great deal of attention. The managers reporting favor comedies, farce and other light pictures for the summer shows, on the theory that laughing is the easiest emotion of any to experience and thus the entertainment of a patron is accomplished with less action on his part. The reports were unanimous in stating that plenty of high grade films were available. Changes in musical accompaniments particularly for summer patronage have been maae by exhibitors who have reported good business. The tendency in music has been to string and other soft toned instruments, with an accompanying decrease in brass and strident blow instruments. William Desmond in Cast of De Haven's "Twin Beds" THE promise of Mr. and Mrs. Carter De Haven that in the picture presentation of "Twin Beds" they would he surrounded by a supporting cast adequate to the possibilities of the production appears to be justified by the announcement that William Desmond, a star in his Dwn right, has been selected for one of the leading roles. Helen Raymond is to appear as Signora Monti. In the stage presentation Miss Raymond played this role for several years, appearing in every Englishspeaking country. William J. Irving, Katherine Lewis and Lottie Williams complete the list of principals. The attack of ptomaine poisoning from which Carter De Haven suffered recently proved only slight and he has had a complete recovery. Realism will be the keynote of the picturization. Many of the comedy scenes are enacted on the fireescape on the exterior of an apartment house and it is on an actual fire escape on the outside of a real dwelling place of this kind that these pictures are being taken. Howard Greene Joins Levey Howard Greene, M. E., well known as a writer on motor topics, an inventor, and formerly on the editorial staff of several automobile magazines, has been appointed editor of the department of animated mechanical drawings, of the Harry Levey Service Corporation. The concern will devote itself exclusively to the making of industrial and educational motion pictures, and it will be Mr. Green's task to depict on the screen by means of animated technical drawings the inner mechanism of machinery. Sigmund Moos. Efficiency expert and manager of the leasing department for Universal. Moos Is Efficiency Expert at Universal's Western Plant SIGMUND MOOS, who is the efficiency expert and manager of the leasing department of Universal, keeps the big Universal plant humming with the activities of a number of independent producing • companies, besides the fourteen units making the variety of features, serials, westerns, comedies and other film attractions that go to make up the Universal program. Mr. Moos plans to make Universal studios one of the most complete and up-todate community plants on the west coast, now that the new lake on the back ranch has been completed and filled with water, and the new stage and dressing rooms and other buildings that have been going up during the past few months are finished. Rothapfel Books "Screenics" "Screenics," a new series produced by C. L. Chester, Inc., and distributed through Educational Films Corporation, are being introduced to New York at the Capitol Theatre where S. L. Rothapfel has selected "Duck Days" and "Foam Fantasies" as a portion of his program. "Screenics," which will be released fortnightly, alternating with the Robert C. Bruce Scenics Beautiful, consist of two subjects, one of them generally presenting animals and bird and the other some unusual scenic shots. Practically the entire content of the "Screenics" will be American subjects. For instance "Duck Days" has the James River country, Virginia, as its locale and "Foam Fantasies" was made near San Diego, Calif. IDatck foh ttoL 4uy Ovuf national Sp*ciaH