The Moving picture world (September 1920-October 1920)

62 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD September 4, 1920 Harry Levey Launches School Courses Showing Advertising Values of Films Frank Lloyd Who will direct a series of productions for Goldwyn. iiiiimnirt iiimnnniitiiiitMiiniittiiiiiiiiiiiiiriiiiiiiiiiiiiMiliiliiiiiiiimiDiililliiilMiriiiiiiimtiiliiiiii ikiiiiiiiiii Frank Lloyd's Productions to Be Featured by Goldwyn IT is announced by Goldwyn that the future productions of Director Frank Lloyd, starting with Leo Deitrichstein's popular stellar comedy, "The Great Lover," will be featured just as are the Reginald Barker Productions. Thus his forceful, imaginative and sympathetic direction of the Goldwyn picturization of "Madame X" with Pauline Frederick will be recognized. Mr. Lloyd's rare gift for visualization and his attention to detail have long been recognized by Goldwyn and he has been given charge of some of the organization's most important productions. His first Goldwyn picture was "The World and Its Woman," starring Geraldine Farrar, a production that attracted much attention from producers, exhibitors and the public alike. He also directed the Goldwyn-Rex Beach production of "The Silver Horde," which is proving one of the season's box office successes. Besides directing Pauline Frederick in "Madame X" he had charge of three other of her Goldwyn pictures, Pinero's "The Loves of Letty," "The Woman in Room 13" and a forthcoming release, Jl^Roads of Destiny," based upon Channing Pollock's stage adaptation of O. Henry's short story of the same name. Pauline Frederick Nearing Completion of Pinero Play THE screen adaptation of "Iris," Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's play illustrating the magnificence of a true woman's love, with Pauline Frederick in the leading role, is nearing completion, according to word received at the Robertson-Cole home office from the West Coast studios. This is the first starring vehicle for Miss Frederick with Robertson-Cole under her new contract calling for four super-special productions a year. Selected because of the outstanding importance of its principal role, "Iris," when ready for distribution, is expected to furnish the exhibitor an attraction which will rank with the best offerings of the season. Showings of the footage already taken display the important fact that Miss Frederick has captured for the screen all of the fine shadings of emotions demanded by her rather difficult part. DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES HARRY LEVEY, president of the Harry Levey Service Corporation, producers and distributors of industrial-educational motion pictures, has been invited by several representative schools of advertising to assist in launching courses showing the value and uses of the motion picture as one of the important forces in advertising business, and how it can be combined with printed advertising to the benefit of both. The most recent invitation along these lines comes from the Page-Davis School in Chicago, asking Mr. Levey to lend his co-operation in including in the school curriculum some instruction in screen advertising. Masses of detailed information, catalogues, textbooks and questionnaires are being prepared by Mr. Levey for the use of these schools. In addition to this, he has agreed to lend his personal supervision to the launching of these courses and to superintend them until they are well under way. A feature of the courses will be that a great part of them will be given by means of motion pictures, which will be used freely to illustrate the points Mr. Levey wishes to make in his teaching, thus emphasizing the educational as well as the advertising value of the industrialeducational motion picture. "Of course I am tremendously pleased at these invitations from a purely personal point of view," said Mr. Levey, "but I am even more pleased at the sign they bring of a new and bigger era for the industrialeducational motion picture. In the beginning we had a big fight to convince people that the industrial motion picture was not a detriment to other forms of advertising and that it was, on the contrary, a big help. In three years the industrial motion picture has won a place as one of the biggest forces in business today, and the fact that even schools of advertising are coming to realize this and include industrial motion pictures in their curriculums, places this form of the motion picture on its proper plane of educational value." "Babe" Ruth's "Headin' Home" Promises Box Office Records GEORGE BUCHANAN FIFE, the well known writer, wrote the following introductory remarks about "Babe" Ruth whose life story is being printed by the leading newspapers in the United States : "The most talked of person on the American continent today is 'Babe' Ruth of the Yankees. He has passed from the statue of an extraordinary ball player and become a national figure. "The thousands who crowd the baseball parks wherever he plays are an almost inconsiderable fraction of those whose interest and allegiance he has won. Every day tens of millions of newspaper readers in all parts of the country rustle to the sporting page in eagerness to know the latest thing the 'Babe' has accomplished, whether he has again broken his own amazing record of home run making. "The mark which he, at this writing, has hung up for all America to see and to admire— forty-one home runs in a season which still has several weeks to run — surpasses anything that was ever dreamed of in bat prowess. "Until he hewed the way, the most skilled batsmen in the national game were accounted heroes if they made twenty home runs in a season. And then 'Along Came Ruth' with his powerful back and shoulders— his bat heavier than 'any hitherto wielded in the game— and his batting eye, which could follow the fastest, snakiest of balls, and in one season the records came crashing down." It was for this reason that Kessel & Baumann signed "the most talked of person on the American continent" for their super photodramatic production, "Headin' Home." And it is because "every day tens of millions of newspaper readers in all parts of the country rustle to the sporting page to see what the 'Babe' has accomplished" that the producers are more than sure that they have a superlative box office attraction for the exhibitor. Would Prevent Vitagraph from Filming Wallingford Stories THE Star Company has filed an undertaking for $5,000 in the county clerk's office, New York City, approved by Supreme Court Justice Edward J. Glennon, to protect the Vitagraph, Inc., and Pathe Freres, of 1600 Broadway, in the event of the Star Company losing in a suit it has brought against them in the Stipreme Court. The filing of the undertaking ties up the defendants from advertising or offering for sale any motion picture under the name or the title of "Vitagraph's New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford and Blackie Daw." The proceeding is the result of an action brought by the plaintiff, claiming defendants have no legal right to attempt to produce this motion picture. An affidavit is filed by John T. Sturdevant, of 637 West 142d street, secretary of the Star Company, the stock of\which concern he says is controlled by William R. Hearst. He says Cohan & Harris acquired the exclusive rights for stage production of "Get Rich Quick Wallingford" and that in 1915 when Hearst and the Star Company were about to produce a picture called "The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford," George M. Cohan stepped in and convinced Hearst it would be unfair competition with the Harris & Cohan stage production, which they had made a success. The result, Sturdevant says, was that Cohan and Hearst came to an agrreement and Cohan sold for $15,000 the rights of the play for motion picture production to Hearst. The rights thus acquired, Sturdevant says, excludes anyone but the Star Company from producing a motion picture in which the word "Wallingford" is used in the title, and that the Vitagraph people and Pathe Freres in attempting to do so are infringing on the rights of plaintiff, which rights, Sturdevant says, after purchase by Mr. Hearst, were transferred by the latter to the Star Company. William A. De Ford, counsel for the plaintiff, says the controversy will come up for adjudication at the October term of court. Powell in "The Kentuckian" David Powell will be one of the featured players in the Charles Maigne Production lor Paramount, "The Kentuckians," by John Fox, Jr. Monte Blue will also be featured. Mr. Powell started on the stage in England under Sir Herbert Tree, came to .America with Forbes Robertson and several years ago deserted the stage for pictures. He has appeared as leading man with several stars and also featured in several Paramount successes including "The Right to Love," now being shown at the Criterion.