The Moving picture world (May 1922)

May 13, 1922 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 179 In the Independent^Field WHO'S WHO IN THE STATE RIGHT FIELD No. 8 — Sam Zierler and Commonwealth Pictures Corporation To tell the story of Commonwealth Film Corporation is practically telling the story of Samuel Zierler and to do that makes us wonder whether the story properly belongs in this department. Because Samuel Zierler is expanding so fast that he now has one foot in the State-Right fieldand the other foot in the national field, though withal, he is standing powerful hard on both of them. It is impossible to talk of Commonwealth without talking of Zierler, because he is practically the whole works. Less than three years ago — two and one-half to be exact — he stepped out of the general sales managership of the Big U Exchange — Universal's New York selling branch — bought himself a picture — Clara Kimball Young in "Eyes of Youth" — and started in business for himself. The business was incorporated as the Commonwealth Film Corporation. That's all there was — one picture. He had a desk and a film salesman — salesman, mind you, and rented vault space from another exchange. Today Commonwealth is a big organization with a flock of salesmen, big film vaults and all the mechanical facilities that go with it; a tremendous office force; big offices (already far too small) next door to Paramount's exchange, and branches in Buffalo and Albany operating as the Nu-Art Pictures Corporation. To the original Gara Kimball Young feature have been added many other pictures with the same star — who, incidentally is now producing for the Samuel Zierler Photoplay Corporation — and dozens of other big features ; also all kinds of short subjects, including serials, comedies and educationals. Commonwealth is without a peer in the United States today for size and quality of product handled — and all this growth has taken place in less than three years. If you seek the answer from Mr. Zierler himself it will sound simple enough. He will tell you that there is nothing of magic about it. Just plain horse sense and hard work ; nothing more or less. He believes primarily and all the time in quality-product. He believes, in other words, in big pictures. He puts it this way : The producer, the distributor and the exhibitor are all in a co-operative enterprise. The money which comes into the theatre box offices must be spent in production, in distribution and in exploitation for the theatre with profit to all three concerned. The producer, the distributor and the exhibitor each must make a fair profit or else the scheme of things breaks down. If any one of the three makes an unfair profit, the other two will suffer thereby and thus the whole industry suffers. "I have found that the most profitable all-around investment in the distribution of pictures is the big picture, the worth-while production, because that is the kind which makes money -at the box office. It is elementary to say that unless the exhibitors make money no one can, because the only source of income there is must be at the box office. There is no money for motion picture production or distribution except what the public provides and the only certain collection agency is the box office. "Commonwealth started its business with the slogan, "Handling Only Assured Successes" and we have made of that slogan our business practice. The results have proved its wisdom." There is no doubt that Mr. Zierler has operated on the basis of which he speaks. The Clara Kimball Young pictures, other big features such as "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?" "The Black Panther's Cub." serials like "Adventures of Tarzan," educationals such as Prizma series and the Bur lingame Adventures — these and many others have placed Commonwealth on a par with any of the exchanges operating on a national basis. The handling of this quality product, backed by the ability and persistence of Mr. Zierler's organization are responsible for the unprecedented growth of Commonwealth. The growth of Commonwealth to greatness is not surprising to those who know Samuel Zierler. He has been in the business so long and has had his name in prominence for so many years, particularly in the film circles of New York and Northern New Jersey that those who do not know him probably imagine him to be quite well along in years. That probably holds good, too, for those who do know him quite well. The fact is there are probably not a dozen men in the film trade who have any idea of Mr. Zierler's age. For years he avoided any mention of it and only now is he beginning to feel old enough to occasionally allow a mention of it to slip out. The truth of the matter is that he is only on his way now to his 30th birthday. All along he felt there were not enough years to talk about ; recently he seems to think Z). & W, Productions, Inc., Formed in N. Y,, Will Produce Stories Written by Holman Day As was exclusively reported in Moving Picture World several weeks ago, D. & W. Productions, Inc., of New York, this week was incorporated and opened offices at 132 West 43d street, in that city. The concern will produce pictures for the independent market, it was announced. Those actively engaged in the management of the firm are well known in the film business. E. R. Wood, the general manager, is a business man and has for many years been interested financially in the production of pictures. Edward Davenport, who is supervisor of production, was a well-known portrayer of Shakespearian characters prior to his entry into the motion picture industry years ago. He was formerly studio manager and director for Reliance and Majestic, and one of the directors of the early all-star productions. John A. Kent, in charge of publicity and distribution, has had a long and varied experience in the film business and enjoys a large acquaintance in the independent distributing field. It was announced, too, this week that the company has a contract with Holman Day to write ten stories for his company, from which five-reel features will be made. Nigh Starts on 'Notoriety'* William Nigh, who has produced three big features for Warner Brothers, this week started production on the first of his series of four independent pictures at the Tilford studios in New York. The first picture is "Notoriety," with an all-star cast. E. H. Emick Joins Graphic Exchanges Announcement was made this week that E. H. Emick, the West Coast film man, operating the Peerless Exchanges in Los Angeles and in San Francisco, has become affiliated with Graphic Film Exchanges of America. "Mother Eternal" and "The Wrong Woman" will be the first pictures that he will exploit on the coast. they are getting to a respectable number and he no longer avoids the subject as of yore. Even as a boy of 23 he was in full charge of Universal's New York sales branch and few of his customers and associates ever dreamed he was so young. He himself says he never was a boy ; never had a boyhood. He went to work when he was 11 years old and has been hard at it ever since. Almost from the beginning of his working-career he has been a part of the motion picture industry. The old Mutual and General Film were in their heyday when he began and he went right through the mill. He has done every sort of work that can help a distributor to understand an exhibitor's problems and without doubt, much of his success is due to the experiences which laid the groundwork for this understanding. Those who know Samuel Zierler well know that one of his outstanding characteristics is to pick out the line he wants to travel and then stick to that line. He never was a man to shoot around the target; he shoots right at it. Very early in his life he tied up with Universal and with them rose to a big executive capacity, gradually expanding his activities until he felt the time was ripe to go out on his own — and that meant the formation of Commonwealth. He announced at that time that he intends to produce as well as distribute — and never mentioned again until a few weeks ago when he announced he was actually producing with Clara Kimball Young, the same star who helped him in the foundation of his own business. The new producing corporation will not interfere in any way with the further developement of Commonwealth ; both corporations will grow alongside each other. Other men come to him occasionally to congratulate him on the success he has won, but he never listens very hard to that sort of thing. He always says that any self-satisfaction or complacency is the beginning of the deterioration of any business ; that no business man ever can afford to be satisfied. "A producer should never sit back and tell himself he has made a good picture ; he should always go out and make a better one. A distributor should never be satisfied with the resutls he has secured on a picture ; he can always find more theatres to put it in ; an exhibitor should never be satisfied with the business he is doing; if he is playing to capacity every matinee and night, then he should build a bigger theatre." Those are his sentiments and, you might say, the reasons for his success.