The Moving picture world (November 1925-December 1925)

November 28, 1925 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 325 ciety. Motion pictures are doing three things as no other instrument today can do them. First, they provide the chief amusement of a great majority of all oqr people and the sole amusement of millions and millions and just as you serve the leisure hours of the people, so do you rivet the girders of society. Second, they instruct and that is indeed a precious power. And, third, they are making an immeasurable contribution to the cause of international amity. The motion picture knows no barrier of distance, it knows no barrier of language. Thousands of feet of celluloid film in metallic containers are sent to the ends of the earth to speak the language which everyone understands, civilized or savage, the language of pictures. "Under the benign influence of familiarity with each other, no matter where we may dwell or how we may speak, the world is bound to grow better and that is one of my greatest hopes for the motion picture. If men understand each other they do not hate ; if they do not hate, they do not make war. In all of this service the News weeklies are invaluable. Again I pay tribute to Pathe News and assure you of my gratitude for what it is doing and your own splendid part in it. WILL H. HAYS." Governor Albert C. Ritchie of Maryland related interesting facts about motion picture exhibitors in his state, saying in part, as follows : Maryland Governor Talks "In the honest examination to give the public the cleanest and best, Maryland exhibitors are not surpassed by exhibitors or producers anywhere. I believe that as a class they regard their business as impressive with a public press, and as a class they are entirely faithful to that trust. Maryland, it is true, is one of the states where censorship exists. When it comes to Pathe News service, no censorship is necessary and there ought not to be any. (Applause.) But in any event, it is Maryland's policy to insist on a sane censorship, enough to protect the public where that may be necessary, but never enough to impair the responsibihty of the producers and exhibitors for the pictures which they show. "That is the balance which ought to be struck in all public regulation. That is the balance, that is the line which ought never to be lost sight of, whether regulation is in the field where it is concededly necessary, such as railroads and public utilities, or whether it is in the field where the necessity for it is by no means soc lear, and in that field I would put the moving picture industry. "But if regulation is necessary to protect the public, then let it be confined to what is needed to protect the public and nothing else, and let it ht. administered in a way that recognizes that the men in charge of this great industry want to run it and are capable of running it cleanly and decently, and do not let us have interference anywhere which will take from the owners of the industry the responsibility for the operation of their own business and for the character of the pictures which tli'ey show (Applause). "The moving picture industry cannot succeed, cannot merit or hold public approval any more than any other industry can unless its product has character. That is the great thing in life, for an individual in public service or in business, — character. The owners are the ones who ought to be most interested in giving it character. Certainly, the vast majority of them are. So state interference should never be permitted to go to an extent liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiii[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ I Charge Conspiracy | 1 \ CHARGE of conspiracy to deprive 1 1 the Palisade Theatre Corporation, 1 i owners of the GrantLee Theatre, = 1 Palisade, N. J., of first-run pictures is 1 1 contained in a bill filed for the cor 1 1 poration by E. Thornton Kelly, its 1 1 president, with Vice-Chancellor Bent— 1 1 ley inj Jersey City. The defendants 1 1 are the Famous Players-Lasky Cor 1 I poration, Morris Katinsky, Samuel f 1 Perry,i Jacob Fabian, Peter Adams, s S Irving Rose and Benjamin F. Keith, g 1 theatre owners in the vicinity of Palis 1 i ade. g g A temporary injunction has been is g 1 sued and on November 30 the de 1 1 fendants must show cause why it should 1 1 not be continued. A permanent in 1 i junction is sought. The plaintiff g 1 charges that a conspiracy exists to de | i prive him of films until they are three i 1 months old. "The Ten Command g i ments" is one film cited. 1 llllllllllllllHllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllH^ which might lessen the obligation and lessen' the authority of this great right-thinking majority of your industry who will be satisfied with nothing less than the best, themselves to compel the small minority in their industry to live up to their high standards or else to get out of the business and to go into some other one where the standards are not so high. "I am, of course, speaking only of state regulation. A good deal of the state regulation, goodness knows, is bad enough. And if the Maryland legislature ever passed a bill such as the Connecticut legislature passed, I don't believe I could be too quick in getting them back again to repeal it (Applause). Against National Censorship "And so I take it for granted that you will agree with me that to the extent that any public regulation may be necessary it ought to be confined to the states, and that in no event ought Congress to be permitted to pass the Federal Censorship Bill. (Applause.) "Gentlemen, I appreciate more than I can say the opportunity of being here. I appreciate the opportunity of congratulating Mr. Cohen upon the splendidly constructive work which has marked the recent years of his life. I can, of course, add nothing to what he has told you, and to what others who are to speak will tell you as to the value of the Pathe News Service. I am simply one of the millions who recognize in Pathe Service a development as marvelous as any other thing in this marvelous age. I am simply one of the millions who recognize in it a development which, above all others, helps to give the whole world a common language and to make the whole world akin. (Applause.) Vice-President Dawes, in his opening remai ks referred to what he had written to Editor Cohen in accepting the invitation to be present at the dinner, and said that he wanted to most cheerfully and enthusiastically subscribe to what he liad said in praise of ncwsfihn dissemination and about Pathe News, in particular. The distmguished guests sitting at the speakers' table included : Charles G. Dawes, the Vice President of the United States; Major General Mason M. Patrick, Rear Admiral W. A. Moffett, Major General Fox Conner, Major General Charles P. Summerali, Admiral S. S. Robison, Elmer R. Pearson, Honorable Ogden L. Mills, United States Representative from New York ; Honorable E. Lee Trinkle, Governor of Virginia; Honorable Albert C. Ritchie, Governor of Maryland; Mr. Edmund C. Lynch, Honorable Richard P. Ernst, United States Senator from Kentucky, Emanuel Cohen, His Excellency, Senor Don Manuel C. Tellez, Ambassador from Mexico; Frederic R. Coudert, Presiding; His Excellency Monsieur A. Van de Vyvere, Belgian Minister of State; Honorable Curtis D. Wilbur, the Secretary of the Navy; Honorable Royal S. Copeland, United States Senator from New York; Charles E. Merrill, Honorable Ralph O. Brewster, Governor of Maine; Honorable George Silzer, Governor of New Jersey; Jansen Noyes, Honorable McKenzie Moss, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; Major General John A. Lejeune, Rear Admiral Charles P. Plunkett, Rear Admiral R. E. Coontz. Others Present In all over five hundred guests were present, including leaders of almost every phase of commercial, civic and professional life. The motion-picture and theatre fields were prominently represented and included such wellknown leaders of stage and screen as Daniel Frohman, Charles Dana Gibson, Jesse L. Lasky, Messmore Kendall, Jules E. Mastbaum, P. A. Powers, Elmer R. Pearson, A. E. Rouseau, Frederic R. Coudert, Leo Brecher, Calvin W. Brown, James Montgomery Flagg, Harold B. Franklin, John W. Alicoate, Fred J. Beecroft, Spencer Bennet, H. Diamant Bergere, Peter J. Brady, Harry Brandt, William Brandt, E. Oswald Brooks. Nathan Burkan, Pat Campbell, P. L. Carroll, Emanuel Cohen, Oscar Cooper, Frederic R. Coudert, Jr., Merritt Crawford, R. C. Cropper, Herbert K. Cruikshank, John J. Dacey, Joseph Dannenberg, J. Darrock, Charles Davis, H. De Siena, L. S. Diamond, J. S. Dickerson, E. A. Eschmann, A. M. Fabian, K. Fasold, Harry Field, Gilbert E. Gable, E. H. Gauvreau, Miles F. Gibbons, Ralph Graves, George Gray, E. B. Hatrick, Jack Hatten, W. C. Howe, John Humm, Lewis Innerarity, Wm. A. Johnston, Casey Jones, M. Kellerman, J. E. Kyle, Edwin G. Lauder, Jr., Irving Lesser, Vincent Lopez, Mark A. Luescher, Norbert Lusk, S. Barret McCormick, Charles McDonald, Burr Mcintosh, W. A. V. Mack, Bert Marx, George Mitchell, J. J. Murdock, Rutgers Neilson, Tom North, Lee A. Ochs, Walter M. Oestreicher, C. L. O'Reilly, M. J. O'Toole, P. A. Parsons, Frank Presbrey, Oscar A. Price, Martin Quigley, John Ragland, William E. Raynor, W. J. Reilly, A. J. Richard, J. T. Richards, Hugo Ricsenfeld, W. Adolphe Roberts, S. L. Rothafel, Albert H. Sawtell, Fred Schader, Harry Scott, Larry Semon, Sime Silverman, Courtland Smith, Frank Smith, W. C. Smith, John Spargo, Robert Spero, Charles Stombaugh, J. E. Storey, F. Leland Stowe, E. F. Supple, Paul C. Sweinhart, Herbert Bayard Swope, Paul H. Terry, Amedee J. Van Buren, John Waldron, Mr. Harley Walker, Mr. J. Henry Walters, Albert Warner, P. L. Woodhull, Harmon Yaffa. The banquet was held in the grand ballroom of the Hotel Plaza in New York. Vincent Lopez was on hand with his orchestra and provided the music during the dinner. The proceedings were broadcast by Station WJZ of New York City.