Moving Picture World (Nov - Dec 1918)

Page scan 000245 from Moving Picture World

Record Details:

Title:
Moving Picture World
Date:
Nov - Dec 1918
Publisher:
New York, Chalmers Publishing Company
Volume:
Moving Picture World (Nov - Dec 1918)
Leaf #:
000245
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",nyarc-museumofmodernar
Collection:
Early Cinema and Hollywood Studio System
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Moving Picture World, founded in 1907 by J.P. Chalmers, was one of the motion picture industry's first trade papers. Published on a weekly basis in New York City, Moving Picture World informed exhibitors about films available for rental and editorialized on behalf of the growing industry (improving the quality of movies through higher filmmaking standards, not government censorship, was a frequent topic). The paper reached its height in the mid-to-late-1910s--a fact reflected in the circulation figures and the huge amount of advertising that filled every issue during the period. In the 1920s, Moving Picture World lost ground to other competing weekly trade papers -- including Variety, Exhibitor's Herald, and Motion Picture News. In 1927, Moving Picture World ceased publication when it was acquired by Martin Quigley's Exhibitor's Herald. Across the 20 year run of Moving Picture World, readers can watch the transition from short film programs to feature films and witness the transition from the dominance of Edison's Trust to the rise of the "Independent" film companies that ultimately became the Hollywood studios. Silent film historians have utilized and cited Moving Picture World more frequently than any other trade paper, and the publication still has many insights left to offer. -- Eric Hoyt, 2012/2013
Date Added:
June 27, 2024
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November 23, 1918 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD. 795 WE DOOR WIDE OPEN AN EXHIBITOR should not be expected to hunt among a score of exchanges in each city to find a day's show. He could find it just as well among three or four exchanges. He could find it most easily at any General Film Company exchange, established since 1910. Nor should manufacturers be expected to scatter their product among a score of exchanges to reach the same exhibitor in each city. Furthermore, distributors should not be expected to build and maintain a separate exchange in each city. It multiplies their overhead expense and reduces service efficiency. It makes film cost more to the exhibitor. However, the old situation is imp roving. The government has taken the nonsense out of railroad routing. An d General Film Company is taking the nonsense out of motion picture distribution. General Film Company long has advocated conservation and warred upon extravagance. It leads in practical conservation by presenting itself as a ready-to-use medium between any manufacturer or distributor and the exhibitor. Why do thirty, and more, individual producers route their product through General Film Company exchanges? Because its exchange system, the oldest established and most splen didly equipped, was unreservedly open to them. No wonder that they adopte d General Film in its completeness rather than the casual exchange here and there. Why do the most experienced distributors, like George Kleine and Wm. L. Sherry, discard their own circuit of exchanges and adopt those of General Film Company? They have told you. Looked at calmly, an exchange is a plain, unadorned utility which can serve many interests at a saving. General Film exchanges can do it particularly well. And these men, standing on their own platform of conservation, have shown the strength of their convictions by applying them. Progressive people see the absurdity of film distribution in the extravagant way, when it can be done better at a minimum of outlay. They naturally turn to such a smoothly-running, permanent service concern as General Film Company, which circulates their film while they retain full control of it. For over a year General Film Company has been inviting progressive people to employ its facilities. The invitation still holds good! THE DOOR'S WIDE OPEN. Yours for conservation, GENERAL FILM COMPANY (Inc.) 25 West 44th St., New York