Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1919)

58 Photoplay Magazine ent plan of renting the theatre and doing their own ticketselling has been found more profitable financially. The Better Film committee attribute? most of its success to the work of its former chairman. .Mrs. John Malick, who gave freely of her time and talents for community service. Though .Mrs. Malick is no longer a resident of Salt Lake City, the work she established goes on, and her enthusiasm has been shared by all the members of the committee. These are Mrs. F. W. Meakin, the present chairman, Miss Jennie M. Crabbe, secretary, J. H. Coombs, treasurer, Mrs. .William Reid, Rev. J. H. Dennis. Mr>. Anna L. Young, H. J. Stearns, Charles Keele, Mrs. William Story, Jr.. Mrs. Elizabeth Cohen. Miss Florence Knox, -Mrs. E. W. Senior, Mrs. W. M. Stockey, Mrs. John Z. Brown, and Mrs. H. J. Hayward. A splendid new Branch of The Better Photoplay League of America has been organized in Richmond, Va.. by the Social Service Federation of that city, and Mrs. Georgia May Jobson, president of the Federation and a member of its board of trustees, has been added to the League's Advisory Board. The Federation at a recent meeting voted unanimously to join The Better Photoplay League of America, and to lend every effort to its success and its efforts in behalf of better films. The work in Richmond is being organized systematically, and a further report will be made in the near future. The officers of the Richmond Branch of The Better Photoplay League of America are identical with those of the Federation, and include Mrs. Jobson, as president, Mrs. Heath C. Clarke, Mrs. Warner Moore, Mrs. J. M. Kain. and Mrs. H. W. Rountree, vice-presidents, and Mrs. J. B. Spiers, secretary. Mrs. Page Walker West and Miss Celeste Anderson are respectively the treasurer and assistant treasurer of the Federation, but will not be required to act in that capacity for the Branch League, since there are no dues in the organization of The Better Photoplay League of America. The entire personnel of the Social Service Federation is included in I he membership of the newly formed Branch League, headed by i In Federation's Advisory Board and Board of Trustees, as follow-: Hon. John Garland Pollard, Dr. 1). A Kuyk, Dr. J. McCaw Tompkins. Dr. J. T. Mastin, Mrs. George Ainslie, Mrs. Charles E. Whitlock, Mrs. M. C. Patterson, David M. White. Alvin Smith, Thomas B. McAdams, and W. C. Camp. The Federation was organized in ioi-\ its members being representatives of the different philanthropic societies of the city. While the organization's work has many branches, it is vitally interested in letter films, and a constructive plan of obtaining these for Richmond and vicinity is now under way, with the co-operation of The Better Photoplay League of America. The West Side Mothers' Club of Milwaukee. Wis., of which Mrs. Victor M. Witmer is president, ha become .1 Branch of Mrs. John Malick, to whom the success of the Boys' and Girls Matinees in Salt Lake City is largely clue. She has imbued her coworkers with her spirit of enthusiasm and help. Mrs. Malick is the \% ife of a Unitarian minister, and now resides in Cincinnati. What Have lou Accomplished in behalf of better films? Have you succeeded in obtaining cleaner and more worth-while pictures in your neighborhood? Do you knowanyone who has? Write and tell us about it, so that others may benefit from your experience and knowledg"e. Address The Better Photoplay League of America, 350 North Clark Street, Chicago, 111. Have You Started That Branch League? If so, kindly report. If not, write today for particulars, enclosing stamp for reply. Mrs. Georgia May Jobson, president of the Social Service Federation of Richmond, \ a., and an Advisory Patron of the League. She belonged to the firs< Equal Suffrage societv, and the first W. C. T. U. branch ever organized in ^ irgini.i. The Better Photoplay League of America. The League also has received the endorsement of the Woman's Literary Club, and the Citizens' Commission on Motion Pictures. Milwaukee is a Better Film city. Rev. Dr. C. H. Beale. of Crand Avenue Congregational Church, says. "We feel that the motion picture has come to stay, and that it is helpful rather than harmful, if the right photoplays are shown. The pictures are a great educational force."' Rev. S. H. Anderson, of Summerfield M. E. Church, head of the social service commission of .MilwaukeeFederation of Churches, speaks enthusiasticallv in behalf of better films. Mayor D. W. Doan. Mrs. John W. Mariner, of the National League for Women's Service. Mrs. George Lines of the same organization. G. R. Radley, president of the Citizens' Commission on Motion Pictures, the newspaper writers, Polly Parsons and Constance Nolan of the Milwaukee Sentinel. John M. Martin, local representative of the Exhibitors" Trade Review. J. W. Martin, representative of the Motion Picture News. Ann McMurdy of the Wisconsin-News. Herbert H. Ryan of the Leader, as well as practically every exhibitor in Milwaukee, are frankly on the side of clean and worth-while films. All sponsor the stand taken in this important matter by The Better Photoplay League of America. Magnificent work has recently been done by the Texas Congress of Mothers, which is affiliated with The League. Mrs B. A. Sadler of Dallas is Chairman of the Motion Picture committee of the Congress, and also of The Better Photoplay League in the state of Texas. Her committee has ^^£fl^k prepared a five-reel motion picture of Mt Hi child life, and this is being circulated ■k throughout the suite among Parent Teacher and civic organizations. Mrs. ^F Sadler and her committee expect to add a variety of interesting subjects to their picture exhibit from time to time, all of them carrying out the better film idea. THE sensational picture is on the decline." So says Samuel Katz. of Balaban and Katz, owners of die Riviera and Central Park Theatres. Chicago. "The unwholesome picture, whether in theme or treatment, is a dead letter." says Martin J. Quigley in a recent issue oi the Exhibitors' Herald and Motography. These men. and many others for whom they are virtually i he spokesmen, have proved that they are firm believers in the better photoplay. They declare that it has come to stay. In the year or two just past there has been a steady increase in good pictures and a corresponding decrease in objectionable ones. This, picture-men will tell you. is largely the result of the stabilizing of the industry—of the gradual weeding-out of small, frantic manufacturers, who had only a little money to invest, and who wanted to get it back and double it in the quickest way possible. These men made and fostered the ( ontinued on page ?o.?)