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The National Guide to
[TRADE MARK]
Motion Pictures
PHOTOPLAY
December, 1927
Close-Ups and Long-Shots
WONT Louis B. Mayer, production head of MetroGold wyn-Mayer, please slow down his personal publicity, and make silent dramas, not talking farces?
When fans start writing letters to Photoplay complaining that they are getting sick of his speeches and statements, he, as a man who is supposed to be a judge of public motion picture opinion, ought to get wise to himself.
His recent act at the Trade Practice Conference in New York, an effort of the Federal Trade Commission to iron out some of the business troubles of the motion picture industry, was not only ridiculous but was in extremely bad taste/
He had the audacity to introduce a resolution calling on motion picture producers to eliminate from the screen, profanity, nudity, robbery, ridicule of race or creed, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam.
The inference was that other producers were committing these screen crimes, but that he was innocent of them.
He threw the first stone.
/^~"\NE of the great troubles with this busi^^ness, and one of the toughest problems of Will Hays, is that every time the poor motion picture is accused of anything, someone like Louis B. Mayer notifies the newspapers, then rushes up to the district attorney, breaks down and confesses on behalf of the industry, and promises to go straight.
"U2\ -r . ■ ■
-*fej- ■■■■ ■ *
M!
R. MAYER is holier than none. ' No hotter screening of 100 per cent sex than the "Flesh and the Devil" has appeared in years. The "Callahans and the Murphys" aroused the ire of the Irish and the Catholics all over the country. Exhibitors who had paid for it feared to run it. "Twelve Miles Out" violated so many of the rules he so smugly sets up for the other producers and offended theater patrons to the extent that many exhibitors regretted showing it.
' I 'HERE is one screen crime that Mr. Mayer
■* ignored — the highest crime of all — bad taste.
I recommend that to his personal attention.
It was reported recently that the gentleman's
salary is $800,000 a year.
That makes Mr. Mayer the highest priced actor in motion pictures. "
TN Cleveland there is a theater that remains -^open until four A. M., and the manager tells me that many husbands who have quarreled with their wives seek the movie as a haven of refuge.
If some multi-millionaire really wants to square himself and go to heaven he should endow such theaters in every city.
That's what I would call a real public benefaction.
In his will he should provide that only comedies should be shown after midnight. It would be a brute indeed who could go home and beat up the little woman and the children with a laugh on his lips. ]
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