The Photo-Play Journal (May 1916-Apr 1917)

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THE PHOTO-PLAY JOURNAL FOR MAY, 1916. PAGE 25 Motion Picture Magnates Retrenching By ROBERT GRAU . I 11:1:11:1! I !< Ill : WITH each new achievement to the credit of the voiceless drama, even when the conquest has been shared at least by theatrical producers, one may hear a persistent wail from the pessimists who congregate in the vicinity of Long Acre Square. It is a strange truth that the new art which has enriched men and women of the theatre the world over is still decried by the great majority of the theatrical profession, although each year these enemies at heart are capitulating in greater numbers, and each year the number of newcomers who fail to make their impress increases immeasurably. One may count on two hands the number of celebrated players who have justified the tremendous emoluments which they demanded for their first appearance in photoplays, the few who have found sufficient favor to be retained for a second production were invariably representative of the younger generation of players, who put their very souls into their screen portrayals. As a result these youthful converts are practically lost to the speaking stage at least for the immediate future. At the time of this writing the craze for celebrities is passing through the same evolution in filmdom as has just been checked in the vaudeville theatres when the lure of the famous name has ceased to be compelling unless the fame is accompanied with discernment in the selection of a vehicle, that is to say, the vaudeville magnate now insists upon the celebrity showing his ''goods." Not one in ten of the stars of the legitimate stage has "made good" in the two-a-day. The number who are given a second engagement in the same theatre is absurdly small. In. the motion picture field the exhaustion of the supply of famous names was accomplished in less than two years — whereas in vaudeville the so-called "Gold Brick" era lasted nearly fifteen years before the managers were awakened. Now the big plums fall to that type of vaudeville stars whose fame is due not to past achievement in another field, but solely in appraisal of their present value in the new rather than the older field of entertainment. Recently a vaudeville magnate was approached by the representative of one of the newest film producing concerns with the incentive of enticing to the screen a world renowned star which the vaudeville man had under contract for thirty weeks. The writer was present at the time when an agreement was entered into to pay a bonus of $500 a week for every week the star appeared for the cameras in addition to the amount the vaudeville magnate had contracted to pay the artist. A few minutes after the film producer left, he called up the vaudeville man on the 'phone, reminding him that the star was not to appear in the vaudeville theatres until the photoplay was released. "That was not agreed upon," replied the latter, "but it's all right." Then, turning to the writer, the shrewd two-a-day man remarked, "If that picture man had not shown so much anxiety he could have secured this star without a penny of bonus, and I would have hesitated a minute to pay him $500 a week for taking her off my hands." About a year ago a young woman who has earned as high as $100,000 a year in the variety theatres was bombarded with offers from practically every film concern, all of which she declined. "When I go into pictures it will be when I cease to conjure on the stage, and then I will start my own film company and make all the profits myself." It so happened that the star referred to had later suffered an affliction of her vocal chords, and was forced to consult specialists, who advised her not to use her voice for a year at the least. Thus informed, the star suddenly decided to bestow of her art for the screen, but no longer did she cherish the illusion of becoming a producer on her own account. To a friend in New York she wired as follows : "Am going into pictures for a year. Am open to the highest bidder. The concern which offers the most inducements gets me.' But in the interim the film producers who had bombarded the star to bestow of her art for the screen had heard of her vocal affliction, and suddenly acquired a plethora of that substance called "cold feet." One film magnate who had not so long ago offered this public idol a quarter of a million dollars for one year to appear in a massive serial was strangely uncommunicative when the goal of her capture was in sight. Several weeks have passed, yet this The Photo-Playwright By TAD I fain would wear a better hat, My pants are baggy at the knees, My face is lean as any rat, The Summer breezes make me sneeze. I have no coin ; I sit and swear — For brighter times I long and pray ; They're coming, too, my friends declare, As soon's I sell my photoplay. I'll have coin then, and clothes to burn, The films will pay me when I will, And managers can wait their turn When they approach my busy mill. My wife shall have an auto swell, A different gown for each new day, And I — why, I'll fare just as well — As soon's I sell my photoplay. I'll pay those little bills I owe For groceries and shoes and coal, And purge my mind of indigo, And try to climb up out the hole. 1"11 join the clubs; I'll take that trip I planned three years ago last May ; To care and trouble give the slip — As soon's I sell my photoplay. world-famous woman is amazed at the lack of spirited competition for her services. Now, this lady is not one whit less clever than she was when the film barons fell over each other in the effort to sign her up, even at an annual guarantee of $250,000. On the contrary, it is doubtful if in all the world one may seek and find her equal as a motion picture attraction. The only difference now is that the overtures emanate from her, and it looks very much as if the producers will prefer to welcome the star as a rival than to pay her a quarter of a million iron men now that she is really available. In the vaudeville field the manner of determining values was so absurd up to very recently that there were not a few agents who devoted their entire time to discovering "headliners" from the newspaper revelations each day. It mattered not if the newly famous had never appeared in public, the fact that they were in the public eye at the moment would justify meting out thousands weekly — that is, in the minds of the agents. But with all their efforts the agents never made a "killing" once, and E. F. Albee, the vaudeville king, long since has placed an embargo on the "celebrity" who acquires fame in the criminal courts. The only instance where such fame was permanently converted into cash was in the case of Evelyn Nesbit (Thaw), but her success was due after all to her performance on the stage, which has steadily improved. In the motion picture field the supply of famous names is already practically exhausted, because of the vastly greater vogue of the distinctly picture player and the tremendous percentage of failures among socalled legitimate stars. One of the biggest producing concerns in the film industry openly admits that it entered the field solely to hasten the end of "an unwholesome craze." The heads of this massive producing organization argued that by engaging a job lot of stage stars, the final result would be to immeasurably add to the vogue of its longestablished coterie of picture players. Incidentally it was hoped to prove to the exhibitors that they were foolish to pay fancy prices for releases of one-time successful stage plays when productions conceived with the screen alone in mind and played in by accepted photoplayers attracted far greater patronage. This concern has already presented a score or more of stage celebrities, but it took the precaution to select for each a vehicle of the type which has made its product a sight draft on the exhibitors' purse — but for all that the final result was nil in a financial sense. In fact, more copies have been sold of the releases without stage stars by faf — particularly is this true of King Baggott films, which enjoy a greater vogue than the combined productivity of any three releases featuring legitimate stars. The same film concern has vetoed the productions of two of its so-called stage stars — both were completed at a cost of many thousands, and neither is to be released on the screen at any time.