Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1920)

Photoplay Magazine — Advertising Section The Golden Age of the Pictures (Concluded from page 4g) 117 over such matters as the so-called superiority of European productions, and sat down to wait for the return of the prodigal fans. Having been wined and dined upon swiftly moving, high grade motion pictures from North America, the prodigals were a bit wary about returning. A few did visit the theater, in memory of the old days, but they came away to return no more. Cobwebs quickly covered the ticket window, and the exhibitor threw up the sponge in the first round. of 100,000, also has several motion picture' theaters, and there are a few other cities fortunate to possess a theater of this sort. A rattling good detective story, provided it has no complication that conflict with the teachings of the Koran, makes an instant hit. Screen vamps and romanti<matinee idols with kissing tendencies and who persist in clasping exotic heroines to their bosoms are strictly taboo, for they run counter to the Koran, and that ends it. HUNDREDS of high-grade theater? . . , ^ will be required to entertain the greai in Europe has grown on an enormous scale despite the fact that Europe is America's chief and only competitor in the world's film markets. Great Britain, with millions invested in the producing business, continues to exhibit a fondness for American pictures, approximately 90 per cent of the productions being shown having come from America. So great is the demand for the high grade of American photoplay and so few are the theaters in which they can be exhibited that the British exhibitor is compelled to book far in advance to get the pictures he wants. The average theater is booked from one to two years in advance, and booking for 1922 soon will be under way. A new departure for American producers has been the establishment of a large studio in London by a prominent company for the production of the American type of picture on Old World locations. The foremost American and European stars and artists will co-operate in making these productions. The stories of the greatest writers of Europe will be produced upon the locations actually described in the stories, instead of handpicked California and New Jersey exteriors. By far the most far-reaching development from a distribution standpoint, however, is the opening of the huge territory in Central Europe, which has been closed to American pictures for six years. More than 8,000 theaters and approximately 200,000,000 people are included in this territory— Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, Czecho-Slovakia, Jugoslavia and Bulgaria. Although Germany and Austria have been important producers, American pictures are expected to duplicate their enormous success in other European countries once the ban on the importation of films is removed. Another important step in the worldwide conquest of the American movies will be taken this year when Western Asia and India will be exploited on a large scale. The Garden of Eden, the valley of the Tigris, and the ancient cities of Mesopotamia and Persia will shortly be viewing the latest and best American motion pictures. India, while it has been developed on a small scale, will be the center of important film activities, which will radiate in all directions. The countries of Asia Minor obtained their first view of American pictures during the war, when adventurous Y. M. C. A. men came to entertain the Allied soldiers. Bedouins, Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Jews and Greeks quickly forgot their differences once they were fortunate enough masses of Orientals once they become acquainted with the motion picture. Capital to develop such enterprises soon wOl become available for the producers and distributors are quick to visualize the vast profits of those fortunate to get in on the sand floor, as it were. The dearth of theaters is exemplified by Teheran, capital of Persia, which is without a single movie house for the entertainment of its 70,000 piipiilation. Hundreds of other cities and towns are in the same position, and to keep abreast of the times they must begin soon, for a leisure-loving people must have its entertainment. Although it is apparent that the dove of peace will scarcely find a resting place in what was once the Russian Empire for months to come, far-sighted producers already are making their preparations for the opening of this vast territory. They readily appreciate the profit awaiting those who can induce the Russian to forget his Bolshevistic sentiments for a saner view of the world, and are preparing to put themselves in the way of the high voltage prosperity that is to come. Scandinavian countries offer an excellent illustration of the tremendous hold American photoplays have in Europe. The productions of one American company, it is said on good authority, are shown in practically everyone of the 1,300 theaters in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Long runs are regular occurrences in those theaters exhibiting American pictures. One theater in Christiania was compelled to show one American picture continuously for six weeks before it could satisfy the public's desire to see it. The city of Bergen, Norway, having a population of 100,000 and desiring a short cut solution of its revenue problems, has taken over the seven motion picture houses and is now operating them as municipal theaters. Under private ownership these seven houses last year did a busfness of $650,000, an average of $6.50 from each fan. This was an increase of 200 per cent in two years. Nine-tenths of the films shown in this territory are made in America. Far-sighted producers and exporters now have their eyes on the juicy melons to be cut when Africa and Eastern Asia are ready for exploitation. It is expected that another year will see the opening of an intensive drive upon China. Once the sleeping giant is awakened, American producers believe they will have their hands full catering to the 400,000,000 potential motion picture fans. Except in the larger coastal cities, motion pictures are unknown in China. But that part of China that has had its taste of the movies is showing such an increasing to squeeze their way into an improvised appetite as to bring joy to the American motion picture theater, and their grunts of satisfaction would have been sweet music to American producers had they been able to hear them. Bagdad, with a population of 200,000, has three theaters and is building others in anticipation of an enormous increase in .the importation of films. Mosul, a city producer, who can see millions of dollars ready to be harvested from films that long since have lived out their allotted span of usefulness in America and other countries. The Chinese fan looks upon the dashing cowboy as America's foremost citizen, which accounts for the popularity of this type of film in the Far East. Doyouseekaway to remove hair without slightest danger to skin or complexion ? SCIENCE has finally solved the problem of removing hair without slightest danger to the skin or complexion. 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