Reel Life (1916-1917)

Motion Picture Men “Get Together” Industry awakening to the necessity for hearty co-operation — spirit of unity born at Wilson dinner THE motion picture industry is beginning to “get together with itself.” There is a beginning of a recognition of the community of interest held by the exhibitor, the manufacturer and the distributor. Several events in the last few months have given evidence of the growing appreciation of the necessity for unity. But noth¬ ing has more effectively called this to the attention of both the public and those within the industry than the first annual dinner of the Motion Picture Board of Trade, held at the Biltmore in New York last week. The strenuous efforts and heated controversies involved in the fight of the industry against the Hughes Bill, before the House Committee on Education in Washington, helped to give the function a significance beyond its face value. The presence of President Wilson was accepted as a matter of more than remarkable recognition in some quar¬ ters. The fact that so many persons in the industry should feel thus flattered is plenty of indication that it is high time that the motion picture begin to recognize itself. Exhibitors, Manufacturers and Distributors Meet The dinner was attended by approximately one thousand persons, including a large number of eastern exhibitors, and officials and representatives of practically all of the manufacturers and distributors of motion pictures in America. The brief but interesting visit of President Wilson at the dinner was an incident of a very busy day for him. There was considerable evidence in his address that he has yet to find out what the motion picture means to the American public. As is customary in addresses of the kind, the President threw in some splashes of “local color,” so after referring to how he liked himself in the pictures he talked on a number of generalities which might have been con¬ strued to apply to picture censorship, the Mexican situation or hyphenated Americans. Guests of Honor at Dinner At' the speakers’ table sat J. Stuart Blackton, the toast¬ master; J. W. Binder, Walter W. Irwin, Dudley Field Malone, George Eastman, Nicholas Power, Roy Howard, Joseph W. Engel, Fire Commissioner Adamson, John R. Freuler, Hudson Maxim, W. Stephen Bush, Edwin Mark¬ ham, Bartow S. Weeks, E. A. MacManus, Dr. Cyrus Town¬ send Brady, William F. McCombs and Bainbridge Colby. But at any rate President Wilson now knows that there is a motion picture business. In the course of his address he said: President Wilson’s Address “I wondered when I was on my way here what would be expected of me. It occurred to me, perhaps, that I would only be expected to go through the motions of a speech. And then I reflected that, never having seen myself speak, and generally having my thoughts concentrated upon what I had to say, I had not the least opinion of what my motions were when I made a speech — because it has never occurred to me, in my simplicity, to make a speech before a mirror. If you will give me time I will rehearse this difficult task and return and perform it for you. “I have sometimes been very much chagrined in seeing myself in a motion picture. I have often wondered if I really was that kind of a guy. The extraordinary rapidity with which I walked, for example, the instantaneous and apparently automatic nature of my motions ; the way in which I produce uncommon grimaces and altogether the extraordinary exhibition I make of myself sends me to bed very unhappy. And I often think to myself that although all the world is a stage, and men and women but actors upon it, after all, the external appearance of things is very superficial indeed. “I am very much more interested in what my fellow men are thinking about than in the motions through whichjthey are going, and while we unconsciously display a great deal of human nature in our visible actions there are some very deep waters within which no picture can sound. “When you think of a great nation, ladies and gentle¬ men, you are not thinking of a visible thing; you are think¬ ing of a spiritual thing. I suppose a man in public office feels this with a peculiar poignancy because what it is im¬ portant for him to know are the real, genuine sentiments and emotions of those people. Pertaining to Liars “I found out what was going on in Mexico in a very singular way — by hearing a sufficiently large number of liars talk about it. I think the psychological explanation will interest you. You know that the truth is consistent with itself; one piece matches another. Now, no man is an inventive enough liar not to bring in large sections of truth in what he is saying. And after all the liars have done talking to you about the same subject it will come to your “When you think of a great nation you are not thinking of a visible thing; you are thinking of a spiritual thing. I suppose that a man in public office feels this with a peculiar poignancy because what it is important for him to know are the real genuine sentiments and emotions of those people. I am much more interested in what my fellow men are thinking about than in the motions through which they are going.” REEL LIFE — Page One