Reel Life (1916-1917)

COMMENTS FROM EXHIBITORS PJ. CONCANNON, secretary of the Kansas State Branch of the Mo¬ tion Picture League of America, who is in business at Emporia, Kansas, deserves credit for the manly fight he has made and is making against unfair criticism and accusation in Kansas and elsewhere, against the motion picture in¬ dustry and those engaged in it. In re¬ cent correspondence with the Mutual Film Corporation he has outlined his position. An article printed in the Emporia Gaz.ette, William Allen White’s famous pub¬ lication, contained an editorial entitled “Movie Censorship,” which was so palpably based on misinformation and misconception of the facts, that Mr. Concannon at once replied to it. The charge made in the editorial was that a slush fund of $5,000 was main¬ tained by the Motion Picture League of America for the purpose of having the censorship law of the state repealed. ‘As to the truth of the statement con¬ tained in your editorial,” wrote Mr. Concannon, in an article which Editor White printed in the middle of his front page — “I as secretary of the state branch of the Motion Picture League of America, Theatre owners give their ideas on Mutual produc¬ tions they have shown am able to show that our treasury con¬ tains the munificent sum of $300. “At the last National convention of the Motion Picture Exhibitors’ League, held last July in Chicago, the new treas¬ urer had the books turned over to him and at that time the balance in the treas¬ ury was one cent. “The fact is that exhibitors every¬ where are opposed to censorship and will use every honorable means to have the censorship law repealed, but there is no slush fund to be used nor is that sort of fund in existence. “The exhibitors of this state have been termed ‘outlaws’ which is an insult to those who are in the business. I can state of my own personal knowledge that there is not one picture show in the state of Kansas that does not comply with the law in regard to what is shown on the screen.” * * * WHEN Robert Saunders, live wire manager of the Rex Theater in Salt Lake City, Utah, booked Charlie Chaplin’s success, “The Pawn Shop,” at his house, he bought him $15 worth of paint and labor and got him the front of a pawn shop painted on a piece of canvas large enough to stretch across the front of his house. In addi¬ tion he set some old trunks, jewelry and clothes around the lobby. The additional business he did the first night more than payed for his display, and it attracted a lot of attention to his house. The Rex Theater is one of the houses controlled by the Swanson Theater cir¬ cuit, which also owns the Liberty and American Theaters, the latter of which is accounted one of the very finest pic¬ ture theaters in the United States. H. E. Ellison, general manager of the Swanson Theater Circuit, claims “Be¬ hind the Screen” to be Chaplin’s greatest hit. This picture just finished a very suc¬ cessful run at the American Theater. * * * U\t tE wish to express our thanks W for the attention you have ' ' given the serial picture, ‘A Lass of the Lumberlands,’ as it has cer¬ tainly proved to be a great success,” writes J. Dormal, manager of the Dia¬ mond Theater of Duluth, Minn. “Our house was filled to capacity Sunday. It was due to your efforts and your medium of advertising.” “SIXTEEN YEARS OF KNOWING HOW” Flicker Facts BY OPERATING A MOTION PICTURE PROJECTING IMACHINE ABOVE NORMAL SPEED FLICKER MAY BE ELIMINATED. BUT THE GREATER THE SPEED OFJOPERATION THE LESS NATURAL AND LIFE-LIKE WILL HUMAN ACTION APPEAR UPON THE SCREEN. Our Intermittent Movement AN EXCLUSIVE FEATURE OF Power's Cameragraph WAS DESIGNEDIWITH THE FOLLOWING POINTS'IN MIND: 1.— FLICKERLESS PICTURES, RUN AT NORMAL SPEED. 2— MINIMUM WEAR ON FILM. 3 — MAXIMUM STRENGTH AND DURABILITY OF PARTS. AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE MERITS OF OUR PRODUCT WILL ATTEST THE FACT OF THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENT. START BY WRITING FOR CATALOG V. Mailed Upon Request NICHOLAS POWER COMPANY, Ninety Gold St., NEW YORK REEL LIFE — Page Eight