The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Mar-Apr 1923)

6 THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. LONDON BRANCH March 3,1923. OF C.E.A. AGAIN DISFRANCHISED. —s_— Another Extraordinary Blunder which renders Election of Delegates Null and Void. OR the second year in succession the London branch k of the C.E.A. have, by a stupid blunder, again been disfranchised, and the election of delegates which took place some weeks ago has been declared null and void. Curiously enough, it was Mr. J. T. Hallinan, who last year was the means of declaring the election invalid, who was the instrument of bringing about the disfranchisement of this branch. An Irregular Proceeding. At the Annual General Meeting of the C.HK.A. on Wednesday, when the election of delegates camc up for ratification, Mr. Hallinan drew attention to a letter that he had sent, dezlaring that the election of delegates for the London branch was illegal, and declared that the whole proceeding was totally irregular and out of order. discussicn that ensued Mr. A. J. Gale, the new President of the Association, intimated that it was his wish that the chair should be occupied by Alderman Trounson, as he. himself was secretary to the London branch. In the course of a lengthy statement, Mr. F. E. Adams said that the election of delegates was illegal, and that it would have to be done all over again. It would appear that Mr. Adams considered the summoning of members of the Association through the assistant sc<retary to be illegal, and claimed that the election was null and void, because, in addition to the faulty summoning, wu further illegality was that nominations for the Council were taken at the meeting after it had been explicitly stated that, nominations to be valid, must be sent in by the 16th of the month, a date previous to the holding of the meeting. Hallinan Refuses to Withdraw. An extraordinary discussion followed. Mr. Adams’s speech was a piece of sound reasoning. Speeches were also delivered by Mr. F. R. Goodwin and Captain Barber, the latter of whom endeavoured to convince the meeting that what they had done was entirely due to overanxiety to prevent a recurrence of last year’s trouble. The solicitor, Mr. Norman Hart, was called upon for his advice, and gave his opinion that the election should certainly be held again. The ex-President, Alderman Trounson, endeavoured to throw oi] on troubled waters by asking Mr. Adams and Mr. Hallinan to withdraw their BY THE WAY.—Continued. Trade Shows for One Penny. Mm S-one way to cope with the overweening desire of A the general public to be present at trade shows, the Newcastle C.E.A., I notice, has revived the suggestion to charge all non-trade visitors one penny, the proceeds to go towards the Benevolent Fund of the branch. A penny is hardly likely to keep the public out: but if there is no determined action on the part of either renters or exhibitors to bar their entrance, they may just as well be asked to contribute a small nominal sum for the privilege of seeing the pictures at their initial screening. The practice of charging the outsiders one penny for admission to trade shows was in vogue in In the. opposition, which Mr. to do. Following a sensible speech by Mr. H. V. Davis, it was eventually decided that the election should be held ull over again, and consequently for the time being the London branch is prevented from sending any delegate to the General Council meetings. It seems very astonishing that such a state of things as this should occur for the second year in succession, and both Mr. Hallinan and Mr. Adams did, in our opinion, the right und proper thing in bringing to the notice of the annual general meeting the fact that the election of delegates for London wag thoroughly out of order. Hallinan very rightly refused Sinister Election Rumours. Captain Barber’s somewhat lame explanation did vertainly not strike one as very convincing, and it was, in fact, a very childish defence of what had occurred. The new President, Mr. A. J. Gale, committed a very serious blunder in attempting to burke discussion by uot at once disclosing Mr. Hallinan’s letter of protest, and was sharply pulled up by that gentleman, who has a very clear idea of how a meeting should be conducted. Quite half the time of the annual general meeting was taken up with this matter, and it would appear that if the officials of the London branch do not know how to conduct their elections, then somebody else should be brought in to conduct them for them. Captain Barber and his fellow delegates have only themselves to thank for the sinister rumours that have been prevalent in the trade concerning the election of delegates for this branch, and it 1s as well for the London branch that they have such shrewd men as Mr. F. E. Adams and Mr. J. T. Hallinan to watch their interests. The whole thing is a piece of stupid blundering, and reflects no great credit upon Captain Barber, Mr. Goodwin, or Mr. Gale. It will be remembered that at their election meeting neither Mr. Hallinan nor Mr. Adams were elected as delegates, a state of affairs which should be remedied at the next election. Both these gentlemen hhave.done good work for their branch, and it would be a tremendous pity if they are not elected when the next election takes place. We trust that the good sense of London exhibitors will see that both these shrewd men of business are returned as their delegates. —V=eeaaé>eSewjawuawao0O0T0T(TC({T_{={q={&&&&{—=2X=—E2xE—>”™™E::— Birmingham for some years, but was eventually abandoned. What are the traders’ views on this subject ? More Changes at the Regent. | HANGKES are still in progress at the Regent, Brighton, as I understand that both Basil Cameron, the musical director and Noel Rhys have severed their connection with this theatre. Iam also given to understand that Mr. De Wolfe has been appointed musical director of the P.C.T. circuit.