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VOL. 23, No. 2
Universal Weekly
11
Thousand Honor Carl Laemmle At Testimonial Dinner -Dance
THE month of celebration which will signalize Carl Laemmle’s twentieth anniversary in the motion picture business, got off to a rousing start last Friday evening at a monster testimonial dinner and dance staged as a tribute to Laemmle by the hundreds of Universal employees in and around New York City. The affair was held in the Grand Ball Room of the Hotel Commodore and in color and magnitude was one of the most elaborate film parties ever given in the East.
More than one thousand persons were present.
Prominent figures in the industry, stars, directors, representatives of the daily and trade press and celebrities of the stage and business world united with the Universal personnel in rendering tribute to the Universal chief, who beamed his gratification and surprise at the extent and spontaneity of the celebration.
The festivities of the evening were varied and included, besides the dinner and dancing, entertainment, a Charleston contest, and several striking stunts. As the first public appearance of the Universal chief since his recent return from Europe, the affair developed into a monster demonstration on behalf of the film head and of his ap
proaching twenty-year anniversary, February 26. It was on February 26, 1906 that he opened the little Whitefront Theatre in Chicago, his first venture into the motion picture field.
A unique touch was given to the party by the unexpected presence of Charles A. Chasteen, now manager of the Forest Hills Theatre, Forest Hills, L. I., who was the first employee Laemmle ever had in this business. Chasteen was the first operator at the Whitefront Theatre. The former operator and the Universal President had a jovial reunion. Chasteen explained how a mistake on his part, in letting the film for a show get out of his hands one day, forced Laemmle to buy a picture outright, marking the first step by Laemmle into the distributing end of the industry.
Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors association, was the principal guest and seemed to enjoy the evening as much as Laemmle did. Among the prominent exhibitors present were A1 Steffes, Frank Rembusch and other outof-town theatre men then assembled in New York for conference with the Hays organization.
The dinner was featured by ( Continued on Page 16)
Carl Laemmle bows to the deafening welcome of his friends and employees at the dinner tendered him as the opening event of his twentieth anniversary celebration.
The huge grand ballroom at the Hotel Commodore was filled to capacity by the men and women who came to honor the Universal president on the occasion of his twentieth anniverscury in the film industry.