Variety (February 1910)

16 VARIETY FILM MEN IN CONVENTION TALK MUCH AND DO LITTLE The Film Service Association of Patents Co. Licensees Convene at Imperial Hotel While the Executive Committee of the Independente Meet Under the Same Roof. "Bill" Swanson, the genial apostle of "Independence" or any other method of making a dollar oat of the film business, was the biggest man in moving pictnredom Friday, Saturday and Sunday of last week (Jan. 28-30) when, at the Imperial Hotel, New York, there assembled the host of rental agents, licensed' under the Bdison-Biograph combination. It was the fifth annual convention of the Film Service Association, a social or- ganisation which the Patents Co. does not officially recognise. Swanson was at the Imperial in attend- ance upon the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Independent Moving Picture Alliance. Although hold- ing a position of great prominence with "the enemy," Bill was dined, wined and dgared by his old companions in the Alli- ance to such extent that he paid little at- tention to the Executive Committee which claimed him as its own. He was hauled bodily into the banquet hall of the "organ- isation members," toasted and glorified in several speeches and was in all particulars the hero of the hour. Perfectly impartial witnesses to the pleasant scenes and incidents seemed to be under the impression that there was some ulterior motive at the base of the demon- stration. Swanson, be it remembered, was authorised by the Alliance as its traveling commissioner at the recent annual meet- ing, and it is hinted that his activities in spreading the gospel of independence has caused a feeling of nervousness to spread over the general system of the licensed clsn. Visions of customers being lost, rates being cut in the scramble for a living chance at the exhibitor's business and other results of Swanson's work, may pos- sibly result in his again being folded to the paternal breast of the Patents Co. and the fraternal membership in the Alliance. The banquet and the Swanson side light were the most interesting outcome of the F. S. A. meeting. Officers for the en- suing year were chosen. A. J. Gillingham, of Grand Rapids, was elected president; Wm. Steiner, New York, vice-president; Robert Leibler, Indianapolis, treasurer; Herbert Miles, New York, secretary; Frank J. Howard, Boston; Percy L. Wa- ters, New York, and Richard A. Rowland, members of the executive committee. This list embraces all the officers who served last year, save in the case of Percy Wa- ters, who was elected to the executive com- mittee in place of Wm. Fox, the New York renter and exhibitor. There were some long sessions of talk. The interests of the film renters were thor- oughly canvassed and when any especially knotty subject came up the buck was passed to the Patents Co., which is sure to make everything right. Some of the members of the Alliance thought the Edison Biograph folks ought to collect their bad debts and make cus- tomers now operating under the $2 bene- fits which the Patents Co. affords, pay their bills promptly; but some of the more level headed members of the social organization thought it was almost too much to ask of the parent company. The subject of credits, the past, present and future of the renting and exhibiting field and other topics were discussed more as an alibi for the meeting being held than in any hope of accomplishing anything. The banquet, Saturday night, was held in the main cafe of the hotel. Vaudeville and moving pictures (licensed) constituted the entertainment The Executive Committee of the In- dependent Alliance was in session Satur- day afternoon and evening. J. J. Murdock, I. C. Oes, A. Kessel, J. W. Morgan and Wm. H. Swanson were in attendance. J. J. Murdock presented his resignation, which was accepted and the collection of funds was authorized for the purpose of pre- senting him with a loving cup. His suc- cessor was not decided upon at the meet- ing. Business details of minor importance occupied the attention of the committee until well into Sunday morning. A uniform scale of 10 cents per foot was adopted as the price of independent films. American manufacturers agreeing to furnish fifty posters of .each reel. Standing orders for American goods will hereafter be given on a two weeks' can- cellation basis and three weeks for for- eign products. Some new members were admitted to the Alliance and some fines for bad behavior were imposed upon some of the careless members. The importance of the meeting was not overwhelming. PICTURES WITH LIGHTS UP. Lou Wittman, manager of the Star, Hamilton, 0., has conducted experiments in running moving pictures with all the house lights turned on, and has found that the plan works successfully. He now gives performances with the lights throughout the auditorium running full blast. He advances economy as the reason for picture theatres being dark while the films are being shown. He also claims that darkness is no advantage when the operator has good films, a good machine and plenty of electric current. SOME INNOVATIONS. St. Louis, Feb. 2. The Novelty, which has been erected by O. T. Crawford on Easton Avenue, near Grand, to open in a few days, will be the first theatre in town to have a roof gar- den; the first local vaudeville and moving picture house to be built of fire-proof con- struction, the first to introduce a woman's orchestra and the only theatre in town open on all four sides. The roof garden will seat 000 and the theatre 750 persons. BULL FIGHT FILMS CHANGE HANDS. What circus men who know of the fate which befell W. C. Thompson's venture as a moving picture magnate has caused them to chidingly dub the bull-fight pictures which he controlled up to a month ago as "Thompson's Folly." It will be recalled that when Miller Bros.' "101 Ranch" Wild West made its trip through Mexico late in the Autumn of 1008 there was a fight between a man and a bull at Mexico City. W. C. Thomp- son, who was then and still is the "story man" with the Wild West, engaged Pathe Freres' Mexican branch to make a nega- tive for moving pictures. Having been unable to make a success of the exhibi- tion, Thompson has sold the negative to the* Pathe people and withdrawn from the picture game. He will stick to publicity for "101 Ranch" hereafter. PARIS FLOOD PICTURES. Through the enterprise of Arthur Whyte we are likely to have some moving pic- tures of the floods in Paris before the waters of the Seine have fully receded to their natural bed. Camera men were dis- patched, it is said, from this country as soon as the magnitude of the overflow was indicated in the press dispatches. It is promised that the films of the flooded districts will be ready to release during the week starting Feb. 14. The first people to return to America from the flooded city arrived in New York Jan. 31. If the moving picture men made as good. time in going across they must have reached the scene in time to have their negatives here by next week. A LEAK SOMEWHERE. The Biograph-Edison combination does not seem to be so very close, for combina- tion films are getting into the independ- ent service continually. Perhaps the most important picture establishment in New York is the New York Roof, recently de- voted to that form of entertainment by Walter Rosenberg. Last week the show, which is supplied by an Independent exchange included, be- side the releases of the Bison Co. (New York Motion Picture Co.), a number of the best films of the Motion Picture Pat- ents Co.'s licensees. Among the "licensed" films were "Wheat," a prize subject of the Biograph Co. and Severin in "Circum- stantial Evidence" (a Pathe release called "Incriminating Evidence"). Throughout the evening there was every evidence to those who have followed the film trade that there are plenty of "leaks" in the so-called "water-tight" trade agreement of the Patents Co. ROYALTY IN PICTURES. The latest moving pictures, taken by command of Emperor William, have been ordered "released" for public exhibition in Germany. The object is to show Ger- mans how the Crown Prince of the Ger- man ruling house looks when togged out in battle array. The future Emperor is shown leading a charge across the parade ground. After the charge he is seen instructing his of- ficers in the art of handling cannons, and is seen to place a shell in the breech with his own hands. He is in full field uniform and equipment. FILM REVIEWS. "The Last Deal" (Msgraph). There is • rule In the constrnctloa ©f dramas that the person who fella from grace moat pay aome adequate penalty In mental or moral anguish. Thia rule la Tlulated Id "The Laat Deal." To be eve the character who breaks the aocial rule euffers momeutary dlecomflture, and at the flniah Indicates that be had made a Ana resolution, but the spectator haa no special reason to belters that his resolution is to be permanent. The opening shows a young man. In the employ of a broker, who haa stolen funds in order to gamble. The Arm orders thst his books be examined. Exposure stsres him in the face, but a compaaalonate em- ployer agreee to glvs him a day or two to make hla peculations good. Be returna borne, explains the circumstances to his wife and abe gives him her dlamonda to sell. The proceeds are insuf- ficient to meet the debts. He accordingly returns to a gambling room to make up the difference. Meanwhile the wlfe'a brother, a weatern gambler, returna. She explains the altoation. The brother haa not enough funds to meet the emergency and goes to the same gaming house to make up the deficit. Be sits in the aame poker game with the buaband, neither knowing the other, and gets the moat startling run of hands, including atralght flushes snd four sees. The husbsnd returns hom e "broke" and proceeds to go through all the horrors preliminary to committing suicide. Wife does a whole lot of sgonlalng pantomime, but Juat as the buabsnd is about to pull the trigger, brother comes in with all the money he had won in that phoney poker game and delivers It to hubby to settle his debts. Hubby makes good to hla employer and Is very properly "fired." snd s final scene shows him in the way of being very happy thereafter, although be haa transgressed against sll the rales of honesty snd common decency. It can't be dons even in real life (which la much easier In its balances of crime and punishment than dramatic rules), snd the fun Is all askew in Its morsllty. BUSH. "The Girl and ths Judge" (Vitsgraph). The plot of this film is worked oat along novsl lines. The father of a girl whom two men are trying to win is shot with sn old-fashioned re- volver and suspicion points to ons of the suitors. The other is the Judge before whom the suspect is brought to trial and ultimately conricted of murder. During the trial the judge knows sll ths time that the prisoner la Innocent; but convicts him in the hope thst with his rival out of the way he will win the hand of the girl he covets. After the prisoner hss been sentenced snd lster psrdooed by the Governor (through the interces- sion of the Judge) the girl chooses the Judge as her life companion, discarding the suitor who has Just been llbersted. The desth of the old man is shown to be purely sccldental. He is seated on a couch with the mussle of an old-fashioned re- volver. fullL loaded, pointed at his bresst. He is reading a paper. There is a flash of smoke snd the old man falls deed. Investigation on the psrt of the judge proves thst s microscope which is standing near the gun has concentrated the rays of the sun so effectively that the beat Ignites ths chsrge and sends home the fetal bullet. The judge's experiments, bb pictured, are interesting and make the film a novelty of uncommon worth. WALT. "Marble Quarrying in Tennessee" (Lubin). Here if* an excellent "industrial." It shows in detail the process of taking marble out of the earth and delivering It In commercial form to architects and builders, who dispose of It in the finished product, glared, shaped and rounded for une as trimming!*, steps and bouse frontings. In the manufacturing process there Is shown the powerful drills thst pry the stone from its place, the huge derricks that lift it Into the upper air from the quarries. Its manipulation into artistic una pes for "capitals" by Intricate pneumatic and bydrnulic machinery snd Its cutting into thin sheets by a curious machine which does the work In remarkably short time. As an Insight Into the realm of what has been aptly called the "ro- mances of Industry." the picture Is of the highest interest. RUSH. "The Flirto-Maniac" (Lubin). A rather fair comic Is here presented, except that the ancient device of the "chase" Is em- ployed for laughs. However, nt the base of the film there Is s really funny, although old, comedy scheme. A mndman escapes from an asylum for the insane. His particular obsession Is lovemak- lng. Once at large be tries to flirt with all the pretty girls he meets on the street. A newspaper publishes the story of the love-mad man, together with the fact that he Is a millionaire, and all the unsightly old maids In town go out In search of him. This brings al*»ut a convention of ugli- ness in a public park, where the madman la aup- posed to be loitering. The old maids discover him and at the finish of a chase he flees back to the kindly protection of the asylum, while the disap- pointed spinsters bowl about the gates. RUSH. "The Devil, The Servant and the Man" (Selig). In "The Devil, the Servant and the Man" a vaudeville act (certainly in so far as the name is concerned, and probably the material also) haa been taken for a "subject." It Is capitally acted and, dramatically, well constructed. At the be- ginning there are shown a young married couple, the husband being very much bored by the atten- tlveness of the wife. This point is splendidly carried out in pantomime, although so delicate a factor might easily have been permitted to escape. He goes about drinking and carousing and neglects his home duties. One night he and a party of hilarious companions witness a performance of "The Devil." afterward holding a social session at a "flash" cafe. The next night with a woman companion (not bis wife) he sees "The 8ervant In the House." This evening also winds up in the early hours at a cafe. Returning home, very (Continued on Page 35.)