Variety (July 1919)

■ •. -hii ■-■ ■ ■■■-. MOVING - ; . "■•■, • - •■'■ ■ ■■■■■*. ■♦ ..-:■ •;■■ . ..■;." r, ■■/•:vV£] ■' ■ ;■' i.i PICTURES m . ■:' AVALANCHE OF SERIALS. Hail the serial I Film producers, nothing if not imitators, are plunging this season on the suspended interest thrillers, with murder mysteries, de- fective omniscence and hair-breadth escapes by air and fjord among the ele- ments employed to fetch the spectator up against the last foot of the episode with his eyes bulgin* and his bellows workin' overtime. Pathe is out with a list of eight serials it will shoot out to its con- stituents, including one of its own making from Robert W. Chambers' novel, "The Secret," the U has been spreading itself on the posters of the' highways with its "Elmo the Mighty," and Fox trails in this week by casting for one that the discoverers of Theda will circulate. Pending the making of his own, the Fox theatres in and around New York '-.;) .'. have booked the Pathe serial. C- Miscellaneously, the independent pro- ducer is filming serials for the inde- pendents unable to get the big manu- facturers' products. There are at least 10 of these independent productions now under way. The plunge is said to be due mainly : to a conclusion by manufacturers that moving picture houses are not any i ./ more the resort of any particular class /' of transients, but have s reached some- thing like a stage of stabilized audi- . w ences the former objection of the movie man to buying serial matter being.that his audiences didn't care for stories > that had to be lopped off before they told what was going to happen in the end. The theatre men have discovered .; that the serial keeps the same people : 7 ." coming back to catch the successive installments, and that the loss of the • transients who want the whole play or nothing at a single sitting is com- paratively smalL The independent producers are usual- ly able to gross from $125,000 to $150,000 7 :vx>«> a 15-episode serial of 2 reels each episode. The footage is equivalent to . six five-reel features, but the com- paratively cheap cost of serial produc- tion, using as this form of production .£,--. I does, mostly outside effects, brings the commodity into a profitable class that's practically instantly salable. I Pathe's expansion of its serial arm 4 is said to be due to its success with its initial experiment, "Patria," with Mrs. Vernon Castle. * f : The objections of buyers to serial I J -.'Z: film—the slip-shod production once the deposits on the early episodes are se- cured—are being largely eliminated by the entry into this field of stable manu- ' facturers. V Save in the best vaudeville houses . on the main drags, serials have not ■yet invaded the better classes of film houses. The stated objection by tran- sients to suspended climaxes is given as the reason for this, a condition manufacturers say is no longer to be seriously considered. The foreign rights to serials are sold on sight, though the prices obtained aren't specially remunerative, the Far East territory, for instance, only gros- sing from $8,000 to $12,000 for a 15- episode delivery, this territory taking in the Dutch'Indies, Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, the Phillipines, China, Japan, Singapore, Bombay, Egypt and the upper and lower Africas. V .- DEATHS. Frederick Montag.-e. Frederick Montagne died in Los An- geles, last week. The deceased, 52 years of age, was born in England, and had appeared in support of the elder Keene and other noted actors. At the time of his death he was in a picture for Fox Films. INCORPORATIONS. Screen Entertainment* Distributors, lac, Manhattan, $100,000; J. McAleer, a. I. Matthews, J. H. Jones. 80 West 90th street, Manhattan. NEW SEATTLE CO. Seattle, July 23. Wellington Playter Photoplayers, was incorporated in Spokane, July 18, with a capitalization 'of $100,000. Lester P. Edge and J. W. Kelly are the other incorporators. Playter was in the Arrow Film re- cently released and made by the Wash- ington Picture Co., of Spokane, entitled "Fool's Gold." He is now negotiating for the Washington Films' former plant at Minnehaha Park and expects to start production early next month. F. P.'S NEW FRISCO HOUSE. San Francisco, July 23. The Prager building has been leased for t Famous Players-Lasky and will have a theatre seating 3,800 on the site. • Herman Wobber, representing the picture firm, attended to the details while here. '-, : The building is at Market and Jones streets. Tsura Aokl (Mrs. Sessue Hayakawa) has signed a long-term contract to appear In Uni- versal productions. TIRING LINE" HELD OVER. Washington, July 23. "The Firing Line," with Irene Castle, has been held over for another week by Tom Moore at the Rial to. This not alone marks a Washington record in being the first feature film ever held over for a second full week,. but it occurs with a picture a promi- nent New York exhibitor Is said to have rejected, after paying the pic- ture's rental for a week, $800. •' __^^_ - C. O. Klngsley has been appointed manager of Real art's Detroit exchange. s • ; •■'.-■■ •'V.Hc.:— -^ ■■,■■■■.•■/■ ,;w-— i i_£sL • ''-1^' \ '.-' ;:,■' '-•■'. •..'.' .'■ ..■ ■-■-.• ■ ■: :■ i* J. : ... .. on the occasion of a luncheon jjiven by the Famous Hayers-Lasfy "Corpora^ his honor :: S^-0B^ prior to his departure for Paris and points adjacent: ■ • - •. • « ■ -.'*- . .. , Ol x. 'YrepveYol &a6ov vvomtiv tSv h, 2uuqv^; ^rioo^ootvuv, xctd' fl^ ^- aWjprr; talis ginxQacei fjorj iv ntoYducp, Iv&a ii^qpdrjcrov Ska td jrftpa xata Twv oi«j.i^oQicov. 'Ex AwceX^ rjwt50taXr|oav rur|uaTa axoaxov tl$ nipyaf i / : ;;d; |iov xcd perd:l3taveiXTin|Jt^vo5 oiryxnovoetj |ietd t5v did/.Tcov autuiopioov oi** ■'■Z]: ;; ^: : : / ^ : '',' i '-] .Jm^^ Al dirrjfteiat |ia; elvat 1 dgicouanxoc xat ti bxtitai vt , 'Vvt'-"i '.v%nlt lodptfl^oi hi Tfjorujtatiai. Al ouuuoplai {mzoxr\aav navcoXeflpldv. r Ol 'YnovoYol ?Xa6ov wwdmv dbiotpaotv jiedI drootpA% dSicoficniKcort ^ : . (laughter and cheers)^•'' - : This message of hope for the exhibitors of America will find a ready response from all those who are keenly looking forward to the first of the SYDNEY CHAPLIN PRODUCTIONS '.'" n 1 m •.:■"■?,■'■■ ' I Free translation—(very free): . . £ \. "L'm going away to that fair land— The land where the toot sweet grows;- Where the comic spirit has not been canned ( And the fair flower finnee blows. "Ah, well-a-day, it's au revoir; So long, but not good bye; 1 For I'm coming back esprit de corps With film you'll want to buy.'' ►-i.il; a-jd^*.-). FAMOUS PLA\TRS -LASKY CORPORATION J Strt&xQtMral ADOLrazUKORPrttJKSSKLLAfiKYW^PnaCBOli.PKVaiE ..tiftS; '>xm ';•-'! '." 'WM ■■■■."■'3 '.— r-.zr?,-,!.: Vi-;^i':i / I * ..7. , - -■