Variety (January 1920)

'■■y.- •■■;• • MOVING PICTURES 57 GERMAN PICTURE NEWS lClu i BJJi.i l ■ ■» . ■» . Berlin, Dec 20. Four new pictures have /appeared here which have the entire attention of the German picture companies, and which seem here superior to any .American or Italian offerings. "The Death of Phaleria," made by Moeve; "The Pest of Florence/* by Decta; "Madame Dubarry" and "Doc- tor Steffens' Strangest Case," by Uni- versum, are the four. The first mentioned drama was writ- ten by Dr. Alfred Schirokauer, in five acts, directed by Franz Osten. The main principals are Elsie Bodenheim, Hilda Wall, Eric Kaiser, Titz and Ca- millo Triembacher. This is a phan- tastic drama in which the former royal Bavarian castles are shown for the' first time in their entire splendor. The picture was exhibited in Berlin for months in our largest theatre (Sports Palace). This theatre has a seating capacity of over 4,000 and crowds were turned away for lack of room. Our German newspapers claim this moving picture excels anything hitherto shown in this country in form of a phantas- tic picture. "The Pest of Florence" also had a , remarkable run all through Germany. The Recla Co. has sold it except in the U. S. A, Great Britain; and Japan. "Madame Dubarry" is already sold to the Transoceanic Film' Co. for the United States and South America. It i deals with the time of the French revo- lution. Lubitsch ' was the director, Pola Negri the main star, and was the greatest money maker this season. _"Dr. Steffens' Strangest Case" cre- ated such a sensation in Germany that the leading French manufacturers and Italian dealers offered the manufac- turer for the negative and the right to produce copies' for France, Italy, Great Britain and the U. S. A. direct prices, which were refusel at first, but the entire production has now- been sold for France, Italy, Egypt, Rumania, Greece, Spain and Portugal. Our raw material maker, who has a monopoly of the film in this country, raises his price from 95 pfennig to 2 marks from Jan., 1, 1920—also our price for copying the pictures will be con- siderably increased then. Owing to the increased.taxes in this country, our moving picture theatres were compelled to increase their prices for admission. As a result the the- atres are now doing poorly. Owing to lack of'coal our theatres are com- pelled to close at 10 P. M. and begin their shows at 4 P. M., so instead of showing a picture four times daily and five times on Saturday, they can only play same'thrice daily. The German government, through its new laws, has also created an un- certain feeling in our entire indus- try. They threaten to monopolize the theatres, and we have incessantly to keep our eyes open, otherwise they will gp so far as to ruin our industry , here. They show practically their in- ability to regard matters as they act- ually stand in our line, with our new strict censor laws, in which each mov- ing picture with the slightest immoral action is forbidden. They made it as difficult for the German makers to produce immoral pictures as it is" in your country—in fact, pictures which have already passed through the cen- sorship are now being seized by the police. "POP" LUBIN IN AGAIN. One of the most interesting picture events predicted is the return to the production field of Sigmond Lubin who is reported having arranged to team with Fred Balshover, well known as an independent who has been east for some weeks. Present plans call for the new combination to make comedies exclusively, that field being one which Lubin specialized in for- merly. "Pop" Lubin was one of the pioneers of the picture industry and his cine- matograph brought him wealth and fame. He later was a big factor in the Picture .Patents Co. which originally was supposed to be strong enough to control the industry indefinitely. When he sold his big plant at Bettzwood nearby Philadelphia about two years ago, it was thought he was permanent- ly out Balshover, who has produced fea- tures and brought out several picture - stars formerly worked for Lubin. When the latter started. Balshover who was earning around $300 weekly mak- ing illuminations for illustrated songs, gave it up to learn moving pictures and his first job with Lubin netted him $15 per week. 1 SUES FOR "12.10" SHARE The hearing of Earl Carroll's appli- cation for an accounting of the profits filed against the Republic Distributing Corporation, releasing the British and Colonial production, "12.10," produced by Herbert Brenon, starring Marie Doro, was postponed until further no- tice pending the arrival of additional affidavits from Mr. Brenon, who is in London. The plaintiff's contention is he supplied Mr. Brenon with the sce- nario for "12.10" in February, 1919, with an understanding they were to come to terms anent the purchase price. With Mr. Brenon's departure for the other side, the plaintiff let things drop, assuming Brenon would destroy the script which he had not returned. The film was exhibited at the Capitol recently, whereupon Carroll filed suit through Alfred Beekman, of House, Grossman & Vorhaus. "MADAME X" SOLD AGAIN. Henry W. Savage has leased the pic- ture rights to "Madam X" for a period of nine years, having Called in his for- mer production, which he distributed through Pa the. « The price paid for it by Goldwyn, the purchaser, was $45,000 net, the buyer paying the. agent's (Edgar Selden) commission. This includes the world's rights with the exception of Canada, and South Africa, which were sold outright. Harry Fields still claims to hold an option from .the Savage offices on the picture rights, but the seller guaran- tees title. That Savage had no idea of the value of "Madam X" as a remake may be gleaned from the fact that less than a year ago the rights could have been secured from him for $5,000. Then several people bid for it and the price began to climb. In the past month the price jumped $20,000. WARREN HOLDS "STARVATION." Several'of the larger distributing or- ganizations are competing for the privilege of handling the big eight-reel, official motion picture record of Her- bert Hoover and his American Relief organization, scheduled to open at the Manhattan theatre tonight (Friday). It now develops that the feature is controlled by F. B. Warren, of the Hodkinson concern, and the venture is a personal one. Mr. Warren has made no deal with anyone for the handling of the picture, preferring to wait until it opens in New York under the per- sonal guidance of Morris Gest, an ac- knowledged master in gigantic exploi- tation of amusement enterprises. The picture is called "Starvation" and deals with the hunger problem in Russia, the Baltic lands and twenty other European countries. : , ANOTHER TITLE DISPUTE. The National Picture Theatres be- San suit against the Foundation Film orporation in the U. S. District Court last week. , The plaintiff prays for an injunction restraining the defendant from releasing its production, "The Blindness of Youth," adapted from a French novel, 'Torrent/' by M. L. Herbier. The National contends the title is an infringement on their forth- coming , production, "Blind Youth," adapted from the stage play by Lou Tellegen and Willard Mack, who sold the screen rights to the Selznick Pic- tures Corp.,; who in turn transferred them to the plaintiff. The defendants, answering through Alfred Beekman, of House, Grossman & Vorhaus, contend their title is not likely to hurt the plaintiff's picture, which has not been begun, whereas theirs is awaiting release. Further- more, the Foundation holds the words employed in the title are common property, having been used before in books and plays. 'The Foundation claims no one' can ask exclusive use unless there is a secondary meaning connected with them, entirely distinct from their, normal significance. DECISION AGAINST TITLE. '■ — v. Justice Giegerich, sitting in PaPt IV, Special Term of' the Supreme Court, handed down a decision this week dis- missing the action brought by Darcy & Wolford against William Stoermer, whereby the play brokers sought to restrain the defendant from releasing a film production, "The Tidal Wave," on the ground that the plaintiffs pre- viously produced a play by the same name, which has since been released for stock. The plaintiffs, concede the defend- ant's story, although a similar title, in nowise infringes on the play ver- sion. For this reason, and that the words are common terms, usually ap- plied to a phenomena of nature. Judge Giegerich ruled the complaint be dis- missed with costs. • Mortimer Fishel, of counsel for the plaintiffs, will appeal from the de- cision. STAR IN FULL COMMAND. R A. Walsh has completed his final picture for Fox and is now under sal- ary to Mayflower. He left this week for upstate, accompanied by an assist- ant director and a scenario writer, to perfect his plans for the making of his first Mayflower feature. Walsh has an ironclad contract whereby he is to be absolutely unham- pered in the making of his productions and is to be credited 100 per cent, with the quality of his output. As Morris Kohn, president of Real- art, which is to distribute the Walsh features, puts it: "According to the arrangements which Mr. Walsh has with Mayflower, there will be nothing to hinder him, neither limitations of time nor of money. He has been given the' sky as the limit and an artist can ask no more." % '• Walsh's plans are still kept secret, but it is known he is planning to cast Miriam Cooper in a leading feminine role. "BOOMERANG" AS CHURCH FILM. Syracuse, N. Y., Jan. 7. Sunday church films have struck Syracuse to stay. The idea was first tried out two weeks ago by the May Memorial Unitarian Church. Now the Methodists are falling in line and an- nouncing Sunday evening shows. The churches are using regular theatrical display advertising space in the local press to boom the departure. The programs offered are by no means con- fined to religious films. The May Me- morial on Sunday last featured "The Boomerang." ,h. LOEWS METRO BUY. Marcus Loew, Inc., and Metro Pic- tures Corp., officially confirmed this week a business affiliation whereby Loew, Inc., bought control of Metro. :|| Metro, will continue to run its buai- ,g ness as heretofore and Richard A. Rowland will continue as its president. . Various reports are current as to the price the Loew people paid for control of Metro. It is generally believed to ^ be in the neighborhood of $3,000,000, ., about one-half in cash and the re- mainder in stock of Loew, Inc. . >* Most of the "wise" folks Of the in- dustry have figured it out-on table- "% cloths at the Astor grill room that the price is a big one, but others on the •, other hand claim Loew was compelled to do something of the sort to pro- tect himself for service out of New York City. Loew has \ always been able to get the pick of the first runs "% in the metropolis, but in the out-of- town cities' he finds himself handi- capped in securing just the sort of exhibitor service required. By. direct- ly controlling production he feels that much of this condition may be rem- ... edied. * The Metro stars at present include Nazimova, Viola Dana, May Allison, Bert Lytell, Alice Lake, besides dis- tributing the Taylor Holmes pictures >; and a series of Jack London stories with Mitchell Lewis as star. This list is to be materially augmented and ,. with practically unlimited capital the production scope will be enlarged. M Richard A. Rowland, president of Metro, denied any friction existed be- tween Joseph Engel and Maxwell Kar- gek as reported in Yambtt, last week, M in announcing the Loew-Metro deal. /%fjj Mr. Rowland said: "If there ever'^M was aq organization where friendship 3 and loyalty meant anything it has been M the Metro Pictures Corporation and 1 particularly between Mr. Engel, Mr.Vyf Karger and myself. •./' bis "Anyone who knows Engel should " be convinced that he does not quar- . rel. As a matter of fact, I have been .trying to fight with him for the past -■ five years, but the best I could get was a smile, so I gave up in disgust. I am certain you will find Engel and Kar ?:'er associated in the picture business or many years to come. "Engel's business in the east has been warranted by the fact that.the#" deal with Marcus Loew has been pend- ing several months, and now that it is closed he will return to the coast within the next few weeks. Karger will return east as he much prefers | producing in New York, so please do : ; not try to separate two lovable fam-jJS , t . |_ m, m ■ _ »—'"HUB 'lies. . . ^^m The cash "melon" that was cut be- a|| tween the original stockholders of the Metro Corp. after the purchase by /£$!& Marcus Loew of that organization was '^M slightly in excess of $1,000,000. HJ9 The Metro, it is understood, is not > : $g going to plunge extensively into the>jf|j production market, but will rather con- 'M tent itself to keep its exchanges going -^ with the output that is at present.^ scheduled, and look about the market S for big feature productions that can be m secured from independent producers. K$j§ ■ % h£ al OPERATORS ASK $1.25 AN HOUR. ' Chicago, Jan. 7. ~ Film operators have made demand ^ for $155 an hour or $36 a week. They are now getting $30 a week. Fletcher Resigns at Topic*" Editor. Charles Leonard Fletcher has ten- dered his resignation as editor of the "Topics of the Day" films, to take ef- fect at the conclusion of the current week. He says he will not return to acting under any circumstances. Pauline Frederick's Summer. Ogdensburg, N. Y., Jan. 7. . Pauline Frederick will spend her' summer here. Her mother has just ordered the completion of a bungalow begun a year ago. >■: & &E^:&&?i&^ ^^Sr^mM^^^^-&i^:^^i^^ ^ : ^,^ivg^-^^h^^^H^^^ : A^ji^M^'< v ^^^bM^'JM^ ii'iiMi ^y>X&^&S^iM