Variety (January 1922)

Friday. January 87, 1922 PICTURES a IVESTIGATOR TALKS OF PICTURES New York City, Jan. IB. Editor Variety: In the January (13th) Issue of Variety appears an article, ao scintil- Itting in phraseology, so lambent in humor, so plausible in reasoning, and go fundamentally fallacious, that It merita a reply. I will not emulate ▼our correspondent's wit. First and foremost, because I cannot Sec- ond, because I have noticed that, although manufacturers of hardware md clothing may be impressed by brilliancy, theatrical and motion pic- ture magnates find nothing so convincing as a dull and sententious style. And I am more than eager to convince you, for as you aptly title your article "Film Panic and Fear" prevail all the way from Hi Abrams to Loew, Inc. The Paramounts have ceased mounting, the Selznicks sell no more, and Goldwyn does nothing that its name would imply. Little Motion Pictures, our spoiled darling, Is holding his hands to his tummy and bellowing with pain and fear. Is Baby Mo suffering from an old- fashioned stomachache, the kind that folks at home used to treat with a dose of castor oil, and leave the rest to good old Mother Nature? Perish the thought. Our infant phenomenon cannot be suffering, from anything ao plebeian. A Hays is on the not-so-far horizen. What though all the other boys who have been over-eating around the green apple tree are aimilarly smitten. Send for the high-priced surgeon and operate for appendicitis. The- Los Angeles doctors, snugly, but by no means safely ensconced In tbe Alexandria Hotel, have diagnosed the case. "The public wants novelty." writes your correspondent. Now, temperamentally I am in- clined to question any news about motion pictures originating in the centre of the industry, Just as any sane man places small credence on national information emanating from Washington, D." C. Still, once in a while the truth about the Bolsheviks leaks out from Petrograd, and the fact that Los Angeles sponsors a theory does not necessarily make it falae. But does your correspondent put his theories to the acid test of experience? Has ho asked which was the greater success, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" or "Way Down East," "Conrad in Quest of His Youth," "Over the Hill." "Barbary Sheep." "The Queen of Sheba." "The Four Seasons" or "The Sheik"? Our Western friend says the public "has not bad novelty in its motion picture diet since Hector Turnbull was a pup." As if the foreign films were not a new variety of bone calculated to tempt the Jaded palate of any satiated canine. Above all, *.as your Los Angeles correspondent tallied forth to ask Mr. Exhibitor what he thought of the situation, or stood, night after night in theatre loblies, trying to catdi the comments of departing patrons? It ta'-JS no detective to know he did nothing of the sort, for he spills the beans when he writes of the First National, "the sub-franchise holders still look upon the organization as the greatest movement toward economic freedom and co-operative association ever undertaken in the business." Now I hold no brief for or against First National. I am as neutral as Woodrow Wilson admonished us to be at the outset of the World War. But no human being who has recently exposed his person on the firing lino could come to such a conclusion. Anyone who has shared the contents of.his hip-pocket with a sub-franchise holder knows that, right- ly or wrongly, the exhibitor feels that Williams et al. have treated him badly. During the past few months it has been my privilege to Journey about this country on behalf of certain interests who were weary of relying upon intuition and wanted facts. They were desirous of knowing what the fans wanted, instead of what they should want. I have talked inti- mately with over three hundred exhibitors, and questioned or overheard the comments of several thousand picturegoers, and though my hip- pocket may now be empty, all my other pockets are stuffed with statis- tics. Out of this mass of puzzling and frequently contradictory infor- mation, one fact, and one only, seems perfectly clear: our patrons are not essentially novelty seekers. They may appreciate improvements in technique and methods of photography, but for the theme they want the same old story told in pretty much the same old way. "Poor pap," says the high-brow. But the movies, as a sagacious critic recently pointed out, are not a fine art but a popular art. There are people so constituted that they want all the amusing things In the world, like novels and Plays, to be sad, and all the sad things, like dinner parties and life in Greenwich Village, and Cubist pictures, to be amusing. With this point of view I have fundamentally much in common, and I look forward to the day when there will be a chain of repertory theatres stretching across the continent, producing, importing and exhibiting motion pictures of a more subtle and experimental nature—an organization in which the money-making element plays no part, but devoted solely to the develop- ment of the fine art of motion pictures. We are, however, dealing at present, I take it, with motion pictures ts an industry, and not as an art. When I started my investigation, some months ago, the novelty virus was in my system also. Indeed, for some unknown reason, every investigator of motion pictures goes into action with a similar theory. Some timo ago I had occasion to look Into the men's clothing industry. Did I start my work with a pre-conceived notion that men wero weary of trousers which buttoned In front and were only wavering between buttons on the side or behind. Also, at one "tage of my career, I was connected with a branch of the furniture business. Yet, I never assumed when the sale of beds declined, that the public was yearning for a novelty bed with rockers Instead of legs. Ap- parently when wo think of the dullest things in the world, like safety razors and wives, we become bright; it is only when wo discuss bright ■ubjects, such as motion pictures, that we become dull. There is, however, a perfectly sane explanation for the affection felt °y all movie experts for the novelty thesis. We arc all expects as well «s experts, by which I mean to say that every lad among us has a little st ory of his own up his sleeve. Every one of these is a novelty to his Lord and Creator, Just as every baby is a revelation and a mystery to its mother. Indeed, I would not s be surprised if most of these embryo scenarios are novelties. For though it may seem like a paradox, it is far simpler to produce a novelty than to do the old thing once more. If a U faces did not have to have two eyes, a mouth and a nose, think of the fascinating combinations we could easily create. I believe it was Heywood Broun who recently suggested a homely heroine and a cowardly * e ro. Granted a public ripe for such a revolution, vistas of ne\. scenarios «ot the landscape. fi ut a close study of the comparative results of the novelties and ■taplea distributed by a leading producer, as well as the results of my jecent travels, have convinced me that the American public Is as ready fc* revolution in art as it is for revolution in government. There are no revolts in the history of fairy tales and movies, as Ralph B1 ock puts it in the October Century, '"Tell fairy stories for thirty million Persons in the United States." - Jour correspondent writes of the public as a "tired child," wearied by the fame story being told all over again." Yet, surely it is the old and minutely-remembered tales which our children lovo best. And as we Stow In years, wisdom and loss of Imagination, we cling ever more yearningly to the old familiar dreams. We want no subtlety, satire or surprises. Taboo thte unhappy ending. Changes, of course, there must b * as long as movies and 111ms. develop. Thero will bo progress in ■tory-teliing, methods~of presentation, acting, setting, handling of masses. in many other fields. But when 4ho critics have ceased from ticking tn <* reformers form no more, the motion picture Industry will still be Wiling its pre-ordained and glorious mission. It will be acting as pur- ser of dreams to hosts of middle and working class men and women, conventional in their outlook and literal minded in their interpretations, Du t thrilled by all that is best in mankind—beauty, courage, generosity, •J* It will be gilding grey lives with a gleam of romance, building a ••aeon light for those who walk in sorrow and darkness, and ere. ting .-—? MAYOR FIGHTS DEMAND FOR FUND ACCOUNTING Insists Theatre Charity Dona- tion Is Nobody's Business MEWS OF THE FILMS Ben B, Hampton*! first of his five productions, s heduled for release through Goldwyn, has been eom- pleted. It is entitled '•Wildfire," adapted from a novel by Zane Grey. Iff, II. Cohen, for nine years man- ager of the Paramount exchange in Albany, Jan. 25. The Appellate Division, Third Department, heard arguments yes- terday in the appeal of Mayor George R. Lunn of Schenectady „ .. , , .,.: . ,._, #«««, ♦*,« « Mn «i nM ~# - «...««. Z* Sunshine has been rctitlet. "The from the granting of a writ of Re , )ortei ... in plttPO of .. Tnc rrol^r." mandamus by Justice Edward C. the working heading. The picture Whitmyer directing him to make [g no w two weeks under way at the an accounting of a fund In his Fox comedy studios. hands contributed by the motion pic- ture theatres of Schenectady. While appearing at the Orpheum, The motion picture theatres have , thl « ^tyJWJ* lr &*5* Phl, « a , c_ iti « n™„* *** „# ««n - ™.. ^icompaiiu-d by Mrs, Wirth and a sis- paid a license fee of $60 a year to t tor Stella, spent much time at the the Mayor for authority to operate William f ox Ht udios visiting. on Sundays and this money was Denver, has opened an Independent film sales office in th.it city, lie is in New York at present, purchas- ing product. A theatre party, supper and dance Will bo held Feb. 4 in connection with the installation of officers of the Motion Picture Salesmen, Inc. William Pearson, of Chicago, was sentenced to spend from three to seven years in the Auburn, N. Y., prison for his part in a plot to steal picture films and send them abroad. The market value of the films stolen is put at $1,000,000, though a per foot basis places the value at $50.- 000. Pearson, was sentenced in the County Court, Buffalo, N. Y. turned over by the Mayor's office to the City Treasurer and was known as the Child Welfare Fund and has been used for charitable purposes. At the beginning of Mayor Lunn's present term a year ago the motion picture operators voluntarily began the contribution of. 6 per cent of Final "shooting" of the anhnial :-cones in thc last eight episodes of 'Shadows of the Jungles" serial in 3 5 episodes is to ' e done at the Warner Broa. studios before Feb. 15, when the entire group of wild ani- mals being used in tr. i pictures must be returned to the Al G. Barnes circus. A pair of baby leopards born on the Warner lots their gross receipts to Mayor Lunn i were photographed last week for to be used for charity. Edwin E. Becker, a taxpayer, In- stituted the proceeding to compel Mayor Lunn to account for this fund and the manner in which it has been used by him and demand- ed the right to inspect the account ol the fund, which was refused. Georgo B. Smith, appearing for Mayor Lunn, argued that thc 5 per cent contribution was not a license fee, that it was not public money or the account of it public records. Charles G. Fryer represented Becker in the controversy. the first lime. Doris May is preparing for "Gay and Devilish," her next feature picture. She just finished work in "Boy Craxy" at the R.-C. lot under the direction of William A. Seiter. Censorship will be undertaken by the Governor of Hawaii, who states much of the juvenile delinquency in the Territory can be traced to pic- tures suggesting violence and crime. Governor Wallace R. Farrington suggests that boards of supervisors be appointed In the several counties to keep close scrutiny on all films entering the Territory, with a view to eliminating thoso deemed unfit to be seen by children. Coast Picture News Los Angeles, Jan. 25. W. W. Hodkinson, president of the Hodkinson Film Corporation, is at the Ambassador, having arrived here last week. He is inspecting the organization's distribution of- fice and is in search of completed films for distributing purposes. I Emile Chautard, director for Pauline Frederick in the star's early screen days, has arrived at the R.-C. studios to direct Miss Fred- erick in "The Glory of Clementina," adapted for the screen by Richard Schaye from the novel by William J. Locke. "The Woman Breed," written for Miss Frederick by Louis Stevens, has been purchased and will probably be her next picture. Mrs. Lillian Trimble Bradley, as- sociated with George Broadnurst productions in New York, is due at the Famous Players-Lasky studios for some special work. Sessue Hayakawa has completed "The Vermilion Pencil" at the R.-C. studios. Bessie Love supports the Japanese in this production, which is directed by Norman Dawn. Roy Manker, of the Palmer Co., Arthur Statter Is now in charge J leaves this week for New York on of the serial and short reel scenario |a trip, department at Universal. He is an ex-newspaperman and had been temporarily engaged at Universal City for the preparation of four films. Christie Comedies have an- nounced their 1922 program, which will constitute the making of 24 two-reel comedies, thus doing away with any former plans of longer films. The American Society of Cine- matographcrs holds its annual ball Saturday night at the Ambassador hotel. Edward K. Tanaka, producer and director, of Japan, leaves shortly for New York; He will return to the Coast about March 1 prior to leaving for his home. Last Wednesday was animal day at the Fox Sunshine studios in Hollywood. A trio of trained seals, half a dozen wild lions and several other kinds of animals were on thc grounds ready for work in two new comedies being made by Al St. John and Clyde Cook. Monte Banks and a company of players from the Warner Bros, stu- dios are on location a Citalina, where the majority of the "shoot- ing" will be done for the new Banks comedy temporarily titled "Sink- ers." Thelma Worth, a cousin of Betty Compson, is playing the lead for Banks. Luplno Lane's first comedy for Agnes Ayres starts work on "The Ordeal," by W. Somerset Maugham, adapted by Beulah Marie Dix, the latter part of this week. It will be a William D. Taylor production for Paramount. Th^ shooting is nearly completed on Elinor Gtyn's "Beyond the Rocks" at the Lasky studios, where Gloria Swanson is playing the lead, supported by Rudolph Valentino. Preparations are being made for Thomas Meighan's next picture for Paramount. It will probably be George Ade's "Our Leading Citi- zen," adapted by Waldemar Young. At present Meighan Is finishing up "The Proxy Daddy," under Alfred Green's direction. FRENCH PICTURE NOTES For the week ended January 14 there were released at the Paris trade shows 35,870 meters of films (compared with 21,757 meters the previous week, and 33,544 for the corresponding week In 1921), pre- sented by Tathe Cons rthm, 7.000 meters; Gaumont, 3,230 meters, Phocea, 1,915 meters; Paramount 1.950 meters; Harry, 2,000 meters: Fox, 3,150 meters; Select, 2.U00 meters; Agence Generale, 2,165 meters; Petit, 3.600 meters; Union Eclair, 2,580 meters; Super Film. 3,670 meters; van Goitsenhoven 2,610 meters. "Le Crepuscule des Rols." dealing with the French Revolution and the mystery of the young king Louis XVII, is being produced by Bernard Deschamps, who has been partic- ularly noted for "L'Agonio des Aigles." Performers before the lamps are becoming alarmed at the alleged danger to eyesight by the powerful lights now used, especially the ef- fects of the violet rays emitted Means of restricting the ultra-violet are suggested, it being assured this can be dono by placing a glass frame between the light and the ac- tors. Plombagnized glass completely intercepts the offending rays with- out interfering with tho picture The Gaumont studio has made such a trial with good results. French producers, however, object on the ground that such a glass screen will absorb part of the actinic energy of the lamps, and are expensive, also that plombagnized glass is not ■■>- tainable in France. Other experi- ments are being made to ellipse or decrease Ultra-violet rays in studios. Germaine Dulae has left for Roumania to produce a picture with a local troupe. Tho scenario is by the poetess. Helens Vaca.'esco, Maurice Renault, the tenor, is ap- pearing In ;i film being produced by Henri Roussel. Rene PlaisiH tty. back from Lon- don, Where In* has supervised for pictures, is producing one of his own works for Gaumont* a bulwark of good cheer and Invaluable recreation against a world made dry and dreary by Volsteads. art-artists and articles such as this. , (Written to Variety apparently by a layman, but also ftp] arently an Investigator, possibly for a financial Institution. The writer asked his name withheld without divulging his line of business.) Vince Carline is now treasurer and acting manager of the Lyric theatre at Memphis, Tenn. Conway Tearle has been engaged to play opposite Norma Talmadge in her next release, "Tho Duchess of Langeais." Frances Marion has transposed the script from tho orig- inal Balzac story for screen adap- tation while others who will appear in the cast are Adolphe Jean Menjou, Irving Cummings, Otis Harlan, Rosemary Theby, Wedge - wood Lowell, Kate Lester and Thomas Rickets. The feature will be released by First National. The Lord's Day Alliance organiza- tion of New York State has drawn up a measure which has been in- troduced by Assemblyman Hauser that calls for a repeal of thc Sun- day motion picture law. Tho pro- visions of the bill also stipulate that the owners of property in which pictures were exhibited on Sunday would be held responsible as well as the management of the theatre. R. G. Davey, counsel for the Al- liance, stated that the organization would also oppose legislation de- signed to permit football and bas- ketball games on Sundays. The Realart Picture Corporation has sold, its lease in the Winfteld Building, 469 Fifth Ave., to the W. W. Hodkinson Corporation. The space occupied consisted of an entire floor. The New Coliseum, having a seating capacity of 5,175, opened at Oklahoma City Jan. 15. The build- ing is of reinforced concrete and steel, three stories high and 160x250, with the stage equalling, in height, an eight story building. A heating system costing $25,883 has been in- stalled which calls for 18,000 feet of radiation and under contract guarantees to heat the building at 70 degrees when the thermometor registers zero outside. Ropes ag- gregating 19,000 feet are required to handle the scenery. It Is planned to show special pictures, operas, mus- ical recitals, stock and automobile shows, or any large road attraction, in tho houso as the occasion de- mands. Tho Thelma at Kenbridge, Va., has opened under a picture policy. The owners are Wilkinson & Stephens. The New theatre located In Weston, W. Va„ has closed and its equipment and furnishings sold to Guy F. Gregg. The houso was owned by tho Workman brothers and Dr. G. I. Keeper. The Government is using movl.ig pictures to Increase the country's foreign markets. The* Department of Agriculture has had fll. a made depicting the -process of Federal meat inspection and they have been shown in London. It is planned to send the films throughout Europe. Four members of the New York State Senate voted against the con- firmation of the Motion Picture Commission which comprises Georgo H. Cobb, of Watertown; Joseph Levenson, of New York, and Mrs. Helen M. Howe, of Buffalo. The commissioners were eventually con- firmed. A charge made that tho commission was costly to the .state brought out figures showing that while expenses have been $95,000 the receipts totaled $300,000. The discharge of operators from tho Lafayette, a picture house on upper Seventh avenue, New York, brought action from tho Moving Picture Machine Operators' Local 306. which obtained an order from Supremo Court Justice Hinckley directing the owners of the house to show cause why the union opera- tors were discharged without suffi- cient reason. The company lias a contract with tho union to employ onlv union men until September, 1922.