Variety (September 1922)

£7 Friday, September 28, 1922 MOTION PICTURE DEPARTMENT—Pages 41 to d ' PICTURES PR. SILVERMAN ADVISES "KEEP RELIGION OUT " Address Made Before Picture Owners—No Conclusion Arrived At ■ -Keep religion out of the the- atres" was the keynote sounded by pabbl Joseph Silverman in an ad- dress that he made to the Motion picture Theatre Owners' Chamber at Commerce at a luncheon at the » Hotel Astor Tuesday, when mem- bers of the cloth representing all denominations were present. The theatre owners stated that they bad come to a realization of their responsibility to the public, and that they were ready to open up their tcreens to educational and instruc- tive subjects. The rabbi's objection to the acreenlng of religious subjects In the theatres was based on the fact that no matter what the subject ■elected from the Bible was, there would* of necessity have to be some theology of one sect or another fa- vored in the picturization. and that this of necessity would offend oth- • «r« who were not of the same belief. He warned the exhibitors they were treading on dangerous ground, al- though he complimented them on the thought that they had come of a realization of the responsibility to- ward their fellowman. The rabbi's attitude set forth in his speech came as a bombshell, after the meeting had progressed about halfway, and after two min- isters and a priest had spoken re- garding the subject. One oT the ministers dodged the issue, the oth- er, together with the priest came out strongly in favor of Jt, both set- ting forth in unmistakable terms that their endorsement would be given providing that they were as- cured that the exhibitors did not propose to use the religious pictures as a cloak and an excuse for putting on other .pictures that would do more harm than the good effected by the Biblical screen matter, and that a program be arranged around the Bible pictures that would be in keeping and with due reverence to the subject. The meeting was brought about through Fred B. Warren, of the American Releasing Corpora'tion, which is to release the fifty-two single reel pictures of Bible Land, made under the direction of the Rev. Dr. J. E. Russell, who has Dr. E. V. Russell associated with him In the venture. The pictures, it was stated, were not staged scenes of Biblical facts, but were simply travelogue subjects of the Holy Land, depleting scenes of histor- ical interest as set forth in the Bible. Dr. Frank Crane was the first of the gentlemen of the cloth present to speak after the chairman had opened the meeting. Charles O'Reil- ly president of the State organiza- tion had set forth the intentions of his organization regarding the matter, and Bernard Edlehertz, chairman of the board of the M. P. T. O. C. C, did likewise. Following Dr. Crane came Dr. Reisner, who lauded the project, and he in turn was followed by the Rev. Father Fahey, of the Catholic Actors' Guild. Then came Rabbi Silverman with his bombshell, he in turn being again followed by Dr. Reisner and then Dr. Kirkwood, of the Broad- way Tabernacle. After the controversy over the speech of Rabbi Silverman had died out, William Brandt, former presi- dent of the T. O. C. C, stated that as far as he was concerned he intend- ed playing the pictures in his the- atres, but that he intended to take great care in the subjects that he selected for his screen, and that he felt that it was entirely a matter for the exhibitor individually to settle for himself instead of taking -the matter as one for the organiza- tion to pass on. In the closed meeting which fol- lowed the open session the question was discussed >>y the members with* out any -definite step being taken. EXHIBITORS' BOOKING BODY FRIGHTENING DISTRIBUTORS Association Appoints Committee with Marcus Loew On It—Fear Other Local Exhibitor Bodies May Follow New York's Example Paramount, Newark, Opens The Paramount (Fabian house) opened Saturday with little pre- liminary announcement. It will use second run pictures with changes twice a week. rortland, Ore.. Sept. 27. The Episcopal Church of Amer- 1* «'i. in triennial general convention °ere this month, la.-t week threw «?o\vn the gauntlet to the picture producers in what authorities de- clare will be a "light to the finish f°r the allegiance of the youth of America," Mrs. Harry R. P.tdumy of Denver. "Peaking for tho National Comm?«- SJon on l'ageantry and Drama, said: "Church drama, of course, must eompete with the moving pictures mt the allegiance of youth. Thi j The question of the formation of an independent booking organiza- tion of exhibitors to combat the booking deals of the larger circuits is a matter of concern to producers and distributors. So great has the alarm over thiS step of the inde- pendents become, through the for- mation of the Associated Booking Corporation, that several of the members of the M. P. Producers' and Distributors' Association have ap- pealed to Will H. Hays to appoint a committee within their own ranks to take up the matter and bring about some arrangement if possible which will enable the distributors in this territory to combat the sit- uation arising through the forma- tion of the A. B. C. The committee that has been ap- pointed comprises Marcus Loew, Sidney R. Kent (general sales man- ager of Famous Players) and E. J. Bowes (of the Goldwyn organiza- tion). If the movement among the ex- hibitors is permitted to gain a foot- hold in New York it is feared that the exhibitor bodies in other pajrts of the country will foilow and the producers and distributors will be up against a condition where the house owners will be enabled to dic- tate to them insfead of laying down the law to the exhibitors, as has been the case heretofore. The appointment of Marcus Loew on the committee is significant, as Mr. Loew is at the head of a circuit of theatfes that would be vitally affected by the exhibitor combina- tion. CARPENT1ER REPORTED STOPPING FIGHT FILM Defeated Frenchman Said to Have Enjoined Its Exhibition - London, Sept. 27. The fight film of the Siki-Carpen- tier fight in Paris Sunday has not yet arrived in London, although due Monday, with another 48 hours' lapse until today failing to see it arrive. It is reported here that Carpen- tier, following his defeat by the Senegalese colored champion, took steps to enjoin the exhibition of the picture. Pereonal reasons are pre- sumed to have actuated the former French Idol. Carpentier was given a severe beating during a poor showing by him. When Siki knocked him out in the sixth round the Frenchman was a sorry sight. VALENTINO'S OWN -Sheik'- Tells of Grievances—Not Going to Run Wild WILL HAYS OPENS 11TH-HOUR ANTI-CENSOR DRIVE IN MASS. Boston and New York Betting 2 to 1 Bay State Pop- ular Referendum Will Vote "Yea"—Women and Church Active Syracuse, N. Y., Sept. 27. Rodolph Valentino intends to start his own motion picture com- pany as soon as his litigation with Famous Players ends. Valentino, moviedom's representative at the American Legion State Convention athletic games last Friday, amplified his complaint against the Players while in the city. '"I feel that they have tried to make me as srnnll as possible In my own eyes so--I wouldn't make demands upon them," said tn< "Sheik." "For Instance I've actual- ly had to sleep on iii« concrete floor of my dressing room Then managi i is a former prize fi^-titT i and he trie* to treat his players as if they were prize fightei I "It's my ambition to give the pub- lie good, logical pictures, but lm not -'< me t.» nut u ml ^ hfim *t.rv\p The picture interests are seem- ingly lined up for a whirlwind cam- paign during the final four weeks prior to election in their effort to defeat the censorship of motion pic- tures which is to be placed before the public for referendum on Nov. 7. Locally the feeling is that the pic- ture people are certain to suffer defeat at the coming election. The "Will Hays organization which is handling the campaign here has Charles Pettijohn, Jack Connolly, Joseph O'Neill and one other of its staff here from time to time, with headquarters at the Copley Plaza Hotel. This quartet, acting with the*local picture people, have lined up a campaign on the screen and in the papers which they will break on Monday. A number of special short pictures have been made ad- dressing the public from the screen with arguments against censorship and a plea to the people to vote "No" on Referendum No. 3 on the ballot. The Hays people seemingly have a lot of confidence that their efforts are going to bear fruit, for they are willing to bet even money that they will beat the censorship proposition here. There is no lack of takers. Church Element Busy They are placing a great amount of faith in the American Legion and the labor union heads, who, they say, have lined up on their side of the fence. In the meantime the opposition element is still going ahead with all the assurance in the world that they are going to have a censor board in this state. The church element is solidly behind the censorship bill, and it carries tre- mendous weight in this section. "Women's organizations are also lined up with the censorship forces, and apparently they are the power that the picture people fear most. One of the foasons for holding back their campaign until the last four weeks before election on the part of the film folk was that they want- ed to take the women by surprise and put over their broadside before the women could get underway to combat it before election time. The women, however, are now back in the state from the summer places and are active in the campaign ahead of the picture people In New York this week a number of those in the film industry were offering 2"to 1 that the censorship bill In Massachusetts would carry despite the efforts of the Hays or- ganization to defeat it. of the players who have staited their ow h COm| ana competition will br a fi|41 <t to tin finish, employing th< movie*' own arts and cnpitalhvng im fw'l vn • which we recognize <' visual rd*«« cation,'* Boston, Sept. 27. There will be at least a semblance of a fight in Massachusetts by the picture people in an effort to defeat the referendum of movie censorship when it comes up on the ballot early in November. The legitimate the- atrical managers and many picture house owners have been Open!) criticising Win Hays for inactivity on th< Massachusetts censorship iv- mm for the past month, but it wa g hot iifil.il the Boat on Evening Trans- cript took a crack at (he situation over the signature of 11 T Parkei itc «if.'ttnatif etl itor that the lobby- and Hector Fuller. The campaign will include the formation of "A committee of 100," under the guid- ance of Judge Brackett, the % local theatrical managers'- counsel, the membership of this committee to comprise the strongest names avail- ably in Massachusetts. . Picture screens will be utilized, labor and women's organizations enlisted, and the general line of propaganda will be that of "high- brow interference," "social and settlement workers" and "restriction of free press, pulpit and pictures." The lobby at the State House is already beginning to sense the awakening of. the issue, which, un- til now, has been apparently dead. "Whether Hays, in bis first fea'iy big political assignment, will be op- posed by old-time war-horses of the type of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and some of the younger congress- men who are still harboring Wash- ington feuds, remains to be seen. At the present time theso camps have adopted the attitude that there was no need of trying to take a sock-at- Hays because he wasn't even tffer- lng a semblance of a battle against tnr referendum bill. The history of the Massachusetts referendum, which is apparently the first state-wide ballot ever taken on censorship, dates back over a year. The bill was jammed through the House of Repiesentatives b./ a re- form group and was scheduled to die in peace in the Senate.' Some India, creetly expended slush-money spent by the wrong lobbyists prevented certain senators from killing the bill as an honest favor to Judge Brackett, according to the State House gossip, the rumors about the "grease" forcing them in self-de- fense ,/to prove their non-participa- tion by* voting in favor of censor- ship. Judge Brackett then rais%d the 15,000 signatures necessary to se- cure a stay on the law until H could go before the voters of the State on the ballot, this holding up the law until next November. Chances are still exceedingly slim for the defeat of the bill, the im- portance of the issue being thnt if Massachusetts, by popular vote, adopts a censorship commission af- fecting burlesque, vaudeville, legiti- mate attractions and pictures, there is apt to be a landslide during the next few years that will affect most of the other States. The Hays cam- pniKn bus been to lay low until Just before election and then let loose a barrage of propaganda that will sweep the reform factions off tnelr feet, and it was not until this week that his leaden had to show tla/r hand under pressure. Th< Transcript comment on th< situation last Saturday read in part: "if the advocates of censorship are bestirring themselves in behalf of 'the cause/ their voices are as \<t sparse and small. No louder , sound tb« objcftjoriH of opponents. I've jt the screens easy means for Ihe movie-makers to play upon a sympathetic public i<nmo urging* njriiii"-: censorship. As the signs of September go, rhert is hardly an audible or a \ la bis whit of n.t. i est in what passed eighteen months Mt for*« headquarter* ii at the c< n !• I'la/a. «i .«. < otn|>« •!!» <l to tip Iheij hand A real hght •*- planned undei rh< t< ud< rship if Hays' !.•.?• na n| «'hill b v | «t iol i ( >t in i * on t l,i ■ • a i < Jack «'onnollj i f* rmoi i . • ■ . '.ii > tO • • i] Ui.U: UHfiJ :igi a« a 'vital am t- 'Ion.' \'u\< • *• Or toh.i altera the public mmd, this 'I- aasloh of Massachusetts upon moi ie-C( w rship promises to ?>< in* i'i >' '• i "t ;i" an expression of stirred and Jr-sted popular opinion ('«nvnrships moreovei have a wn\ < : i »■! • • > • «. i j •■ i ..,('•;. EXHIBITORS' RLACKLIST LONG RUN FEATURES Detroit Ass'n. Bans Films After 30-Day Tie-up Detroit, Sept. 27. At n special meeting held Friday of last week 138 Detroit exhibitors passed a resolution in which they agreed not to book pictures from tfny producer who gives tho first- run houses longer than SO days' protection. This action was the re- sult of a four months' protection clause contained in the booking of "Blood and Sand" to John H. Kun* sky for his Adams theatre. Ordinarily 30 days Is the limit of the protection and then the picture goes to the second run, and so on right downlhe line. In the case of "Blood and Sand" it Was decided to try an innovation to see what ef- fect it would have in business for the first-run. It remained three wceke at Kunsky's Adams to very good business and immediately the second-run houses clamored for dates, whereupon it was learned that no dates could be given until after Jan. 1, in accordance with the four months' protection. This is the only picture on which such a long protection has been given. The exhibitors are up in arms, as hey demand dates immediately after 30 days of the close of the engage- ment. NOTE AND MORTGAGE Tottenr Gave Both to Counsel For Fee Joseph Byron Totten and his wife, Mrs. Leslie Bingham Totten (J. B. Totten & Oo., vaudeville sketch artists) nre named defendants in a New York Supreme Court suit by Max Schaumer on a $2,400 note. The note's history dates back two years ago when Totten, with Joseph W. Smiley, were engaged in the film producing business as the Tri- Star Pictures Corporation at that time to the fore as the possible promoter of Ethel Barrymore as a screen star. They had an option on Mlsa Ba.rrymore'8 screen services. The note, ind a mortgage on Totten'B property in Volluntown, Conn., were given to Samuel Schwartzberg, then the corpora- tion's counsel, as security for fees due fo/ professional services. Ths note was for a year, not! paid ex- cepting $75 and protested. The property, it was decided. Was not worth while foreclosing. Max Schaumer was assigned the nots and, through Henry Herzbrun, Is now proceeding to recover on It. Smiley is named a nominal co-de- fendant with* the Tottens because he endorsed it. Totten's defense when the nots was not satisfied was to the effect Schwartzberg had violated hia agreement by refusing to file a per- sonal voluntary bankrupt petition for him. The attorney contended he was only to handle the corpora- tion's legal affairs and no officers'. NEGRI ON COAST Feted by L. A. Picture Colony- Start* Work Immediately Los Angeles, Sept. 27. FoJa Negri won't forget her entry into Ix>s Angeles, no matter whether she likes film making In America or not. Since her arrival Monday she has been dined and wined, or maybe only near-beered, by a hundred or more celebrities. She got off the train at Pasadena to avoid the crowds that were waiting at the stat ion here to greet her. To the press Negri made the usual comment, which, when translated, means "California is wonderful.'* She starts work immediately at the La.sky lot. P. W. PICTURES BANKRUPT The P. W. Picture-, Inc., and the Cinemaplays, Inc, picture produc- ers, bath of 8 Bridge street, New York, had jnvtolunt ary petitions In bankruptcy Bled against th^m. Th« creditors are commercial claims for furniture rentals, printing, etc. it IS alleged bath compan es consented to be adjudged bankrupts. In the pn"t months a num b er ef ';>..!<«. hav< died Judgments in the Pity Court and elsewhere against Lester Park and the P. W. Pic- Uir>-* Inc f. r moneys due on loans. It is stated r .. k has a pb tare in >■<■• •>", > on iiti-i >• ,, r , t > i j , ^ : • uinj ny.