Variety (November 1924)

VMtptTY ■^^'^ "'.■TT-' .715':7^'"? "h-- 1»ICTTUIt^» .^ ^tdntwiaij, Nov«ml)er- S. 1924 ':<: FiyROeS PLAYBtS RUNNINGi FILM TRADE PAPERS IS NOW CntlNGDOWNTO 4»t*..f.. too Many AjilmjfcU i»» fMoTUif Picture New**' and ^'Exhibitor's Herald Petted with IiMert»—'IMoving Picture WorW ;, and '^Exhibitor's Trade Review" Held Out as ''Horrible Examples"—F. P.'s Way of Handling Trade Press- •i'»~--'^'«v»» _2^ ki- nCotlon Picture Nawa" and "Kx- btbltom,' Qtrald" (Chlc«co>.ar* to 1m tb« flatted trade papers by the ntmoiia Playera-lAsky for its eec- and aerlee of Fameoe 40^ for '24- .W. Theae papers wUI set tlie haavjr kdvertlainc orders from the home of•> floe. p On the outside etarlng In and V wondering what It Is all about wiU ilw '^e Movins Picture World" r nBxhIbitors' Trade ReTlew," with I the "World" a pet of other days. ^^(inuiioaa may slip the couple of race ;4-Jk bone now and then, although ^' kardly an Insert, Just to "keep 'em Contrary to general bellet, nunous Placers has nev«r had "a piece^ of a trtrtctly picture trade paper. Pamou alwaya knew a better way. It was In wealth «t adrertfalnc— when "«ood." No advertlalns—whan "btutL" It worked. Trade Papers and P. P. The pictnre trade pi^era fell all ever 9mtaoam Players, editorially and otherwlaa. They said what Pamous Players wanted them to eay, held out what PluBoaa nayers didn't ' want them to say, and did It so thovouchly this la tb» net reanlt to dat4. lAst week "Tte T(«w(b* and "The Herald" carried the P. P. Inserts; with the "World" and "Trade Re- Tlew" wondering why. Next season "The Mews" and "The \ 9erald'' may he wondering why. Pamotm )^Uv«s its dtaerfmlnatlon win be foItSited by other advertis- Inc picture eoneems. Net New Stwy , It's not a new st«ry tat the ad- ' Tertlslnv division of the movlac piqUire trade. All of the pleture organs more or lean have been played upon by the advertising de- partments. FUboos Players has been a big space buyer, and In the past a trade paper h«rs or there thought It was headed for affluence with the gross of Its advertisins. So much so the trade papws for-: got to be newspapers, neglected to build up their news departments, permitted themselves to be run,by dollars and cents, until today Pam- ^ «ua Players or others In the business ■, don't care nwchly for their clrcu- I Ution; call It duplicated anS at thU r . date can Ignore "The Moving Pic- ture World," once the Joy of the '- I picture press agents and the envy of all other film te«de Journals. Toe Late for Sledoe'Hammers "The World" and "The Trade. Re- view" may g^ out their slfdge- hammera. but It's doubtful—and It's too late. Pamous Players started to "handle" the trade i)apera years ago, under the expert guidance of a . newspaper man who seemingly un- derstood the picture trade papers ' better than the papers understood themselves or their field. Trade papers that agree to publish an In- sert and ask for t.OOO Inserts to cover the picture buslneas, tactic to admitting their circulation, can- not expect a newspaper man fro^ a New ^orii dally, who knew more When oe started than the trade papar people ever have found oat, wpuld consider the trade press as much of a problem. When Famous found out a paper here or there In the film trade press field was Inclined to kick over P. P. held out Its business on that paper <Hr papers, or threw the burden of Iti business lnto> other papers. ;.j. N^ It Worked Out ' Ttatous Players never needed the trade papers after 1^ had gotten started^lt could cover th« field by c k<uku r laa tlon as K is dotag now. espeiolally with none of the picture triads papers increasing its circu- )|Ktlaa or Inflnenoe—permitting *ne Mi^rrow grovp t«> feed* them w|th ad- vertising and seeing that group nar- row|9« dowq yearly, with the.tradej p«rs 1iol4ta« to • facing circular! ># inriiifp itmf ^adv^Use^ were! ig ihonopoilstlc and aiming Um jroat eavejoplng of the plo« Dans. Ctfpini in Court Over iLost Picture Role Lm AnK«lea, Nov. S. Asserting thai Chester Rennett. Ward Wing. H. C. Waldman and J. K. MacAlplne failed to keep an oral agreement of Sept. 20 whereby he was to be featured In the first of a series of film productlona, and starred In the balance of tl^em at a salary of ftOO weekly. Dana Col- lins, has filed suit to prevent the defendants from continuing to make any of the seven productions. Collins alleges that after he had worked two weeks on the Initial pro- duction the defendants refused to pwlhit hUm to continue and gave his role to Art Acord. Collins further asserts that the part of the picture in which he appeared Is being held in Bollywood lalMratorles by the defendants who threaten to de- stroy It. ThSL attorney for ColUna asks that the coort enjoin the defendants from molesting the film In any way. '*»i*L laifd^ la «r th* opinion tluift maubars of the movie colony la Bollywood have too many iMM animal peU in their bosMB. Bto asMtU* that It Iv netMat IM iayi'at all to hal« M. baar. tiger, wolf or eveia cub lion running around the back- yard *fo^ Mthe of the pictars pSsdlaader says that to lum a dog In the home one must get a permit or license. He is preiMuring an ordinance which win make It ^aandatory for anyone owning animals of the ' abova description to get a per- aiit to keep them. The 6rdl- aaaoa will also provide that nnlaas theae animals are kept within doors they be mussled andchalne^^,^ , , TBSATED OmiUiT Los Angeles, Nov. S. Charging cruelty, Anne Maye Car- ter, three months' bride of Chester P. (Chet) Cajcfer,.screen actor and automobile racing driver, has filed salt for divorce In the aa|iarior lira. Qarter charge*.tbii n An- gust. a moi^th after their muhrlage, her httsbAnd myat<uiously dlsap- 'peared from home. Upon his reap- pearance a few weeks later he prac- ticed several kinds of cruelty on her. which brought about a separation. SEnUD WITHL L K. Cleveland, Nov. S. The K. K: K. hah Its various ef- fects in elections, etc., in this terri- tory, but the latrongest story that ever hit the film district in this town earns from Rert "Shorty" Stem, a nephew of the lata UoxweU Karger. Stern to a salesBUUt for Harry Chamas o( Pllm Classloa. He was on his way from Cleveland to Pitts- burgh for- the firm and had to pass tlirottgh the town of Struthers, O., where It Is well Imown all the ofll- elalB aro members of the bed sheet dub. There was a parade of the bidden order at the time Shorty was pass- ing through. His ear accldenUIly hit a Ford driven by a Klanaman. The white linen boy driver imme- diately atartod to holler "arrest." Shdrty, being a good salesman and of Jewlah faith, knew what the outootno would bo If he had to ap- pear, bafOKO the court. He settled with tko Tletlm on the spot tor,fM. Y. BAN AGAINST PATHE AND VfTAQtAPH nV - V * -i .^■*, ^'■»--."i- '^ ^... Wants Something Moro Snbstantial Than Promises J ^*ythj Wovty^ ana ^mUe. Midnight" Ckose d Latest Ban --r.-^-r^-f----^: • v,;-;.v^ ' <" Labor ComiB. "Pttyn Off ''Harket Value" Oaims ties Angeiea, Nov. S. I>eputy Labor Commissioner Steialck paid out |S0.0«« in salarlea and vageo duo some SM persons tor ^services in the making of the motion picture. "Her Market Value." Paul Powell produced the flbn at the Grand Aaber studio on his own responsibility, after the Motion Picture Director's Produc- ing Corporation refused to sponsor the pleture, which was to have been distributed by the Grand Asher coriKtratloa. The film, upon completion, was sold to the Producers' Distributing Corporation for t«3,000, but it.took about two months untlha financial settlement was made. As claims for wsges had been filed with the State Labor Department. Steiniek insisted that the prlnoipals. before meeting any other obligations, turn over to him the wage obligations. Of the total payroll about one-third was paid hy Steiniek to Agn«s Ayies, Taylor Hotanes, Bdward Barl and Anders Randolf, who played featjore roles. Powell got a very small an^ount of the sale price. It is said. The money he received Just covered his actual personal expense during the making period. $■■ ture btisfiieas aa'they are doing now •—have been doing for three year* without the picture trade papers noting anything but their advertis- ing sections. Pamous Players has been running the picture trade-papa's on a sys- teai-^tlM system of advet-tising or not advertising with the trade papers fooled aa they have been foollnv themselves and attempting to tool their readers. Throttled trade Press Had Pamous Players worried over trade papers, P. P. would have bad a paper of its own by this time or Zukor ifould have bought a trade paper. That it diA not or ho did not Is merely proof of how com- pletely successful P. P.'s plan of throttling the trade' press has been. 'The four papers mentioned are the out-and-out picture trade papers. It only serves to express Pamous Play- ers' presumed strength in itself when it "goes after" two of thma at one time. In" the pait P. P. picked Its spots and made them singly. Variety's comment Is but In the nature of a reminder of its articles through the long years to the ptc- turo trade papers, that they were Ustsninc to the advertising and that, besldee. tbey were giving away a padre of reading matter with a page of advertising -lOr .tess killing off readers through tlu^ ^ Famous Players kt'otas t:me of fared to give all of its advertising for <0 days to Variety, exclusively, holding it oat of the film trade papers. Variety was told P. P. wanted to ,"test Variety." Variety didn't want to be "tested" and refused the ex;(clustvo busl n eas on the ground Variety was not en- titled to It and couMn't solve the sudden love of Famous Players for it. Variety was not infernsed «f the object at that tfane but guessed it— that Pamous Players wanted to "discipline" the^lm trade papers; meanwhile poaslbty "whipping Va- riety into line'' at the same time Not havli^g been accustomed to much pictufe advertising. Variety didn't miss it, but it got the angle on Famous Players' scheme of "handlins" ^^* oicture trade papers. ftAliBMlE CAN DIVORCE ~ . .■ t ■ . ■ ■- ■ .,<■•' Rabborinf Nolfhkor Testiflod for Mr*: J.J. tphubori.^; - . Los Angeles, Nor. f . 3. 3. Schubert, iThe knows noth- ing about theatricals outside Of the fact that his wife, Florence Schu- bert, an artist's model, worked nt odd times in pictures, was granted a divorce from the Jatter by 8u- iierior Court Judge Thompson on the grounds of desertion. Schubert testified that on four dilterent occasiens his wife delerted her home for the studios, pictures and art. and that he has given up trying to domesticate her. Mrs. Mary Toung, landlady of the apartment where the Schuberts lived, caned for testimony, said: "1 used to look around her back door now and then. Judge, and the stuff that that woman threw into the gar- bage can was a disgrace. I never saw anything so wasteful in ai:'my. life." In granting the decree Judge Thompson said: 'Tve noticed that for many years the garbage can test has been the criterion for house- wifely efficiency. So far be it from me to upset a standard fixed by gen- erations of women." . , JACK BOYLE'S ALIMONY Must MainUin Wife Nnding L. A. Tr^flOeapito Colorado Sottio- V.;. — Loa Angeles, Nov. I. Though he t^almed that Charlotte Vi<ri«t Boyle was no longM: hia wife, due to the tact that he had obtained a Colorado divorce, and also had no income, Jack Boyle, author and scenario writer, was ordered by Judge Ouerin in the Superior Court to pay her $100 a month alimony i>ending the trial of a divorce action She has iQstt- tuted against him here. Boyle's attorney pleaded that his client had been legally aeparated, and that,subsequently he had mar- ried Helen Thomas, former Ziegfeld 'Follies" girl, who on three differ. ent occasions made an endeavor to- end her life through suicide re- cently. He pointed out to the court that at the time of the Colorado divorce a complete property settlement had been made by Boyle on Mrs. Boyle. However, Mrs. Boyle had filed svit for divorce here and had good cause to file the action, and Boyle would have to support her pending trial of the suit. 10. AOCIDEHTAILT XHUED St. John, N. B., Nov. t. Ted Norwood of Philadelphia was instantly killed In the eastern Ca- nadian woods, 40 miles from the nearest village on Oct. M. He was with a group engaged in taking pic- Writers' Civh Revue; Mae Murray Disappointed -«. » ..J[^^t"5*'**'.,^*'.I'..'u i *"'•" «' animals in the woods, the The Writers' Club conducted its, ,„tentlon being to place the film on .—1 ^v«. .t th. Pi.in«r«Ar.io ^^^ Independent market. It was Norwood's duty to act aS guard for ^ , the cameraman with a loaded rifle. tbero was a soU-out before the I while oth«fr teembera of the party doors opened Friday night and the endeavored to drive the animals att«ndaiico for the Saturday per-; within shootfaig distance of the anntial revue \t the Philharmonic Auditorium last Friday and Satur- day nights. With a 16.60 scale fonaaneo waa alao very igood The show was an unusually long one, with screen and stage stars appearing In' the various namberu and skits. Mae Murray, to have boon featured in the revue, sud- denly withdrew a day or two be- fore the first performance. Natalie Kingston waa substituted in her place. camera. In the event of some of the bull moose or bears racing at the cameraman Norjvood killed the attacking animals. Nothing' untoward happened un- til the party, after finishing most of the film, started on a canoe ex- pedition. Norwood placed his rifle in one of the canoes, and in stepping: into the frail craft, evidently caused the cun to discharKe, the bullet en- P. D. OOBP.'S HEW EZGHAHGE tho group took the body by canoe. The Producers Distributing Corp. and thence by motorboat and finally has established a new exchange In Albany, New York, to Increase its service to the exhibitors of the cen- tral part of the State. F. S. Hop- kins, who has been covering the territory as a member of the sales force, has been appointed inanager. ■.■..j,->.. ^. • f -.i^vv,. Washington, Nov. I. ' « Maxloo will nevor lift tho embargo plaood on Pathe and Vitagraph until these two companies offer the Mex- ican Oovemment something decided* ly more substantial than mere prom> isos. This was made evident in ^i statement from Senor Dr. Don Jona Benites. first secretary of the Mex-<^ loan Bmbassy here, in reply to ar question. Senor Benites. speaking. for the Mexican envoy. Seno^ Don Manuel C. Telles, added, that the embassy hero had doBOt everything within its power to bring, about the lifting of the emlwrgo, buK, that now it is out of their hand% with final decision resting with th» Foreign Office of the Mexican Gov- ernment in Mexico City. Pathe has not been able to nhow any of the releases under Its trade, name anywhere in Mexico for over a year, including. "Pathe News." For a time its Mfxico City office waa closed, bat now, according to ad^ vices reaching here, the office bas been reopened, but is traiiaactlng no business. Vitagraph has been banned for several months. It would ap- pear CO be a case of a bad break In tho latter's case, as it had dona everything to comply with the now stringent ruling in Mexico regard,:^ ing the showing of the Mexican tl^ an unfavorable light. "Why Worry" SUrted It The story has it that the state- ment made by Pathe in connection with the Harold Lloyd picture. "Why Worry," which brought fhi^ ban oi^ tho distrtbutinc compahy, was to th^ effect that Pathe a^ a distributor was behind to send otit the Llqy^ picture, as made. Au^pritativa sotnrcof have it 'that thts s<ateiUei{i has built up a wall that will be hartf to tear dowh, inaismuch as promlse'2 previously had been made to show nothing that contained material det- rimental to the Mexican people. It was this that the flr«t secretary of the embassy evidently referred to when stating something "more aubstantial than promlaes" were needed. Aa for Vitagraph, it was "Mile. Midnight" that provoked the em- Imuto there. This producing com> pany had gone so far as to secure a Mexi<iaa to head the cast, as well as having tho entire production super-. vised by a Mexican oflteiaL As near as could be learned, one adverse re- port from a Mexican consul in this country, who "caught" the picture, to the Foreign Office in Mexico City counteracted the steps taken by Vitagraph to meet the wishes of tho - government of the southsrn republlp. Mexican "Court" The remedy for such occurrences aa this apparently lies in the appoint- ment by Mexico of a final "court" to pass upon pictures prior to their showing in that country. It is un- derstood that efforts along these lines are now being pushed by American producers. The idea seem- ingly is to have some high official of the Mexican OOvemmept located here to act as the "court." in this connection the name of the Mexi- can envoy, Senor Telles, it Is under- stood, has been suggested. It is seen here wherein such an appoint- ment would be an ideal one, as Senor Telles has had a broad experience, has seen service In many countries, and his Judgment is highly respeoted not only through official Washing- ton, but the other nations of the world. Senor Benites stated to Variety's reporter that his government was more than satisfied with the man- ner in which Will H. Hays and his organisation had lived up to their agreement on pictures. It was stated thst not one infraction of good faith had- been charged against Mr. Hays—it was the others "creating a difficult situation." by motor car, a dtstance of forty miles to the nearest vtUajte, which was Caledonia. The distance waa covered in four hours. An Inquest was held immediately at Caledonia, and the Jury ,brot|ght in a verdict of accidental death. PAUL PAHZER ES007EBS Paul Panaer, picture heavy, who sustained concussion of the brain AS the i«s'Jlt >>f Olving into shallow water at a New England Ijeach on Labor Day, has rwovered and is about again. Panzer hnd Just finished a pic- ture, aaul was vacationing with his wife !»ra children when thfr ac-'!*nit oCcurrodl