Wid's Filmdom (1920)

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Sunday, January 25, 1920 In the past it has been recommended that whenever advertising appeared in a film that it should be cut out of the production. I want to go beyond that and say that whenever an exhibitor discovers what he considers to be an advertisement in a film that he should write to this office and call to our attention the presence of this advertising in case we may have possibly overlooked it, although we are checking carefully for such action and then a campaign should be directed against the offending producer, not only for the pur poses ef eliminating the particular advertisement Cards on URELY the time has come in this wonderful busi ness for every man who expects to get anywhere to put his cards on the table and keep them there from now on. One of the chief causes of trouble in the past has been the sharp dealing practices of men who were manipulating the various elements of this industry, the manipulations of these leading executives being almost like that of the professional gambler who knows how to stack the cards and then read them afterwards to the disadvantage of the other players who are endeavoring to succeed on the level. Much mystery has been the vogue whenever either exhibitors or producers attempted to get at the basic reasons for certain wrongful practices and it has taken some time for the real factors in this business to get down to bed-rock and find out just exactly how the machinery works. Fortunately the smoke cloud camouflage screen has been removed and today we stand in a new era with readjustments in process which will certainly bring this industry into-years of prosperity such as were never even dreamed of. It is really a warning which I want to give at this time. The man who refuses to play with his cards on which appears in any certain production but to notify the producer that if such action continues, his productions will not be regarded as entertainment to be booked with real money paid for their showing by the exhibitors of this country. What do you say, boys? Am I right? lod Gat the Table the table will be eliminated from the game sooner or later, that’s certain, but what I want to do is to avoid wherever possible, clogging up the process of this industry by having these professional manipulators befogging the issues and blocking the really sincere, progressive factors by actions which are not right. I have said a good many times in the past, and I am glad to know that a good many people today are saying the same thing, which is that this business will soon belong to the man who has demonstrated two things—honesty and ability. And one of the peculiar things is that most film men are beginning to admit that honesty is certainly as essential as ability and in some positions in this business, even more essential. We have had many able men who have refused to be honest and the result is that they are being eliminated. There is a new deal under way in the motion picture industry and if you expect to stay in the game just make up your mind now that you must keep your cards Lad Gant on the table.