Wid's year book (1921)

Sees Better Times Ahead While the motion picture industry, in common with practically all other industries, is experiencing a period of depression, I am confident that the Fall will see an increase in the attendance and I am confident that in the next Spring there will be a most marked revival in business. All signs point that way. JULES E. MASTBAUM, President, Stanley Company of America. A Real Optimist What I think of the coming year may best be expressed, at least as far as we are concerned, in the slogan which I left with all of my emnloyes when I saiiled for Europe in June — "Marking Time? Hell, No! We're Going Ahead!" Depression, whether financial or otherwise, is merely a state of mind. It is nothing you can feel, see, or touch because it is nothing but a state of mind. A quick and sure cure for it is a better state of mind, which can be summed up in one word — "courage." ' I feel so keenly the necessity for courage and the absolute cure for depression which courage and confidence constitute, and I feel so confident also of the buoyancy and good sense of this industry that I predict the season starting in August will usher in one of the greatest, if not the greatest, years we have ever seen. CARL LAEMMLE, Universal. Depends on Productions I believe the coming year will be as good for the picture industry as any we have ever had. Good productions will always secure large revenue. Exhibitors can always satisfy their patrons with good entertainment, and it simply is a question in my mind of producing an article that will bring the revenue at the box office. At present we are hearing complaints regarding bu siness conditions, but it is a complaint we hear every summer, therefore, I cannot see any reason for anyone in the industry to worry over business conditions. JIMMY GRAINGER. Showmanship the Test The true test of showmanship and ability as business men in 1922 will bring reasonable success to that class in this period of reconstruction. E. V. RICHARDS. Saenger Amusement Co. Confident Realart is facing the coming year with every expectation of a high measure of success and prosperity. Throughout our organization optimism is the keynote. Certainly the producer and exhibitor of high quality productions have nothing to fear during the coming year or the years which will succeed it. JOHN S. WOODY, Realart. New Production Ideas Coming The coming year will bring improvement in every angle of the industry. The adjustment that is now taking place will gradually remove the superfluous and allow the fittest to survive. The cut and dried type of production, with their transparent themes will be discarded and a new* standard of original and varied stories with individual backgrounds substituted. The foreign pictures that have swept this country have demonstrated that a change in subject and environment is the cry of the times. In order to keep in the running American producers will have to seek new, unbroken ground for their screen material. I venture the prediction that the approaching year will see the greatest array of versatile product ever offered on the screen — both in long and short subjects. Tn this movement for different and novel product, the independent will play a leading part. J. J. SCHNITZER. Equity. Reconstruction I think the coming year the most important in picture history. It will be the reconstruction year — the elimination of the unfit, and the survival of the fittest — re-adjustment of salaries, film rentals, and theatre admissions — also cheaper productions and of higher quality. ALLEN HOLUBAR. Too Many "Movies" Too Few Pictures In the coming season, the motion picture industry will very likely plough its field less extensively and more intensively than in former years. Too many "movies" have been made and too few motion pictures. The mushroom growth of the industry has developed the quantity idea of production; but in the new year, a higher general average of artistic excellence will be found in American-made photoplays. One of several stimuli that our own productions have received is the re-birth of artistic competition with foreign films. Through such pictures as "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" which disclosed an entirely new phase of the cinematographic art, we have been led to examine our native product with a genuinely critical eye. Though we may not follow the radical trail blared by foreign film producers, we cannot fail to be influenced by it. The tonic effect of the introduction of foreign films is not to be measured at this time, when American production has been somewhat curtailed. The few very good films that have been imported will have practically no effect on the American market or on the players who believe they are being discriminated against. The fact is that the majority of foreign films cannot be given away in America, they are so far below the general average of our photoplays. There is another influence that may be felt in the motion pictures to be produced during the coming year. That is the application of censorship laws in existence in some states. Censorship is not likely to become a national institution; its attendant evils are too manifest and involve the principles of freedom of speech and of the press to such an extent that any move for suppression is likely to be defeated. Producers, however, will adjust themselves to the limitations imposed by state laws, but not without some friction, due to the differences in the various statutes. GABRIEL L. HESS, Goldwyn. Author Should Benefit The coming year should prove most profitable for the independent whether he be an exhibitor, a producer, a distributor or a laboratory man. The gathering storm for the trust has broken at last. In its wake should follow greater opportunities foT the persons in this business who have stood for independence and have sacrificed much in order to keep their independence. The next 12 months should bring the author into his own. The day of paying fabulous prices for books and plays is over. The day of the advent of the established author as a direct contributor to the screen is here. Hollywood houses many famous writers to-day who are devoting their time to the creation of motion picture plots. This plan will be the popular method of securing screen material during the coming year. The trend of the past year for fewer and better pictures will become more evident during th next year. It is a sign that points to greater advancement in the motion picture as an art — a profitable art. MARSHAL NEILAN. "Ups" and "Downs" The coming year will be one of ups and downs — "ups" for the far-sighted producer who selects the right stories, thi right casts and the right producing units — -"downs" for those who neglect to start with sure foundations. It will be a year of sifting, of weighing in the balance — and of the survival of the fit. EVE UNSELL. 199