Show Movie Business Faces Crisis Big Concerns Likely j to Fail Drastic Reforms Imperative to Save the Art a. a aid acid d Industry Extortionate Salaries to Stars Who Do Not Draw Wasteful Methods and Lack of Ideas in Scenarios the Chief Evils Big Companies on Brink of Ruin NEW YORK Aug 19 Producers Producers of photo plays at la last t are I I beginning to face the fact that a reorganization of motion picture business methods is imperative if the industry is to be conducted on a profitable basis Competition is now so keen and the of the studios I averages so poor that the days of ot big profit save in exceptional instances is over and many manufacturers actually actual actual- ly are facing ruin There is a general demand for better better better bet bet- ter pictures and very few concerns are turning out films that meet that demand This in face of the fact that famous actors and actresses drawing fabulous salaries are being presented regularly week after week Paying well known stars enormous sums Isone is isone one ont of the chief causes of the present situation The fact is that very few of them are worth the amounts they receive but still they are able to command command com corn mand the excessive figures because of the mad scramble of producers to corral corral cor cor- ral and present celebrated names Once a a. producer establishes a standard standard standard stan dard with a celebrity for a n. star he heIs heIs heis Is at the latter's mercy because he I feels that he lIe must keep up that fic fictitious fictitious fic- fic I standard even though he might find a much lower salaried actor who would be of just as much artistic value Salaries Up Receipts Up-Receipts Receipts Down Thus the salar salary lists in most of the big movie concerns are kept at top topnotch topnotch topnotch notch while the receipts are arp going down Because of overproduction the ex exhibitors tx ox- have an abnormally large field to choose from and even famous stars' stars names except in a few tew Instances do donot donot not hot sell pictures today in any degree commensurate with salaries and percentages percentages percentages per per- which they receive What a windfall the movies have I been to dozens of stars more or less capable and popular Take the case of Frank Daniels He was no longer in demand on the regular stage and had retired Yet he lle stepped Into the tile pictures and has a yearly contract at 1000 a week Douglas Fairbanks who never got over per week in the theatre is pulling down a cool a a. year in inthe inthe inthe the pictures Frank Keenan master actor though he is Is never received over a week In the legitimate yet about a year Jear is his bit for acting In Tri Triangle pictures W. W S. S Hart the premiere Ince star is making over a year and a week about let Ift him out when struggling struggling struggling gling along In ordinary productions Three actresses are getting 2000 a week or over a year In pictures pic plc- tures- tures Pauline tures-Pauline Pauline Pauline Frederick Mar Marguerite c Clark and Olga Petrova yet Petrova-yet yet their highest salaries on the stage were and per week respectively Lenore Ulrichs Ulrich's salary of per week on the stage leaped to 1000 In InI Inthe I I the pictures Robert Warwick's from fromI to 1000 and Holbrook Blinn's DUnns from to 1250 I Mary Pickford Cited Mary Pickford whose stage experience experience I ence was almost nothing as compared With those mentioned above and whose salary on Broadway hardly reached three fl figures ures gets 50 per cent of the profits of ea t one of her pictures pictures pic pie tures and a guaranty that her share will not be less than a week week week-a a amere mere matter of a year These are but a few instances There are are- others equally noted The point now being faced by producers of pictures pictures pic plc- tures is that many stars do not draw enough to be worth the money paid them Another plan has got to be found Good acting must be made to take tale the place of famous names More l money must be put into scenarios and less Into celebrated names of questionable questionable question question- able value So extensive has been picture production production production pro pro- that original ideas now are as scarce as water in a desert Nine Nine- tenths of or the stories produced are mere variations of ideas ideal which have been used time and again In fact there Is nothing new in the movies Novelty Is Impossible In the future there must be fewer pictures if the they are to be better and more profitable On the tile legitimate stage not more than titan fifty new plays are produced in any anyone one season In Inthe Inthe the pictures there are at least 1000 five flye turned out and ten times that man many v shorter films The impossibility of ot keeping up novelty novelty nov nov- elty cIty under such conditions is obvious Famous names are expected to hide lack of originality but they dont don't do It On the tile contrary they reveal such lack all aU the more clearly because of the Incongruity of presenting players of reputation in irritating trash Almost every day ay there are arc rumors that some ome one or another of the big picture concerns Is In financial difficulties difficulties ties and is about to go to the wall Some of them will do this tills very thing if there is not a general reorganization tion of methods No one need be surprised if there are a few big crashes and then a general general general gen gen- eral upheaval In the picture game within the next few months |