Moving Picture World (Dec 1917) - Learn About Movie Posters

December 22, 1917 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 1783
Rothapfel Talks of Western Tour
Rialto-Rivoli Chief Finds Manufacturers Marking
Time—Rialto's November War Tax
Approximately $10,000
THREE
weeks to a day was the time S. L. Rothapfel
devoted to a vacation. For that is what the western
trip of the Rialto manager really was. He says that
it was taken more for purposes of a rest than for any
other reason. Mr. Rothapfel returned to the Rialto on
Thanksgiving Day, refreshed for a stiff winter's work holding
down his "regular" job at the Rialto and to take up
his new big one in conjunction with it—the operation of
the Rivoli, at Forty-ninth street and Broadway, which it
is expected will be ready to receive the public some time
during the holidays.
The director makes
no attempt to concea-1
his enthusiasm over
the things he will be
able to accomplish in
the way of entertainment
in his n e w
temple.
Air. Rothapfel made
two stops in his trip
—Los Angeles and
San Francisco. To be
sure, on his way home
he laid over at the
Grand Canyon,
admitted it was
and
more
than worth while; that
what his eyes had beheld
there
h i m up.
had filled
In L o s
Angeles Mr. Rothapfel
visited the studios
and visited old friends,
and he sized up conditions.
He .had a
c , D iL , . long and quiet talk
£>. L. Rothapfel. w ; th Charles Chaplin,
just about fininshing his new studio, which the manager
said would be something fine. There was a dinner with
"Dug" Fairbanks. There was a moment's hallo and shakehands
with "Mary," discovered in the balcony of the
Orpheum Theater, looking at a picture. Also the manager
met many of the prominent stars.
•In San Francisco, as was told in the Moving Picture
World last week, Mr. Rothapfel was given a dinner at the
Press Club on November 21, the hosts being Turner &
Dahnken officials. The exhibitor was full of enthusiasm
in his recollection of this function. "It was remarkable
in its spontaneity in the way my fellow exhibitors rose to
me," he said. "They perked right up. Eugene Roth added
five men to his house's orchestra as one outcome of the
talk I made. I saw wonderful results of my trip of two
years ago—in San Francisco, in the California Theater,
and in Los Angeles, where two big theaters are building.
"I noted one condition about which I warned exhibitors
two years ago—they have not made the theaters the institution.
They depend entirely too much upon the star and
the picture. They have not done the big thing to do
Make the theater come first of all. Success will come on
general averages rather than in depending on any one or
two units.
"I did notice a great improvement in music among the
theaters I visited, although I felt the organ was very much
overdone. This latter condition may be attributed to the
high price of musicians' salaries, but I would suggest as a
remedy the employment of one or two musicians, the
injection of a bit of the human element to take away the
mechanical impression.
"It seemed to me I found a number of imitators in lighting,
but only physically. Somehow they didn't seem to
know just what they were doing, but there was an honest
effort to try. Those who heard me this time will have a
better idea the' next time.
"On the physical side, many of the houses I saw are
beautiful. I noted among managers a sort of fear of
charging higher prices. I don't know why this feeling prevails,
why there should be this hesitancy, unless it be due
to the fact that their theaters are not institutions; that
they lack the stability to meet a crisis like that precipitated
by the war tax.
"I found the manufacturers in Los Angeles not doing
much. Practically all of them arc marking time; no one
doing anything very big. Everybody is working close to
the line, with ears to the ground. Do you know I think
there is going to be a decided change among the manufacturers?
We are coming to the time when the story
really is to be the thing; when we are going to make pictures
not so much for the star, but the story is to count.
"I think the day of the belief of the producer that the
audience is not as intelligent as is the man who makes the
picture is past. The sooner the producer realizes this the
better for the industry. The time has come— is here
when situation and subtlety are greater assets than are
the obvious, the materialistic and the spectacular. I don't
think it is necessary to go to the expense of building tremendous
sets, to employ great mobs, but it is necessary
to make pictures human; it is necessary to put into them
heart throbs, above all, until such time as the conflict
with the Central Powers is over; it is necessary to keep
the corners of the lips turned up, to get away fr >m the
tragic, to try to make things bright, to make the sun shine
as much as is possible. And it should be easy for producers
in California to do that last thing.
"Did I bring away any impressions of theaters? Yes,
a lot! I visited in San Francisco and Oakland, for instance,
the T. & D. houses among others. The Imperial impressed
me as one of the most interesting theaters on the coast
and one of the best managed. Another house with
extremly good atmosphere was Midgely's American in
Oakland. The music, while perhaps a bit too long, developed
more psychology, brought out more enthusiasm than I noted
on any audience on the coast. As it appeals to me the
picture should always dominate, the music supplement."
Just as the World man arose to take his departure from
Mr. Rothapfel's snug Rialto sanctum, the walls covered
with photographic souvenirs of many epicurean and
oratorical battles, the phone interrupted before good-bye
was said. The caller was a representative of the advertising
department of one of New York's dailies. The conversation
brought out the remark by Mr. Rothapfel that
the management of the Rialto and the Rivoli would
annually expend in local newspaper advertising a quarter
of a million dollars. That means approximately $5,000 a
week.
In the course of the talk over the wire, which the manager
agreed might be printed, Mr. Rothapfel explained to
the man at the other end why Rialto rates had been
increased, so that now the prices of admission are 20. 30
and 60 cents instead of the former 15, 25 and 50. The
manager said that his records showed net receipts remained
just about the same figure they were an appreciable period
ago, and said that the increased cost of running a theater
now had, with the war admission tax, eaten up the extra
price charged, and therefore justified the added sum.
"I want to ask you a question which you don't have to
answer if you think it too personal," said the World man
as the telephone conversation ceased. "You are contributing
for the Rialto a pretty big sum to Uncle Sam for the
month of November, are you not?"
"I rather think so," was the unhesitating response.
"Approximately ten thousand dollars. Sounds big. doesn't
it? Well, last "week, with Bill Hart, we took in $21,000. We
hit the same figure the week before with Fairbanks. The
average has not gone below $16,000 in many weeks. It jusl
goes to show what can be done with management and
efficiency."
The manager drew from his files his daily reports, which
made clear in detail how these remarkable figures were
totaled, with their big Saturdays and Sundays and the
Thanksgiving, the latter, if the World man recalls, in the
neighborhood of four thousand dollars.
A NEW ARRIVAL IN FILMDOM.
Director Lynn Reynolds, of the Triangle Culver City studios,
is celebrating the arrival of a baby son at his home
in Hollywood. Reynolds now sports a wide, "pleased with
himself" smile, and says the boy is "one wonderful chap,"