The Washington times., 1914-05-30
THE BEST
Photopldy Department in
WASHINGTON
eek of Film Stars
IN Rep ertoire
Summer Park
Suggestion

, sre's an idea for the photoplay
ARK manager!
Some time ago we took occasion
o make a few remarks in this COL
mr relative to the ventilation OF
nc photoplay theaters during the
hummer time, and dwelt at consid-
Ers ole length on the Importance Of
his to the welfare of the exhibitors
business. What we did not state at
hat time was that there is one sort
bf theater that is absolutely well
re7tilated. that is usually comfort
able, so far as temperature is con-
te ned, and is highly desirable from
every point Of view on a hot evening
land that is the open-air establish
ment. The man or woman who bu-lds
his theater in the open air has a
tremendous opportunity-but takes
nUch longer chance Of realizing on 1t
khAn the proprietor OF the housed
ILL., show. The uncertainties OF the
weather and the shortness of the
Be son are his greatest handlcaps.
And these two cause the existence OF
third-the expense OF getting film
har is worth while.
The proprietor Of the summer
he * has great difficulty in getting
I'm grams Tor his establishm ent for
Xtf reason that he is open but 81
ps t of the year, and there are us-
Xus ly establishments near his place
X1h at can contract ror film the year
rUlnd. The exchange would naIu-
rs ny rather give an annual contract
III an one that runs a few months.
A ID would rather serve a steady GUS
n2Tl, NT1l
In a while. II is, therefore. very
d hcult for an exhibitor to get out
n good summer park program OF
Ifrst run films. Most OF them are
IfDrced TO run feature matter, and
IN uch of the feature stuff is old If
ii IS good, or rather poor If II IS new.
II other words the park people usu-
ally are compelled to take leit overs
O. pay an enormous price for big
features-a price far beyond the
money produced by their business.
a suggestion has been made that
seems TO be particularly applicable
to summer parks that will eliminate
some of the difficulties under which
these people labor 1t is nothing
more than the showing Of film IA
INorites in repertoire. The moving
picture actor or. actress. as We have
taken occasion to say several times,
Gays. Much more Of a drawing card
than the play. People will like to
See their favorItes IN all sorts Of
parts. What is to hinder a park
proprietor from securing a series OF
six or seven films showing a great ia
vorite like King Baggott or Mary Pick
ford or Alice Joyce or Flo La Ba-
die2 These need not be brand new
films They can be films that We're
made q year ago or three years ago.
The producing companies still have
the negatives of all the films they
have made, and would make new
| prints from these negatives IL the
demand is large enough.
II would seem that there would
ne a demand for a show like this.
> he film star is not like the stage
t-ar. Many of them have appeared
4 as many as 100 parts, and there
ere few OF them that haven't been
FIown In from 800 to 800 different
Ulsys. While the suggestion is to
show only one reel each night in this
"e-ies and let the series run a week,
It'll different play each night. IL
ould be perfectly feasible II show
our reels a night. each a different
lay, with the film star of the week.
Thus, there could be a Eerrigan
eek, a Costello week, a Bunny
week. an Alice Joyce Week. In fact.