The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1914-08-06
Five Hundred Millions Invested
in Picture Houses in
America
DAILY PATRONS MORE
THAN FIVE MILLIONS
Story of Films no Less Roman
tic Than Steel and
Copper

4
the box-office window Of your favorite
movie theater IL joins a current OF
coin that registers total daily admis-
sion fee-in the United States alone
of 81, OOO, 900. The theater you enter ID
q link In chain or picture houses
that, placed side by side. would
stretch from New York TO Hartford.
The film that flashes its thrill and ro-
nance on the screen before you Is
part of a far-fung belt OF animated Gel
luloid that In the course OF q year
would girdle the globe nearly three
times over.
More than five millions OF people.
more than all the residents OF Paris
and Chicago combined. see the movies
every day In the week; over $5OO,OOo,-
900, or well-nigh twice the amount OF
l"greenbacks" in circulation, are IN
vested In the business; force OF men
and women equal to the population OF
Kansas City rs engaged In creating
and exploiting 1t. Such Is the extent
and scope OF the motion picture which
In decade has risen from toy 10
amusement necessity.
So quickly and naturally has the
photoplay entered into the pursuit or
diversion that we have scarcely paus-
ed to measure It's amazing financial
side. We have been told good deal
about the picturesqueness OF its pro-
duction; how IL has become the eco
nomic life saver OF the legitimate act
or; the vivid historian OF progress;
the first aid to education; how time,
literature, and history from the Cruel
Iixion down through Lies Miserables"
to the fall OF Torreon have been ran
sacked to feed the mighty reel OF IT,
600 miles Of Aim that comprises our
annual output.
But these are the obvious and ex-
Iternal features. Behind all the
ltumult and clash OF this sensational
advance. which vies with the growth
of the automobile in swiftness Of evo-
luton, and where the historian of mo-
tion-picture progress seldom delves. Is
the real bulwark of its now recognized
stability-the domain OF it's dollars.
| Probe its many millioned depths and
you get a narrative OF men and money
no less romantic OF stirring In some
OF its details than the story Of steel
and copper. II Is the record OF the OBJ
scure and even the lowly, recruited
from shop and store, and projected
into wealth and power ON the high tide
OF an amazing expansion. What, then,
IL the finance of the film? What Is
the real commercial status Of the ac-
tivity that Is emerging from the GID
ed disorder such as attends huge
mining strike" into the legitimate
proportions OF standardized indus
TRY?
SO epochal are the changes that
have crowded thick and fast upon this
business that practically It's whole
map has been transformed In 30 brief
q period as the last fve or six years.
In 1908. for example, the Motion Pic
ture Patents company 1.-THE so-cafled
trust built around the original Edison
camera patents and on whose stand.
and fioated such pioneer brands as
Lubin, Vitagraph. Biograph. Edison,
Selig, Kalem. and Essanay) ruled the
reel world. With the General Film
company II created the original
monopoly Of exchanges, thus control
ing for the moment both the output
and the distribution
This led TO the revolt which gave
the whole industry new alignment.
Men such as II. e. Aitkin, Carl
Il
lPowers--frture lords OF the film do
Misunderstanding under the restraint Of
monopoly, began to build up an indie
the flag Of the Mutual Film COM
Organization of the nine producing
Laemmle ard Baumann struck out
With the Universal with kindred
force.
Here were three great competing
Illuminating organizations. each equip
ped with complete machinery to make
and distribute the photoplays that had
NOV gripped the imagination and fast
ened on the purse Of large part of
the American people. As the business
grew these people became more fastid-
ious The original 1,000-foot reel was
inadequate for story. They wanted
a more sustained thrill--a longer tug
at the heartstrings. Hence came the
fourth big producing agency dedicated
to the so-called feature" with its
three to five-reel narrative based on
famous play, filmixed novel or memoir.
able event This feature movement
not only widened the field OF the in
dustry, providing whole evenings
entertainment with single screen
picture. but gave to the whole enter
prise its first artistic and dramatic
distinction because II lured to the
ranks OF producing directors such men
as Daniel Frohman and Augustus
Thomas.
with IL, too, came the first era OF
sky prices for material and service.
You find Sarah Bernhard getting $780,
900 to appear In Queen Elizabeth"
Rex Beach selling the film right for
The Spoilers" for 10000; John Bunny
being graduated from $50 a week CHS
first wage as movie (actorl TO salary
OF $4,000 a year. Mary Pickford TAX
Ing flying squirt on the way to her
yearly compensation OF $4,000. Pro
lducing developed into fine art, and
men like David w. Griffith and Edwin
&, Porter-the Belascos OF the camera
--leaped to annual incomes that, with
royalties and interest, are today near
the six-fgure mark. In a word, movie
money--other than production and ex.
change prohts-leaped to the realm
of big figures and IL has remained
there ever since.
Equally significant as showing the
Expansion of the business was the fact
that photoplay could be booked for
big" time. that Is for week or more
at regular theater and on a percent
age basis. Thus the motion picture
came into direct competition with the