The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-10-23
R0THAPFH TALKS
TO Picture men
Master Exhibitor Says Cap
ital Is Ideal Movie
| City.
c. 7. BRANARD SPEAKS
Editor Says People Go to Film Shows
EEf at Night Instead of Reading
/ ] Papers.
c. T. BRAINARD SPEAKS

There is IL city in America better
adapted to a moving-picture theater like
the Strand IN New York than Is Wash
ington," said s. L. Rothapfel, vice presi.
dent and director of the Rialto Theater
Company, OF New York City, In an ad.
dress to about fifty OF the leading NOV.
ing-picture men OF Washington and vicin.
ity at the Raleigh Hotel last night.
THE man who sees the opportunity and
grasps it," he continued, will not only
reap a harvest financially. but will build
a monument for himself"
Was Copy Boy.
Mr.. Rothapfel is on a tour of the prin-
cipal cities between New York and San
Francisco, under the direction of the
Mutual Film Company. He is delivering
addresses to the moving picture exhib-
itors in each city. pointing out how they
may improve their business by up-to-date
methods.
When the moving picture craze was in
its infancy, Mr.. Rothapfel was a COPY
boy for a Brooklyn newspaper He start
ed out in a small way with less than a
hundred dollars. and in spite of many
obstacles, by careful and intelligent man
agement, he rose to be the most widely
known. because the most successful,
moving-picture exhibitor in the United
States. The Rialto Theater Company has
insured his life for s25O,OO0
In his address last night Mr.. Rothapfel
predicted that there will be a war be-
tween the producers in the days to come.
and that the moving picture business il
at present In a chaotic stage.
You've got to hold tight" he said,
''if you want to stick and make good, for
the day Is coming when IL will be the
survival OF the fittest. The exhibitors are
be haa nf hA ind ~ -.
be their aim to produce only the best Of
films and to avoid sensationalism.
Il cannot impress upon you too much
the Importance Of attention to every little
detail of your business. You should create
a feeling Of cooperation among the en-
ployes OF your theater and no matter
how small their position impress upon
them that they are a part of the or
ganization.''
Individuality Means Success.
Mr.. Rothapfel said that the fitting Of
music to pictures is q thing of the past
and that the music for the up-to-dats
movie house must be interpretative. He
said that experience had proved the
value OF perfume in displaying certain
pictures, mentioning QUO Vadis," when
incense was used and the Last Days of
Pompeii." when sulphur was used.
Individuality means success in the
moving picture game said Mr.. Roth
APPEL. for the movies will not stay Ions
in their present state. The Barnum
theory has been exploded and the peo-
pie are not so easily fooled as they used
to be. They know good pictures when
they see them. You cannot kill an art
and the spoken drama is an art, but the
advent OF the movie has forced the pro-
ducers Of the spoken drama to give the
public better entertainment in order TO
hold its own with the popular moving
picture"
The speaker said that the movies are
the greatest power for good or evil in
the United States. the press excepted.
and that 100000 people attend the
movies every day. He said that cooper
alton between the moving picture men
and the newspapers was essential to a
successful and growing business and
that advertising brought big returns on
the investment.
Tom Moore, proprietor of the Garden,
Strand. and Plaza theaters. was asked
to address the meeting and expressed
his appreciation of Mr.. RothapfeTs ad-
dress. He said that he owed his success
in life to the moving picture. which had
made him a well-to-do man and had en-
abled him to support four families in
circumstances.
when l started out in 1905" said
Mr.. Moore, Il was a singer in a NOV
ing picture house while my wife played
the piano. Between shows / would go
and coax the audience in. By
a happy chance l bought a film called
The Great Train Robbery from a To-
cal man. paying S21 for II.
Owns Three Theaters.
II traded the I'm OF to a man named
fnr hn-
buggy. / sold the COW for $25 and the
rest of the outfit for sS5. and with the
sos l made my start. In six months
/ had cleaned up 5000 on the moving
picture game and have since made
100000 out of it
while l only own three theaters at
present. at one time l owned eleven,
and the Garden is the seventeenth
theater to be purchased by me- 1 was
the first exchange man in Washington,
buying the films and renting them out
to the exhibitors.
"On March Is. of next year, work
will be started on my new theater in
Ninth street. between d and z streets
which will be completed by
November l. 1916. at a cost of $780, coo.
1t will be a moving picture house ex-
Clinton T. Brainard, president and
editor of The Washington Herald Com
pany, spoke on the rapid growth of the
moving picture as form of amusement.
The growth has been SO rapid" said
Mr.. Brainard, that one can hardly
grasp it At the annual banquet last We'd
nesday in New York Of the Retail Book
Sellers Association the fact was deyeloped
that despite the war in Europe the sale
Of standard books such as the works of
Dickens, and Shakespeare,