Evening star., 1919-04-06

HE time was when those in
terested in the theater Sc
riously questioned If there
were room in Washington
for more than two leSitl-
mate houses for the presentation OF
the better things of the drama Then
came p B. Cha4e with the vaudeville
house which bore his name and winch
lifted varieties" as vaudeville was
then known into the realm of chas-
tened entertainment. 'fit even for the
gods" With the transfer of "Chase's
to "B. f Keith's" came PolIs. ana
last of all, the Shubert-Garrick. Here
then are four houses devoted to the
legitimate" with Keith's vaudeville
palace. which at every performance
is filed well nigh to overfiowing. Five
big places of entertainment. Dig
advance over the days of old. DO nov
include the three burlesQue houses
in operation. nor the Cosmos, which
offers mixed vaudeville and photoplay
productions and has long been a
popular place of entertainments
* s IS
Then came the moving picture
houses. with Crandall's. the Garden.
the Strand and the Columbia as the
pioneers among the more pretentlous.
and these have been augmented bE
the beautiful Palace and the knicker-
booker. the imposing R1alto ana the
Metropolitan. making eight big the
aters devoted exclusively to the pho-
toplay.. But even here the advance
has not stopped. for today in WASH
ington there are at least thirty-one
houses dedicated to the picture drama.
Washington. therefore. has forty
places of theatrical entertainmen';
and from them all comes the cheerfui
note of successful operation. Truly
Washin gton has grown and the fact
that it can furnish paying patronage
for forty playhouses, legitimate and
picture. would seem to be the surest
evidence that the National Capital at
least is enjoying the fruits of pros
perity. however dark the world may
seem to others outside.
i s. So
To provide interesting entertain
nrent for thirty-one motion picture
houses in Washington is SomeWha t
of a tax upon their managers. But it
Also gives some idea of the tax upon
the motion picture industry in pro-
viding new pictures. at least weekly.
to meet the enormous demand that
must exist throughout the country.
This serves also iii a measure to in
dicate why the producing eSta blISh-
ments are constantly threatened with
rial and it should stimulate ambitious
playwrightS and authors to additional
diligence. if that term may properly
be applied to literary effort. in en-
deavoring to meet the demand.
Within the producing industry
revolutionary change is said to be
working to add to the troubles of the
purveyors of the motion picture play.
From the inception of the industry
in this country until few months
YG C.l- al 1a dasa''
was deemed the only feasible one for
the development of form of enter
, tainmen the growth of which has
had no parallel in the annals of the
theater. 1t has been the custom of
the big producers of photoplayS to
place under contract as many stars
as they were able to keep busy. This.
1T is claimed. has forced the produc-
tion of specific number of features
annually upon each star and, in con-
sequence, the exhibitor has been COM
PEELED to agree to purchase the en-
tire outfit, or none at all.
= =
In Washington Tom Moore COM
planned of this arrangement and ad-
hered. it is said. to what is known as
the policy of open booking" Find
ing a sufficient number of other eX-
hibitors throughout the country who
were of the same belief. what is
known as the First National Exhib-
itofs' Circuit, a cooperative organi-
zation committed to the open book
ing policy, was formed. This revolt.
it is claimed. has resulted in a grad
ual detection from The program
idea" with the result, it is forecast
ed. of ushering in an era of special
productions" made in fewer numbers
but of better quality. the effect of
which will enable the exhibitor to
furnish his patrons with high-grade
pictures at every performance, rather
than two or three during the week.
with pictures of poorer quality: which
he has heretofore been compelled to
purchase in ordeestes set ANY a. all.