Perth Amboy evening news., 1924-12-22
HASKINY
LETTER
THE GROWTH OF THE MOVIES
By Frederic j. Haskin

million dollars and accommodating
ave thousand people, This Is the
romance Of the motion picture In
d.iNtry In America and the span of
time from the peep show to the pal
ace of today Is little more than two
decades.
OF the millions who every day pa
ltronize thousands of moving picture
theatres, few stop to consider the
magnitude that the industry has
jachieyed. the insistent demands that
| II subserves and the progress OF the
only art-the art of the screen-that
comes the nearest to being universal.
TwentY-fiye years ago the motion
picture was not an industry. 1t was
merely an experimental, fly-by-night
affair. 1t had no invested capital
and no public obligations. T day 1t
ranks eighth In the structure of
Amsrican industry with q capital In
vestment of some 81 500,000,000 de-
iroted to the manufacture of enter
tainment for the great democracy.
The foremost producers of motion
pictures in the United States readily
concede the fact that the gigantic
growth of the industry was not due
to special ability or genius on the
part Of pioaeers, but rather to the
fact that 1t filled a fundamental hu-
man need and filed 1t at q price
within the reach of all. -
Figures recently compiled by Mo-
ton Picture Producers and Distribu-
tors of America Inc, reveal the ex-
pansion of the industry and the i'm
plications involved in the saying that
this Is a nation Of movie fans.
The average weekly attendance in
film houses In the United States Is
now around 50,0O0,000. The needs
of this mammoth army of entertain
ment seekers are met by $1,000 thea
ters with eight million seats. The
vast majority of motion picture thea
ters charge less than fifty cents for
the best seats and the average
charge IS much nearer twenty-five
cents. To get a glimpse OF the profit
in the business for those who have
made a success Of It and established
q reputation as caterers of entertain
ment and education 1t need only be
pointed out that one leading corpor-
alton has at the present an income
of q million dollars a week.
The production OF pictures gives
employment to a permanent roll of
some 100000 people. The average
number of feature pictures yearly
produced in the United States Is now
around 700. In the aggregate the
salaries paid amount to S75.000.000
a year. In the course of a twelve
month the producers of pictures pay
out some $5.000.000 to the news
papers and magazines for advertising
and $1,000, 900 more for photos and
cuts.
High Cost of Feature Films
The cost of the 700 feature films
produced in 1923 ran from $4,000
to over $1,000,O00, while the aver
age cost was around $175,0O0. In
admissions to the movies the Ameri-
can people annually pay $5O0,0O0,-
900. The largest entertainment PAL
ace In the world is the Capitol Thea
tire In New York which accommo-
dates $500 people, while there is
now under construction. In Milwau-
kee a house that will cost not less
than $2.00O,000. -. .-4
These figures give some idea of
the present status of this twenty
year-old industry. But they only tell
part of the story. At the same time
that American producers and distri-
butors were building up this fabric
at home they branched out Into the
foreign field and simply by means of
better pictures and greater initiative
In the art of the screen have sue
ceeded in establishing the American
product in every country in the
world.
OF all the films shown in Great
Britain eighty per cent are American
and the principal American distri-
butors have branches in all the
cities of the Continent. The Covered
Wagon" had a six months run in
London, a three months run in
Paris and similar periods in other
European capitals.
Where trade and speech and even
conquest and diplomacy do not go
the motion picture has gone. 1t has
become a great instrumentality for
selling America to the world. From
a business standpoint the film Is
reflector of Industrial conditions, the
use of machinery. the ways of COM
merce and trade and everything that
| is typically American. It has become
a great asset of American salesman
ship abroad.
The growth of TINS foreign busi-
ness. is shown by government hgures'
In 1913, 32,000.000 feet OF Aims were
exported. In 1923. the last year for
| which complete data Is available
zoo, 600, 900 feet of film went into the
foreign trade. The percentage or
American films used abroad is be-
tween eighty and ninety per cent.
| On the other hand, only 425 foreign
pictures were sent here for sale In
l1923 and of these only six were ac-
ltually sold and exhibited. Twenty
/ five per cent of the American mo-
ton picture industry is now done
abroad. s-- '----r-srss t-~s- ~-~r
Because the movie is the democ-
racy of entertainment some of the
things that are now being done are
matters of common concern. VIII
H. Hays, president of Motion Picture
Producers and Distributors, has
from the beginning OF his connection
with the industry proceeded on two
major axionns, first. to put the INDUS
TRY on q business basis. and, second,
to make 1t subserve more and more
the public interest and the public
service. s.t..tt 49, -
What The Gar Sees
The czar of the screen business
sees tremendous progress along
many lines. These tnclude peItet
and better pictures. He estimates
THAT out of every six hundred and
Isixty-six pictures produced In one
wear there were only sixty that de-
served criticism and only six that
were bad and deserved elimination
with better and better pictures he
lsees better cooperation with the pub
llic, the elimination Of waste and ex'