What Kind of a Fellow Is — Hammons? (1918) 🇺🇸
Being a glance at the real human side of the big men of the picture game caught in action
by William A. Johnston
Walking down Broadway the other day we spied a slim young man standing tete-tete with the program board of Mr. Rothapfel’s [S. L. Rothapfel] Rivoli theatre. He was teetering on his toes and jingling cash in his pocket and evidently he was pleased with the program for he winked admiringly at it as he suddenly turned and wheeled around the corner, head up, whistling and smiling.
He walked briskly, we noticed, on the balls of his feet.
We mention this because we have a theory that you can size up a business man by his walk.
So, gentle reader, we introduce herewith a snappy young man who’s always up on his toes. —
Mr. Hammons [E. W. Hammons] of the Educational Film Company of America.
Howdy!
Earl is his name — Earl B. — but he didn’t select it and cannot be justly blamed.
Pleasant looking, isn’t he? — cheerful and keen.
Looks like the kind of young man you’d like to talk business with. He wouldn’t call often nor stay long. He wouldn’t bore you, nor let you bore him. He’d come straight to the point — smilingly — and he’d exit smilingly whether you said yes or no; he’d walk briskly out on his toes and be going down in the elevator while you were still thinking it over.
This brisk young man has put over a successful film enterprise.
Which is why he’s here — in this page.
Three years ago if you had asked any of the film-wise if an educational film concern would go, they’d have sneered. “Go get Russell Sage, or some other capitalist-philanthropist to back you.”
Or: “Educationals? Why, they’re only fillers. No, no. Put your money into features.”
They told this to Hammons. Whereupon he smiled and said: “Well, I’ll make features out of fillers.”
And so he has. What we like about him is that he didn’t start in with a brass band; nor did he begin talking about educating the world’s millions via the celluloid strip and get names and testimonials” from university presidents, doctors of divinity, etc., etc., etc. He didn’t even write pamphlets.
He had visions as every successful man has; but he didn’t dream, nor speculate, nor float companies on exhibitors’ capital.
He simply believed in the success of high-class pictures which would entertain so well that people would be educated incidentally — and not realize it.
And he didn’t prophesy a market, nor wait for one. He took the one that was ready-made and waiting — though the film-wise couldn’t see it — namely, the picture theatres themselves. The market was there and he supplied it.
He prospered even with the handicap of the word “Educational” in his firm name. In fact, he has given the word a new meaning.
And he’s prospered amazingly. If you heard the figure he’s been offered for the business you’d say: “Holy Smoke!” Most feature companies would grab it.
One part of Hammons’ vision was to see an “educational” feature on Broadway.
He said it would come to pass. It has been the concrete slogan of his up-hill fight.
And so it has. Which brings us right back to where we started — with a slim young man standing right in front of the program board of the Rivoli theatre.
The program features one of his “educationals” — fillers once, but features now.
Hammons sneaks out of his office — a block away — and flirts with this program board, every day. This is his recreation.
He admires it face to face. Sometimes he walks rapidly up and down the other side of the street to see if it smiles across at him.
Then he walks briskly back to the office — smiling happily — and digs in at the work which began with a vision.
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Jesse L. Lasky, Chas. Chaplin and Major Ian Hay Beith, at Chaplin’s Studio
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Much Attention to Detail in Alice Brady’s Next
The Ordeal of Rosetta, which Alice Brady is now making for Select Pictures, is said to be marked by a number of interesting details of direction. For instance, the gorgeous mansion which is the pride of Ramsey, N. J., is used for the Long Island home of the author hero of the story. The grounds about the house were used for the water scenes, the bridge scene, the driveway and the automobile scenes, reproducing the elaborate surroundings of a palatial country estate. One of the interiors calls for a set representing a theatrical agency. As the model for this set the offices of Chamberlain Browne, a well-known New York theatrical agent, were used.
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Tom-Boy Role for Ann Pennington
Paramount this week explained that those who have been accustomed to seeing Ann Pennington attired in gorgeous raiment and bedecked with jewels should find much to amuse them in the role she plays in Sunshine Nan, in which the star is introduced as a “tom-boy” of the slums.
The story was adapted to the screen by Eve Unsell from the novel, Calvary Alley, by Alice Hogan Rice and produced for Paramount release on March 11, by Charles Giblyn.
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Title Writers Help Eddie Polo Serial
Eddie Polo in the current Universal big Western serial, The Bull’s Eye, is proving a recruiting officer for a large army of juvenile and embryo title writers who may later invade the industry.
“What Did Eddie Polo Say?” is the title of a plan conducted by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company to create interest in the serial among boys and girls sixteen years of age and under throughout the United States and Canada. It is conducted by means of advance heralds distributed in advance of the showing of the serial.
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Fox Shows Mutt and Jess to Directors
Following a conference held this week between Bud Fisher, originator of the Mutt and Jeff animated cartoons, and William Fox, who is to release these productions to exhibitors, Mr. Fox announced his intention of having all his directors see the Mutt and Jeff pictures with a view to obtaining suggestions on methods of developing and sustaining action. It is Mr. Fox’s opinion that Mr. Fisher has mastered the difficult art of getting his story started at the very jump and of eliminating everything from the film that does not contribute materially to the development of immediate interest.
“Action — action — action! That’s what I preach day and night to my directors,” said Mr. Fox. “While the problem of making Mutt and Jeff animated cartoons is not the same problem which confronts the director in his average production, there is a certain principle involved which applies as well to any other motion picture as to Mr. Fisher’s work. It is this that I hope to have illustrated through the animated cartoons.”
The first release, “The Decoy,” will be ready for exhibitors March 24.
“My viewpoint was the exhibitor viewpoint, and Mr. Fisher’s that of the producer. I was looking at the pictures as I look at other productions which are offered for rental in my chain of twenty-five theatres. We discussed them pro and con, reran some of them and when we had concluded I agreed that Mr. Fisher had convinced me I could not afford not to show his animated cartoons in my houses.
“The pictures are only 500 feet in length, but I am prepared to guarantee that they consist exclusively of laughs. The action starts with the very first flash of light on the screen and it keeps going to the end. That which I like best about the productions is that Mr. Fisher knows when he is through and stops right there. There is no attempt at padding — no disposition to add a few feet just to make a standard length. The average is about 500 feet, and if any of them run longer there is justification — there is more than 500 feet of fun.”
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Clara Kimball Young to Go to California
Clara Kimball Young, who is now preparing to put the finishing touches on The Reason Why, her next Select production, is laying elaborate plans for a trip to California, where she expects to make at least two pictures.
March 24 is the date that has been set for Miss Young’s departure from New York. She will be accompanied, it is said, by her entire staff and a number of friends and relatives. A place has been rented near Hollywood, where some of the scenes will be taken. The others will be “shot” in the Hollywood studio.
One of the pictures to be produced by Miss Young on the Coast is The Claw, which has been adapted to the screen by Chas. F. Whittaker [Charles E. Whittaker]. Another is The Savage Woman, from a French novel.
Included in Miss Young’s staff on this occasion will be Robert G. Vignola, her director, and William J. Scully, his assistant; Louis J. Physioc [Lewis W. Physioc], Mr. Vignola’s camera man; Jack Voshnell, Miss Young’s technical director; Teddy Butcher, studio manager, and Jack Boland, assistant studio manager.
Accompanying Miss Young will also be Milton Sills, who is playing lead opposite her in The Reason Why, and who will be her leading man in her next production; Norma Selby, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Mortimer and Arthur Edeson.
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Irwin Stamps New Serial as Excellent
Following the home office screening of the first two episodes of The Woman in the Web, the Vitagraph serial, which is in course of production at the company’s Western plant, Walter W. Irwin, general manager of the Vitagraph organization, sent the following telegram to all branch offices of the company:
“Home office has just screened first two episodes of The Woman in the Web. It is a totally different type of serial from its two predecessors, The Fighting Trail and Vengeance — and the Woman, and as such we are of the unanimous opinion that it is strong and thrilling in all respects. We also consider that it is well cast and that Hedda Nova and Frank Glendon are exceptional serial stars, in fact, box-office winners. You can get behind this serial with full confidence.”
The story for The Woman in the Web was written by Albert E. Smith, president of the Vitagraph Company, and Cyrus Townsend Brady, who also were the authors of Vengeance and the Woman. According to a statement by Mr. Irwin, the authors have put into this newest serial many unique touches and some thrills that are even more gripping than those which have characterized the recent Vitagraph serials. Mr. Smith is conceded to be one of the greatest devisers of stunts in picturedom, and Dr. Brady for many years has held a place among the front rank of fiction writers, so that the combination is considered ideal for motion picture construction.
In his statement regarding The Woman in the Web Mr. Irwin waxes enthusiastic over the performances of the two stars, Hedda Nova and J. Frank Glendon.
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Illustration by: Harry Palmer (Harry Samuel Palmer) (1882–1955)
Collection: Motion Picture News, January 1918