Volume III: Biographies

AITKEN, Roy .

Investor (1912-1915)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Roy Aitken, Harry's brother, was an investor involved in the Thanhouser Film Corporation during the Mutual years, 1912 to 1915.

Biographical Notes: Roy Aitken, born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, was the social half of the Aitken brothers duo. While Harry made the business deals, Roy would do the handshaking and public relations. For several years he managed the Western Import Company in London and also supervised Mutual business elsewhere in Europe. Never married, Roy Aitken died in 1976 at the age of 94.

A View of the English Market: The New Rochelle Evening Standard, December 20, 1912, printed the following: "'The English clergy are very much in favor of motion pictures,' says Roy Aitken, managing director of the Western Import Company, London, England, one of largest film distributing companies in the United Kingdom. 'The press has taken a very favorable attitude, and there has never been a newspaper crusade against pictures as I understand one of your New York papers is doing. The motion pictures are looked upon with approval by all the leaders of public opinion, and they have the patronage of the king and the nobility. One of the principal London motion picture theatres has a royal box that is reserved for the exclusive use of members of His Majesty's household.' That the English clergy, who are traditionally among the most conservative in the world, should take this liberal attitude, shows that the English people appreciate the educational value of pictures.

"'Censorship of pictures is just beginning' continued Mr. Aitken. 'A Board of Censors consisting of five members has recently been appointed. The chairman of the board is a nobleman of high rank. This board was instituted by an association of picture distributors and manufacturers on their own initiative.'

"Mr. Aitken seems more like an American than a native of John Bull's 'tight little isle.' Perhaps it is because he is engaged in a business that is more characteristically American than almost any other industry in the British isles. He has been in this country a number of times and on his present trip expects to go as far west as the Coast. He will stop at Chicago and from there will go to San Francisco, returning by way of the Southern Pacific and New Orleans. On the way he will visit the principal manufacturing plants.

"'You are ahead of us in a great many respects,' he said, 'although we are leaders in some directions; our theatres are generally larger and of better construction. Most of them have been built especially for the purpose of showing motion pictures and for that reason are more up to date and sanitary than many of the American houses I have seen. Like you, we are progressing all the time in that respect, as the industry becomes more and more permanent in character.'

"American films are much in demand in England, and the Thanhouser pictures are among the most desired, as in England the selection is based entirely upon the quality of the individual picture, and the Thanhouser pictures, said Mr. Aitken, are more successful in meeting a test of that kind than are many other American brands. The Western Importing Company handles Thanhouser, Majestic, Reliance, Broncho, and Keystone films, all of which are products of the studios of Mutual Film Corporation, the organization that now controls the Thanhouser studio.

"'Out of a 5,000 foot program,' Mr. Aitken continued, '3,000 feet is generally American film and the proportion is increasing. This is a remarkable showing as the American pictures have been on the English market only a few years while the French films a few years ago had the English market to themselves and still have the advantage of nearness. One of the largest French producers, Pathé Frères, has a manufacturing studio in London. Cowboy and Western pictures are the most popular in England, and an exhibitor who wants to have a successful program always tries to have at least one such picture.' Mr. Aitken expressed surprise that this class of pictures should be considered harmful in this country and meet with so much opposition.

"'The prices charged at the motion picture houses range from one penny to two shillings, six pence, or from two cents to 60 cents in your money. The penny houses correspond in many ways to the five cent houses here, although there are generally several prices in every house. It is the large London houses that charge up to 60 cents. The best and highest priced seats are in the rear. On the Continent the prices are even higher. In Germany the prices range as high as $2.50 to $3.00. There the people go to the picture shows in evening dress as if they were going to the opera or the highest grade theatres.

"'A striking feature of the English manufacturing is the speed with which the films are gotten out. At three o'clock in the afternoon,' said Mr. Aitken, 'I saw the Oxford-Cambridge boat race on the Thames, and by 7:30 I saw the films of it in a motion picture theatre in London. Such service as this is possible because the English is an open market. In this country an exhibitor is not allowed to use any films but those of one particular corporation. In England, however, an exhibitor sees every film before he takes it. Thus every film is sold distinctly on its merits. The open market is better for England,' said Mr. Aitken. 'And the closed market system is probably better for the conditions here in the states. But if the English had such a system they would never stand for it because it's too much like a trust.

"'Vaudeville is never combined with pictures in England, although most of the music halls show pictures as one of their acts. This is because it is necessary to secure a music hall license, which is very costly, in order to show vaudeville with the pictures. Motion pictures are so new in England that the legitimate actors have not begun to feel their effects, and there is no complaint from the actors on that score. They will begin to feel the competition before long, I am sure, as the number of picture houses is increasing every day. There are almost 1,000 houses showing pictures in London and its suburbs, and the business is increasing in importance every day.'"

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