Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 5 (1912): Changes

Completing the Thanhouser release schedule for the 1912 year were A Militant Suffragette, a comedy issued on December 29th, and With The Mounted Police, first screened on December 31st. Although trade notices vary, it is believed that A Militant Suffragette was the first regular Thanhouser film distributed by the Mutual Film Corporation as a separate entity, and not through the Film Supply Company of America.

Although the Film Supply Company had been the brainchild of Harry E. Aitken, who was also the guiding light behind the formation of the Mutual Film Corporation, the distribution firm was not completely under the control of the Mutual interests. An article in The Morning Telegraph Note stated that henceforth such Mutual companies as Thanhouser, American, Reliance, Majestic, and the new Punch would release their pictures directly through Mutual. Additional details were given:

This announcement is the most important and most sweeping change of affiliation in the moving picture business for a long time and automatically carries with it the withdrawal of those fine concerns from the Film Supply Company of America. At the headquarters of the Mutual Film Corporation the reason given for the withdrawal was a dislike for the two weeks' cancellation clause under which the five companies sold film to the Film Supply Company of America. The Mutual further announced that it would be able from now on to furnish a program of 21 reels a week. These would be as follows: Kay-Bee, two reels; Broncho, two reels; Keystone, two reels; Thanhouser, three reels; American, three reels; Reliance, two reels; Majestic, two reels; Punch, one reel. The additional reels necessary to make 21 a week, it was announced, would be purchased from the Itala, Comet, Solax, Lux, Great Northern, and Gaumont brands.

At the offices of Film Supply Company no great concern was manifested. An official statement was made [by Harry R. Raver] that the Film Supply Company had opened new exchanges to protect its exhibitors who were being denied the privilege of selecting from the entire Film Supply program and that this had caused the withdrawal. It was further announced that six new brands would release through the Film Supply Company: Pilot, Prairie, All Star, Monarch, Magnet, and Anchor. Note "The defection of the Mutual Film Corporation from the ranks of the Film Supply Company of America has caused little concern and no serious consideration amongst the officers of our company nor should it amongst our affiliated concerns and our patrons," said Herbert Blaché, president of the Film Supply Company. "We want to assure all exchanges and exhibitors that the Film Supply Company service will continue uninterrupted.... Those brands which have been withdrawn from our program will be immediately supplemented by brands of new and distinctive, yet carefully censored quality....

"The facts are decidedly simple and may be stated briefly: At or about the time of the organization of the Film Supply Company of America a number of exchanges allied themselves under one banner with the ultimate end in view of supplying a program that was claimed would eliminate all of the old evils of interchange, and the product of various manufacturers might be supplied without favoritism. An association was made by this film corporation with the Film Supply Company with an understanding that the program of the Film Supply Company be distributed through the exchanges of the Film Corporation exclusively, so long as impartiality with regard to the purchase of brands was adhered to. In return the Film Supply Company expressed a willingness that its sales should be confined solely to the exchanges of the film corporation so long as there was no breach of faith with regard to the discrimination in buying...." [Blaché concluded].

Mutual countered: "The Mutual Film Corporation is the only company in America which is purely an exchange proposition and is not dominated or controlled by manufacturers," Note said H. E. Aitken, vice president of the Mutual Film Corporation. "The first duty to the Mutual Corporation is to the exhibitor, from a commercial viewpoint, and it is necessary to secure the best program in its power, regardless of distributing agencies. This will result in no change in our program, for if any manufacturers should refuse to deal with us on the basis of quality - which is hardly probable if they have the quality - we are in a position to supply brands and substitution thereof in a moment's notice. The standing order proposition favors the manufacturer of inferior films only and does not benefit the maker of the superior article. It has proven detrimental to the exchange and the exhibitor, for it requires a notice of several weeks to cancel the subject, and if the undesirability of the subject is not discovered within such time, the order cannot be cancelled. The Mutual Film Corporation will inspect every reel before it places an order. The policy of the Mutual Film Corporation will make it unnecessary for high class manufacturers to enter into distributing agencies or combinations as we shall be only too pleased to encourage good producers. The Thanhouser, American, Reliance, Majestic, and Punch companies have already withdrawn from the Film Supply Company, and the Kay-Bee, Broncho, and Keystone have never been members thereof."

Then came a statement from Charles O. Baumann, on behalf of the Kay-Bee, Broncho, and Keystone companies, which stated that the action of the Mutual Film Corporation "is the only sane one for the preservation of the business. My companies are willing to submit their films upon a quality basis, and in fact have been doing so for quite some time."

Charles J. Hite, Thanhouser's president, was then quoted as saying he was pleased with the new arrangement and believed that it was only right that the same rules of purchase apply to the film business as any other. "The Thanhouser Company is not afraid to enter the ranks in a competition for quality and has faith in the ability of the Mutual Film Corporation to formulate its programs on a high basis. It means increased prosperity for the Thanhouser Company, for I recognize the fact that an exhibitor must not only have good Thanhousers, but also an adequate supply of accompanying films. I look for increased quality throughout the program." Other people, all with vested interests, made similar statements. If anything was a certainty in the film business during the 1910-1920 decade, it was that no matter how ideal a distribution arrangement seemed at the outset, within a year or two nearly all parties involved would be unhappy!