8/16/2019 19131101-MOTG-Kessel

1/2

Norn;\1BER 1  1913

M O T O G R P H Y

325

Who s Who n the Film Gam e

P

ROSPERITY

is ac

companied in

many

in

stances by a

consi<

er

abl e load of self importance.

There

are

many examples to

Facts

You

and ancies About

Know

or Ought to

a Man

Know

took possession

of

Kessel's

thought.

t

was more allur

ing. He had learned

what

the exhibitors wanted and he

would undertake to satisfy

illustrate

that money

has caused

men

to affect

the airs

of a poulter-pigeon, aided in

the

physical appearance at

least by high-living and laziness.

The

poisoned-pup of

prosperity presupposes a lot

of

halucinations.

There

being exceptions to all rules this

brief

diatribt>

shall confine itself to a noted exception. For subject,

take A. Kessel,

Jr.

.Adam is his first

name

and Ad for

short. Ad is also the exception. Prosperity

hasn't

made

a

dent

in Ad Kessel. Some

of

his notions have made

cavities in his

bank

balance,

to be true, but a mere

dent

was

never intended to apply

in these

larger

matters. A

mammoth cave would come

more

nearly

describing it.

Instead

of

swelling

up

in

girth,

Ad

grows

constantly

thinner and his hair grows

whiter and he works harder.

Prosperity hasn't

snared

Ad

Kessel. He bids it enter and

sends it

on

again-a pauper.

And

the while Ad, himself,

grows more

gentle,

more

generous and coaches him

self in more

of

those endear

ing qualities that make life

worth while.

them.

The

New

York

Mo

tion

Picture

Company

grew

out

of

this idea. Kay Bee, Broncho, Keystone and Dom

ino brands have grown out of the New York Motion

Picture Coml?any. They. have told

and are

still telling

much of

their

own stones,

but

always with the

grief

eliminated. Film-making is never reflected by the films

themselves. The courage of

the

man behind never shows

through: Ad Kessel has simply elbowed his way to

the

front

with

nearly

as many

brands of

acceptable films a·s

he had exchanges.

And

his business has

grown

to

immense proportions.

The

postscripts to his letters cost

as high as $13,000

Ad Kessel

was

among

the

very

first

among

the

in

dependents

to

make a good

film. He

was

the

very

first

to put

great

bundles of long

green into his productions.

And by that token alone he

got by.

This statement

doesn't imply

that

money

alone will make a motion

picture, but it does mean

that the proper handling or

disbursing of money will

produce the result desired.

Ad Kessel

was

born in

Brooklyn, forty-six years

ago about now and with a

handicap like that he has

skirmished along most

of the

years with his reward slight

ly behind him. t never

matters much how things go

until

you're

past thirty. f

you

don't

know enough to

turn

back and shake hands

with fortune, nobody cares.

Especially is this true when

you are hewing

out

your

own

destiny. Young Kessel

attended Public School No.

Adam is his first name and

Ad

for short.

Proper disbursement of

funds is one

of

Adam

Kes

sel's hobbies. He has been

wholly surrounded by solid

mahogany

for

quite some

considerable spell, but it

wasn't satisfying. Of com

paratively

recent date, the

element that has been lack-.

ing in Ad Kessel's life has

been supplied.

It

has

taken

form in his summer home at

Lake Champlain. Having

acquired his acres, riparian

rights, hills, trees and rocks,

with pleasing sky lines

and

24, known as the Old Hill school of Brooklyn. Whether

the school was on

an

old hill or whether Old

Hill

was

responsible

for it

is

another story

,

but

at

fifteen

Ad

Kessel left the school and started a post-graduate course

in a

print

shop. Printing held him

for

many years and

the reason for his quitting that business to engage in

films will

have

to be told at some

other

time. But he

started with films in the renting game and during his

connection with renting he made extraordinary

progress.

\Vith four exchanges in New York, one in

Scranton

ancl

one in Harrisburgh, you can imagine it. f you know

only partially what

the

operation of one film exchange

means. you will get a better conception of a man's activi

ties when you multiply

by

six. Six exchanges

have

a

wonderful

tendency to keep you thin.

Ad

Kessel lays

no claim to the heavyweight class. He's thin.

After

a time with his exchanges

the

making of films

enthralling sunsets,

the shaping

of a home became

the

obsession of the

Kessels-for

there is a Missus and the

baby.

This

home, while including all

the

comforts and

luxuries,

will probably never be finished.

t

cries out

in the wilderness for more and more

of

the wherewithal.

There are drives and lanes and happy hollows and stone

terraces and rustic fences an d bridges and every modern

geegaw in the foreground and the background. There

are the wide ve·randas on

th

e ground floor and the floors

above the ground, the fire places and the towering chim

neys-all perfect-nearly.

t

is this nearly thing that

keeps the Kessels on the jump from

May

until October.

For this is a

summer

home

for

fair.

It

crowds into

the

late spring and

the

early fall. Ad Kessel has found time

to stay there for five straight weeks

And down there on beautiful Lake Champlain is

the

Orson

the

private yacht of

the

Kessels, a graceful sixty-

8/16/2019 19131101-MOTG-Kessel

2/2

326

M O T O G R P H Y

YoL. X ,

\o

  9

footer . spick and span, manned, proYisioned and eyer

ready

for

a cruise,

near or

far.

In winter, the Kessels Jiye in Brooklyn. Mr. Kessel

is a member

of

Bensonhurst Yacht Club, Brooklyn and

Lake Champlain Yacht Club, which suggests

that

yacht

ing is his favorite recreation.

He

confesses

further

weaknesses for both automobiling and racing.

Edison to egin

N e w

Series

The Edison Company has completed plans for a

new series

of

tweh·e pictures which promise to eclipse

anything

that

has eYer been attempted in the way of

serial photoplays. The new stories will be released

under

the general title, The

Chronicles of

Cleek

They will be selected

from

the

detective

stories by

Thomas

\V.

Hanshew,which made

suc h a sensation when

published in England.

The Edison people

have taken twelve

stories best suited

for

photo-play

purposes

and will release one

on

the

last

Tuesday

in the month, begin

ning November 25.

\Ve

a r e

promised

something

of

a highly

sensational order-al

•.

ways,

of

course, with

:i strong element

of

mystery. The stories

.. will appear in this

Ben Wilson. country in the

Short

Story M aga:::i11l simultaneously with the release of the

fi

lm and will be read in th e thousands

of

homes which

are included

in

this

magazine's

extensi\'e circulation. ·

Judging

by the success

of

the

Mary

pictures which were

also pub lished concurrently by a magazine, the publishing

of the story in magazine form giyes a tremendous im

pulse to

the

interest in

the

films.

In

the

first story, The Vanishing Cracksman,' ' the

crook abandons his profession and goes over to the side

of the law.

In

the remaining elcYen stories he is en

gaged in

the pursuit of

criminals and in

the

dangerous

and all-absorbing problems

of

unravelling- baffling mys

teries. Ben \Vilson, one

of

the most popular players on

the screen. w ill assume the leading role. Mr. \\Tilson

was born in Centervi lle, Iowa. and has a theatrical ex

perience covering several years in stock companies in

Brookl yn. New York, and other large cities.

He

was a

member

of

the famous Spooner Company and was man

ager of

the

J>ark

theater

at the time it

burned.

1

\mong

the num erous important engagements which he has

played are Jmsey Smith in Paid in Full and one oi

the leading roles in the famous Seven Days company.

in which he made a tremendou s hit.

:vt

.

\ \

' ilson has been a member

of

the Edison photo

playcrs for several yea rs. during which time he has been

a member

of

the \'arious companies which h:we been sent

to Bermuda. Cuba . and through the Ca nad ia n Rockies .

J[c

was also one of th e partv which spe nt the winter of

}< 12-13 in Cal ifo rnia.

l lc

has played so many leading

roles that it is impossible to enumerate them. hut is just

11\\' a t t r a r t i n ~ coun

tr

y-wide

attention

as the

hero

of the

" \\ ' hn

\\'ill

:\Tarr\'

:\

la rv? ser ies.

Phillips Writes

Texas

Exhibitors

J S. Phillips, manag

er of

the Odeon

theater of

Fort

\Vorth,

Texas, and

president

of Texas State Branch

No. 18 of the Motion Picture Exhibitors' League

of

America, thinks

that

the \vay to

bring

the exhibition end

of the motion picture business above reproach and ex

terminate the

unjust and

pessimistical cry

of

necessitated

censorship is for eyery manager of a motion picture

thea

ter to

establish within himse

lf

a

strict

censorship

of

his

respective theater.

In

an open letter to exhibitors of his state Mr. Phil

lips writes, Hold yourself in the position

that

you ha\'e

always got the National

Board of

Censorship behind you

by

running

no

other

pictures

than

those

that

have

passed the National

Board of

Censorship. f you

run

only

pictures

passed by the Na tional Board our business

will soon be free from :ittacks

of

political, sectional, fac

tional, so-called reformers. who lrnYe only in mind the

fevv laurels of publicity they may gain from their at

tacks.

f you should be so

unfortunate

as to have a local

board of censorship, always meet its members with a

hearty welcome, assuring them

that

you are glad to

haYe

them

numbered

with

your already high class and

cultured patrons and that out of

respect

for those

present you could not afford to show any other

than

a

program of p i c t u r e ~

that

appeal to ladies and gentlemen

only.''

League Members

anquet in Washington

The Motion Picture Exhibitors' League

of

the Dis

trict of Co umbia held a big Get-together banquet at

the Hotel Continental in the city of \Vashington on the

eyening

of

Thur.sday. October

16. The

details

of

this

affair hacl been

arranged

on a Yery elaborate scale

and

practically everyone

in

the city directly interested in the

motion picture business

purchased

tickets. The

League

extended an invitation to the officers

of

the l\Iotion Pic

ture Ex

hibitors' League

of

:i\Iaryland to be

their

guests

which receh·ed a

heart

y acceptance.

The Motion Picture Exhibitors' League

of

the Dis

trict

of

Columbia held its annual meeting on

Thursday.

October 9, and unanimously elected all

their fonner of

ficers as follows: \Villiam P.

Herbst, president; Ira La

l\fotte, first \'ice-president: V. H. Stonesifer, second Yice

president: /\. C Joy. treasurer. and Fulton Brylawski.

secretary.

l\fr

Brylawski is also the national ,·ice-presi

dent from the District

of

Columbia. The Boarcl of Di

rectors for the ensuing year are as follows: \ \ 'illiam P.

Herbst

, Ira La).Iotte . V .

H.

Stonesifer. A C Tm· Fulton

Rrylawski.

Thomas

:\L Eastwood. Joseph

P -

:\[organ

and

A.H.

Crandall.

:\fr 

Leo. Royer.

Xathan

Stein. \Ym.

Jasper and the

president

and secretary were appointe