The Seattle Star Newspaper, June 3, 1921, Page 13

Ly 1 7 ELECT OFFICERS: ia ty Section Two The Seattle Star — MOVIE GRAFTERS ‘a NGET RICH QUICK: VICTIMS DO NO ke Picture Companies Floated While . “Screen Schools” Lure Girls to Rain! : : hs he have ioe tdiaitbed’ Oy the American public of ] Now am motion picture industry is cleaning house. at Bax is swinging for movie goldbrick men and incident- Hor vultures who lure girls to ruin thru the agency of movie schools. An investigation made by the vigilance committee of the tional Association of the Motion Picture Industry dis- THAT $250,000,000 is a conservative estimate of pluckings by wild- it movie promoters. THAT movie wildcatters took in $30,000,000 during 1920 and never d a cent in dividends. THAT 70 illegal companies were capitalized at $180,000,000, yet not ever sold a picture, THAT brokers and salesmen got le stocks. Y60 fer cent commission to market THAT some 5,000 “mushroom” companies are now In extstence. THAT millionaires made by motion picture investments can be count- on the fingers of one hand. THAT graft victims often are people who Invest their life savings. the vigilance committee is James R. Quirk, editor of Photoplay fine and one of the’ judges of The Star's Ziegfeld contest last year. k recommends the following steps to cleanse the movie picture indus: WILL DEMAND | HEALTH CLINIC e Fight for Women’s Home June 3.—That she will Ave no stone unturned tm an effort | have the State Industrial Home ‘Women at Medical Lake fe d, was declared today by Mrs. E. Larson of Yakima, newly elect- Sd president of the State Federation ‘Women’s clubs. k ‘Mrs, Larson also stated that she ‘une every meang to secure of the county fbrary bill, is scheduled to come up be the next legislature, Other state officers elected at a ing in the First M. E. church night are: Mrs. N. E. Walton, first vice president; Mrs. N. Coffman, Chehalis, treasurer, and W. W. Walk, Aberdeen, first Mrs. W. M. Kern, Walla la, is the retiring president. PTIST WOMEN co! ny Following the election of officers ureday morning, the Columbia district of the Woman's Ameri- n Baptist Foreign and Home Mis- society closed its three-day gold- Jubilee session at the First Bap- church Thursday night. Mrs, W. L. Thompson of Seattle reelected president. Other offi- named included Mrs. W. M. Liv- d, Seattle, home administrative ce president; Mrs. A. M. Petty, nd, home mission vice presi. ; Mrs. W. B. Hinson, Portland, n mission vice president; Mrs. Pegelow, Seattle, recording se ; Mrs. F. A. Knight, Portland, inistant recording secretary; Mrs. F: Powhitman, Seattle, executive cor- ‘Nipondent; ‘Mrs. G. F. “McLynn, ortiland, foreign correspondent; HH. A. Calender, Portland, home e dent; Mrs. C. A. Loucks, ind, treasurer; Mrs. Rose K. , Tacoma, world-wide guild; W. W. DeForrest, Seattle, chil 's world crusade secretary; Mrs. Burton, Centralia, college elor. ey cS be try—which ranks fifth among the industries of America—from its “parasites and discrediting influ. ences:* FIRST: Make the public wary. SECOND: Secure pasmge of uniform state laws making the sale of any but accredited stock a felony. THIRD: Arouse dormant Prosecuting authorities, FOURTH: Inform girls that never in the history of the bust- ness was a high-grade actress or actor ever graduated from a screen.acting school, and that no legitimate ‘producer recognizes such schools, The first step to cleanse the In- dustry has been taken in Canada. The law requires new companies be- fore offering their securities to the Public, to prove that they have suf. ficient primary financial backing, & guaranteed foreign market and practical experience, CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE DUPED Quirk blames many chambers of commerce for much of the harm done, saying they have been the “in- nocent aids to sharpers” by giving assistance to new companies in the interest of “civic pride.” “They gave these modern Rufus Wallingfords the keys to their cit- ies,” he adds, “and never once did a suspicion enter their minds that per- haps the promoters offering to give the home town a studio were noth- ing but grafters. “It is unfortunate that this great industry has been turned into a gi- gantic swindle for unscrupulous gougers who have eclipsed the wild- est “feats of frenzied finance ever attempted, not even excepting the, oil skinners and real estate fakers.” The Actors’ Equity association, postal inspectors and national adver- | tising bodies are co-operating with the vigilance committee in its fight “for a clean game and no loaded dice.” Twenty-seven proprietors of screen acting schools were recently arrested in New York on charges of fraud, grand larceny and criminal assault on young women, In Los Angeles a clean-up eam paign by motion picture interests | and city authorities resulted in sev- schools being closed. Their pro- | prietors were forced to leave town. | It is understood that several of them have attempted to reopen in other j cities, including Seattle, FILM SCHOOL STUDENT DROWNS IN, GREEN LAKE In Seattle, on Memorial day, an amateur movie actor was drowned | during tht filming « xcéne on Gréen lake. It de v dd “that he was paying a local M@¥ie gehool for training in motion pictures, | During ‘The Star’s contest, which | resulted in the selection of Brankie Kiolet to go to Universal Citgygo ap- | pear in tiversial preductions, girls who had entered were bothered. by self-announced “teachers of picture acting” and others, Some of them were asked to buy stock in motion picture outfits, on the . representa- tion that this would help their chances of getting into the movies, Such statements, of courge, were fraudulent, and Star contestants were warned against paying any at- tention to”them. Here are some startling instances where the movie swindlerg made rich hauls, disclosed by the vigilance com- mittee’s investigation: A man who owned nothing but a suit, a collar and some office furni |ture, opened an elaborate suite. | When his books were examined he fled with $40,000 paid in by investors. Another wild-catter committed sut cide when his company was threat ened with investigation after several [hundred thousand dollars failed to produce either pictures or dividends, A $1,000,000 sales campaign engi- neered by another company which COL. [ COL. QUEEN | Nothing strange in this pic- ture of a Spanish colonel saluting the flag as the regi-| ment passes m review. Ex-| cept that it’s Queen Victoria! | Reviewing her regiment at Valladolid, Spai: CONFESSES HE MURDERED PAL Convict Admits Slaying His Confederate WALLA WALLA, June 3.—An- thorities are searching for the body of Mark McCoy's companion, whom, he says, he shot, following a safe rob- bery at Céntralia last winter, McCoy, an escaped convict, was ar- rested after the attempted bombing of the American Legion building at Centralia, He had a quantity of nt tro-glycerine on his person, “Six months in Siberia”—polltary confinement—caused McCoy to con- fess that he murdered his confeder | ate after robbing a safe at Centralia. | He buried the body, he said, in a gulch two miles west of Galvin, Lew- is county, MAN AND WIFE ARE DROWNED GRANTS PASS, Ore, June 3.— The body of Willlam Childers, aged | Gold Hill motorist, who, with his} wife, drowned late yesterday when their automobile plunged down an embankment into the Rogue river near here, had not been recovered at an early hour today. The body of Mrs. Childers was re- covered soon after the accident two miles from the spot where the car plunged into the stream. Childers was attempting to pass a truck on the highway when the heavier vehi- cle struck the touring car, turning it across the road. Before Childers could control the vehicle it plunged down the embank ment. Lessons in First Aid This Afternoon The first of seven lessons in first aid will be given at 3 p. m. today in Moose hall, under the auspices of the State Department of Labor and Industries, About 100 industrial workers are expected to attend. resulted in the loss of $900,000 paid in subscriptions and arrest of sev- eral persons for participating in the stock gales, More than 7,000 people were victimized, Another promoter ruined thousands of investors in a futile $2,000,000 ven- ture, He used several hundred thou- sand dollars to complete the pro- logue only of one picture. ~An unusual scheme with a reli- gious appeal was broken up by postal Anspectors and security investigators, ‘The company was capitalized at $500,000 and $60,000 worth of stock | was disposed of before the law stepped in, In Los Angeles another company got away with a religious appeal of | having set out to “reform the plc: | tures.” A great part of $2,000,000 |in stock issues was grabbed up and money lost by poor investors, in- cluding an array of ministers and chureh workers. | Next came an alien who arrested | attention during the summer of 1920 | with a plan to formulate a $100,000,- 000 international motion picture syn- dicate to corner the film market. He took about $2,000,000 from American citizens. French police now have | him in custody and say he has con- fessed_to forgery. | There are some 100 other instances of fraud so far revealed, Pages 13 to 24 SE ATTL E, WASH., FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1921. ———— MOUARTER-BILLION SWINDLE! An Offering Men's High Grade Suits at $35 Your opportunity to purchase your summer clothes at a saving is to be found in our unusual offering of high grade suits at $35. The savings you will make are very considerable. The values are positively unequaled in the Northwest. A uF NAA NY Wy WY Or In this group are literally hun- dreds and hundreds of high grade men’s suits in the choicest patterns—quality garments that only a short time ago were selling for very much more. Cas- simeres, Blue Serges, Flannels and many other hard-wearing materials aft this one price. : The Entire Group Priced for Quick Selling at Alterations Free— And We Guarantee a Fit Whether you are Tall, Stout, Slim or Short you will find in this group a large assortment of every size and model. The Ten-Story Joshua Green Bldg., Fourth Tacoma Store—New Rust Building, |