Max Cohen was involved in film-promotion and distribution no later than 1913, beginning his career with the Monopol Film Company.[1] Monopol went bankrupt in October of 1913,[2] so any reference to Cohen working for MFC, is prior to that final date. Cohen was considered a pioneer of the open-market-salesman,[3] and the oldest state rights salesman in the industry.[4] State rights predated the more organized distribution of the larger companies such as Universal, Mutual, Pathé, etc, etc. State rights issues were simply, smaller film distribution companies, usually with a territory no larger than the state of their incorporation, buying a title from the producer and then offering the movie to theaters. This did not work too well for the major film studios, since continuing profit was taken by the small distribution company. As time went by, and distribution changed (this to the benefit of the studios and to the detriment of the state rights companies), the release of movies was managed by less than a dozen companies, including, Paramount, Fox, Metro, Triangle[5] and Universal. After the mid-teens, state rights distributors survived but most handled independent and foreign films; this was the business-world of Max Cohen.
For Cohen there is no particular film record to point to his former association with the Monopol Film Company and so the first movie title attached to Mr. Cohen, came in 1916. Sometime in that year, he formed his own distribution company, bearing his name. The first film handled by the Max Cohen Company was, It May Be Your Daughter (produced by the Moral Uplift Society), October, 1916,[6] and he also managed two Greene Feature Film Company releases[7], America is Ready, in 1917,[8] and, The Fury of Civilization, in 1917 as well; both films were peddled in March and April, and each carried the endorsement of Army Major General Leonard Wood and the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels.[9] Cohen capitalized on patriotism, by offering a few other war-pictures for 1917.[10] These were promoted and distributed through the Max Cohen Company, with offices at 720 Seventh Avenue, in New York City.[11] Most of the advertising by Cohen was nothing more than three lines in a classified in The New York Clipper, under their “current and pending releases for state rights buyers” list.
Max Cohen was a passionate state rights film distributor, vocal, independent and tireless for the cause. He was considered an outspoken critic of the newly organized First National Exchange Circuit. The exchange represented chain theater owners, and would purchase the national rights to feature films and make them available to members of the chain. The move by First National Exchange was designed to eliminate the middlemen, independent producers and the small theater exhibitors. I have included Cohen’s entire statement in the following foot-note.[12]
It was in the summer of 1917 that Max Cohen formed another group, that was, Motioncraft Film Company, whose primary concern was distribution, along with his close associate, George M. Merrick, who would serve as editor for the individual state and city versions. Merrick in addition to the films that the Internet Movie Data Base has included in his work-history as an editor, cut Dante’s Inferno (1911), Homer’s Odyssey (1911) and Quo Vadis?, 1913.[13] Merrick had been connected with the Milano Film Company, and the Monopol Film Company and the Apex Film Company; Merrick at the time was the eldest of film editors.[14]
For the late summer and autumn of 1917 Cohen and Merrick were offering two-reel comedies featuring the three well known midget stage stars, Addie Frank, comedian Paul Paulus and Jimmie Rosen.[15] The two films starring the above mentioned trio, which we know for sure Motioncraft distributed, were Sawdust and Society and Hash and Hearts, which were made by writer-director-producer Dallas M. Fitzgerald, for the Greater Pictures Corporation of New York, in Miami, Florida at the King Komedy Film Company Studio.[16]
Addie Frank was quite well known on the vaudeville-circuit,[17] and also had stints on the legitimate stage (as those in the know call it), touring with the 1930 production of, Babes in Toyland.[18] She also appeared without credit in, The Lilliputians’ Courtship (AKA Pee Wee’s Courtship) in 1915.[19]
Paul Paulus was billed as, The Funny Little Fellow[20] and often he impersonated Charlie Chaplin;[21] we see Paulus in his Chaplin get-up in the Hash and Hearts advertisement below. Also, Mr. Paulus co-starred with Dustin Farnum in, The Light of the Western Stars, in 1918, of which he was not credited.[22]
Jimmie Rosen had his first of two Broadway appearances in Weary Willie Walker, in 1902,[23] but he made his mark with the touring company of R. F. Outcault’s, Buster Brown,[24] which saw more than an eighteen-month road trip. As well, Mr. Rosen played the part of, Napoleon Newlywed, the baby, in The Newlyweds and Their Baby, for both the short Broadway run and the more successful road tour;[25] the musical comedy was based on the popular comic strip, of the same name. And of course Rosen was seen often in the vaudeville realm.[26]
Frank, Paulus and Rosen often went uncredited for their work (as the case was for Frank and Rosen in, Snow White, 1916), and their film résumés are nearly non-existent; Frank with one credit, Rosen with a couple-of-handfuls and Paulus with none to his recognition. Rosen and Frank appeared in the roles of Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz, 1939.[27] Don’t bother looking for these Lilliputian-two-reelers (Lilliputian and Living Dolls were common names applied to midget performers) on the Internet Movie Data Base; they are not to be found there.
Shortly after the release of these comedies, Motioncraft would offer The Wife Who Wouldn’t Tell (they were careful to make mention that it was not a sex picture) and The Web of Life. The young company was willing to distribute world-wide and proud to advertise the fact.[28]
In 1918 it appears Cohen and cohorts simply changed names from Motioncraft Pictures to Monopol Pictures; Monopol was not incorporated until 1922,[29] by Cohen, Merrick and Mr. I. Messing, with Cohen acting as the company’s president. By the middle of July, 1918 Monopol was peddling, Mother’s of Liberty. According to modern sources Mother’s of Liberty was nothing more than a reissue of The Ordeal, (produced by the Life Photo Film Corporation) from 1914, but producer Harry G. Kosch stated that about 2,200 feet (two reels +) of The Ordeal (owned by The Royal Cinema Corporation) was used in Mother’s of Liberty (produced by The Royal Cinema Corporation), which was a six reel (although many sources had it at five-reels) film. The Ordeal was a five-reeler; it looks as though Dallas M. Fitzgerald handled the additional material for the new film;[30] this reply by Kosch was in response to producer Samuel Rosendorf’s, public, printed accusation that, The Mother’s of Liberty, contained parts of nearly every reel of, The Ordeal, and that it, The Mothers of Liberty, was, The Ordeal.[31] A review by Exhibitors Herald, shows the slight difference between, The Ordeal and, The Mothers of Liberty, by the inclusion of the lead character reading a book about the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, rather than a young man dreaming of being in that war, which was a main-plot device for, The Ordeal.[32] But, the controversy did not end there and a case regarding the picture went before the Federal Trade Commission in early of autumn of 1918,[33] adding to the fire, Monopol, actually applied pressure to exhibitors that if they did not show, The Mothers of Liberty, that they were unpatriotic and pro Germany. The first hearing for, The Mothers of Liberty, was in August of 1919, with the Commission’s order to cease and desist, their current practices with regards to the film, came on September 24, 1919. Monopol and Royal were ordered to include in advertising and credits that, The Mothers of Liberty, had footage of, The Ordeal. Further, that Monopol and all agents of the company would no longer directly or indirectly accuse or threaten to accuse disloyalty to those exhibitors who refused to exhibit the picture.[34]
In addition, Max Cohen acquired the world rights to Crimson Shoals, 1919, starring and directed by Francis Ford, as well as handling the re-release of Alma, Where Do Your Live?, 1917.[35] Of these two, Crimson Shoals fared better in screen-time.
1921 Cohen and Merrick worked for Clarion Photoplays, Inc.; that association ended when Louis Weiss (Artclass Pictures) and brothers took over the company.[36] As the gig with Clarion Photoplays/Artclass Pictures came to an end, Cohen, along with M. H. Reuben, Ivy Ostrow, began a new firm: Fluoro-Cinemic Surgery, Inc.
The next picture offered by Max Cohen and Monopol Pictures was, Foolish Mothers, which was a 1917 release, starring Enid Markey and Edward Coxen. The film was originally titled, The Curse of Eve, and reissued in September of 1918 as Foolish Mothers. Cohen and Monopol announced that the film would soon be ready, in October of 1921,[37] but silver-screens waited over a year before the movie showed up at the local cinema; it was the summer of 1922, when Foolish Mothers finally saw the darkness of the theater, and then was not well seen, at least according to the number of advertisements available in my research and by the lack of trade magazine display ads. In addition, for the summer of 1922, Monopol advertised short reel units to exhibitors;[38] each unit consisted of a re-edited two-reel drama and one-reel comedy; the dramas produced by Majestic Pictures, starring the likes of Dorothy Gish, Wallace Reid and Lillian Gish, directed by William Chirsty Cabanne and Paul Powell. The comedies were products of Sennett-Keystone, featuring, Charles Murray, Mack Sennett and Chester Conklin.[39] Monopol-Max Cohen believed that fresh editing and new title cards would help greatly to attract a good audience and that most of the films had not been seen by a majority of the movie going public.[40]
In 1922 Cohen helped to found another two new companies, Sherlock Holmes Series, with H. G. Kosch and Mildred Gerst (both were incorporators of Clarion Photoplays), on April 15, and then one week later he, T. Earl Larsen and H. G. Kosch (again another connection with Clarion, linking George Merrick and Max Cohen,) started Atlantic Enterprises.[41]
The offices of Monopol Pictures (and Max Cohen and his many business hats: Monopol, Sherlock Holmes and Atlantic; wow busy man) during these years, were located in the Long Acre Building, at 1476 Broadway, in NYC;[42] this would continue to be the headquarters for Cohen at least through, The Mystery of King Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eighth Wife. In fact Monopol was still in business as of the summer of 1924.[43]
In 1923 Max Cohen released, The Mystery of King Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eighth Wife, by the end of April.[44] The only advert that I have found came from New York, in December of 1923. Cohen announced that a full line of exploitation products had been prepared for the release of the picture, including mummy-cases, miniature mummies, King Tut dolls and Egyptian drapes for lobby display; the press book was a reproduction of a small part of the information written in the world’s newspapers regarding the subject of King Tut. Into the bargain, Mr. Cohen had signed a deal with the National Drug Stores to carry window displays , tying-in to the movie’s play-dates, which Cohen believed was of an especial advantage, considering that New York, had more than twenty-five National Drug Stores.[45]
This is about all the evidence that is available that King Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eighth Wife was ever produced, let alone shown at a movie house. The following full-page ads were a valiant attempt by an independent promoter, with limited advertising dollars, to garner interest in a film that obviously had neither stars nor even a cast of solid supporting players to its name. Mr. Cohen’s efforts did not pay off and because of loss or neglect, The Mystery of King Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eight Wife remains shrouded in mystery to us.
By the summer of 1924, Cohen, along with Maxwell Platt and Samuel C. Platt incorporated Stadium Pictures, Inc., of New York; their attorney was H. M. Glodablatt.[46] With the ink still wet on the incorporation papers, they signed Bennie Leonard,[47] lightweight boxing champion to a contract; Cohen and company made the initial three of the proposed twelve two-reel,[48] Flying Fists (the first installment was directed by Laurence C. Windom[49]) movies,[50] which were distributed by Reputable Pictures Corporation.[51] The two-reelers were boxing dramas, and although related by subject, were more of an anthology of a character than sequels. The following are two mistakes which I have found with the Internet Data Base, regarding Flying Fists, one is that according to their data, all but the first chapter of Flying Fists was released in 1925, but, as you can see from the advertising, the first three made by Cohen, and installment number four were being shown, by December of 1924. My second grievance is that according to the IMDB, Max Cohen, only worked on three films, (King Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eighth Wife, 1923; The Eternal Prayer, 1929, and Dracula, 1931). Yet, here he is functioning as supervising director[52] of the first three Flying Fists flicks,[53] and along with the other new found titles in this article, may now safely be added to his film making résumé.
The sports-film production company next contracted with John McGraw of the New York giants of the National League and Mr. Comiskey of the American League Chicago White Sox to feature them in a series of two-reel baseball pictures based on H. C. Witwer’s, Ed Harmon stories. Cohen secured the story, No Base Like Home, by Witwer. The films were to be made while the two clubs were on their European tour, and in some measure would act as pictorial record of the trip. Not only would the baseball managers and coaches be involved in the films but everyone associated with the clubs, including the traveling sport writers would be seen in different sequences. John W. “Jack” Noble was set to direct and Tom North to handle the publicity.[54]
1927 found Stadium Pictures in a legal battle with welterweight champion boxer, Mickey Walker; the company filed a breach of contract suit against the champ for failure to fulfill his contract. In February of 1925, Walker signed with Stadium for twelve, two-reel movies, of which he made none; the law-suit was for $25,000.[55] The New York Supreme Court dismissed (on technical grounds) the suit in January of 1928; it seems that Stadium had let out Walker’s contract of service to another company, and filed on the losses by that letting out, while the Supreme Court said they should have sued for the amount it would have made if Walker had made the pictures.[56] Walker testified that he refused to make the films because Benny Leonard, the former lightweight boxing champion, had a similar contract and he never got paid.[57]
Cohen found himself again in the employment of the Weiss Brothers, with Artclass Pictures Corporation,[58] he began there no later than October of 1928; he worked for a year on stories both from a production and sales perspective, the first entitled, Olympic, which was a ten episode serial, with each chapter introducing a different popular sport.[59] The second chapter-play was to be a Craig Kennedy story (The Treasure Train), written by Arthur B. Reeve. Instead of a Craig Kennedy serial, Artclass released a Kennedy feature film in 1929, with the title of Unmasked, but clearly, Cohen deserves credit for bringing the idea of a Kennedy property to the attention of Artclass.[60]
We start 1929 by backtracking to 1928 and the genesis of Max Cohen’s next project, The Eternal Prayer, which began with Maurice Schwartz, the manager of the Jewish Art Theater (the most famous of its alumni was Muni Weisenfreund AKA: Paul Muni); Schwartz had recently established the Maurice Schwartz Yiddish Talking Pictures Corporation and had signed a long-term contract with Vocafilm in October 1928. The contract called for six films to be made, with east Side Sadie their first venture. This movie was directed by Sidney Goldin, who had recently moved from Vienna to establish Goldin-Film, later, Cohen would garner a position at the Metropolitan Sound Studios of New York, and while there he met Sidney Goldin (actor, director) and the result was The Eternal Prayer.
On September 17, 1929, a short article reported that Cohen was soon (September 28) to release (within the week after the announcement of The Wailing Wall, Cohen opened a new office for talking-pictures distribution[61]) the first talking picture in the language of the Jews (in Yiddish, but the film was also prepared in English), the original title was to be The Wailing Wall,[62] but by the end of September the title was changed to The Eternal Prayer;[63] I assume the modification was made due to the turmoil at the ancient site concurrent to the filming and release of this picture. The movie starred the child cantor, Shmilekel; the score for the film was composed by A. Ellstein, featuring violin solos by Samuel Kramer. Cohen had a theme song written, based on the title of the movie;[64] the film (a short subject, four-reels, clocking in at 36 minutes[65]) was released via Hollywood Pictures in New York and northern New Jersey,[66] with foreign distribution managed by the Hoffberg Cornfeld Corporation.[67] As with, The Mystery of King Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eighth Wife, the Eternal Prayer did not do well at the box-office and little or no advertising was seen.
Eternal Prayer was filmed at Metropolitan Studios. Lucy Levine, Anna Appel, Mark Schweid, Lazar Freed, all of the Yiddish Art Theater appeared in the film;[68] Samuel Kelemer, better known as, Shmelikel (Shmiliki), a 12 year old boy cantor who had arrived in the States not long before his stage and film debut, was highlighted in a solo. Samuel Kelemer, served as National Vice-President of the American Conference of Cantors (who deemed Kelemer a Living Treasure), and was a member of the National Board of the Jewish Music Council. Kelemer was a scholarship student for advanced studies in voice at the Julliard School of Music.[69] Music for The Eternal Prayer was composed by Abe Ellstein, lyrics by Dave Meyerovitch, and the disc was recorded in Clinton, New York.[70] A CD of Cantor Kelemer is available via amazon.com.
Film critic, H. A. Potamkin regarded The Eternal Prayer, as the worst film ever made, “indicating absolutely no knowledge of the cinema.” His description reveals that the film was little more than a “succession of acts” on celluloid, separated, not by title cards or any kind of introduction but simply, blank intervals. Potamkin did go on to praise the movie for being important in the history of cinema. The Eternal Prayer featured (according to Potamkin) Hebrew ritual songs, such as Kaddish.[71]
Max (Not Dracula) Cohen
Something has bugged me throughout the research for this biography, that Max Cohen was responsible for the title-design for the silent version of Dracula in 1931. Yet by all modern accounts, this work is attributed to Max Cohen film promoter, distributor and producer. But it is in 1922 that we find a problem with the idea that Max Cohen was the person behind the art titles for Dracula; I believe that it was another Max Cohen. The reason being is geography, Cohen could not hold down two jobs in two cities, separated by three-thousand miles. Not in that day and age, but this is what would have had to occur in 1922 for the Max Cohen of this bio to design titles for Dracula in 1931.
Max Cohen, is the art editor of the Universal City News, in California, which was reported on July 8, 1922, yet, the very next week, July 15, Max Cohen is the general manager of Monopol Pictures, the company started by himself, George Merrick, and Mr. Messing[72] and was a part of the planning of the re-editing of the older two-reel dramas and one-reel comedies, starring, Dorothy Gish, Wallace Reid and Lillian Gish, and comic one-reelers featuring Charles Murray, Mack Sennett and Chester Conklin. Remembering also that earlier in the spring of 1922, Cohen helped to found two new companies, Sherlock Holmes Series on April 15, and then one week later Atlantic Enterprises.[73]
These circumstances which I have recounted cause endless problems with Max Cohen, the promoter and writer of The Mystery of King Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eighth Wife and producer of The Eternal Prayer, being a graphic artist responsible for title-card art work in Dracula, not because of talent, but simply, time, place and distance. We know for sure that the Max Cohen of the film distribution companies, Motioncraft and Monopol is the Max Cohen of The Eternal Prayer and Mystery of King Tut; this is easy to trace (Motioncraft Film Company, 1917, and Artclass Pictures Corporation, 1921, as mentioned earlier) because of his association with George M. Merrick.
The Max Cohen who in the spring of 1930 had worked on the Art Titles of King of Jazz and All Quite on the Western Front, and would soon be credited with the art titles of Dracula, as demonstrated above, does not fit into the work-history of our Mr. Cohen. For a more in-depth look at the résumé of the artistic Max Cohen, and a further fleshing-out of the of the details that contradict Max Cohen artist and Max Cohen producer being one man, please see the postscript at the end of this article.
If in your internet ramblings or antique magazine perusal, you come across a photographer-cinematographer, by the name of Max Cohen, it is not he of this biography; the times, the places do not match producer Max Cohen. And if by chance you happen upon a theater owner operator, film-exchange-manager, president of the Allied Theatre Owners of New York, independent exhibitor, who owned and operated Wallack’s and Harris movie theaters, in New York City, he is not our subject of interest.
By the way, in none of the articles in which Max Cohen is mentioned, is there a crossover, not one time is the art-title Max Cohen connected with The Eternal Prayer-King Tut, Max Cohen, nor is the theater owner operator, film-exchange-manager, Max Cohen linked with the Max Cohen of this bio; or for that matter is the Max Cohen of photography-cinematography fame at any time connected with the Max Cohen of this biography. No trade magazine ever once made twain, one. Therefore, the task has been to establish the work-history of Max Cohen on as many documented points as possible, leaving slight room for details based upon inference, or as with any history or biography, we end up with misinformation.
I have included only those facts which are directly linked to the promoter of The Mystery of King Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eighth Wife and the producer of The Eternal Prayer. And all of that information added up to a very interesting career for Max Cohen. When was producer and film promoter Max Cohen born? I cannot discern. When did he die? All I know is that on December 9, 1935, the art-title Max Cohen passed away, not the producer and film promoter Max Cohen. His beginning and his end is a mystery and maybe that is apropos for a man who made his mark with The Mystery of King Tut-Ankh-Amen.
By C. S. Williams
Postscript:
In April of 1920, Max Cohen made his first foray into artwork in Hollywood when taking charge of all the art work at the new Bernstein Studios (it was located at 753 S. Boyle St., in Los Angeles); previously he was a staff artist with the Capital Film Company, of Indianapolis, situated at 129½ West Washington St. (we know that Cohen could not have started any earlier than March of 1918 with Capital; that was the firm’s incorporation month.[74] Amazingly, Max Cohen, in 1926, had already worked five years for the Universal art title department, and was promoted to supervisor of trick photography at Universal in August of 1926; which by the way gave him control not only of the trick camera work but miniatures and the Scheufftan process.[75] He developed a technique for attracting butterflies and used the process to cause the butterflies swarm the title card for the opening sequence for Butterflies in the Rain (starring Laura La Plante, 1926) the different colored fliers amassed on the title-card and outlined the words Butterflies in the Rain. The effect was at least by one reviewer considered the most attractive ever produced in Hollywood.[76] Max Cohen the artist was selected as the art editor for the Universal City News in the summer of 1922.[77] There is no doubt whatsoever that this is the Max Cohen that was responsible for the art-title design for the silent version of Dracula in 1931 and he is the Max Cohen that died in December of 1935, and was born in 1889. Of course this makes perfect sense that Max Cohen would create the titles for Dracula because of his continued work with Carl Laemmle and Universal; that is, it is perfectly logical for this Max Cohen, not for the Max Cohen, promoter of The Mystery of Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eighth Wife.
Let us not forget the indirect telling statement by the Exhibitors Herald, when Max Cohen is mentioned on July 8, 1922, as working with the Universal City News and then in the July 15, 1922 edition of the Exhibitors Herald, Max Cohen is reported as the general manager of Monopol Pictures, in New York City. This is as clear as rain, at least to me, that the two men are not the same, and the title art work for Dracula, was done by the former Max Cohen and not the latter; for the latter Max Cohen continued to be confirmed as working in New York during that period of time. The Max Cohen of our bio was engaged with Clarion Photoplays, Inc., in 1921, the aforementioned Monopol Pictures, 1922 and he promoted The Mystery of Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eighth Wife, in 1923; so how could he (the latter Max Cohen) be at Universal in California, from 1921 to 1926? The simple answer is that he was not and that the credit of Dracula has been mistakenly allotted to him, instead it belongs to the young man who got his start as a film staff artist in Indiana.
[1] Motion Picture News, August 25, 1917
[2] Motography, October 18, 1913
[3] Motion Picture News, August 25, 1917
[4] New York Clipper (New York, New York) August 15, 1917
[5] American Cinema’s Transitional Era: Audiences, Institutions, Practices, edited by Charlie Keil and Shelley Stamp
University of California Press, 2004, pages 87-88
[6] Motography, November 18, 1916
[7] New York Clipper (New York, New York) April 11, 1917
[8] Motion Picture News, March 10, 1917
[9] New York Clipper (New York, New York) April 11; May 2, 1917
[10] New York Clipper (New York, New York) April 25, 1917 (I could not find specifics on the war-movies mentioned)
[11] New York Clipper (New York, New York) April 18; May 16, 1917
[12] New York Clipper (New York, New York) April 25, 1917
“Those people have joined forces to monopolize the distribution end of the business. They are going to shake a big stick over the heads of the producing companies, fix prices and freeze out all the independent exchanges.
The local chains that figure in the combine, already control the markets in their regions, and are already dictating prices to national distributors.
The effect of the national chain activities will be, first, to force the program producers to meet the chain’s terms, and, secondly, to prevent the state rights buyers from getting pictures.
The only solution of the dismal situation is for the big producers and the independent state righters to get together, and do it quickly. They should form trade agreements that will give everybody a chance and will insure the distribution of pictures at a profit to all concerned.”
[13] Motion Picture News, August 25, 1917
[14] New York Clipper (New York, New York) August 15, 1917
Motion Picture News, August 25, 1917
[15] Motion Picture News, August 25, 1917
[16] Catalogue of Copyright Entries: 1917
New York Clipper (New York, New York) May 30, 1917
[17] Bee (Danville, Virginia) December 5, 1922
[18] Shubert Keith Theatre Playbill, 1930, Philadelphia
[19] Photo-Play Review, July 3, 1915
[20] Paducah Evening Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) June 13, 1910
Bismarck Tribune (Bismarck, North Dakota) January 26, 1911
[21] Coffeyville Daily Journal (Coffeyville, Kansas) September 18, 1922
[22] Coffeyville Daily Journal (Coffeyville, Kansas) September 18, 1922
[23] Internet Broadway Data Base
The Sun (New York, New York) April 29, 1902
[24] Reading Times (Reading, Pennsylvania) October 18, 1906
Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York) May 3, 1908
[25] New York Times (New York, New York) March 28, 1909
Abbeville Press and Banner (Abbeville, South Carolina) September 14, 1910
Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana) March 20, 1911
[26] Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) August 18, 1912
Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia) August 11, 1913
Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, Indiana) April 21, 1915
[27] The Munchkins Remember: The Wizard of Oz and Beyond, by Stephen Cox, E. P. Dutton, 1989, pages, 33, 36
[28] Motion Picture News, August 25, 1917
[29] Variety, August 25, 1922
[30] Exhibitors Herald, June 7, 1918
Wid’s Daily, September 6, 1918
Wid’s Daily, October 16, 1919
[31] Wid’s Daily, September 1, 1918
[32] Exhibitors Herald, June 1, 1918
[33] Wid’s Daily, October 16, 1919
[34] Federal Trade Commission Decisions, Volume 2, Washington Government Printing Office, 1920, Pages 88-95
[35] Exhibitors Herald, August 16; September 6, 1919
[36] Exhibitors Trade Review, December 17, 1921
[37] Exhibitors Trade Review, October 15, 1921
[38] Exhibitors Herald, July 22, 1922
[39] Exhibitors Herald, July 15, 1922
[40] Exhibitors Herald, July 15, 1922
[41] Exhibitors Trade Review, April, 15, 22, 1922
[42] Motion Picture News, August 9, 1919
[43] Film Daily, June 22, 1924
[44] Exhibitors Herald, April 28, 1923
Motion Picture News, April 28, 1923
[45] Exhibitor’s Trade Review, April 28, 1923
[46] Variety, September 3, 1924
[47] Lincoln Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) May 4, 1924
[48] Film Daily, May 11, 1924
[49] Variety, September 3, 1924
[50] Variety, September 3, 1924
[51] Film Daily, May 11, 1924
[52] Variety, September 10, 1924
[53] The three Leonard films produced by Cohen and Stadium Pictures were: Flying Fists, 1924; Breaking In, 1924, and
Hitting Hard, 1924. Eventually, seven of the proposed twelve, Flying Fists flicks were made in all, these three
were followed by four not made by Stadium Pictures: Soft Muscles1925; The Come-Back, 1925; The Surprise
Fight, 1925 and The Jazz Fight, 1925.
[54] Film Daily, August 31, 1924
Variety, September 3, 1924
[55] Variety, March 17, 1926
[56] New York Sun (New York, New York) January 19, 1928
Danville Bee (Danville, Virginia) January 20, 1928
[57] Danville Bee (Danville, Virginia) January 20, 1928
[58] Motion Picture News, October 13, 1928
Film Daily, May 24, 1928
[59] The Forward Pass (football); The Fatal Inning (baseball); The Last Oar (rowing); One Man Relay (track); Puck and
Blade (hockey); The Poisoned Rapier (fencing); Play Fair (basketball); The Long Count (boxing); The Water Demon
(swimming); The Life Buoy (motor boating).
[60] Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World, November 10, 1928
[61] Film Daily, September 24, 1929
[62] Film Daily, September 17, 1929
[63] Film Daily, September 30, 1929
[64] Film Daily, September 17, 1929
[65] Variety, October 30, 1929
[66] Film Daily, September 30, 1929
[67] Motion Picture News, November 9, 1929
[68] Variety, October 30, 1929
[69] Temple Beth AM, Emeriti
[70] Variety, October 30, 1929
[71] Close Up, January, 1930
[72] Film Daily, August 18, 1922
[73] Exhibitors Trade Review, April, 15, 22, 1922
[74] Exhibitors Herald, April 3, 1920
The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry, by Anthony Slide, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998
Wid’s Year Book, 1920
Motography, March 30, 1918
[75] Film Daily, August 6; December 5, 1926 (for a thorough understanding of the Scheufftan process please see
Popular Science Magazine, May 1930, pages: 23, 143-145
[76] Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) July 11, 1926
[77] Exhibitors Herald, July 8, 1922
Classic Film Aficionados 