The Motion Picture Herald (MPH) was an American film industry trade paper first published as the Exhibitors Herald in 1915, and MPH from 1931 to December 1972. [1] [2] [3] It was replaced by the QP Herald, which only lasted until May 1973. [4]
The paper's origin was in 1915, when a Chicago printing company launched a film publication as a regional trade paper for exhibitors in the Midwest and known as Exhibitors Herald.
Publisher Martin Quigley bought the paper and, over the following two decades, developed the Exhibitors Herald into a national trade paper for the US film industry. [5]
In 1917, Quigley acquired and merged another publication, Motography , [5] into his magazine. In 1927, he further acquired and merged the magazine The Moving Picture World and began publishing it as Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World, which was later shortened to the more manageable title, Exhibitors Herald-World. Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World also incorporated The Film Index that was founded in 1906. [6] [7]
After acquiring Motion Picture News in 1930, he merged the publications into the Motion Picture Herald. [8] [9] [10]
The Media History Digital Library has scans of the archive of Exhibitors Herald (1917 to 1927); Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (1928); Exhibitors Herald World (1929 to 1930) and Motion Picture Herald (1931–1956) available online. [11]
Frank Powell was a Canadian-born American stage and silent film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter who worked predominantly in the United States. He is also credited with "discovering" Theda Bara and casting her in a starring role in the 1915 release A Fool There Was. Her performance in that production, under Powell's direction, quickly earned Bara widespread fame as the film industry's most popular evil seductress or on-screen "vamp".
The Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll were polls on determining the bankability of movie stars. They began quite early in the movie history. At first, they were popular polls and contests conducted in film magazines, where the readers would vote for their favorite stars, like the poll published in New York Morning Telegraph on 17 December 1911. Magazines appeared and disappeared often and among the most consistent in those early days were the polls in the Motion Picture Magazine.
Thomas Hayes Hunter was an American film director and producer of the silent era. He directed a total of 34 films between 1912 and 1934.
Powers That Prey is a 1918 silent comedy-drama film directed by Henry King and starring Mary Miles Minter, with whom King stated that he enjoyed working. The film is based on a story called Extra! Extra! by Will M. Ritchey, which was also the working title of the film. As with many of Minter's features, it is thought to be a lost film.
Harrison's Reports was a New York City-based motion picture trade journal published weekly from 1919 to 1962. The typical issue was four letter-size pages sent to subscribers under a second-class mail permit. Its founder, editor and publisher was P. S. Harrison (1880–1966), who previously had been a reviewer for Motion Picture News, in which his column was titled "Harrison’s Exhibitor Reviews".
Dress Parade is a 1927 American silent romantic drama film produced by William Sistrom and Cecil B. DeMille and distributed by Pathé. The film stars William Boyd and Bessie Love, and was directed by Donald Crisp. Although it is based on a story by Major Robert Glassburn, Major Alexander Chilton, and Herbert David Walter, the plot is essentially the same as West Point, produced at MGM in 1928.
Who's Your Neighbor? is a 1917 silent American propaganda and drama film directed by S. Rankin Drew. The film's plot focuses around reformers who pass a law to force prostitutes, including Hattie Fenshaw, out of the red light district. Fenshaw becomes Bryant Harding's mistress and lives in an apartment next door to a reformer, and continues to ply her trade. After Fenshaw becomes familiar with Harding, his son, daughter and the daughter's fiancé, the climax of the film occurs as the cast assembles at Fenshaw's apartment. Harding returns and a fight breaks out that results in the reformers' arrival and concludes with the presumption that Fenshaw returns to a place of "legalized vice". The drama was written by Willard Mack and was his first foray into screen dramas. The film proved controversial, but is noted as a great success. The film originally debuted on June 15, 1917, but it was rejected by the National Board of Review and was later approved after a revision, but the film continued to be labeled as an immoral production. The film is presumed to be lost.
The Moving Picture World was an influential early trade journal for the American film industry, from 1907 to 1927. An industry powerhouse at its height, Moving Picture World frequently reiterated its independence from the film studios.
The Motion Picture News was an American film industry trade paper published from 1913 to 1930.
A Yankee Princess is a 1919 American silent comedy-drama film produced and distributed by the Vitagraph Company of America. It was directed by David Smith and stars Bessie Love, who also wrote the screenplay. It is a lost film.
Polly Ann is a lost 1917 American silent comedy-drama film produced and distributed by the Triangle Film Corporation. It was directed by Charles Miller and stars Bessie Love.
The Strange Adventures of Prince Courageous, also known as The Adventures of Prince Courageous, is a 1923 American silent fantasy film series starring Bessie Love and five-year-old Arthur Trimble, directed by Frederick G. Becker.
A Little Sister of Everybody, sometimes called A Little Sister to Everybody, is a 1918 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Robert Thornby and starring Bessie Love and George Fisher. It was produced by Anderson-Brunton Company and distributed by Pathé.
Martin Joseph Quigley Sr. was an American publisher, editor and film magazine journalist. He founded Exhibitors Herald, which became an important national trade paper for the film industry. He was also the founder of Quigley Publishing.
Motography was an American film journal that was first published in 1909 and ran until mid-1918. The magazine was published in 1909 and was originally named The Nickelodeon, but then changed its name to Motography in 1911. The trade journal was published monthly by Electricity Magazine Corporation in Chicago and had a bureau office in New York City. Motography was one of the most popular American Film trade papers, and was read primarily by individuals in the film industry, such as movie directors and movie theater owners. In 1918, Martin Quigley bought Motography merging it with what eventually became the Motion Picture Herald.
Motion Picture Daily was an American daily magazine focusing on the film industry. It was published by Quigley Publishing Company, which also published the Motion Picture Herald. The magazine was formed by the merging of three existing Quigley publications: Exhibitors Trade Review, Exhibitors Daily Review, and Motion Pictures Today. The first issue was published in April 1931. The magazine was in circulation until 1972.
Maurice Henry Hoffman was an American studio owner and film producer. In the 1920s and 30s, Hoffman made films for seven different studios. He is particularly associated with Poverty Row where studios he founded -Allied Pictures, Liberty Pictures and Tiffany Pictures produced mainly low-budget B pictures.
Wray Bartlett Physioc was an American film director, producer and artist. His film The Gulf Between (1917) was the first Technicolor film ever produced.
Pearl Doles Bell was an American novelist, film scenarist, radio script writer, and editor. During her career, she published eight novels and had numerous stories adapted into silent films. She was especially known for writing film stories for silent film star Shirley Mason.
The Road to the Heart is a 1909 American short film, a dramedy directed by D. W. Griffith and produced by the Biograph Company of New York City. Starring David Miles, Anita Hendrie and Herbert Yost, the production was filmed in two days in March 1909 at Biograph's studio in Manhattan. It was released in April that year and distributed to theaters on a "split-reel", which was a single film reel that included more than one motion picture. The other picture that accompanied this comedy was the Biograph comedy Trying to Get Arrested.