MEW JERSEY, along the Palisades of the Hud- 

 * son, is the birthplace and the home of the inde- 

 pendent movie, where the first successful efforts to 

 combat "the trust" were made. A half dozen com- 

 panies produce there continuously. Others come and go 

 over night. A visitor can hardly walk through the 

 streets of this settlement without running the ris of 

 becoming an involuntary movie actor. 



CHAMPION idea first saw 

 light when the moving picture 

 trust put me out of business. I had a 

 theatre in Philadelphia, with a strong 

 competitor next door a larger theatre, 

 which the trust, for some reason or other, 

 seemed to favor more than mine. They 

 showed newer and better pictures be- 

 cause I couldn't get any others. So I 

 closed up shop, made up my mind to 



produce pictures myself, and give the in- 

 dependent exhibitor a chance. After sev- 

 eral unsuccessful attempts for the trust 

 was very strong I finally opened the 

 Champion Studios here in Coytesville. 



That was seven years ago. Now " 



The speaker, M. M. Dittenfass, man- 

 ager of the "Champion/' leaned from his 

 seat in the automobile, and pointed be- 

 yond a clump of trees near the road to 



35 



