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Scanned from the collection of Eileen Bowser
Coordinated by the Media History Digital Library www.mediahistoryproject.org
Funded by a donation from Richard Scheckman
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
Media History Digital Library
http://www.archive.org/details/movingpicturewor20newy
Price 10 Cents
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THR FII/M ''INDEX
EXHIBITORS
euiD©
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THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
SPRING IS HERE!
—Start your Spring "boost" campaign with a feature that costs a little more but IS A LITTLE BETTER.
-It's ^'CARDINAL RICHELIEU'S WARD" a "Than-
houser BIG Production," four reels, James Cruze and Flo La Badie featured. Renting now.
— Better run "Thanhouser BIG Productions" clear through Spring and even through the heated spell. Better make your theatre the attended theatre ALL THE TIME! Better see that nearest Continental or Mutual office for the at- tractive arrangement that gives you
"Thanhouser BIG' Productions"
for exclusive first-run use for a full-year in your locality. Absolute pro- tection is yours under this system. No more advertising a feature heavily to learn the fellow down the street is going to get it, too. All in four reels and all BIG in story, cast and settings.
THE THANHOUSER THREE-A-WEEK
Sunday, March 29— "WHEN SORROW FADES" is a story of high life and slum that features a little settlement-worker, played by Mignon Anderson. There is a regular beauty array in this picture — Mignon, Fan Bourke and Lila Hayward Chester, the New York Times' Prettiest Girl. Handsome Harry Benham, in the leading male role, contributes more "looks," and Eric Jewett and Ed Walton are in his support.
Tuesday, March 21— "REPENTANCE," TWO REELS, is one of the type of "lesson" plays that made the name of Thanhouser famous. The "punch" in this play is simply terrific ! The noted foreign actor, William Glickman, heads the cast — his first appearance in a moving picture — and with him are "Miss Beautiful," the mystery of the movies ; John Rhinehart — in a DUAL role — Frank Farrington, Nan Bernard and May Dunne.
THANHOUSER FILM CORPORATION
NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y.
Head European Offices : Thanhouser Films, Ltd., 100 Charing Cross Road, London, W. C, England
More "Adventures of a Diplomatic Free Lance/* based on the most Popular of Magazine Series, SOON!!!
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
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THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
(UNIVERSAL)
THE SPY
/£^5x (UNIVERSAL)
Leads Are
HERBERT R WILLIAM WO EDNA ELLA
A Wonderful Play!
Ready the
middle of April!
Book it
NOW!
4
REELS
OF ACTION and THRILLS
U
The
Fenimore Cooper's
greatest novel done
into pictures by
Otis Turner
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
THE SPY
Played By
AWLINSON RTHINGTON MAISON HALL
A Wonderful Cast!
S *L * v
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mm
v*^^^- ^7
(UNIVERSAL)
(UNIVERSAL)
Posters that
will pack your
house to the
doors!
Spy
4
REELS
WITHOUT A DULL MOMENT
A picture that cost a fortune to
make and is WORTH IT!
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
The Open Market
THAT'S WHERE
WARNER'S
The Most Remarkable Production Ever Filmed—
Stupendous in its Scope, Sensational in its
Imaginative Departures.
THAT'S WHERE
ZIN
"WARNER^
_ Furnish Ihe °
!$atur£s
What the OPEN MARKET Means to You
The OPEN MARKET is your guarantee of genuine quality, because —
It simplifies the selection of our releases by the elimination of the unfit; It provides a refreshing variety — new faces, new settings, new stories.
USE OUR WEEKLY SERVICE. START NOW!
Atlanta, Ga. 319 Rhodes Building
Boston, Mass. 207 Pleasant Street
Buffalo, N. Y 23 Swan Street, West
Chicago, I1L .... 37 South Wabash Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio . . . . in West 5th Street Cleveland, Ohio 112 Prospect Street
WHERE
WARNER'S
Dallas, Texas .... Main and Akard Street
Denver, Colo 304 Ideal Building
Detroit, Mich. 30 Campau Bldg.
Indianapolis, Ind. . . 106 East Market Street
Kansas City, Mo 921 Walnut Street
Los Angeles, Cal 527 West 8th Street
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
is OUR Market
WE PROCURE
FEATURES
WE SECURED
CO!!
Released in Four Chapters— Each a Complete Adventure Story — One four-reel and three three- reel sections. You need ZINGO!
What WARNER'S FEATURES Mean to You
Packed houses, pleased patrons, personal satisfaction and a
perfect program —
Relief from all worry about booking the best features and
the worry about getting them when you want them.
A certain remedy for dull nights.
THREE FEATURE RELEASES EVERY WEEK
TO GET
FEATURES
Minneapolis, Minn. .... 354 Temple Court
New Orleans, La 826 Common Street
New York, N. Y. . . . 126 West 46th Street
Philadelphia, Pa. 1202 Race Street
Pittsburg, Pa. 406 Ferry Street
San Francisco, Cal 217 Taylor Street
St. Louis, Mo 207 Benoist Building
Seattle, Wash 600 Union Street
Washington, D. C ... 420 9th Street, N. W.
CANADA Montreal .... 360 St. Catherine Street, W. Toronto 37 Yonge Street
^ARNER'c
Furnish the
5eatures
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
FAMOUS FEATURES k A YEAR.'
Hiiiniiuiimiimmimttnimimnt«q
Daniel Frohivyan
Presents
The
distinguished
American
actor in a 'A/
famous If %
dramatic story. .
pnrapn
The Distinguished American Actor
William E\rnum
In The Famous Tale \o/^\ Strong
K*aris Temptation, transgression
and JRe^eneration,
"The Redemption of David Corson," the noted story of a man's desperate struggle with himself, provides William Farnum with a role superbly suited to his individuality. David Corson is a rugged man with an abundance of magnetism and spiritual For a time he uses his psychic gifts to rescue and redeem his stumbling fellow-men; until a woman comes into his life — and Satan comes also. From this time David degrades his great power by using it as a means to secure the woman. He loses his great faith, gambles and drinks, and narrowly escapes becoming a murderer. Then, after an agonizing period of anguish and remorse, he emerges from the shadow of shame and sin, and achieves his regeneration.
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FAMOUS FEATURES
FAMOUS PLAYERS
EXECUTIVE OFFICES
213-229 W. 26th STREET
NEW YORK
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
WARNING!
To the trade:
A notorious swindler has been forging the signature of Adolph Zukor, President of the Famous Players Film Co., and passing bogus checks upon exhibitors throughout the country. Below is a fac-simile of one of the forged checks:
N«.. 377
-,3fammia payrrs JPUm (£u.
& (SMS,
• PaxJjUhe order or VO ■ JA/. \) CTTWyri&SlA
To SEABOARD NATIONAL BANK NEW YORK CITY
DoiL
QjL^y Zs^<&»*°
If these checks are presented to exhibitors or others in the trade, we would thank them to place the man under arrest and communicate with the Famous Players Film Co.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SWINDLER:
Name, Chas. P. Saunders; aliases, C. H. Baker, Charles H. Sanders, B. W. Somers, Robt. O. Manning, A. P. Stiver ; nativity, American ; age, 35 years ; height, 5 feet 10 inches ; weight, 140 to 150 lbs.; build, medium; complexion, light, sallow; hair, dark brown; eyes, blue; style of beard, clean-shaven.
Warrant for this swindler is held by the Akron, O., police. He has de- frauded hotels in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. If this man defrauds you, or attempts to defraud you, notify your police and cause his arrest!
FAMOUS PLAYERS FILM CO.
Executive Offices, 213-227 West 26th St.,
Adolph Zukor, Pres.
Daniel Frohman, Managing Director. Edwin S. Porter, Technical Director.
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
)k3>jJl%3jJk]PJ\&Jkj^[>U^v.^[ij.
I(J ■'.f'jli ■$•■'*■* 4':/. -iMj 4 jk -' J. ■ip'Ji $JU :4':ih &JU ■
JESSE L. LASKY
Presents a Prodigious Photo-Play Production of the Most Fascinating Comedy-Drama of the Decade
RELEASED APRIL 15th
BREWSTER'S MILLIONS
THE BOOK By George Barr McCutcheon
THE PLAY
By Winchell Smith and
Melville Stone
THE PHOTO-PLAY
Staged by Cecil B. DeMille
and Oscar Apfel
The Mirthful Story of Seven Million Dollars Containing a Laugh or Tear for Every Dollar Spent
A Five Part Screen Play
That Starts With a Ripple
and Ends in a Roar
Situations That Fetch the
Auditors to the Edge of
Their Chairs and Comedy
Climaxes That Make
Them Sit Back Again
Now Attracting Capacity Audiences in Every City in the Union "The Squaw Man" With Dustin Farnum
EDWARD ABELES
IN HIS ORI GI NAL ROLE There's a Booking Agency in Your State
The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Co.
West 48th Street Longac re Theatre New York City
JESSE L. LASKY
President
SAMUEL GOLDFISH
Treju. and Gen. Mtfr.
CECIL B. Ik AIM I F
Director General
M
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
-", ■■-■■■■■"■■■■-■
TH
FULFIL
NIGHT
OF PET
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
i5
FILM C0.«
LMENT
RIDERS
ERSHAM
10
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
»
L
PICTURE PLAYERS
,£'
^a NAME THAT BRINGS A CONTINUOUS ^\* V^ FLOW OF MONEY INTO THE BOX OFFICE ^£&
FEATURES OF EXCEPTIONAL VALUE
ORPHEUM THEATRE Urbana, Ohio
The Edwards Zetler Fea- ture Film Co., Dayton, Ohio. Gentlemen — Enclosed please find check for "FLEUR DE LYS" with Helen Gardner in the title role, the most un- usual picture, and again demonstrating the magnificent work of this wonderful Helen Gardner, and to say that I did a capacity business would be putting it mildly, and the con- gratulations we received were very encouraging.
Yours truly, Lula R. Riefsnider,
Mgr.
RENTALS
CAN BE INCREASED
PROFITS DOUBLED
A Helen Gardner Feature is a reputation builder — uni- versally recognized as the class of American productions.
Exhibitors know the value and drawing power of these splendid productions. There- fore, you can command the highest rentals.
Some Choice Territory Still Open
Wire Now! Do It Today
THE HELGAR CORPORATION
WORLDS TOWER BLOG., NEW YORK CITY, U.S.A.
PHONE, BRYANT 7697-8 SOLE SELLING AGENTS CABLE ADDRE.SS "HELGAR"
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
i?
THIS
FEATURE
IS CERTAINLY THE
SWIFTEST PROPOSITION
IN THE DETECTIVE LINE THAT WE
HAVE HANDLED FOR MANY A DAY. SOME
TIMES WE THINK WE HAVE REACHED THE LIMIT,
BUT THE MAKERS OF THESE FILMS IMPROVE RIGHT ALONG.
THE WARDEN'S CRIME-A Fine Story of Prison Life - NOT GUILTY— The Military Masterpiece of the Season SHOULD A WOMAN TELL?-The Coming Sensation - - THE DEAD MAN WHO KILLED-A Tale of Mystery - THE BATTLE IN THE CLOUDS-The Great Balloon Drama IN THE HANDS OF LONDON CROOKS-By Barker - -
4 Parts
3 Parts
4 Parts
4 Parts 3 Parts
5 Parts
APEX FILM COMPANY
145 WEST 45TH STREET-NEW YORK-P. P. CRAFT, MANAGER
MOGH //0/-/=v^AA/v/V
i8
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
ACQUITTED
An Unusually Appealing Four-Part Photo Drama Abounding in Gripping Situations, Featuring
MISS BETTY NANSEN
The Distinguished Emotional Actress in a Role Worthy of
Her Superb Art
"PREFERRED FEATURE ATTRACTIONS"
A Splendid Subject, Splendidly Presented
After an introductory which fairly bristles with action and the joy of living, the plot swerves by gradual stages up to the supreme test imposed upon a devoted wife whose husband has become a hopeless cripple by reason of a fall from his horse. The sufferer pleads for the means with which to end his agony and the wife, overwhelmed by conflicting emotions, hands him this medium and steels herself for the ordeal which follows. Man-made laws place her on trial for her life and the denouement is one of great power.
ARTISTIC ONE, THREE & SIX SHEET LITHOGRAPHS, DESCRIPTIVE HERALDS AND COLORED SLIDES
Mr. Exhibitor: Ask Us Where You Can Book This Feature
"*m&t
Write or Wire for Territory Now
Great Northern Film Co.
110 West 40th Street, New York City
*th§&
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
i9
"Our MUTUAL Girl"
MEETS
BLANCHE RING
No girl ever had a greater variety of experience than that busiest of all young people in New York.
"Our MUTUAL Girl"
In the eleventh issue of this incomparable picture series Margaret, who has been to see Blanche Ring in "When Claudia Smiles" at the Lyric Theatre, becomes so enthusi- astic about this musical hit that she pleads with her Aunt for permission to go on the Stage herself. Of course, her Aunt refuses, much to the disappointment of
"Our MUTUAL Girl"
who, determined to have her own way at any cost, starts out to find a position. She applies to a well-known manager with such success that she is actually rehearsing with a ballet when her Aunt finds her. Then she has to go back home and is put to bed.
Remember that none of these things would have happened if Margaret hadn't had the good fortune to be introduced to
BLANCHE RING
who is shown on the Screen in two of the Best Scenes of her Production.
EASTER IS COMING SOON, and the part of this reel which is NOT devoted to Margaret's experience trying to "go on the stage," shows this young devotee of fashion at one of the most famous Fifth Avenue Millinery Shops. She has a number of hats sent to her Aunt's house and tries them all on — which is shown distinctly and in the utmost detail. These hats are certainly enough to make her the envy of half of the women in America.
Don't Forget That the Greatest Modern Historical Picture,
THE LIFE of GENERAL VILLA,
is Nearing Completion and is Going to Be the Most Important Feature of this Nature Ever Exhibited.
Also don't fail to remember this list of those Mutual brands which are sure to make your programme stronger than that of any of your competitors:
THAXHOUSER
MAJESTIC
AMERICAN
RELIANCE KAY BEE BRONCHO
KOMIC
DOMINO
PRINCESS
APOLLO
KEYSTONE
ROYAL
MUTUAL WEEKLY BEAUTY
branches MUTUAL FILM CORPORATION S&g
IN 49 CITIES
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
POSTERS
Are Another Thing in Which We Excel
KAY.BEE DOMINO
KEYSTONE BRONCI10
MESSRS KESSEL & BAUMANN are the originators of LITHOGRAPHS in the motion picture business and they personally supervise the artistic work and see that scenes are drawn up that tell the story so graphically that the EXHIBITOR knows when he has our "paper" in his lobby, THAT THERE'S NOT A FIVE OR TEN CENT PIECE GETTING AWAY FROM HIM.
IT IS A RECOGNIZED FACT THAT A KEY- STONE POSTER OUT- SIDE A PLAYHOUSE
MEANS 10 OR 20 DOL- LARS EXTRA ON THE DAY'S RECEIPTS.
MABLE NORMAND
PHOTOS
THIS SET OF 8x10 PHOTOS OF KEYSTONE PLAYERS CAN BE HAD BY SENDING 50 CENTS TO THE PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT.
New York Motion Picture Corp.
Longacre Bldg\, 42d St. & B'way, New York
THE MOV INC, PICTURE WORLD
The Greatest Edison Series
-Feat
uring-
The Man Who Disappeared Marc MacDermott
Ten stories by Richard Washburn Child appearing in "Popular Magazine."
*'"T*HE BLACK MASK" — the first story— tells how John Perriton shields the brother of Mar}' Wales. The boy forges his sister's name to a check and kills the butler who finds him stealing a necklace. Perriton catches him redhanded, and they hear Mary approaching. Wales pleads with Perriton to put on his mask and pretend to be the criminal, but Man- tears it off, and Perriton stands before her apparently guilty of murder. He goes out into the night a fugitive from the law.
Released the first and third Tuesdays, beginning April 7th.
COMING SINGLE REELS
**The Vision in the Window
Wood B. Wedd. Com.-.K.
Monday, March 30fh.
*The Mystery of the Laughing Death Geek Drama. Tuesday, March 31st.
*Mrs. Romana's Scenario
The Missing Twenty-five Dollars
Comedies. Wednesday, April 1 -t
'His Comrade's Wife Drama, Saturday. April 4th.
TWO REEL FEATURES
***The Brass Bowl
From the novel by Louis Joseph Vance. Drama. Friday, March .27th.
***ARomanceof the Everglades
Drama. Friday, \!>ril 3d.
*One sheets. **Oneand three sheets. *** One, three and six sheet posters by the Morgan Lithograph Co.
^^^^ TRAD
G'tmoma*1
TRADE MARK
Q,£du>
cntm
Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
239 Lakeside Ave., Orange, N. J.
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
And if yon -want to be a REAL LIVE EXHIBITOR
and fill your coffers — book Gaumont Films — the big money getter.
"FANTOMAS" No. 4
THE CROOK-DETECTIVE.
IN 4 REELS.
Release (shipping) date Mar. 7.
ACT NOW— WRITE. WIRE. CALL.
EVERY SORT OP PUBLICITY.
BOTH FOR EXCHANGE & EXHIBITOR
For a thrilling, dra- matic story that's dif- ferent, you must get
"The Three Shadows"
There is something doing every second. Dramatic? Well, we should say so! Post- ers ? Original ! Yes, again ! And different ? Absolutely ! They are the last words. Please don't forget that it's sure to sell quickly.
Interesting — appealing to the critical. Pictures that make them ask, "When are you going to show another Gaumont '•" Follow the line of success and let your first Gaumont be
"The Three Shadows"
3 Reels.
A picture that will create business.
Shipping date Mareh 21.
EVERY SORT OF PUBLICITY. BOTH FOR EXCHANGE & EXHIBITOR
A Strong
3
Reel Drama
of Mystery
Our Posters
ARE
Attractive
AND HAVE A
Strong Pull
SLAIN BY THE SPIRIT OF EVIL
Gaumont Co. no ™Z*™t Ystreet
2
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Co
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THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
tON00N^RlSNEWYORKBeR(.((VWeNWA-6RUSSeiS-R0M£-(Y1(LAN-HAM8UR6
PAT HE
OFFICES IN ALL PRINCIPAL CITIES OF THE WORLD
23
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IN TWO PART5
ONE OF THE FAMOUS GERMAN MASTERPIECE SERIES. REDOLENT OF
THE SALTY AIR OF THE SEA AND WITH REALLY FINE ACTINB.
RELEA5ED THURSDAY APRIL 9^
DETECTIVE KELLY
IN TWO PARTS A REAL THRILLER. M FINE DETECTIVE STORY.
RELEASED SATURDAY APRIL II IS INSIST UPON THESE FILM5 AT YOUR EXCHANGE, IF YOU CANT GET THEM WRITE US AND WE'LL HELP YOU.
PATHES WEEKLY
COVERS THE WHOLE WORLD
RATHE FRERES 1 CONGRESS ST.. JERSEY CITY. N.J.
STPETGRSBO«6-STTJCKeOUYl-DRe?0E0l-MAOR(O-ODeSSA-MOS«OU;-WeU/-
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U B I INI
TWO FEATURES EACH WEEK
Romainc Fielding in "Fighting Blood'' 2 Reel Military Drama, Released Wednesday. April 1st.
Arthur Johnson and Lottie Briseoe in 'Lord Algx," 2 Reel Comedy Drama. Released Wednesday. April Stk
A GOOD PROGRAMME FOR EXHIBITORS
|
Comedy Every |
A Drama |
|
Tuesday and |
Every |
|
Saturday |
Friday |
A TWO-REEL FEATURE
Every Wednesday
and Thursday
SPECIAL LUBIN FEATURES
RELEASED BY THE GENERAL FILM COMPANY SPECIAL FEATURE SERVICE
MONDAY, APRIL 13th
"DAUGHTERS OF MEN"
FIVE REELS
By Charles Klein
THURSDAY, APRIL 20th
"OFFICER JIM" THREE
reels By Lawrence S. McCloskey
MONDAY, MAY 4th
"THE GAMBLERS"
FIVE REELS
By Charles Klein
FIVE RELEASES EACH! WEEK
!1™E 1WAVE OF CLUBS"— Comedy I Split Reel Tuesday. March .list
IN THF. SOUP — Comedy J
"THE FIGHTING BLOOD"— Two Reel Military Drama Wednesday. April ist
"THE MANSION OF SOBS"— Two Reel Drafna 2 Thursday," April 2nd
"A MAX'S FAITH"— Drama Friday, April srd
"SHE WAS A PEACH"— Comedy 1 c ... D , _ t . A ., ,..
"THE EYES HAVE IT"-Comedy \ H'hl Reel Saturday. April 4th
SPECIALLY DESIGNED POSTERS
One and Three Sheets zeith Single and Split Reels— One. Three and Six Sheets with Multiple Features. Order from your Exchange or the A. B. C. Co., Cleveland, Ohio.
Lubin Manufacturing Co.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Chicago Office: 154 West Lake Street
reSH5H5Z5a5Z525ZSHS252S25HSZnS2525H5HSH5BS2SZ5ZSZ5B5H5BS25H5252S25H^^
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
25
IDE
JDC
IDC
THE RECKONING
Four Parts (copyrighted) April 1st
The Tragic Search
A GRIPPING DRAMA WITH A HUNDRED PERCENT OF ACTION Read the Synopsis in this Issue
LOYALTY
Five Parts
(COPYRIGHTED)
April 10th
An unusual tale of devotion. A huge windmill is destroyed by lightning; a giant balloon bursts in mid-air and the occupants are dashed to the ground many feet below .
Exquisitely colored by the Eclectic Natural Color Process Eclectic Feature Film Exchanges:
ATLANTA BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS LOS ANGELES MINNEAPOLIS
Rhode. Bldg. 3 Tremont Row S S. Wabash Ave. Andrews Bid?. 114 E. 7th St. 4th & Hennepin St..
NEW YORK PITTSBURGH SAN FRA NCISCO ST. LOUIS SYRACUSE
HOW. 40th St. 715 Liberty Ave. 67 Tu A rlc St. 3210 Locust St. 214 E. Fayette St.
ECLECTIC
110 West 40th St.
FILM CO.
New York City
" The Cream of American and European Studios '
IDC
JUL
3DC
26
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Comin
Aa/ter criminal
'Price 4 tf 'Jreacherjr
WORLD FILM CORPORATION
130 WEST 46th STREET, NEW YORK CITY
\0J
;
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
ropy
AKG
THE MAID °ft)RLEAW
5 ACTS OF JrifTORYG DRAMA TRUE TO LIFE. WONDERFULLY ACTED & SUMPTUOUSLY PRODUCED
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OFFICES IN ALL PRINCIPAL
A ROM
THREE REELS OF
One of those superb features that can be truly called great. Better other Pathe Productions the story •will appear in the Hearst
General Film Co. as a Special
PATBE'S WEEKLY
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THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
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CITIES OF THE WORLD
29
ANY SPY
BREATHLESS INTEREST
plot, better acting or better story can scarcely be conceived Papers. To be released MARCH 26th through the Feature Photo Play Masterpiece.
PATHE'S weekly
WHOLE. GLOBE
PATHE FRERES 1 CONGRESS ST. JERSEY CITY. N.J.
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HAVE YOU BOUGHT IT?
ALMOST ALL THE TERRITORY IS SOLD FOR CHARLES DICKENS*
THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP
A HEPWORTH SPECIAL RELEASE, Produced in Five Parts, showing the original scenery that Dickens portrayed
SPECIAL PUBLICITY MATTER!
Beautiful 1, 3, 6, 24 sheet lithographs, special heralds, booklets, photographs, slides, cuts, etc.
THE TURNER FILMS, LTD., PRESENT THE POPULAR FAVORITE, MISS
FLORENCE TURNER
IN A TWO PART DRAMA ENTITLED
ROSE OF SURREY
Rose, with the aid of her father-in-law, wins the love of her very indifferent husband by an
exceptionally ingenious method.
HERE IS YOUR CHANCE! BUY
THE STATE RIGHTS FOR THE PICTORIAL PRODUCTION OF CHARLES READE'S GREATEST WORK
THE CLOISTER and THE HEARTH
FIVE PARTS SOME TERRITORY STILL UNSOLD FOR THE TWO POWERFUL
JUSTICE HEPWORTH RELEASES BLIND FATE
4 PARTS ^~~~ ~ ~ ~~ 2 PARTS
A. BLIINKHORN, Pres.
HEPWORTH AMERICAN FILM CORPORATION, 110-112 West 40th St., N. Y. C.
State rights for New England, Greater New York, New York State and Northern New Jersey for the above productions, sold to ANIMA FILM RENTAL CO., 110 West 40th Street, New York City Booking Agents for New Jersey--Modem Film Co., 607 Broad St., Newark, N. J.
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
ft i
DID IT EVER OCCUR I TO YOU
why "GEORGE KLEINE ATTRACTIONS
set the world standard? A WORLD MARKET — uphampered by the output of any particular studio— A WORLD REPUTATION FOR PURCHASE OF THE GREATEST SUBJECTS— these two mighty factors, combined, con- stitute the answer.
We offer below a list of motion-photography subjects whose manufacturing cost exceeds a million dollars ! More than twenty thousand people were engaged, at one time or another, in the manufacture of these mighty multiples. They have entertained and instructed millions of souls in all parts of the Earth, Christian and Pagan.
If you have not already projected every one, you have missed an opportunty — a chance which still invites your earnest consideration !
" Quo Vadis ? " an » pans) "The Last Days of Pompeii" (in e parts) "Antony and Cleopatra" d» 8 p.rt.) "Between Savage and Tiger" cm « p«t») "For Napoleon and France" a- « part.)
They're Winners, every one ! Book Them !
We can furnish a splendid line of lithographs, heralds, press matter and all other varieties of publicity material covering any of the above subjects.
KLEINE-CINES
"THE SECRET VAULT
(Copyright, 1914, by George Kleine) (In two parts)
For Release Tuesday, April 14, 1914
A charming story of love and politics — a designing lawyer and a clever detective. Released through General Film Co. I, 3 and 6 sheet posters with this subject.
GEORGE
166 North State Street
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
VITAGRAPH
THE CRUCIBLE OF FATE
Released Satuiday, April 4.
Every Week
TwoVitagraph Special Features
Each in Two Parts
Tuesday I Saturday
Every Week
A Comedy
every '
WednesdayiiFriday.
MEMORIES THAT HAUNT Released Tuesday, April 7.
"THE SILVER SNUFF BOX"
Drama. Monday, March 30th
It leads to the unravelling of a series of villainous crimes. At sight of it, the cultprit trembles in terror. A guiltless girl is saved from suspicion and marries the man who established her innocence. Clara Kimball Young and Darwin Karr in the leads.
"A HELPFUL (?) SISTERHOOD"
Drama. Special Two-Part Feature
Tuesday, March 31st
Aroused by the pretensions of others, a poor girl is led into extravagance ami follv. A wiser head corrects their mistaken ideas of life and. character. A happv change is brought about. Van 1 tyke TJrooke, Marie Weirman and Norma Talmadge are the principals.
"STAGE-STRUCK"
Comedy. Wednesday, April 1st
With inspiration to become an actor lady, the young wife makes a laughable mistake. Her husband, with the aid of a book-agent, makes her glad to go back home and give up her ambitions to pose in the limelight. Ada Gifford, Hughie Mack and Ned Finley keep things lively.
"TOMMY'S TRAMP"
Comedy-Drama. Thursday, April 2nd
The tramp Tommy knows doesn't have to wash. He starts out to be a tramp. too. After he is rescued from a burning barn, he is glad to go home and be washed and cared for by his parents. Little Buddy Harris is the lead.
"BUNNY'S SCHEME"
Comedy. Friday, April 3rd
While arranging for his friends' honeymoon, he starts on his own. He finds himself with Flora Finch in Florida, married and celebrating a double honey-
"THE CRUCIBLE OF FATE"
Drama. Two-Part Special Feature
Saturday, April 4th
To follow a stage career, the wife leaves her husband and child. Caught in a burning theatre, she is rescued by her husband. The man with whom she fled is lost in the flames. Crippled and refined by the Crucible of Fate, she finds thl soothing love and kindness of her family a welcome retribution. Naomi Childers, Arthur Ashley and Donald Hall are the leading characters.
SIX A WEEK
"CHERRY"
"PUPS ON THE RAMPAGE"
Comedy and Zoological MONDAY, APRIL 6th
"MEMORIES THAT HAUNT" Drama— Special Two-Part Feature TUESDAY, APRIL 7«i
■FRAID CAT"
Comedy-Drama WEDNESDAY. APRIL 8th
"THE LITTLE SHERIFF"
Western Drama THURSDAY. APRIL oth
"AN EASTER LILY"
Comedy FRIDAY. APRIL loth
"THE GIRL FROM PROSPERITY" Comedy— Special Two-Part Feature : SATURDAY, APRIL nth
THE VITAGRAPH COMPANY RELEASES A SPECIAL FEATURE IN TWO PARTS EVERY TUESDAY AND SATURDAY AND A COMEDY EVERY WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY.
\ "1 1 \ GRAPH ONE, THREE AND SIX SHEET POSTERS— 7 x 9 PHOTOS OF VITAGRAPH PLAYERS.
BROADWAY STAR FEATURES. SURPASSING ALL PREVIOUS VITA- GRAPH ACHIEVEMENTS.
THE VITAGRAPH CO. OF AMERICA
East 15th St. and Locust Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
THE MOVING PICTURE \Y< IRLD.
33
TWO MASTERPIECES
OF OVERTOWERING STRENGTH AND MAGNITUDE
gaum
w*{
The Night Riders % \ Urn. of Petersham b
Released through General Film Masterpiece Service
LOST IN MID-OCEAN, RELEASED MONDAY, MARCH 23rd[
VITAGRAPH SPECIALS
34
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
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A Two-Part CARLYLE BLACKWELL Feature
Hughson discovers the siren's diabolical scheme which caused him to cast off his wife. How he follows the wronged woman to Africa, arriving jus/ in time to rescue her from savages, will hold your patrons spellbound.
Released Monday, April 13th. Tell the crowd that
passes about your show— Get Kalem 1, 3 and &-sheets
THE NAVAJO BLANKET
Featuring Princess Mona Darkfeather, in a Two-Part Romance
The Apaches' savage attack upon the defenseless Navajo camp; the Indian maid's flight for help; the Navajoes' awful revenge, a few of the stirring incidents.
Released Wednesday, April 15th. The most stirring in- cidents splendidly portrayed on Kalem I, 3 and 6 sheets
A RACE WITH THE LIMITED
Featuring Miss Billie Rhodes in a Romance of the Iron Trail
v\- 'i
Released Friday, April 17th
THE FIGHT ON DEADWOOD TRAIL
A Drama of the Early West
Aided by friendly Indiana, the miner pursues tne renegades who stole his gold. The desperate hand-to-hand combat that follows is intensely ex- citing.
Released Saturday, April 18th. Special 1 and 3 sheets
Issued through the Special Feature Department of the General Film Company
THE BOER WAR— I„ Five Parts
FRANCIS MARION, THE SWAMP FOX
— In Three Parts THE OTHER HALF OF THE NOTE_/„ Three Parts
WOLFE, or THE CONQUEST OF QUEBEC
— In Five Parts THE DEATH SIGN AT HIGH NOON-7„ Three Parts A CELEBATED CASE— /„ Four Parts
KALEM COMPANY
235-59 W. 25rd St. NEW YO R K
-'>■-" w
mm^^m
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
35
EXHIBITORS
J. P. Chalmers, Founder. Published Weekly by the
Chalmers publishing Company
17 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY.
(Telephone, 3510 Madison Square.)
J. P. Chalmers, Sr President
E. J. Chalmers Secretary and Treasurer
John Wylie Vice-President and General Manager
The office of the company is the address of the officers. Western Office — Suite 917-919 Schiller Building, Chicago, 111. Telephone, Central 5099.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES.
United States, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Rico and
Philippine Islands 3.00 per year
Canada 3.50 per year
Foreign Countries ( Postpaid) 4.00 per year
ADVERTISING RATES.
Classified Advertising — no display— three cents per word; mini- mum charge, 50c. Display Advertising Rates made known on application.
NOTE. — Address all correspondence, remittances and subscrip- tions to Moving Picture World, P. O. Box 226, Madison Square Station, New York, and not to individuals.
(The index for this issue will be found on page 134.) Entered at the General Post Office, New York City, as Second Class Matter.
Saturday, April 4, 1914.
Facts and Comments
TOWARD the end of our legislative sessions at Albany, when everybody knows that it is too late to pass a bill, a flood of fool measures is pouring down upon the speaker's desk. We would have been disappointed if the motion picture theater had been left out in this annual crop of legislative folly. Among the measures relating specially to motion pictures is one pro- viding for the appointment of a commission with juris- diction over the entire state. It is really a censorship scheme in thin disguise. We suppose the disguise was thought necessary in view of the odium which the late Mayor Gaynor has brought upon the word censorship in this state. Thanks to his vigorous and intelligent action, the spectre of censorship in this state will not emerge from the shadows in many a year. * '* *"
ONE of the signs of the great progress in quality is the disposition of the public to expect high stand- ards from the film producer who engages in the
filming of a classic or biblical subject. It has taken years i" reach the higher standards in the treatment of great subjects, and it is the plain duty of the journals devoted to motion pictures to maintain these standards and to -: against any lowering of them. What might have
been tolerated five years ago has become impossible to-day. Not only the critics, but the public, have become far more discriminating, and an inferior picture leaning on a famous name or subject is a positive injury to the new reputation of the motion picture art. Nor will un- conscionable "puffing" help in the least. You cannot "puff" merit into a picture which does not really possess it. The enthusiasm of the press agent is always par- donable and always harmless, because the public will freely use the grains of salt "in such case made and pro- vided." The press agent owes responsibility only to his employer, while the journal with a conscience owes a duty to all its readers.
*
The Moving Picture World enjoys the implicit con- fidence of its readers because every reader knows that it is not only fair but when occasion demands it, fearless. With every disposition to encourage the producer, whose money and enterprise and art are essential to the life and prosperity of the industry, The Moving Picture World will never hesitate to point out what is faulty and in- ferior. It need not be emphasized to our readers that all criticism is intended to be constructively useful to the producer as well as profitable to the exhibitor. Any other kind of criticism is utter waste of words. The reader of this paper has the right to expect honest and truthful reports of all the work turned out by the pro- ducer, even if on occasion it becomes necessary to make Inferiority wince and Mediocrity to go into mourning. * * #
THE School of Journalism is thought by many newspaper men to be an impossible fad, but there is one exercise lately adopted in that school which will be commended even by those who believe that news- paper men are born, not made. We refer to the intelligent use of the motion picture in connection with a course in reporting. Two or three reels of motion pictures show- ing real warfare are thrown upon the screen, and the budding reporters are asked to watch the action and then write out their reports of what they have seen. When the writer was a young man the description of gorgeously dressed show-windows was considered a suitable exercise for the youthful reportorial fancy, but the motion picture is much more likely to lick the "cub" into shape. There was no action in the show-window.
ORGANIZED exhibitors everywhere ought to fight the men who for the sake of a little money, or often for the sake of the pleasure of anticipating it. are willing to subject the reputable men in the profession to stigma and reproach. We call attention to a typical case in the neighboring city of Moboken. Like the rest of the country, this thriving town had greatly increased both the quality and the quantity of its moving picture theaters within the last year or two. The personnel of the men in the profession had improved, their shows were un- molested by the authorities. Now comes one man, a Stranger alike to the feelings of decency and fraternity and displays "white-slave" films after offensively adver- tising them. At once there is trouble. The Mayor very properly thinks his oath of office means something, and he ibout to stop the nuisance. Not familiar with condi- tions, be proposes censorship, thus endangering invest- ments figuring into the hundreds of thousands. The danger is averted for the moment, but what about the man who either recklessly or willfully tried to wreck the busi- ness of his fellows? fan nothing be done by the organ- ized exhibitor- to eliminate him from the ranks of the -ion?
36
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
A Solemn Joke?
By W. Stephen Bush
AT a time when all the great constitutional issues in- volved in the attempted censorship legislation of the State of Ohio are being considered by three Federal judges in the Northern District of Ohio a most curious "National censorship bill" is introduced in the Senate of the United States by Hoke Smith, one of the senators from Georgia. It is introduced "by request," which means that the introducer does not want to be blamed personally for what he has done. The Senator says in an inter- view that he is anxious "that the people all over the coun- try should know just what is in the bill." He also hopes that "publicity will give the bill the benefits of criticism."
One does not have to read much between these lines to get at the true inwardness of it all. Senator Smith, who, as a member of one of the Cleveland cabinets, has ac- quired a reputation as a solemn political wag, has prob- ably been importuned by the censorship "cranks" all over the country to help them, and he, consequently, intro- duced the bill, thus getting rid of the individual and col- lective reformers who have been dinning things into his senatorial ears.
It is impossible to look upon this bill and not laugh at it.
Nevertheless there is a serious, aye, almost a sad and sombre aspect of the whole situation. The introduction of the bill reveals the scandalous fact that there are many thousands, perhaps millions, of Americans who do not know the first principles of the fundamental laws of the land in which they and their ancestors have been living. Let us for the moment waive the question of the legality of official censorship in the states. Let us for the sake of argument — and only for the sake of argument — assume that the states may exercise the right of censorship over motion pictures. It is absolutely certain that the Con- gress of the United States has no jurisdiction over the subject-matter at all. It is well-known to every school- boy who has passed his Regents Examination in Civics that the United States has only such powers as the Arti- cles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States confer upon it. These powers are carefully and specifically enumerated in the Articles of Confederation and in the Federal Constitution.
Article X of the latter instrument declares : "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Con- stitution . . . are reserved to the states. ..." We make no apology for advising the strange human beings who still talk in all seriousness about a "national cen- sorship" to either buy or borrow a copy of the United States Constitution and read it through, not once but several times. They will look in vain for any power con- ferred on the United States permitting the Congress of the United States to deal with censorship or regulation of motion pictures in any way whatever. The obvious fact that motion pictures were unknown in 1788 ought to make this discovery easy enough. There is no power in the Congress of the United States which by analogy might be construed into a Federal power over motion pictures. In other words, there is far more substance in the beams of the moon than in all this talk of official national censorship.
As exclusively announced in The Moving Picture World at the time, Congress put a censorship clause in the new tariff law. The power to censor certain motion picture films is vested in the Treasury Department and
is confined to pictures made abroad and imported from abroad. We believe that this provision of the new tariff law is of doubtful constitutionality, but there is at least a shadow and a semblance of reason for it, for the power of Congress over importations and customs is clear. It is a well-known fact that the Treasury Department looks upon this censoring clause as a dead letter. It is optional with the Treasury Department to enforce this clause or to ignore it. Up to the present time no effort has been made to enforce it or to take it seriously. No set of rules and regulations have ever been prepared to carry it into effect. The fact of the matter is that the Treasury Department has been advised in an informal way of the absurdity of this censorship clause which was inserted into the new tariff law, not by a legislator, but by the chaplain of the United States, a pious man, no doubt, but a man with no legal or legislative experience.
To us it is perfectly incomprehensible that the advo- cates of censorship for motion pictures cannot see that its evils cannot be abated by making the censorship na- tional in scope. A national censorship, even if such a thing were legally feasible, would by no means abolish state censorship. The states would exercise their cen- sorships concurrently with the Federal government just as the liquor traffic to-day is subject both to state and to Federal regulation.
Sooner or later the sanity of American statesmanship and the validity of the fundamental law must be vindi- cated. The litigation now pending in Ohio must soon come to a decision. The facts and the law in that case were submitted to the U. S. District Court of the Northern District of Ohio in November of last year. Whatever the decision may be, it is bound to be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. The great question of whether the motion picture is to be enfran- chised and put in one and the same category with the press as a medium of free and untrammeled expression cannot be ultimately adjudicated anywhere but in Jthe highest court of the land.
Congress has forbidden the transportation from one state into another of films depicting prize-fights. We have always pointed out that while we are in sympathy with the suppression of such films we are altogether doubtful of the legality of the measure. Congress bases its action on the prize-fight films on its delegated power to regulate commerce between the states. It does not censor the film nor even attempt to censor it. Congress summarily forbids its transportation from one state to another. Even if we are prepared to admit that Con- gress had the power to do this it does by no means fol- low by any method of analogy that censoring motion pic- tures generally is one of the powers that Congress pos- sesses as the regulator of interstate commerce.
Why not wait with any further agitation or action for the establishment of official censorship until the Court which is now deliberating on the arguments submitted has rendered its decision? Such a course would be com- mon sense and good law at the same time. No earthly good can be accomplished by the foolish and arbitrary meddling by local authorities. The industry is sufficiently strong, at any rate, to be intrusted with its own regulation for the few days which will probably elapse before the announcement of the judicial decision. If the country has survived ten years of motion pictures without any great visible injury, it is likely to last a few weeks longer.
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Only a Story
By Louis Reeves Harrison
37
F"NAR away, down in the valley, can be seen the figure of a woman all in white. She is coming straight up, sometimes hidden by slight undulation of ground and tall grass, but never wavering from her course, even to notice flowers that watch her in silent envy. There is an expectant look on her face as she approaches ; it is radiant with promise of a smile ; her eyes shine as she glances to the right and to the left of her, then she stops and lays one hand on her panting bosom and closes her eyes. Is she weary, or has a sudden thought affected her, a premonition that there is to be failure in what she has counted upon?
Now that she is near, it is seen that she is young — her face has the sweetness of inexperience, — that she is at the dawn of womanhood, yet there is an elegance about her, in the drapery of her costume, in her poise and grace of movement, that indicates a high social position. There is simplicity in her elegance — she wears no jewelry, not even a ring, and her costly gown is cunningly devised to, harmonize with her youth. She is an exquisite product of rare cultivation. She opens her eyes, sighs deeply, bites her nether lip in impatience over her faint-hearted- ness and forces a smile. She is taking on new courage. "After all, it is only a question of waiting."
She waits a little, then a mystified expression creeps into her face. A frown of perplexity settles between her brows, and she glances about her with alarmed suspicion. Some one is near. She feels it, and shrinks back as if suddenly paralyzed with fear. "What is that movement in the grass?" She gazes with open-eyed horror at the spot, then her fears are superseded by curiosity. She advances and kneels down, her features relaxing with pity and softening with natural affection. She spreads the grass apart, and
Such is the opening note of an intense drama, whose general scheme Yorick of Six Plots could not come within six hundred plots of guessing, but the point is whether the best of directors would similarly interpret a scenario reading, "Scene I. Dorothy seen climbing hill.
looks about her, kneels down in grass, and " After
reading the detailed action and characterization herein given, the director might use an ordinary sketch as a re- minder of what was already well pictured in his mind. but could not the rough sketch alone be subject to manv interpretations, none of which would approach the author's conception ?
I am only asking a question — I leave bare assertion to those who know all about it. and their name is legion. The whole art of photodrama production, from the orig- inal scenario, through the intricacies of staging, select- ing types, insisting on appropriate costumes, directing the action, photographing the scenes, developing, toning, tinting, printing and editing, is a fascinating study in each and every department. It is all worth discussion, all worthy of the light of intelligent opinion, no matter how varied, so I occasionally raise a question without at- tempting to give the answer. Should not an author pic- ture his story so that his full conception is made clear, or should he leave nearly all that is calculated to stimulate imagination to guesswork?
It is said that this question is difficult to decide because such a flood of manuscripts are sent to the studios, of which not one in a hundred is worth while. May I in- quire, in purest simplicity of heart, why scenarios obvi- ously not worth while are examined at all? Is it that their worthlessness is not obvious? I hope it is not un-
reasonable to compare a scenario to a plan of a house that is to be built. ' If you were about to build a house costing tens of thousands, or merely thousands, would you seek plans from those who know their business, or would you devote your valuable time to studying designs obviously drawn by those who know nothing about the business?
Would you ask a professional architect, one accus- tomed to give care, time, study, concentration upon a balance between good taste and practical utility in his drawings, to stunt all that afforded evidence of their value so that you could have more time to examine the obviously worthless? Is it not pretty nearly time for you to measure up to the publisher, or the editor, in rec- ognizing craftsmanship at a glance? Even if an archi- tect were able to picture the house he is to build by glancing at a penciled outline, could he give you a clear idea of the completed structure in that way? Do not the builders of successful structures of any kind require plans worked out in complete and thorough shape ?
I am only asking questions. Is it not true that a split- reel farce comedy is the kind of a shack that can be built on scant framework, and that, as the drama rises in size and importance, the working plans require greater pains and attention to detail if the costly structure is to com- mand general admiration? Is it not common experience that the greatest and the most beautiful edifices are well conceived in the mind of man before materialization is attempted? Is not the patched-up house that requires constant changing the least profitable in the end? Is it reasonable to expect, even, if the demand for features is in excess of the supply and permits the profitable sale of excrescences, that such a condition will always obtain?
A photoplay is only a story. That started at the be- ginning of this article was amplified a little more than necessary, but, even as it stands, it would only occupy about half of a letter page in single space, and it con- tains in story form a description of the setting, costume, type, characterization, emotional expression and actual movement in an opening scene of high importance. The director or the editor who reads it does not have to guess at its meaning as he goes along, with only one chance in a hundred that he will guess right. To the contrary, he is enabled to see the play as the author sees it and wishes the audience to see it.
If a photodrama i> a structure that must be built up according to well-devised plans, those plans must nat- urally come from those competent to make them, and that is the trend of modern production. Producers are going to professional authors instead of to amateurs for their scenarios. I admit that professional authors have a lot t<> learn about this new art. One thing that few of them have ever though of is what might be called the "time scheme" of a big feature. A writer having expert knowl- edge of the question of time measurement in scenes and acts can greatly facilitate the director's labor and save quite an amount of money now wasted in taking more of each scene than is actually necessary.
But after an author has mastered all the technics of the new art, after he has succeeded in preserving the con- tinuity of a hundred and fifty scenes in a five-reel fea- ture and in establishing a condition of interest that will hold an audience motionless for two hours, he must re- member that he must submerge all he has learned, even the purpose of what he is telling, for the finest photo- drama ever shown on the screen is "only a story."
38
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
"The Perils of Pauline"
The New Eclectic Serial Carries Prizes Worth $25,000; But Is Good Enough To Stand Alone.
Reviewed by Hanford C. Judson.
THE motion picture serial has come to stay. Serial novels have long held a commanding position in the magazines; but one of the most popular of these has concluded that they are no longer popular and is offering a complete novel with short stories. No one will deny that this, from the reader's standpoint, is a wise move ; for the serial in the magazine, especially the monthly, was, except in cases of "three decker" novels, only a business expedient to induce an even, dependable distribution. But, quite on the other hand, the requirements of an evening's entertainment in a motion picture theater that accents the me- chanical difficulties of presenting long stories would have made the serial picture imperative. The modern spectator wants va- riety and won't stand being wearied. The serial picture is so
ful and pleasing. There is also a very fair "tough" character in the story. All the characters, except, Miss White, are guilty, now and then, of over-registering their points.
The mechanical work is meritorious and we wish we could say that the photography, the prints, are perfectly clear and service- able. That the thickness of the photographs in some of the scenes fails to hinder our comprehension of the story, speaks well for the simplicity and clearness of the script. At the open- ing of the double exposure scene in which the mummy comes to life, an awkward jump is noticeable; but the unsubstantial figure flits about the room in the best possible way and goes back to her mummy case again in so perfect a closing of the double exposure that the eye can detect no manipulation at all ; it is done as naturally as dream.
The story has a story within a story; for Pauline is a' budding writer and has got one of her novelettes accepted and printed by the Cosmopolitan Magazine and the old man, her foster father, reads it to us (in pictures) without wearying 'us at all. She doesn't want to get married to the hero for a year; she
Scenes From the First Installment of the new Eclectic Serial Feature. "The Perils of Pauline."
vivid and the impression it leaves on one is so clear-cut that the period of waiting between installments is rather a pleasant ex- perience than otherwise. This is going to work out distinctly for the good of the business ; for the serial that isn't vivid and doesn't leave an impression deep enough to last over the gap, is going to be the sharpest kind of frost. The serial that doesn't "get over" had better not have been made. By the same token, the serial picture that does get over with a real punch is going to be a great money-maker. "The Perils of Pauline" seems, on this account, to this reviewer, an ideal offering for the exhibitor.
There are several things that contribute to its excellence as a show. There are big prizes offered to spectators clever enough to solve certain mysteries that come up in the progress of its story and we may add at once that these mysterious things are not, so far, in connection with the plot and we feel sure that they will not hamper the interest in the story at all. But even better than the $25,000 in prizes that are offered is the good quality of the entertainment. Only the first installment, the first three reels, has as yet been shown to us. We know nothing of the rest of the picture ; but are sure that this part is good and when it closes we are, in our hearts, certain that Pauline, charmingly portrayed by Pearl White, is in real danger from the much trusted but very villainous secretary (Paul Panzer), of her foster father now dead. By the old man's will, the precious secretary will inherit, "if anything happens" to the heiress.
Miss White hasn't had so good a chance in a long while to show her art and she plays this picture's ingenuous heroine with the truly wonderful naturalness that she has so surely at her command. Perhaps she doesn't always hit square in the center of the effect she desires ; but she does it so often that she continually commands the heart-interest of the audience. Mr. Panzer, in the villain's part, finds it his duty to intensify this. His work on the audience is, of course, through the heroine and in the playing that he is doing and will do, he stirs an anti-sympathy that is every bit as worthy of praise ; for the audience takes it with the left hand, so to speak, and affectionately hands it back to the heroine with its right. Crane Wilbur, as the hero, has little chance in this beginning portion. The character is still colorless and we can hardly as yet criticise the player. The picture's weak- est point is in its relief. The "comedy'' gauchery of the outdoors man, a sort of gardner, but too much of a fool to tend a garden, is weak and not less so is the "fall" of the butler who is run- ning out to the gate to help the gardner bring in the mummy box that comes to the house shortly before the heroine's foster father dies. The old man is drawn very well. He has now passed away and will not appear again — at least we presume so. The mummy, who comes to life while the old man dreams, is grace-
wants to see life first so that she can write things worth while. In the old man's will, her part of the fortune is left in charge of the secretary until she gets married. As the picture's first in- stallment ends, it is clearly to her interest to elope with almost anyone ; but what she really does do is left undecided as yet till the next of the series.
FRED KESSEL DEAD.
Fred Kessel, brother of Ad. and Charles Kessel. of the New York Miction Picture Corporation, died on Tuesday, March 17. and was buried on the 19th. The deceased was forty years old and leaves a widow and two children, one of whom, a daughter, is married. Fred Kessel was the only one of the brothers who was not engaged in the mo- tion picture business, he, following the printing business instead. While he had been in poor health for more than a year the immediatte cause of death was pneumonia.
PICTURES AT PROCTOR'S FIFTH AVENUE THEATER.
Commencing Monday, March 23, the program at Proctor's Fifth Avenue Theater. Broadway and 28th Street, New York, was changed to include feature pictures, "Judith of Bethulia" being the first feature to be shown, followed by "Soldiers ol Fortune" and "Why Girls Leave Home." This well-known house has been completely renovated and redecorated and its equipment greatly improved by the installation of a $30,000 Wurlitzer Hope-Jones symphony orchestra.
BURTON HOLMES MARRIES.
Burton Holmes, widely known as a motion picture travel- ogue man, was married on Saturday, March 21, to Miss Margaret Elise Oliver, daughter of Mrs. Charles K. Oliver. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Dr. Nathan A. Seagle, at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, New York.
CAN'T DO WITHOUT IT.
Editor Moving Picture World:
Dear Sir: — Enclosed please find check for renewal for this year and wish to compliment you on the last year's issues, which have been fair and impartial and consider it next to impossible to conduct the picture business to- day without having the Moving Picture World- With compliments of the season, I remain yours truly,
Crystal Theater, Waco, Texas. J. A. LEMKE.
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
39
"Like Father Like Son" (American)
Reviewed by James S. McQuade.
THE two reel subject, "Like Father Like Son." by the Ameri- can, presents an impressive lesson on the dangers of play- ing cards for money. It is an old maxim that the man who loses heavily at his first game, in any form of gambling, is highly favored by the gods; and that the man who wins at his first game will need a host of guardian angels thereafter to protect him from wrong doing.
The subject under review gives us an instance where a father serves a long term sentence for using his employer's money to meet his gambling debts; and where his son, over twenty years after, commits a similar crime, but is saved from the consequences.
Scene from "Like Father Like Son" (American).
Thomas Ricketts directed the making of these films, and he has been careful to keep in mind the after supervision of the censor. He has told the story strongly, without any reasonable risk of priming by the censorial scissors.
The story does not demand from those who sustain the charac- ters the exercise of any great display of photodramatic talent; but the greatest praise that can be given an actor is that he or she invests an ordinary character, amid ordinary surroundings, with its full natural force and artistic form. Edward Coxen. Miss Winnifred Greenwood and George Field have been assigned the principal parts, and all are to be commended for faithful depic- tions.
Scene from "Like Father Like Son" (American).
Miss Greenwood in the role of Mrs. Longley, the much tried
wife and mother, excites our sympathy and win- cur praise. .Mr.
Coxen and Mr. Field, in the parts of Ed. Longley and Paul
, the erring father and son of the story, also give wcll-
dr.iu n characterizations.
The disappearance of Ed. Longley from the path of his son's life, after he had saved him from shame and dishonor, is a most ve incident of the story. It convinces one of the thorough reformation of the convict, who, in order to spare his son the humiliation which a knowledge of the past would l.nim, passes out into the big. cold world to bear his crushing burden alone.
Edward Longley, the trusted cashier of a hank, and happy with his wife and Paul, his little son. listens to the repeated invitation
of some of his friends and plays his first game of poker. He gets up from the table a winner and feels elated.
Six months later we find that he frequents a professional poker game and that he is always a loser. These professional sharpers soon get the whole fleece of the lamb, and afterwards secure his 1(1. U. for a sum too large for him to meet with his own funds. Then they press him for payment and he takes the money from the big safe in the bank. Next morning the theft is discovered, and soon afterwards Ed. Longley occupies a felon's cell.
Mrs. Longley sells the little home and takes her boy, Paul, aged five, to another town far away to start life anew. Twenty years elapse and she is proud of her son, who has become cashier of the chief hank in the city.
Edward Longley has just been released from prison, where his conduct had been exemplary. He tries to find work, but always fails because of his lack of references. Then he chances to enter the city where his wife and Paul live. There, too, he fails to find anything but menial labor. One day, having induced the boss of a sweeping gang to employ him, he is run down by an auto driven by his son, Paul. The latter takes the injured man home where Mrs. Longley recognizes him. She immediately insists that his identity must be kept from Paul, who know^s nothing of the past. Longley gladly assents, and is about to leave the premises when Paul returns to the room and insists that he shall be put under a doctor's care. When Longley recovers, he finds that Paul has secured for him the position of night watchman at the bank.
And now history repeats itself. Paul plays his first game of bridge whist at a fashionable gathering and wins. Soon, like his father before him, he plays with professional crooks and loses a large amount. The holder of his note demands payment, under threat of Paul's exposure to the president of the bank. Paul ab- stracts money from the bank's safe, but the night watchman, who has been fearful for his son's future, suspects the truth and dur- ing the night's rounds finds Paul's handkerchief beside the safe. He goes to Paul's home and delivers it to him. Paul is con- science-stricken and returns the money to the safe the same night.
The release date is April 6.
FLORENCE HACKETT.
FLORENCE HACKETT is another instance of what tal- ent backed by brains and determination will accomplish. Two and a half years ago she was assigned by the Lubin management to Arthur Johnson's company. At first she
supplied "atmosphere," played minor character parts and was always in readiness to under- take what a more im- portant player would decline- Then "sec- ond" parts were regu- larly assigned to her, and gradually the mo- tion picture public came to associate her with Mr. Johnson's photo- plays. At this time she was given her first character lead and shortly afterward scored a series of mic- cessi - in widely differ- ent roles in Mr. John- son's two-reel produc- tions. To-day Florence Hackett parts are writ- ten for the actress. Let it he said that "Flor- ence Hackett parts" are any which demand ex- ceptional emotional strength and the abil- ity to efface the player's personality completely. She is con- vincing and satisfying either as a self-centered society girl or a grief-crazed fishwife.
Miss Hackett's hobby is the study of clothes — and the wearing of beautiful ones. She lias original and entertaining theories regarding the science of dress and has embodied her ideas in several magazine articles.
Florence Hackett.
PROVIDENCE, R. I., TO HAVE $100,000 THEATER.
Emery Brothers, Providence, R. I., have just completed plans for a moving picture theater to be erected in that city at a cost of $100,000. The theater will have a seating capacity of j. too. and the plans call foran elaborate show house. Work will begin on the structure April 1. It wdl be ready for occu- pancy early in October.
4Q
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
"Tess of the Storm Country"
Miss Mary Pickford Appears in a Five-Part Famous Players
Production That Will Make Wide Appeal.
Reviewed by George Blaisdell.
HERE is a story by a woman, of a woman, and for women — and for men, too. It makes a good pic- ture, interesting throughout, and absorbingly so at times. That it will have wide and unusually popular appeal there is no doubt. "Tess of the Storm Country" possesses the qualities that make for success. There is an abundance of what is described as "heart interest," and strengthening and amplifying this most essential factor are not only big scenes but large groups well handled, situations in which many men and women are so impressed with the tragic happenings of which they are spectators that the con- cern revealed in their countenances makes them seem more like active participants. Two notable instances of these large groups are the court scenes and the dramatic christen- ing of the fatherless and dying babe — at the altar of the church.
Of conflict of character there is much in these five reels. It is a contest between those who have little but content in primitive surroundings and those who have position and means and display no concern for the welfare of their humbler neighbors. Tessibel Skinner, a child of the seashore, un- kempt in the early part of the story as she is ragged through- out it, is the natural leader of the fishermen-squatters in the shore huts. Against Tess and her people is Elder Elias Graves, stern, as cold-blooded as the fish he tries to prevent the squatters from catching, a man so thoroughly despicable as to be outside the pale of human sympathy.
As the interpreter of the part of Tess we have the always- charming Little Mary — it is doubtful if ever she will be to us a player by any other name. As she was in "Caprice," as
she was in "Hearts Adrift." so she is in "Tess of the Storm Country" — inimitable, always doing the unexpected thing, yet always human, lovable; impulsive, her affections for her father as deep as her detestation of the elder for whose son there rises in her breast the first springs of love; religious, her faith in the God of whom she has learned from her theological student-lover as sure, as complete, as it is child- like and convincing. So, too, is she self-sacrificing, assuming without murmur of complaint the stigma of unwedded motherhood to save the reputation of the slowly declining sister of the man she loved as she was also the daughter of the man whose hand was always against Tess and her people.
Grace Miller White, the author of the book, laid the story by the shores of Cayuga Lake, which, on account of the fierceness of its squalls, is sometimes known as the "storm country." Producer Porter has staged his picture on the Pacific. He was most happy in his selection of backgrounds. A long row of fishermen's huts nestling on the beach at the foot of towering cliffs give the touch of realism when they are described to us as the homes of the squatters. It is in one of these that live Tess and her father. On the crest of the bluff in a great mansion resides Elder Graves, who when he finds he cannot legally evict his neighbors has enacted a law debarring them from the use of nets. It is Tess who urges on the fishermen to ignore the legislation. When one of the gamekeepers is fatally shot the evidence points to Daddy Skinner. He is tried and convicted.
Frederick Graves, who in the stormy conflicts between the contending factions has, while home on vacation, met and fallen in love with Tess, is visited by his chum, Dan Jordan. When the two young men return to school in the fall, Leola, the sister of Frederick, tries to muster courage to tell Dan, to whom she has become betrothed during the summer, a secret. She is handicapped by lack of a favorable oppor- tunity. Some time after their departure, Leola writes a letter
Tess Brings Leola's Dying Baby to be Christened — Scene From "Tess of the Storm Country" (Famous Players)
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
4i
to Dan 111 which she confesses by implication her condition. Before she can mail it she receives word from her brother that Dan has perished in a fraternity house fire. It is Tess who shelters Leola when gray days fall.
Troubles multiply for the child-woman by the shore. She assumes the motherhood of the baby. Her father is in prison. The young man to whom she has looked up dis- covers the presence of the infant and spurns her. She is forced to combat the attentions of two "admirers," uncouth men of the fishing village. The Bible, which Tess had, in her Own descriptive phrase, "cribbed" from the Mission having
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Scene from "Tess of the Storm Country" (Famous Players).
been destroyed by Frederick, she has nothing left but her God and the friendship of the failing woman for whom she ■has sacrificed her reputation — which means in the eyes of her own little world she has no character, that she is one of the big world's unfortunates, an outcast. When Tess discovers the baby is dying she carries it to the church on a Sunday morning to have it sprinkled. The pastor, under the domination of the elder, refuses the rites. The mother of the little one claims it as her own. When Tess returns to her hut she finds there her father, released from prison. A note from Elder Graves, brought by Frederick, tells of the death of Leola and her infant and asks forgiveness. So, too, does Frederick.
In spite of this grave recital there are many light moment*. The scrubbing of Tess by one of the women of the huts will convulse. Her head is mercilessly plunged into a bucket of water and afterward lathered with soap. Out of the ordeal Tess makes comedy. So, too, her turning loose of the dog on her pursuer will amuse. Those wise in agricultural lore will laugh when they note the attempt of Tess to milk the cow on the wrong side. Perhaps, even yet, Little Mary does not know why the beast kicked at her so viciously.
Of dramatic situations, it may be said in all truth, there are too many to enumerate here. There are three, however, it would be unfair to ignore. One is the scene in the court- room, where Tess breaks in as her father is condemned to die. Under the spell of her appeal to the judge she gets her father well outside the rail before the relentless elder restores the equilibrium. When Tess returns to her home and finds her father a free man and her lover come back to her, we all rejoice with her. Strongest of all, however, is the scene in the church. Tess, in her father's great boots, which she wears on necessary occasions, stalks down the aisle of the church with the baby in her arms. When the minister hesi- tates under the protest of Graves, Tess reaches into the font and herself vigorously sprinkles the infant. Then it is that the mother of the little one spreads consternation by her declaration "It is my baby" and takes the dying child to her breast.
Mr. Walters, as Elder Graves, gives a strong portrayal. The judge, by his sympathetic bearing, contributes to the effectiveness of the court scene. Miss Golden, as Leola, is good. So, too, is David Hartford as Daddy Skinner. The staging is praiseworthy. Especially notable is the portrayal of the rainstorm — be the same actual or simulated; as to which deponent sayeth not. The photography is Porterian.
We have said "Tess of the Storm Country" is a good picture. It is more. It is a production that grows on you as you analyze it.
Helen Dunbar
TO have been for seven years a member of Weber & Fields' famous company in the heydey of its brilliant success is a distinction of which any player may be proud. "For a real test of speed," says George Ade, "one should have a pace maker." Helen Dunbar, now with Essan- ay, had as pace makers during her service with Weber & Fields such shining lights as Warfield, Sam Bernard, Pete Dailey, Fay Templeton, Lillian Russell, De Wolfe Hopper, William Collier, Charles Ross, Mabel Fenton and all the rest of that remarkable cast. That she was able to make good for seven years in such smart com- pany is sufficient proof that she is possessed of more than ordi- nary ability.
But this is only a part of her eighteen years upon the stage. She has always been in the best of company and has no barn- storming experiences to relate. At the age of 15 she made her stage debut while attending school in Philadelphia, singing in the opera of "King Cole," sponsored by Wilson and Morse. In her fifteenth year she was married to the late Charles McCIellan, a widely known the- atrical manager; so, altogether, her fifteenth year was a decisive one in her life's history.
At the age of seventeen Helen Dunbar joined Pauline Hall's company and sang many comic opera roles for six seasons. Then she went with Heinrich Conreid's Comic Opera Company for two seasons in "The Black Huzzar" and "The Gypsy Bawn." After that came her seven-year en- gagement with Weber & Fields, following which she organ- ized her own company, known as the English Players, and toured for two seasons in a repertoire of copyrighted plays. For the next three years she was absent from the stage. In 191 1 she joined the Essanay Company at Chicago, where she has been ever since.
As a motion picture actress her renditions are superb. There is something queen-like about Helen Dunbar and the goodness of her face is like a benediction to a picture. As a society matron she has only to be herself, as much of her life has been spent in a social atmosphere. She is equally lovable in or out of a picture and those who have been her guests at home are quite sure that there is no more charm- ing hostess in the world than Helen Dunbar.
Helen Dunbar.
WARNING TO EXHIBITORS.
A notorious swindler has been forging the signature of Adolph Zukor, president of the Famous Players Film Co., and passing bogus checks upon exhibitors throughout the country. Warrant for this forger is held by the Akron, Ohio, police. He has defrauded hotels in New York, Con- necticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. His description is as follows: name, Chas. P. Saunders, aliases C. H. Baker, Chas. H. Sanders, B. W. Somers, Robt. O. Manning, A. P. Stiver; nativity, American; age, 35 years; height, 5 ft. 10 ins.; weight, 140 to 150 lbs.; build, medium; complexion, light, sallow; hair, dark brown; eyes, blue; face, clean shaven. If this swindler defrauds or attempts to defraud you, notify your police and cause his arrest.
CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY'S WORKS SECURED.
Harry Leighton has secured both dramatic and moving picture rights to all novels and short stories by Cyrus Town- send Brady. Mr. Leighton is now busy dramatizing Dr. Brady's latest book for a prominent producer. This is prob- ably Dr. Brady's most dramatic effort and will not be pub- lished until fall. It is expected that book and play will both apoear at the same time. Mr. Leighton has already adapted "Hearts Adrift" and "The Southerners" from Mr. Brady's books.
EDITOR BUILDING THEATER.
A $10,000 theater is being built in Arkansas City., Kan., by Richard C. Howard, the editor of the Arkansas City Daily Traveler, published in that city. When completed the house will be leased for five years by H. Hill, who will install moving pictures.
42
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Franklin B. Coates.
Franklin B. Coates, Explorer
Brings to New York Kinematographic Record of His Peri- lous Journey Across South America.
By George Blaisdell.
TO have traversed a continent for thousands of miles, a goodly portion of the distance covering ground over which the feet of white men had never been known to pass, is an achievement that falls to few men. To have brought back to civilization for the benefit of the world at large a kinematographic record of the more re- markable phases of this hitherto unknown country — views of snow-clad mountains, o f torrential rock- filled streams and fe- ver-infested swamps; intimate pictures of the savage men and wo- men and the still more savage animals that live in it — is a rarer and greater achieve- ment. Franklin B. Coates, comfortably seated in his office in the World Tower Building last Saturday morning, talked most interestingly of his ex- periences in carrying the camera into the pest hole of South America, where surely it had never been be- fore, and where experi- enced camera explor- ers had declared it could not be taken. As he swung in his chair and looked out over the city roofs Mr. Coates told of the departure from New York last July of the Captain Besley Expedition and of some of the ad- ventures it encountered in its three distinct trips, the last one of 1,200 miles, beginning at the source of the Amazon and ending at Iquitos, the head of navigation on the great river.
There were eleven men in the party that set out from Lima, Peru, on the first expedition. At the head was Cap- tain Besley, who, as Mr. Coates says, "has fought off the frozen sleep in the snow fields of the Far North and seen his companions die of tropical fever in the jungles 01 Africa." The captain is a man of means and of a craving for travel in lands most other white men avoid. Also ac- companying the captain and Mr. Coates were scientists and photographers. Explorations were made in the Chancha- mayo district, and many photographs were taken. It was on this trip that the expedition suffered the loss of one ol their two Pathe cameras, 3,000 feet of film, dry plates, and other valuable material. The accident was due to the bur- den bearing mule, left alone for a moment, being seized with a desire to join his four-footed companions on the opposite shore of a steep-banked swiftly running stream. The animal got across in safety, but in climbing the sharply sloped shore fell backward. Seven of the eleven men were stricken with fever, but all recovered.
When the expedition returned to Lima and while men and beasts were resting, Captain Besley and Mr. Coates decided to travel south and explore the buried cities of the Incas, of which they heard such wonderful tales. While on this expedition the two men continued discussion ot the [dans for the cross-continent journey which they had determined on while in the north of Peru. Mr. Coates showed the writer hundreds of still photographs which he took in the land of the Incas and on the islands of the Sun anil Moon, all marvelously interesting. The two men con- tinued their journey south, crossed Lake Titicaca, the high- est body of navigable water in the world (nearly 13,000 feet in elevation), and then by way of La Paz returned tj Lima.
\\ hen C.iptain Besley and Mr. Coates informed their com- panions of the alteration in their plans and of their deter- mir.at.ion to cross the continent from the source of the Ama- zon to the mouth, through the uncharted Huayahamha re- gion and then by way of the Huallaga River, instead of pro- ceeding down the West Coast and over to Argentina, seven of the party decided to return to New York. The two who
elected to go with the expedition were J. K. Holbrook, cameraman, and J. W. Dunne.
"I want to say," said Mr. Coates, in speaking of the photographer, "that Holbrook is one of the bravest and gamest men I ever met. He did without hesitation and without question everything that was asked or required of him. He was in many extremely dangerous situations, but he never flinched."
The explorers through the co-operation of the American Minister got in touch with President Billinghurst, of Peru, who, while advising against the trip, promised them every assistance in his power. He said that the eight men who had been known to attempt the exploration of that par- ticular section of country had never been heard from. The President wanted to detail soldiers to accompany the ex-
Expedition at Outskirts of Civilization Cutting Into Jungle.
pedition, but the Americans decided that it would be safer without them. Mr. Coates explained that the Indians in the interior have suffered much at the hands of the Peru- vians and Brazilians, and in those sections at the first move of a white man that to them seems suspicious they attack. By railroad the party proceeded to Cerro de Pasco, the highest city in the world, the elevation being over 14,000 feet and the population represented by about the same fig- ures. Here they picked up their animals, where they had been left on the return from the first trip. Five days' travel in the saddle brought them to Huanuco, called the end of
Indian Oarsmen Guiding Raft Out of Rapids on Huallaga River.
the white man's travels, where the parting of men and horses took place.
Eighteen days were required to reach the River Huallaga, where the raft journey began. It was a succession of falls, whirlpools and rapids. For thirty-six days of actual travel- ing the little band journeyed on this frail craft, the last six of which included nights as well. The men made frequent long trips into the interior for subjects for their cameras. The perils here were even greater than in the boiling cur- rents of the river. The nights were divided into four watches. Mr. Coates said that on awakening it was nee-
THE MOVING PICTURE \V<>KLI)
43
essary to institute a most searching examination of the im- mediate surroundings before making a move, to make sure there were no snakes or reptiles nestling about. If there were any of these unpleasant bedfellows it was essential that they make the first move. Otherwise they were very likely to strike.
The explorers had promised President Billinghurst to through the I'aniia del Sacramento in order to discover it' possible the fate of Mirko Seljan and Patrick O'Higgins, two missing American explorers. They found what they believed to be the trail of the men, and for six days fol- lowed it. This was possible, as practically every step of the way had once been cut with a machete. When the end of this hewed path was reached the four men used the point as a center of their search and circled around it. Two hundred yards into the jungle they found the bones of the two men. They gave to the grim reminders of their own perils an impressive Christian burial and erected a cross.
These land trips often taxed the patience of the travelers by reason of the disinclination of the animal inhabitants to come forward and have their pictures taken. "At times," said Mr. Coates. "we couldn't seem to get together with the animals. The vegetation was so dense we could do nothing hut bait and wait. We waited for two days for one tiger which we had been trying to lure with live bait. We got him, though. It was too bad we had to kill him after we got hi- picture but he foolishly jumped at the camera, lie-ley was on one side of the tripod and 1 was on the other, and you may be sure we had our rifles sighted and our fingers on the triggers.
"We got some wonderful snake pictures. We got one of a big boa only ten feet from the camera; he will go
Scene of Wreck on Huallaga River.
right across the screen. He had been traveling in a circle and his head swung around in our direction. You know those fellows carry a wallop when they swing their tails. This chap suddenly showed signs of excitement a- he heard the click of the camera. Besley and 1 both pumped four or five shots into him. We thought it just as well when we measured him. How long was he? Forty-two feet. We got some good pictures of small poisonous snakes. If they got too close we put a forked -tick over their necks.
"Sometimes drifting down river we would see an animal come out of the jungle to drink. Then we would have to act quickly. We would make for the shore, anchor our raft, then cut and work our way back to the point, plant our camera and wait for the return of our subject.
"How did we live? Well, as we were on this trip two
months longer than we expected, we had to live on the
game of tin- country a good ileal. There were many times we did not have rill we wanted to eat. On you know par- rot- are not such bad eating' \nd a- to monkey meat the worst of that is in the name. Some men liken it to Chicken. We were three months practically in unexplored territory, a portion of that time in unknown lands with un- known Indians, savages the world has never nut. and we ' way of getting a line on them. We had serious trouble with them only once. In hunting for game the Indian- may have thought we mean! harm to them. The first we knew was a fall of arrow- — and we also knew that without question there was poison on the arrowtips. It was a two days' running fight, but we managed to get out oi their section with unpunctured skins.
"You know an Indian down there will not go beyond the territory of hi- own tribe. That kept us constantly on the search for new helpers. We made it a practice not to avoid the Indians, but when we came to a camp or settlement to go right in and seek out the chief. Our experiences with the Indians would make a long story. 1 will say, though, that those of them who know the white man think little of him, as you may judge when I tell you that if we wanted to distribute trinkets we could do it only through the chiefs.
"We had some pleasant times in spite of the hardships, although they were few and far between, but we enjoyed them all the more. 1 don't know of a trip where men were placed under the trying conditions we were. On the raft we could not move. And yet you may imagine we had long since talked ourselves out — that we had told each other all we knew. Yes, New York seems mighty good to me." Ami the explorer swung around in his chair and looked over the city.
Mr. Coates faced one bitter disappointment on hi- return to the metropolis. When he started on the trip into the jungle he put all the kinematographic results of his fir>t two trips into a trunk, which was to be shipped to Xew York from Lima. When the trunk was opened in the appraiser's otfice here it was discovered that all the films had been ab- stracted. Mr. Coates has employed the Burns agency and offered a reward of $1,000 for the return of the film and no questions asked. It is small consolation to him that the film cannot be shown without exposing the thieves to ar- rest. Mir. Coates needs it in his own business. He says if in thirty days he gets no returns from the circulars he is sending out he will start for Peru and retake all the lo- cations he photographed before. Captain Besley. who is in London, will arrange to meet Mr. Coates in Peru and take part in the expedition. Of the Amazon trip Mr. Coates brought back 7,000 feet in perfect condition, which he will cut to 5,000. It is Mr. Coates' intention to go on the lec- ture platform with his pictures. If he is compelled to make another trip to South America he will defer his lecture tour until next fall.
Cleo Madison.
Will Play Female Leads in Gold Seal Dramas — Wilfred Lucas to Direct New Company.
CLEO MADISOX, who has been in motion pictures but six months, and during that time has won a place of distinction as one of the foremost emotional actresses in films, will be featured as the leading woman by the Universal in a Gold Seal Company, of which Wilfred Lucas will be director. Before en- tering the motion pic- ture field Miss Madison ^^^^^^^^^^^^_ had wide and prolonged experience on the legiti- mate stage.
She came to the Uni- versal Company as a novice in motion picture work, but her worth and talents won recognition at once. She scored suc- cess after success in the productions of Otis Tur- ner. Her most recent work has been in the Victor Company, where she played leads opposite J. Warren Kerrigan.
Wilfred Lucas, who, after a survey of the en- tire field, ha- been chosen to direct Miss Madison, is an old and experienced hand in motion picture production, having been in the business for seven 1 years. For a numb years he played leads with the Biograph Com- pany. On a previous oc- casion he has directed for the Universal Company. He is re- sponsible for such Universal masterpieces as "At Midnight." "Be- low Stairs." "The Smuggler's Daughter," and "Honor of the Regiment "
The first production in which Miss Madison will be seen under the direction of Mr. Lucas will be entitled "The Mystery of Wickham Hall," a powerful psychological drama.
Cleo Madison.
44
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
The Unopened Letter
Two-Reel Edison Feature. Released Through General Film Company.
Reviewed by Louis Reeves Harrison.
THE incidents of this story are contrived to lead up to an interesting situation and one of large dramatic possibilities. The situation is that of a father, an attorney of large prac- tice, acting for defendants in a case where his own daughter, of whose existence he is unaware, is the plaintiff. He married when in college and was obliged to keep the wedding a secret because his own father had put a ban upon any such serious step until the boy had qualified in business. Having proved his ability and
Scene from "The Unopened Letter" (Edison).
been taken into the firm, he returns to the home of his young wife only to be informed that she is dead and buried. He there- after devotes himself to the profession of law, and twenty years elapse before it comes to his knowledge in a highly dramatic way that he has a child, plaintiff in a case he is defending.
This makes an interesting story — the author is Bliss Milford — and one that holds in spite of the treatment rather than on ac- count of it. In many cases the way a scenario is handled brings out effects superior to the playwright's conception. In this case
Scene from "The Unopened Letter" (Edison).
the director handles his settings with good taste and his actors as if afraid they would transcend it. With a bright company, headed by Bessie Learn, composed of Edward Earle, Margaret McWade, Charles Sutton, M. C. Mack, Marjorie Ellison, Harry Beaumont, Edwin Clark, William West, Harry Eytinge and Wil- liam Bechtel, pretty close to a star cast, and plenty of chance for these interpreters to exercise their artistry, their movements are directed in a way that obscures when it should clarify. This is not an auditory art but a visual one.
That the father was unaware of his child came about partly through the fact that a letter he wrote to his wife shortly after her death was returned by her sister unopened. He goes to see what is wrong and the surviving sister, believing that he has
caused his young wife's death, tells him of that but not of the child. We are willing to accept the premise that a keen lawyer would not make any further inquiry about the woman he loved and married — that is possible, though not in accord with human experience — but it was not made clear to me why a young wife would not or could not let her husband know that a child was expected and failed to notify him when the child was born. Great pains should be taken in making immediately plausible the ulti- mate event upon which the entire plot depends. This could have been easily done by one of many well-known expedients, sym- pathy aroused by the young wife's inability to let her husband know of the great event and the whole play given the strength and dignity necessary in serious drama.
The whole trend of Edison releases is away from theatrical artificiality and toward such stories of human life as shall be credibly within the cognizance of the audience. The characters must do as human beings ordinarily would under the circum- stances. This is in response to the popular demand for more logic of cause and effect. "The Unopened Letter" will please be- cause it is a good story, but its value is partially submerged by handling that clouds it at moments and that does not give full vent to what the interpreters could accomplish. Do not be afraid of intense acting for screen purposes. What may appear too in- tense under the powerful studio lamps becomes greatly modified when seen from a back seat in a big picture show.
Pearl Sindelar.
MISS SINDELAR, leading lady of the Pathe Company, is considered one of the most finished and capable photoplay artistes appearing in this country. Her magnetism is marvelous. She has gained a multitudinous following, attested to by the patronage enjoyed by the thea- ters where the pictures in which she appears are exhibited. She is designated as "The Lavender Lady," on account of her fond- ness for the color "of old memories." John Temple McCarthy, one of the real "Forty- niners," who founded the Phi Gamma Delta, now one of the strong- est college fraternities in existence is her grandfather. When a dramatic star she was entertained, while en tour in every city where the fraternity existed.
The writer called at her studio, 253 West Forty-second Street, and was graciously welcomed. It was lunch hour and he was invited to bite a few chunks out of the col-
Pearl Sindelar.
4
lation. There was no indication that lunch c"Duld be served in the exquisitely furnished apartment, but in the twinkling of an eye a little East Indian maid had a dainty lunch served for four people who were present.
While entertaining her guests a brief outline of her pro- fessional life was expounded on request, and she confessed to having been engaged in theatrical work since she was ten years old, not so many years ago, at that, playing in stock, east and west, with almost all the prominent companies. She also starred in a vaudeville offering on the Keith circuit, entitled, "The Price of a Hat." Miss Sindelar possesses a sweet voice and wonderful magnetism, as mentioned above. Her success in the silent drama has created a popularity throughout the country that has obtained for her almost a personal acquaintance, and she will be greatly welcomed in speaking parts again. A hint (almost confirmed) was dropped that she is to star in a Broadway production next season under the management of A. H. Woods, who is to be congratulated on his selection, and he evidently was guided by experience, as Miss Sindelar was under his man- agement very recently, playing the lead in the "Girl in the Taxi."
Miss Sindelar has a "repository" corner in her studio where she hordes the many letters she receives from all over the world from admirers of her work, especially from young girls and children.
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
45
Eclair Factory Fire
Destroys Building and Many Valuable Negatives — Plans Perfected for New Fire-Proof Structure.
ON the afternoon of Thursday, March 19, the factory of the Eclair Film Company at Leynwood Avenue, near Main Street, Fort Lee, N. J., was entirely de- stroyed by fire, which left standing only the outer walls of the building. The fire is believed to have originated through a short-circuit in some of the electri- cal connections and was quickly transmitted to the film stock in the adjoining room. In a very few minutes the interior of the factory was ablaze. Stren- uous efforts were made by the employee.-- to save property, but means of fighting the tire were so inadequate that but little was ac- complished.
The efforts of Fran- cis Doublier and Irene Whipple, employees. were almost superhu- man. Both returned to the blazing struc- ture again and again, for film. On one trip Mr. Doublier managed to lift a large desk, filled with scripts, and threw it out of a win- dow. He scrambled after it and just es- caped the falling tim- bers of the roof and was picked up almost unconscious.
Owing to the lack of adequate pressure in the water mains it was impossible to fight the lire, which might have otherwise been confined to the room in which it started. One of tiie illustrations here given shows the puny stream that was obtained from the main. As there are many other motion picture factories in Fort Lee, as well as business and residence buildings depending upon this means of protection against fire, a strong movement has been started to compel the water company to give better water service.
The building burned was occupied by the manufacturing
Photo Showing the Pitifully Inadequate Water Pressure Furnished by the Hackensack Water Supply at the Fire Which Destroyed the Factory and Mechanical Plant of the Eclair Film Company on Thursday Afternoon, March 19th.
plant of the Eclair Company, including the developing, printing and joining rooms, the machine shop and storage vault together with the offices of the manager and superin- tendent of the factory. The studio was not damaged as it is about one hundred feet away from the factory building.
Quite a number of valuable negatives and a number ot positive prints were destroyed. Among the negatives lost was one of the subject "Protea" and of the subject, "Mlephis- tophelia." the latter being for this week's release.
Almost before the smoke had blown away Manager Of-
feman was in communication with President Jourjon, in Paris, and arrangements were made to start work in a new fire-proof factory building. President Jourjon took the first available steamship for New York and is expected to arrive here Monday, March 30, when the work of reconstruction will start in earnest.
Arrangements were made with the Gaumont company to handle the immediate work of the Eclair Company so that, with the exception of the negatives lost, its releases will be made on time. More permanent arrangements were made subsequently to use the new Horsley factory at Bayonnc, X. J., where the Eclair employees will be engaged until the new Eclair factory is completed.
Among the recent productions destroyed at the Eclair I lant were the first negatives and prints of "The Gentleman From Mississippi," which was being produced by W. A. ISrady with Thomas Wise in the cast. The Shuberts were also interested in several productions being put on at the Eclair studio, but none of the properties were damaged.
Fine Work
By F. H. Richardson.
It is a distinct pleasure to be able to praise instead of criticise and condemn. On the night of March 11, the writei visited the Duffield Street Theater, on Duffield Street, just off Fulton Street, Brooklyn, of which H. B. Arden is mana- ger. My visit was purely accidental. I was attracted by the quietly beautiful and dignified front, with its tastefully dis- played posters, and remarkably neat electric signs. This house was opened December 19, 1913. It seats 842 on the main floor and in the balcony. It is absolutely a fireproof house, built entirely of steel, concrete and brick, and was designed wholly and entirely for a photoplay theater.
The operating room is very good, indeed, though it cannot be said to be ideal, by reason of the fact that both the floor and ceiling lie on two planes, as though the front half of the room were cut off and raised up about two feet, both ceiling and floor. This, I think, was an error in construction, but it is not a serious matter. The ventilation of the operating room is excellent, its walls are of either brick or concrete, 1 forgot to ask which, and everything is handily arranged. The projection equipment consists of two regular Simplex machines and a Simplex Kinemacolor.
I was in the house more than an hour before the operators, .Messrs. Gustave Phillips, chief, and Anthony Ruskin, assist- ant, knew of my presence, and in all that tim.e I had no fault whatever to find with the projection. The screen is of plas- ter; the light was brilliant, and at no time was there a shadow on the screen, also the speed was well gauged. I compliment Operators Phillips and Ruskin on the excellence of their performance.
Mr. Arden impresses me as a manager who is a real mana- ger— one who not only makes a study of his business, but is broad-minded, progressive and energetic. He is now oper- ating on a 10 and 15 cent admission, with a special day, Tuesday, at 10, 15 and 20 cents, but the ultimate intention is, when the house has thoroughly established itself, to raise the admission to 15, 20 and 25 cents. Mr. Arden has "10-cent" competitors in the neighborhood, and I believe some "5-cent" 1 'ties, but his house is nevertheless filled to overflowing at the higher price and, although the theater is new and com- paratively unknown, it has already . established a sufficient clientele to enable it to not only break even, but to also liquidate first cost, close to $200,000 (including ground value), inside of ten years. And if Mr. Arden can establish that kind of a business within four months it is a foregone conclusion he will have a far better one in the near future.
The house is tastefully, though plainly decorated, and the seats are leather upholstered.
111, I say it is a pleasure to find a house to which 1 can give unstinted praise instead of roasting.
Mr. Arden is assisted by Mr. Henry C. Jarvis, most able and affable gentleman who is treasurer of the company and presides at the box office.
RICHMOND'S REGENT THEATER SUCCESSFUL.
George Balsdon, general manager of the Photoplay Thea- ter Company of New York, has just returned from a trip to Richmond, Va., where the company is operating a high- class house called the Regent Theater. This house seats 670 persons and is showing such features as "Cloister and the Hearth," "Germinal," "Old Curiosity Shop" and "David Copperfield," to a ten-cent admission price with most sat- isfactory results. The Regent is getting the best class of patronage and is becoming very popular with the people of Richmond under its present management.
THE MOVING PICTURE W( IRLD
A General for a Day
Fritz Wagner, Pathe Cameraman in Mexico, Commands President Huerta's Army for the Weekly.
HL'ERTA'S army reached New York, Sunday, March 22— 3,000 feet of it, measured for Pathe's Weekly — and with it came a tale of how Fritz Wagner, the man who turned the camera crank, became for the space of a day "General" Wagner, Commander-in-chief of the Federal forces in Mexico City. Also came a cablegram to Pathe from the perspiring Fritz, reading as follows : —
"Still in hospital with over-cranked arm. Better send some- body else."
With the film came a letter explaining Fritz's disability — that rarest of ills to which only motion picture camera men are heir, partial paralysis of the right wing due to an overdose of turning the camera crank.
Before Wagner joined the staff of motion picture camera men on Pathe's Weekly, he had never commanded an army, nor issued orders to anyone except the waiters in the beer gardens back in Berlin. But Fritz hankered for adventure, and adventure suited to his liking seemed to lie across the seas. So he loaded his rapid-fire camera, bought a villainous-looking automatic revolver, and sailed for New York and eventually for Mexico, with orders from Pathe's Weekly to take Huerta and his army, dead or alive — preferably half shot.
Armed with formidable letters of introduction to President Huerta, and reinforced by the camera and the gun, Fritz in- vaded Mexico City. He found Huerta, who invited him into his private office and placed Mexico at his disposal.
"Back in the United States the people say you are going to lose your job, Herr Werther," began Fritz, nervously fingering this automatic in his pocket.
"They don't think you have got any army already."
Huerta snorted — then smiled. "I have thousands men — good men, ah ! such brave fellows — here in Mexico City, Senor Wag- ner." he said. "Villa, what has he? Bah! Robbers, yes?"
"They say your army is a — a load of the junk, a piece of cheese. Herr Werther. They say "
But Huerta turned away and pressed a button on his desk.
"Let me misunderstand you right, Herr Werther," Fritz ex- claimed hastily, one eye on the button the other on the door.
"Maybe, yes, you have 20,000 good men, but" and he shrugged
his shoulders.
"You wish to see them for Pathe. Senor Wagner and you shall." replied Huerta. "You shall take the moving photo of them, yes? And 'show them to that Senor Wilson at Washing- ton ! Ah !" Then, to the attendant who answered his ring on the buzzer : "Get out the army. Parade it past the door. And you, Senor Wagner, shall make the moving photos as it passes."
So the army came out and paraded past the palace — foot-sol- diers, horse-soldiers, artillery and even the fire department, a long line of many marching troops ; paraded for an hour past the palace door with Fritz standing in the doorway and Huerta at his elbow. In ten minutes Fritz was perspiring. He had twice as much as he could use and the parade had hardly started. So he stopped turning, mopped his forehead and asked for a glass of beer.
"Later, my dear Senor Wagner." replied Huerta. "but now you must make those moving photos move ; so please turn the ma- chine."
Fritz turned again — miles and miles of the army marched past — Fritz's arm smarted and burned and flamed. Once he stopped again and looked back at his smiling host. A little knot of scowling guards, each with a modern rifle in his hands, had gathered behind him in the doorway. Fritz fairly snapped at the camera and made it spin.
After a while the last soldier filed past, the march ended and Fritz fell into a chair. "Some army. Herr Werther," he gasped and then, with the light of a new-born thought in his eye, "but can they fight?"
"Oh, yes, Senor Wagner ; but you shall see. To you, Senor Wagner. I give my army for the rest of the day. without siesta. You shall make it do as you choose for the little moving photos. For you, it shoots, it charges, it lies down, it plays dead, yes? But you must keep it busy, Senor Wagner, and send back to that Senor Wilson those moving photos. For him I make you Gen- eral Wagner today."
So Fritz was escorted by the scowling guards with the ugly rifles to the city line and there found awaiting him the Huerta army.
"It is too much, already." gasped Fritz. "Here you" — address- ing a dignified general on horseback — "make 'em go way."
Finally Fritz sent the army home — except a regiment each of cavalry and infantry. With his right arm swollen and aching, he would have sent these home, too, but the guard would have none of it.
Through the short, parched grass all afternoon those regiments
marched and countermarched before the camera. They charged and retreated, dismounted and mounted again, forded a stream and climbed the hills, played dead and stalked an invisible foe— maneuvred as never before, till the Pathe cameraman's arm was twice its natural size and his noble heart was breaking all the speed laws in the Republic.
Then came night and General Wagner became once more plain Herr Wagner. But the lust for adventure that had burned under his vest was satisfied. The nurses say he turned the crank all night. However that mav be. a Huerta emissary took his film to Vera Cruz and saw it safely aboard a vessel while the nurses tied cooling bandages about Fritz's oversped arm.
CLAIRE WHITNEY.
Claire Whitney.
IX answer to a question as to which she liked the better, the footlights or the studio, the popular young Solax star. Miss Claire Whitney, who has recently attracted attention by her artistic work under the master-hand of iVPme. Alice Blache, made this interesting statement.
"A f t e r see-sawing for nearly five years between the 'Glory of t h e Footlights' and the 'Click of the Mo- tion Picture Camera,' the lure of the silent drama has won me and I am now and for evermore established in the motion picture field playing leading parts in all Solax and Blache features, with whom I have been for the past six months.
When I was a little girl, I was quite a toe dancer and everybody conceded I had a great future; but the stage then held no charms for me; dolls were my whole interest in life. Years went by, school days came and passed and the time arrived when I had to 'steer 'the 'boat' myself, the golden spoon having been mislaid at my It seemed only natural to choose the stage; my danc- ing as a child having always remained dominant, so that now it seems like second nature to acquire the most dif- ficult steps with only a few moments practice. Well, after the trials that all beginners experience, I received an en- gagement in a vaudeville act with Mr. Frank Sheridan. At the close of the season I went to the Biograph Company, more as a lark than anything else, and when the regular theatrical season began again. I was back with a musical stock company. But the picture germ had gotten in my system and commenced to multiply and I started to make comparisons between the night's work at the theater and your evening off to do as you like in pictures; the worry of bad business in the theater with the regular weekly envelope of the pictures; the long parts, tedious rehearsals, and the thousand and one annoyances that you are heir to around the theater, against the pleasant environment ot the studio and home. Then, again, no one could have closed their eyes to the magnitude the motion picture business was assuming and the inroads it was making upon the thea- ter. Everywhere theaters were closing their doors, pic- tures taking the place of the players, and the silent actor having his clientele of admirers the same as the stage, only where the actor of the theater could play to but one au- dience a night, the picture artist was being seen in hun- dreds of theaters throughout the country by thousands. But, notwithstanding all this, after a season with Marion Leonard, a most enjoyable engagement, I thought the thea- ter clamored for me, and again I trod the boards with Louise Galloway in her wonderful sketch. 'The Little 'Mother.' with which I traveled to the Coast and back.
I refused a second season with the act and became associated with the Solax Company at Fort Lee. where I am very happy, having found my 'forte' and stage life is becoming dimmer and dimmer every day, to be looked back upon now as an experience to be talked of at home." Miss Whitney is a New York girl, having been born and raised in the city of skyscraper-.
birth.
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
47
"The Great Diamond Robbery"
Playgoers Film Company Makes its Debut in a Stirring
Six-Part Melodrama Enacted by a Fine Cast.
Reviewed by George Blaisdell.
WHEN a new company makes its bow to the film public .UK- may be pardoned a reasonable amount of curiosity as to the c|uality of its initial product. If a producer is able to make a good showing in his first picture we are justified in the belief that he may do big things when he gets into his stride. Daniel V. Arthur unquestionably makes a showing in the six-part subject "The Great Diamond Robbery." In the first place, he has a good story. It is old-fashioned melodrama, to be sure; but it is of the sort that
Scene from "The Great Diamond Robbery"' (Playgoers).
will interest and at times thrill the present-day orchestra, even as it must have old-time playgoers. The cast is ex- cellent. It is composed of seasoned players, of men and of women old enough to vote. The settings are such as we have a right to expect in a good or pretentious production. It is the natural thing they should be, considering they were under the direction of Edward A. Mbrange. At the showing for the trade, on Saturday morning in the American Theater, there was a competent orchestra to add to the attractiveness of the picture.
"The Great Diamond Robbery" is a story of action, con-
Charles J. Ross and Gail Kane in "The Great Diamond Robbery.
secutive. rapid. As the title indicates, there is a robbery: in fact, there are two of the same set of gems, and the theft each time is committed by the same person— a dashing, clever woman, and one who knows how to wear clothes, as an inter- ested feminine observer remarked. Gail Kane has the part of Maria, a Brazilian adventuress. It is a remarkably tine portrayal she gives us. Maria is as wicked as she is charm- ing, as conscienceless as she is attractive to men. On but n does she betray fear; that is when following
the murder of her husband she shrinks for a moment as she reaches across the body of the banker and secures an in- criminating letter. Mi** Kane, by her daring, is fully en- titled to rank as a photoplay star. Her descent of the fire- escape ladder thrilled her friends at the American. But this was child's play compared to the fall down the stairs and the somersault following her suicide. The sensational flop may have had the co-operation of a good camera- man, but there is nothing to "prove it.
Wallace Eddinger is Dick Brummage, a private detective, and he has adventures a-plenty. Brummage is in love with Mary Lavelot, played by Dorothy Arthur. The two are the only lovers in the story, if we except the affairs of Maria, and their wooing adds materially to the interest of the play. The first appearance of the two in the office of Brummage, where Mary is the stenographer, is marked by clever touches that will grip interest in them right at the inception. Miss Arthur has a sweet personality. Mr. Eddinger is one who takes pleasure in his work- — he is virile, enthusiastic, and he has magnetism. He has much to do in the last half of the picture, and he does it all well. Charles J. Ross, as Mr. Bulford, gives a finished performance. Elita Proctor Otis is Mother Rosenbaum, a "fence"; she plays the part finely. Others in the large cast who had much to do were Mar- tin J. Alsop, Stapleton Kent, Herbert Barrington, Edward Gillespie and Percy Standing.
The story opens in St. Petersburg. Added realism was obtained in the photographing of the exterior in this part of the picture by reason of the work being done just after the recent heavy snowstorm in New York. It gave atmosphere not always easily attained in the metropolis. Later the plot shifts to New York, where strangly enough, melodramatically enough, sooner or later all the characters also shift. It is in the fifth reel that we get a genuine thrill. It is not ot the essentially legitimate dramatic quality, of the sort that stirs the heart. The situations in this part rouse the blood; we repeat, it is a genuine thrill and one of unusual dimen- sions. It is melodrama triumphant.
Universal Syndicate Series
Combination of Forty Leading Daily Papers Formed to Exploit "Lucille Love, the Girl of M'ystery."
THE A. P. Robyn Newspaper Syndicate, of Chicago, has concluded arrangements with some forty leading daily papers of the country to publish serially a fascinating romance entitled "Lucille Love, the Girl of Mystery." The author of the story, though not named in the information given the Moving Picture World, is said to be one of the best known fiction writers of the day, for whom versatility and marvelous descriptive abilities have won the title of "the master pen," and is also said to have the largest reading constituency of any of the better known writers of today. For reasons best known to the publishers his name will not be divulged until the story has been almost completed.
When the story was undertaken it was planned with the possibilities of picture production in mind, and the task ot depicting the author's conceptions in motion has been under- taken by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. Al- ready the Universal has made a considerable outlay in the work of preparation; a special company has been organized, properties purchased and elaborate arrangements made for producing the picture on an extensive scale.
This story is not a hackneyed affair; it is original in every detail, carrying the best efforts of the author. Every scene that is spoken of in this story will be seen in the films be- cause the author has looked ahead of the mere writing of the Story to the point where it would be put in motion pic- ture*. This thrilling story will be printed by at least one of the leading newspapers in the immediate neighborhood of every Universal exhibitor and along with the story will be printed a list of the theaters where this feature can be seen thai same day or the day following. While this story reaches a high literary standard it is essentially sensational. It is sensational in the situations it evolves, the daring risks demanded to be taken by the players who will be seen in the story, in the spectacularism it will disclose, such as adven- ture* with wild animals, death-defying dashes in airships and the burning of ocean greyhounds. "Lucille Love" will lie released in two-reel installments every week for fifteen consecutive weeks. The first two reels of this story, a soul-thrilling one of love, devotion, danger and intrigue, have already been produced.
ARTHUR WARDE CHANGES PLACES.
Arthur F. Warde has resigned from the press department
of the George Kleine attractions to assume charge of the
publicity department of the new Strand Theater. Broadwav
and 47th Street, which will probably open Saturday, April ii.
48
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
PARIS LETTER.
(Special Correspondence to the World.)
IN an action for alleged infringement of copyright Mon- sieur Paul Hervieu, the author and playwright, secured judgment for one thousand dollars against the Gaumont Company. Defendants were also ordered to destroy the film in question.
Frederick Burlingham, the cameraman who took the film, "Down the Crater of Vesuvius" (B. & C.) is well known to Parisians, and this is not the first occasion his name and photograph have been circulated throughout the globe. World readers who remember the famous Steinheil murder mystery will recall the sensation caused by the arrest of the "man with the red beard." Frederick Burlingham was supposed to be "the man with the red beard," but he suc- ceeded in proving an alibi and was released. His photograph attached to "Down the Crater of Vesuvius" was but an echo of this famous trial and for this reason the film has created quite a furore at the Pathe Palace, where it has played to capacity business for fifteen days. Mr. Burlingham is a resident of Paris. Before entering the world of moving pic- tures 'he was a photographer.
The film of the week here is Gaumont's "Fantomas." It is packing the Gaumont Palace, Hippodrome and several other important places.
Forty-eight of the leading Paris picture theaters booked, boomed and drew capacity business with the great Henny Porten, Messeter triumph, "Heroism of a French Woman." Charles Mary, of the Societe Commerciale du Film, is now booking as fast as he can dates for provincial exhibition.
The name of Henny Porten is on the lips of every man in the trade and at least one of her photographs is to be seen in every film office in Paris.
* * *
The Establissements Paul Christy offer for sale the neg- ative of "Down a Mine."
Lamy, of Cinema Center, has sold the United States rights of "William Tell."
* * *
The cinematograph was not voted by readers of the "Matin" as one of the seven marvels of the world, but never- theless the moving picture projector is highly thought of by French people, for it came ninth on a list of forty-five won- derful inventions. The telephone was eighth and X-ray tenth. The bioscope came before the telegraph, submarine, discovery of the poles, phonograph, and incandescent lamp.
This week Lubin's great production. "When the Earth Trembled," is being featured at many theaters, including the Tivoli and Colisee.
* * *
It is announced here that Max Reinhardt, the world famous German producer, has been engaged by the Selig Company to work for that firm in Berlin.
* * *
To put an end to conflicting statements which have been circulated, Mile. Suzanne Grandais announces that Jules Tal- landier, film editor, is the only authorized person having the right to exploit Suzanne Grandais features. The new Suzanne Grandais series will comprise eighteen pictures of various lengths and subjects. "Le Bonheur des Autres" and "Les Caprices de Suzanne" will be early releases.
* * *
On March 27th the Agence Generale will release "Adrienne Lecouvreur," featuring Sarah Bernhardt. The same firm will also release an exciting Danish drama, entitled "The Red Club." The latter is the work of the Dansk Kinograf Films Company.
The German correspondent of the Cine Journal announces that the Cines Company of Rome and the Cines Theater Aktien Gessellschaft of Berlin have cancelled their contracts. A German Cines company is to be formed and in addition to marketing the parent company's productions will handle other brands which may possibly include Lubin films. Cines in Berlin will now be known as the Palast Theater Aktien
Gesellschaft.
* * *
In Paris I learn that there is much American capital in the Teutonic concern and more than one of the directors hails from across the Atlantic.
Paul Deschanel, president of the Chambres des Deputes, presided at the annual banquet of the trade, held at the Hotel Continental.
* * *
Mr. McDowell, of the B. & C. Company, London, has been in Paris discussing business with the firm's agent, Mlonsieur Monat, who so successfully handled "Down the Crater ot Vesuvius."
James Downie, of the Trans-Atlantic Film Co., is another recent visitor from across the channel.
* * *
Anderson's Film Sales Agency, of London, has arranged with Charles Lamy, of Cinema Centre, Place de la Bourse, for him to be the firm's representative in Paris.
* * *
France Cinema Location has purchased the rights for France of Kalem's "His New Mother."
A new producing concern has commenced operations at Bordeaux. Artista Film is the title of the new mark.
My Vienna correspondent writes: "The big Autor produc- tion, 'Tyrol in Waffen,' has drawn capacity business at the Opera Kino. I understand this film is being marketed in England by Davidson's Film Sales Agency as 'The Fighting Blood of 1809.' "
Madge Lessing's second photoplay, "The Blue Mouse," has proved a decided winner at the Wiener Lichtspiel Theater. It is in four acts with special music by Ludwig Gruber. Gold- soil's feature, "The Hundred Days," has made good and was the subject of a eulogistic article in a daily paper. Henny Porten, Asta Nielsen, Madge Lessing, Bunny, Max Linder and Prince are still in the front rank of Vienna's screen favorites. JOH^ CHER.
BRITISH NOTES.
(Special Correspondence to the World.)
THE topic of the week in London filmdom is the pro- posed action of the London County Council in seek- ing Parliamentary powers to subject renters', manu- facturers', and agents' premises where private exhibitions are held, to the same stringent conditions at present gov- erning public theaters under its jurisdiction. A special meet- ing was attended by the leading renters and manufacturers, many of whom made the journey to the metropolis from the provinces at a few hours' notice. The high-handed in- terference with showrooms and buildings of a strictly trade and private character originated about a year ago at Leeds, when a local renting firm was summoned by the police for exhibiting films in unlicensed premises, viz: their private showroom. The charge was deferred and procrastinated to such a degree that trade interest in the case waned, de- spite the ultimate unsatisfactory ruling of the court, as mentioned in this journal at the time. It is safe to assume that the London County Council has taken its cue from the example of Leeds and a recent case at Birmingham in which the magistrate's decision was that trade premises do not come within the meaning of the Act of 1909. The meet- ing finally pleged itself to oppose the action with a resolu-
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
49
tion agreeing that each of the eighty-two trade members (including eleven American representatives) should if nec- essary finance the protest to the extent of $100 each.
The Cines Company, of Rome, is organizing another com- petitior for moving picture enthusiasts in Europe and pre- sumably the noted Italian firm will extend the offer to American patrons. For the best answers to a series of questions analyzing their own products the company will award six conducted tours to Rome and back, including a visit to the Cines studios and factories.
* * *
The Tress Company, of London, claims to have obvi- ated the disadvantageous procedure of re-winding films. They have already placed on the British market a pair of magazines adaptable to any projector. The bottom mag- azine is in the ordinary upright position, but the top one is fixed horizontally and contains within it a turn table. The unspooled film is laid upon this and unwound into the gate from the middle.
* * *
The first products of the Canadian Bioscope Company, which has just finished three split-reel subjects in Nova Scotia, are announced for release in three weeks. Messrs. Anderson, Vay, Hubert and Blumberg, of Rupert Street, London, are the British agents of the new company.
* * *
R. S. Edmondson, the chief of the American Film Re- leases depot in England, is well on his way to New York, probably with the intention of securing features to handle on this side. Mr. Edmondson will remain in the United States for a few weeks.
* * *
Emboldened by the unprecedented success, particularly in the United States, of the Dickens' pictures, the Hepworth Company is now very busy producing a series based on the literary masterpieces of Charles Reade. The first of these will be "The Cloister and the Hearth." The recent Hep- worth success, "David Copperfield," has been received in America in a manner that quite exceeded the anticipations of the producers, but the new series is on a still more lavish scale and record bookings for the first release are predicted by Mr. Blinkhorn, their American agent.
J. B. SUTCLIFFE.
"ONCE OVER"
By Hugh Hoffman.
The Director— Present and Future
By Madame Alice Blache.
To the same degree that it is impossible for a painter to tell how he paints his canvases and the sculptor to explain how he fashions his statues, is it impossible for a producer of motion pictures to divulge the secret of the making of an artistic photodrama. There is no doubt in the minds of the initiated that that inborn something which makes it possible for the artists of the brush and the clay to tell their soul's secrets through the medium of color and shape is the same inherent possession which allows the motion picture producer to create a photoplay which, regardless of story value or natural dramatic worth, holds the audience as spell-bound as the performance of a master musician.
Just as ther£ are thousands of men making a living by playing the piano to every true soloist, there are many men staging photodramas to every director worthy of the name. And it is not strange that this should be the case, especially in view of the fact that the art has grown out of all propor- tions to the rate that producers of real worth could be se- lected and schooled for the work; for pictures the public de manded and pictures the public had to be given, regardless of quality or artistic merit.
But the motion picture art is experiencing a rapid change. It seems perfectly safe to say that the days of the inferior photoplay productions are numbered. Already the carefully staged offering marked by the hand of true genius is seen occupying the same theater for many consecutive days to the exclusion of dozens of photodramas formerly considered good enough to force upon the public at the rate of five or six a day. The changed condition of affairs, which makes this possible, marks the doom of the "commercial" picture and the triumph of the production of artistic worth.
With the power of selection placed in the hands of the public, will come the weeding out of the director who does not possess the true qualifications for the important position which he has assumed and the coming into his own of the artist whose magic touch is responsible for the truly great photodrama. It is then that we will bid a fond adieu to the succession of lantern slides, once called moving pictures, and welcome with a glad shout of joy the advent of the silent drama — pronounced with a broad "a."
ENGAGING an opera singer to act in motion pictures is rather a pity, since it silences the kind of voice that is all too rare in this world. It would have been a better service to mankind to have engaged as many cabaret singers as possible.
Opera singers are appearing at the Screen Club also-
While one of them was warbling the other day Charley
Eldridge remarked, "Won't that sound fine in a picture?"
* * *
One of them kissed Glen White in the mouth and called him "Ze grand bebe." Spoiled Glen's whole evening.
* * *
Our faith in moving pictures is so strong we are dis- posed to believe almost anything in their favor, but when we are asked to believe that a Greek saw his own brother killed in a Turkish war picture — something feels like it is going to "bust."
The New York Globe, referring to its month old motion picture department, says:
They think this is about the most original idea ever presented to the public'in typical form. Who's they? Why. all the readers of "The Globe." We think this moving picture department is a very original scheme on our part.
Why this modesty when friend Globe could just as easily have claimed the discovery of motion pictures?
* * *
Bert Adler, besides being the proprietor of the worst automobile in the world, is also the owner of the closest spacing typewriter in the business, which makes it impos- sible to read between the lines for any hidden meaning that may be there.
Yes— and there are others. With press agents close- spacing everything, on the thinnest paper possible, one would suppose that paper was worth about a dollar a sheet.
* * *
The alibi is that it saves postage.
A pile of saved postage stamps may look verv pretty to the boss on inventory day, but they hardly compensate for a waste basket full of unpublished publicity.
You may show all the ny killing in them. — (Maj
e scenes you want, but there musn't be khouser).
Wonder what war the "Major" was in?
* * *
An editorial in the Columbia (S. C.) State, commenting on Civil War dramas in moving pictures, winds up as fol- lows:
If there is to be any more "war talk" between the sections, we, for one, are in favor of letting the "dam Yankees" wave the bloody shirt.
We, of the South, are determined to keep ours on, where it will do the most good.
Quite proper, Columbia. Keep your shirt on.
* * *
Every press agent should be detailed to spend a week in a publication office. In this way many things could be learned and unlearned.
* » *
The California judge who ruled that a scenario has no cash value will have an awful session with Col. R. E. Morse when the scenario writing bug overtakes him.
* * *
Patrons of the defunct school for moving picture acting at Hartford, Conn., have learned one lesson anyhow.
Who would ever think of Hartford as a place to start such a school when New York is so handy and so full of dramatic
larv.t?
* * *
The Major (Funkhouscr) was asked about the refusal of a permit months ago for "The Scarlet Letter."
"I'll merelv answer that with another question." he said. "How would you explain that story to a 13 year old girl?" — (News Item).
That's easy. Don't explain it. Or, find some other bird that will be as useful as the stork has been in cases of per- sistent juvenile cross-examination.
* * *
Any policeman who stops a runaway these days without lir^t notifying a moving picture cameraman will never get to be chief of the department.
5°
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Music for the Picture
Conducted by CLARENCE E. SINN
™ T~'
Intelligent Application.
I HEARD an orchestra play an operatic selection to a dra- matic picture the other day, and the manner in which it was fitted betokened skill on the part of the fitters. The orchestra was VV. E. King's ; the theater was the Orpheum, Chi- cago. The picture was Edison's "Price of a Necklace," and the selection was from "Ernani." ( C. Fischer's publication.) The selection was made to fit the action of the picture. An andante movement was cut out entirely, as it came in an inappropriate part of the picture. As the first part of the picture does not call for any distinctly descriptive music, the main body of the selec- tion (with the exception of the eliminated slow movement) an- swered very well. The music was worked along so that the last movement (an allegro) began about the time the stock exchange scenes were shown. This movement — which was the finale — was repeated several times. Its agitated character was in keeping with the spirit of the scenes. Instead of coming to a dead stop at the end of the selection as is so often the custom elsewhere, this orchestra kept the music going until the character of the scene called for a change in the character of the music. It was played piano and forte to action of course, and ended at the ball- room scene when a dance was played (waltz or two-step — I've forgotten which), keeping time with the dancers. The remainder of the picture was appropriately accompanied as well, but I wish particularly to comment on the selection and the manner in which it was handled.
Cutting and Fitting.
First, they found an andante movement which didn't jibe with the scene in which it occurred. It was cut out — and it didn't hurt the selection a bit; on the other hand, its elimination helped the musical accompaniment to the picture.
Second, the allegro finale came to an end right in the most interesting part of the scene — in a place where music was needed if anywhere. Instead of stopping "biff-bang-ta-da-a-a" as is so often the case, these gentlemen simply kept it going until the picture showed a legitimate reason for stopping.
It Looks Easy
though really it takes considerable thought and care. Con- stant practice along these lines will develop a facility for choos- ing and "pruning" numbers from your library, though we will admit there is required a certain instinct for dramatic values in their relation to musical expression. Probably the modus oper- andi in this case was something like this : Fake a waltz and look at the picture — nothing doing in particular — seems to call for neutral music — not too slow — doesn't have to be lively — (Mr. Lyons instructs his agents) action begins — stock exchange — music begins to work up — a "hurry" would be too melo-dra- matic — body of an overture ought to answer — pathetic scenes shown in the beads of necklace, but scene on stock exchange pre- dominates— keep up agitated music — ballroom — change to waltz. Then allegretto ; widow comes to plead — andante, music, etc. Having "doped it out," he chooses his program for the next show.
The Principal Motive
in this picture relates to the stock exchange, and the principal descriptive music follows the scenes in the market. The allegro of a standard overture suggests itself, but the average overture includes usually a long andante out of keeping with the first part of the picture. We might play neutral stuff until these scenes occur, then jump to the allegro chosen, and continue that until the dance scene. Mr. King, however, chose the selection men- tioned which consists mostly of moderato movements, cut out the inconsistent andante and made the finale last until the dance scene. It was good work.
"The Photoplayer" Carrie Hetherington, the photoplayer expert, writes :
Am taking the liberty to write to you regarding music for the picture, not by manual playing nor by orchestra, but by the new invention called the "Photoplayer." This instrument is composed of piano, reed-organ, pipe-organ.
chimes, orchestral bells and all necessary drummers' traps ; is played by regular 88-note player rolls, but has two sepa- rate tracker boards which enables the operator to make the quick changes without stopping the music. An expert operator can follow the picture so closely as to make a photoplay almost talk.
With your permission I shall enclose my program for the Biograph release, "Judith of Bethulia," and hope that all theaters having the "photoplayer" will try it and that the operators of such will work up the music with the acting and demonstrate the effect of correct music as can be exemplified by this instrument.
Here follows the musical program to :
Judith of Bethulia.
Open with "Maritana," by Wallace, until Judith in prayer; then "The Rosary," by Nevin, until she leaves woman with child ; then back to "Maritana" until "The Army." Then : "William Tell" (by Rossini) the last movement. Play this to end of roll, then "Pique Dame" overture (Suppe) all through. Then "Poet and Peasant" overture (Suppe) until: "Water and Food Fam- ine."— "Simple Aveau" (Thome) until "The King." Then "Peer Gynt" — Suite II opus 55 (Greig) until Judith has vision — then "Woodland Sketchs i and 2" (McDowell) until she puts on fine clothes. Then: "Lament of Roses" (Sounakolb) until "The King." "Peer Gynt" suite II, opus 55 until end of reel.
The Third Reel
starts with "Lament of Rose" — play until Judith before King. Then "A Day in Venice" (Nevin) once through; then "Lament of Rose" again until "Dash for Water." — "Fallow Field Hunt" (Swift) once through. Then last movement of "William Tell" until Judith in Tent Alone. Then "Moonlight Sonata" (Bee- thoven) until title: "Judith Battles with Herself, etc." Then "Prelude opus 28" (Chopin) until Judith before King. — '"Scarf Dance" (Chaminade) N. B. It is necessary to have two rolls of "Scarf Dance" to last out. Play until Judith's Handmaid alone (large picture); then: "Young Nun" (Schubert) until Judith raises knife to kill ; back to "Scarf Dance" until famine scene — city. Then "Simple Aveu" until back to Judith. "Young Nun" again until City. "William Tell" (first movement) until title: "Without Their Prince, etc." Then "Poet and Peasant" unti.1 people kneel in prayer: then: "Priest's March from Athalia" (Mendelssohn) until end.
I will say by way of explanation to those who may be unfamil- iar with the instrument that the "Photoplayer" has facilities for two rolls of music — one can be playing while the other is being adjusted.
The performer can change instantly from one roll to the other and back again at will. The writer has not indicated the con- clusion of the first or third reels in the above picture, though I fancy this can make little or no difference to one wishing to fol- low her program.
Want to Find Some Music Rolls.
Craig Brothers, of the. Bells Amusement Company, Bells, Texas, want the address of the manufacturer of roll music for "The Staufer-Glynn Double Roll Rewind Automatic Electric Piano." Up to the present writing I have been un- able to learn the whereabouts of this company. Perhaps some of our readers may be able and willing to answer the query. If so, a favor will be conferred by communicating with the Craig Brothers as per above address.
Music for Features.
L. F. W., Minneapolis, Minn., writes:
I am about to take a position in another city as musical director (orchestra of six) in a picture thea- ter. I understand they show a great many multiple reel features. Can you tell me if these have special music arranged for them, and how and where could I get it? Write to your exchange. They should be able to give you all information regarding their service.
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
A Good Picture for Boys to See.
A RECENT Biograph release entitled, "Gentleman or Thief," has a> one of the strong characters, a news- boy, whose sterling sense of honesty is a splendid example lo boys, and the picture may be shown with this" special emphasis that hoy- will be benefited by seeing it. iitleman" who is familiar in the card rooms of the clubs, where if he loses he must necessarily seek dishonest mean- of making good hi- losses and to equip himself for further gambling, is looked upon by the newsboy as being a thorough gentleman, instead of the "Raflles" he really is. After robbing a safe — "Rattles" is nearly caught by the po- lice— while escaping he runs into his hoy admirer, who offers him the shelter of his humble lodging, thereby enabling him to elude his followers. When the boy tells him that the danger is past "Raffles" offers the boy money for his aid, the hoy. however, now understands the situation and refuses with disdain. "Raflles'' then offers to shake hands with him, but to his surprise the boy says "I don't shake, hands with thieves." Thus stung to the quick, he slinks out of the boy's humble room. Smarting under the boy's rebuke, "Raffles" decide- to return the stolen money, notice of which apj ears in the papers. Upon reading this the boy seems to realize what may have brought about such a course. "Raliles" now seeks out the boy and tells him of his determi- nation to begin life again honestly under his influence. While the strength of the picture lies in the sterling qualities of the boy, it might have been worked to a better conclusion. The way in which they start off in the world together is unnatural and weak; a little care would have much improved this picture and raised its otherwise good qualities higher.
Pathe's Weekly.
This picture newspaper continues to maintain its high Standard. Not having reviewed it for some time, it is a pleas ure to notice its consistent character and regularity. Of chief interest in the last issue is the new king of a new coun- try— Albania, who seems to be commencing his reign under favorable yet watchful conditions. The King of England is shown as an interested spectator of the American baseball players, with Ambassador Page explaining the rules of the game to him. Bullet-proof aeroplanes are now the latest thing in aviation, and speed enthusiasts, have pictures of auto- mobiles traveling at nearly eighty miles an hour, and with a new French torpedo bicycle going still faster. The latest blizzard is made historical by g 1 views, and storm and tem- pest's powerful results in all part- of the world are recorded. Views of American warship- in Mexican waters show this county'- careful waiting policy, with every evidence of readi- ness and safety.
The Hunting Spider.
In connection with a recent article descriptive of the works ol Raymond L. Ditmars, curator of the New York Zoological Society.it is well to notice that Pathe's has just produced under his supervision a reel of "Hunting-Spiders." vmong these Spiders is shown the vicious tarantula of South Ami which kills insects, small birds and reptile-. Il belongs to a group of hunting-spiders that spin no web, but stalk their prey. Frequently these poisonous insects are found in bunches of bananas. Other specimens shown are found in Texas and California. The Lycasa, or wolf spider, i- found in the eastern parts of the United States and is a savage hunter, being well known on account of its frequent appear- ances on bodies of fresh water. The Pathe Company has al-o ., new list 01 scenic s a- follow-: "The Picturc-que Coast pi Catalonia." "A Trip to the Great Xile Dam." "Ramble- in Bourses. France, "Monuments of Upper Eg "Scenes Along the Canvery River, India," and "A Typical Buddhist Temple."
The Edison Company has a verv timely release in "A Win- ter Holiday in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland." Located in the very heart of Switzerland, noted for its clear pure air, and for the splendor of its mountain scenery, the views are of bewitching beauty. An exhibition of cross-country skiing by two experts is given at the end of the reel.
Signs of Progress. Music is receiving extraordinary attention in the moving- picture theaters of today. To have such a combination as the Hope-Jones organ is one of the greatest strides pos- sible. Such an organ in connection with the Wurlitzer is now installed in the Vitagraph Theater in New York. This means that in all the marvelous progress in kinemat- ographic exhibitions the musical part ha- kept pace with the screen. It seems but a short time since it was neces- sary to be constantly assailing the loud military drum which proved such a nuisance in most theaters.
* * *
Happily that is an instrument of the past; it has gone with the crude pictures, and the unmusical exhibitor, surely never to return. The old piano picked up in a second-hand auction is now also relegated to the rear; the latest type of modern organ is none too good to accompany the class of pictures now being shown.
* * *
Power's Cameragraph No. 6A motion picture projecting machines have been installed in the State Epileptic Colony at Abilene, Texas, the State Lunatic Asylum at Austin, Texas, and the State Orphan Home at Corsicana, Texas. These machines were sold through the General Film Com- pany, of Dallas, Texas.
* * *
The L:nited States battleship "Vermont," one of the most powerful in the navy, has been equipped with a Power's Cameragraph No. 6A motion picture projection machine. The United States Government is having motion picture machines installed in practically all of the army posts and on battleships for the amusement and education of the sol- diers and sailors, and this no doubt will increase the num- ber of recruits in the service.
* * *
In the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburg, Pa., the steel business is being taught by means of a series of films entitled "From Iron Ore to Finished Steel." The pic- tures show the ore mine "Hull-Rust" in the Mesaba district of Minnesota, the largest ore mine in the world. The dig- ging of ore by gigantic steam shovels, and loading on great freighters at Duluth, and again the unloading at Conneaut, O. The product is then followed to the United States Steel Corporation mills at Farrell, Pa., when every proci steel making is most vividly portrayed. The films which are taken by the Farrell Film Company arc described as being of exceptional educational value; as besides showing steel mak- ing they al-o -how the various processes of the by-products, coke plants and many other accessories.
* * *
From Salt Lake City. Utah, comes the information that moving pictures have been installed in the high school for the practical study of scientific subjects. The principal of the school says he has made arrangements for the purchase of
films depicting animal life through all it- Stages, together with those showing the growing of plants. Films to illustrate the principles of physical geography, the elemental phases of geology and the study of natural history are also secured; the school authorities find that study by moving picture is easier and more direct, while they believe the chief value lies in the increased interest shown among the students.
* * *
Domestic Science by moving pictures will surely bring the value of kinematography right in the home, as an auxiliary to its use- in the pure food campaign it should prove in- valuable. Miss Grauel. president of the Housewives' League of Cleveland, is the first person to add moving pictures to the stereopticon slide to illustrate her lectures. Beginning at Toledo she is giving a series of lectures which are intended to be of unusual interest to the woman at the head of the home and to the mother of the family. There is no doubt that in so general and valuable a study as domestic science the pictures will be a great aid.
5-
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
OBSERVATIONS
BY OUR MAN ABOUT TOWN
THAT motion picture exhibitors cannot be too careful in making announcements to and dealing with the public is exemplified by claim for an award made upon the manage- ment of the Savoy Theater on 34th Street. It appears that the management flashes an announcement between pictures that it will give $500 to anyone who can say the pictures shown have been seen before. In justice to the management it should be stated that the claim hinges upon the wording of the offer and not because the management does not give the public what it ad- vertises. The theater runs licensed films. Under the licensed system all films are shipped to out-of-town exchanges in time to give all subjects their first run on the same date throughout the United States and Canada, wherever first run service is used. Evidently the Savoy management did not take this into con- sideration and the claimant has asked for the $500 because a subject he saw presented in a Philadelphia theater one morning was shown upon the screen of the Savoy in the evening of the same date. The claimant is ready to produce proof of his claim. even to the extent of producing people who were with him in the Philadelphia theater, all of which is unnecessary so far as it may go to show that it was possible for him to see a subject in the Quaker City and this city on the same day. Ample proof of this can be presented right here with the co-operation of the shippers of the film. The main question is : Is the Savoy man- agement guilty of bad faith, or misrepresentation ? In a general sense it is not. Technically, it has rendered itself liable to the claim because care had not been taken in framing the announce- ment. This oversight was no doubt due to zeal attending an effort to convince the public that the house does produce first runs. The announcement should have been that the award would be made to anyone who could prove that the subjects had been shown in any theater prior to that particular date. Undoubtedly the management will make a change in the slide without delay. If the change is not made the managers may be overwhelmed by technical claimants. People "who have seen any of the pictures before" may include those who attended earlier exhibitions at the house on the same day, or even those who saw them at pre- liminary runs before they were sent to exchanges, or exhibitors.
Reference to the matter is not made here to either uphold or decry the claim made upon the Savoy ; but simply to impress upon all exhibitors the importance of exercising the greatest care in preparing announcements of their attractions. The public is severely technical and takes advantage against motion picture houses upon the slightest pretext.
And this thought leads us to a point where we are forced to the conclusion that a new and lucrative field has been found by sharpers among motion picture exhibitors. No less than a score of reports have been received during the past week to the effect that exhibitors have been victimized by bogus salesmen of premi- ums and bad check manipulators. Annoyed by repeated demands made upon it by people in the business and hotels to make good on checks floated by swindlers, one of the foremost producing companies in the country has felt obliged to liberally advertise a warning to exhibitors throughout the country to be on the watch for the crooks. While the subject is being given wide-spread at- tention let the exhibitors at the same time guard themselves against the smooth-tongued representatives who resort to all kinds of ruses to get bookings for film subjects, regardless of their character or quality. Fliers in sensations bring returns for but a day and the impressions left behind may kill the business of an exhibitor for weeks, or perhaps longer. The promoters of such ventures are not classified as crooks, but successful opera- tion of their schemes results in far more loss than the crook brings. A bad film subject is much worse than a bad check. The latter may deprive a manager of his receipts for an entire day, but woe to the box office of a house that receives a black eye from a bad film. Put the bad films out of circulation.
Sharp as the competition is among the numerous film produc- ing interests the heartiest sympathy was extended to the Eclair Film Company, which sustained a loss of about $300,000 through destruction of its plant by fire last week. If there is anything film manufacturers dread it is fire. In no other line of business does it bring more real financial loss. The loss is absolute. There is so chance to recuperate any of it through "fire sale," "damaged goods bargains," or other methods left open to the commercial
people. People not in touch with the business have no conception of what fire in a studio and factory means to the owners.
During a discussion of the Eclair fire in a hotel lobby a com- mercial traveller remarked that the estimates of losses sustained by such fires were ridiculous. "Why," said he, "such plants are mere shells and the cost of their construction is a bagatelle com- pared with the cost of a factory in the commercial line. A news- paper states that in this Eclair Company fire there were over $300,000 worth of films destroyed. That is preposterous. I am not in the picture business and take only the words of the people who are, to show you how absurd such an estimate is. They tell us these pictures sell at about $100 a thousand feet. Now that amount, -plus 3,000 makes 300.000, doesn't it? Do you mean to tell me that company had 3,000 films in their vaults? And nothing is said about the insurance."
* * *
There are many people who entertain the same thoughts as those expressed by the salesman just quoted; but. like him. they may be converted to reason by a few facts. There are two kinds of films — negatives and positives. A surprising number of people . imagine that the picture made by the camera is the one that is projected upon the screen. They do not realize that to get a picture upon the screen the manufacturer (upon a much larger scale, of course) follows the same process as the ordinary photog- rapher. If the Eclair losses were confined to the destruction of positives, a source of some recuperation would be afforded by ability to make new prints from the negatives saved. It is true that positives sell at about $100 per thousand feet, but the same quality of negative for the same subject may be worth thousands of dollars. In these days of advancement in the production of photoplays $5,000 is a small amount of actual outlay in the prepa- ration of a subject, particularly .when there are from two to eight reels. In the latter case the expense may run to six, or even ten, times that amount. The greatest loss comes when negatives have just been completed, or one made up for ad- vance trade, before the positives have been made, or the time has arrived to market them. In such an event all the labor of weeks, or perhaps months, must be gone over again and all the money required for salaries, cost of scenery, props, costumes and effects, must be spent again, in addition to the cost of printing and developing the new negatives. Besides this must be figure. t the mechanical part of the plants, which include machines used in the production of the films, carpenter shop, scenic and cos- tume departments, power plant and many other departments that cannot be replaced without enormous outlay of both capital and labor. People who base their estimates of the amount of money invested in the production of motion pictures upon observations made in the exhibiting houses have but a faint idea of the actual investment. Their estimates are made, as a rule, solely upon the number of people and the amount and character of scenery and costumes reflected by the picture: and their estimates of returns to the manufacturers on each subject are based upon the sup- position that there are from 8,000 to 10,000 exhibition houses in the United States that the manufacturer supplies at $100 each. Their ideas are as logical one way as the other. Of one thing they appear confident, and that is the motion picture business is a mint for all concerned in it. Revenues, and not investment and expense, appear to be their sole consideration. Here is a prob- lem for some of the incredulous to solve: If it costs $20,000 to put up an up-to-date picture theater, what will be the cost to establish a modern picture producing plant ? When they reach the solution they will have some knowledge of what they know about the business. As to the insurance proposition, all con- sideration of it is barred by the fact that insurance rates on mo- tion picture studios are prohibitive.
* * *
So the censorship bug has at last reached the halls of Con- gress! What is known as the "Christian Lobby" is the sponsor for the latest movement. Well, the argument made last week in these columns against State censorship holds good against the Congressional movement. The United States Court of Ohio has- before it a test of constitutionality of the censorship question and there is now reason why action by either State or National' legislators should force the matter until the United States Su- preme Court has had an opportunity to pass upon the question. If it sustains the contention that censorship is unconstitutional all that the State bodies and Congress have done, or may do, will' have been a waste of time and the people's money. Agitators who persist in face of these facts make themselves appear reck- lessly zealous. In support of the movement the agitators quote Judge Swann, of New York, as saying: "I have had a great many young people of both sexes tell me that they got their first suggestion to commit crime from scenes portrayed in motion pictures." Yes, and the same story has been told to other judges. Hundreds of them have also told their parents they were at pic- ture shows to conceal their attendance at dance halls and ques- tionable resorts. The worst sensational melo-drama was never saddled with anv of this responsibility, nor do the so-called re- formers turn their attention in that direction.
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
53
Honesty and Safeguards.
UNDOUBTEDLY in a business employing more than a hundred thou- sand persons there must be some few who are dishonest. We have evaded discussion of this point in the department heretofore, hut the requests for some suggestions as to how to safeguard the interests of the management are growing. We are going to take up th'e matter to the best of our ability and then let it drop again unless some correspondent has something to offer in addition. Perhaps this letter gives the best summary of the situation:
I made up my mind to one thing, and that is that I could just as well be on the job every minute and see that we got all the money coming to us as well to believe that we did. Do you get me? Well, anyway I found out that we were being done some- where and it had to quit. There is only one way when such things appear true — clean house and let the innocent suffer with the guilty. We did that thing and are doing much better now and I hope will continue to do so. Let me ask you — is there no way you can run a theater and be absolutely sure that you are not being done. Turnstiles mean a large lobby but it seems to me that there is no other way. Anyone I put at the door can get away with it either by slipping tickets back to the ticket seller for resale and splitting up the profits or by letting personal friends in for five cents. Then if the manager wants to he can steal you blind in a dozen ways. You probably will say that it is easily stopped, but it can't be true until you are able to eliminate the personal equation. I put our problem up to several men who know our house ard no one can solve it. Between us I want to tell you that we got it good and plenty. The physical manager of the house employed his two sons — both wild youths — as ushers. The boys took tickets and I think worked the pass-back game with the ticket seller. The manager could not know this. I got wise by watching carefully and going up into the operator's booth and counting the house. Many nights with a house full and a hundred people standing I would go up there and count the vacant seats. You know most of them will stand until there are two seats together and so even if there are a number standing there may be a dozen vacant seats in the house, but all singles. Well, the next day our report might show $30.00. The house full would be $45.50. Allow fifty five-cent seats and even then there is a discrepancy. Then the boys would keep the tickets or get them in some way and pay for their games in the pool halls with them and the proprietor would sell them cheap. It didn't do any good to change color on them for they took tickets at the door. Well just for that they all had to get out. Of course that game is killed, but I can't stand at the door all the time and see that there is no crooked work going on. and the man I have there may start a little game of his own and it is up to me to catch him. How can you make the thing "crook proof? There are so many things to be taken into consideration — such as the police laws and fire laws and the lobby room and standing room that all have a direct bearing upon the case and alter the situa- tion with the individual house. Our bouse comes right to the side- walk and there is a lobby with a storm front right at the sidewalk. The lobby is not over twelve feet wide and there are three en- trances or exits from the house into the lobby. The entrance is near the ticket office at the right, but some nights when the standing room is filled and the lobby is full and they are packed twenty deep clear into the Street it is a job getting them all in any one place. Let the doors open anywhere for people lo exit and there is a ru*h. I can't use ropes, as it is against a local ordinance.
Can't Be Done.
About the only way to absolutely prevenl theft is to sell and take tickets and sleep in the theater nights. The best that can be done is to keep the losses to a minimum.
The turnstile is no absolute safeguard. There must be an exit as well as the entrance, and it' the ticket taker and seller are in partnership there is nothing to prevent the doorkeeper telling a patron that the turnstile is Out of order and to go in the other way. Then the ticket is snapped back into the cashier to be used again. If both the tick, t ket taker
arc honest there is nothing to prevent the usher from letting a few in from the side entrances, and most houses do have these side entrances. Where a majority of the house enters in a limited time the turnstile that the manager or a trusted agent watches is perhaps the best preventive, but it is not an absolute preventive even then. There used to be a house in a Jersey town that had eight doors, and when all of these were wafc local manager would take people into the house through the stage and the box door.
In a majority of the houses the turnstile is prohibited by the local fire laws and where the law does not prohibit them common sense should. Even in the mildest panic the turnstile is fatal. It cannot be taken up and out of the way in time. It should be dismissed from any consideration.
Given a reliable ticket seller, the automatic ticket machine that makes a hidden record of all tickets sold is the next best idea. This will not pre- vent the doorkeeper from passing in a few friends, but any marked dis- crepancy will be noted almost immediately.
Get a Counter.
In connection with this or any other idea there is a little device known as a pole counter or automatic tally. It will run up to 99 or 999 by a simple pressure on the plunger. One of the best known managers in the country, operating a chain of houses, carries one of these. We swung over a part of the circuit with him once and night after night as he sat in the box we could bear the "clicker" going. Count up the house and look at the box office count and you can soon tell if you are being victimized.
One of the large Coney Island amusement companies reads all cash registers every hour all day long. It has a system of records going back ten or fifteen years giving the day of the week, the weather and other data. If any register shows a falling off from a corresponding day the previous year and this discrepancy is consistent, there is an investigation, allowance being made for weather conditions. Such a little thing as a thunderstorm at five o'clock should show a gain in the restaurant takings, for instance, but a loss at seven and perhaps eight.
This is almost too elaborate for a smaller enterprise, but it is well to note the average of the house and investigate any gain or falling off. If the average Friday shows fifteen dollars between three and five in the afternoon, the weather being good, and suddenly drops to ten and stays at ten, while the house seems as full as usual, it might be well to investigate.
Making such records from the hidden indicators is about the safest scheme. These records may be made by the ticket cashier or the manager. No particular machine is recommended. Any machine dispensing tickets direct to the purchaser will do. It will not wholly check the doorkeeper, but it will hold his possible stealings down, always provided that the door- man and cashier do not pool their interests.
Strip tickets are less certain, but reasonably reliable, particularly if one of the numbered tickets is held out every hour. Provide a number of small pay envelopes. The first is for the first ticket taken in, the second for an hour or two hours later and so on until the last gives the final ticket on the day. If more than one price is used, take one of each.
Watch the Door.
If you have reason to believe that the doorkeeper is passing too many of his friends in, get a couple of bright young women to visit the house. One can be waiting for a friend in the lobby, and keeping an eye on the doorman, the other entering the house and counting up the people as they enter. If sixty come in and the ticket return shows fifty-four, someone got sixty cents and the doorman should know something about it.
But don't make your people feel that they are under suspicion. Nothing so tends to destroy loyalty as a constant system of watching. We used to know a house where the doorman took a pride in stealing simply because it was taken for granted that he was a thief and he was made to' feel that it was a game between himself and the manager as to who got the money.
The taking of tickets and using them over again is one of the common tricks, but the use of a "chopper" that will properly mutilate the ticket will help some. The patron drops the ticket in the box and the does the rest, but the strip ticket is to be had at any exchange or direct from the printer, few are specially printed and it is easy to get the same tickets as the genuine rolls.
Cash registers can be adapted to print a ticket and by the use of a pe- culiar tint of paper it will not be easy to counterfeit them. The cashier asked for five ten-cent tickets, merely punches the fifty-cent key and the ticket is passed out with fifty cents stamped on it. Where but one price ticket is used this is ^ simple scheme and cheaper than some form of ma- chine that delivers ready printed tickets. In this case use quick drying ink. It is hard on the type where any part of the stamp is rubber, but there are no soiled gloves.
Cultivate Loyalty.
Any self-registering device is a good check, but there must be some de- d on the bouse employees. It is better to cultivate a sense of loyalty than to hire detectives, and cheaper in the long run. several houses are run in a circuit and there must be a paid manager to each, it is better to divide the responsibility between two or three than to center it on one person on the general proposition that if three people each Steal their share of five dollars a day there is less return, and there- fore less temptation, than if one person could get the entire sum, and there is U-ss chance that all will be willing to be dishonest.
In any case the so-called "hard" tickets should not be used. In the regular houses nine-tenths of the juggling is done with hard tickets and the same holds good in picture theaters. The best safeguard where re- served seats are used is to count the "deadwood," the tickets left in the rack after any performance, hut it is so seldom that reserved seats are used that this is hardly available.
Most holdouts are based on the understanding that a certain number of tickets are to be turned back at each performance. This is not pos- sible where the tickets are shot from a machine almost into the customer's hands. It is for this reason that the automatic machine is to be pre- ferred, but a heavy holdout is almost certain to be noticed if persisted in, and so the tally is, after all, the best check.
Does anyone know a better?
54
THE MOVING riCTURE WORLD
Gosh!
We never thought we would live to see it, but the Martz, the house organ of the same name in Tipton, Ind., says it gives only three complete shows an evening and that the way to get a full entertainment is to go to one of the other theaters, as well. We do not believe that the three houses are under the same management, and it takes a broad gauge management to advertise the other fellow even when he says to come to the Martz first and then go to the other fellow.
Another novel announcement is that the manager of the Martz has moved his law offices to the theater to be in closer touch with his theatrical enter-
The Martz is a four pager and most of the m set advertisements; a better form where the matt in this case.
rr:nlr
instead of
Coming Along.
Julian Solomon, Jr., in the Susquehanna Theater, Philadelphia, is build- ing up his News into a readable locality sheet; one that will be looked for instead of being kicked off the door step unread. From the looks of the advertising pages it must be paying its own way right now.
Cut Out Slides.
Lit slides,
The Arcade Theater, Gooding, Idaho, offers a new idea i sending this letter:
Being a regular reader of your publication and having been benefited a number of times by putting into practice "other peo- ple's ideas" as published in your paper I feel that it is possible and only right that I should reciprocate.
I am inclosing herewith three "slides" to illustrate our method of advertising. As we all know, something different always ap- peals, attracts attention, and thereby brings results. Results are what we all want. I have found that these "cut out" slides reach more of the people and convey the idea, or the object of the slide, to the minds of the people quicker, better, and more indelibly for the reason that they see the form of the object that is being adver- tised.
Of course in some cases it is not possible to use the "cut out" idea but wherever it is possible I can vouch for the statement that it is good advertising and I believe better than any other form of slide, the pictorial slide not excepted.
I hope that you can use these slides to somebody's benefit. The slides are done on the usual lantern slide plates of clear glass, the cut-out being made on scale paper, probably for the familiar reduction by squares. One slide, advertising the coming of "Arizona," is lettered in an outline of that state, the general outline being preserved though the pro- portions are incorrect, being too low for the width. This is not a point
AMERICAN 6REATE.5T PL-AV
,!ARiz.oriA
B> AUOUSYU3 TH0MA5 ADAPTED FOR MOTIOM PICTURE} By THE. AUTHOR
WITH CyRlL. 5COTT AUD 1 COMPAMy OF \&0 PEOPJ-E.
■cmwenKMaok
that will occur to many, and some such reduction was necessary in order 1 get the screen proportions. Another slide announces circus night, the ou line of a charging buffalo being cut out of the paper and the lettering beir done within this space. A third, an advertising slide for a soda fountaii advertises hot drinks within the outline of a glass with steam rising froi
the same. As A. J. Schubert says, tion. This is a decidedly good idea by the square method you can at le even handle this save up pictures a stylus and a carbon sheet.
thing different will attract atten- If you cannot make the reductions t use a pantograph. If you cannot 1 use tracing paper or trace with a
Moved.
>. L. Cornelius, who is now in Shreeveport, La., sends this letter: My last contribution to your department was "THE DOOR- KNOB SPECIAL," the weekly door-knob advance program which I sent you from Monroe, La. — now I pop up from another town which is considerably larger and The Door-knob Special is impos- sible here, therefore I am forced to make my weekly house organ a program.
I am inclosing my last edition and trust that it meets with your approval as some of my other efforts have.
I carry, as you will notice, the programs for two theaters, the Hippodrome and Dreamland, having just recently started the pro- gram for the Dreamland. Now I am undecided as to whether to change the name of the program and name it something that would be in common or not. What would you advise?
By All Means.
His new submission is the Hippodrome Herald. As it is numbered 42, it may be surmised that it was running when Mr. Cornelius took charge. Most assuredly the name should be changed to something that covers both houses. In default of a more suitable single name it might be given
THE PROGRAM
HIPPODROME DREAMLAND
In this case the names of the houses should be almost as pronounced as the title, though the words "The Program" should be larger to follow the rule that a sub-title cannot be larger than the main line. To get around this the top line might be set in shaded letters and the names of the houses in a bold lower case. There is a tendency on the part of many to order the house name in all capitals, but this is a mistake. A lower case letter is more easily read. If Mr. Cornelius will compare the lines on pages eight and nine of the copy sent us, he will be able to get the idea. More than this, the lower case will permit the use of an "extended" letter where a "condensed" face might be required for all capitals.
The program is a twenty page issue, mostly with running stories of com- ing films. There is but one page of "house talk" and one page of miscel- laneous matter. On the latter page we notice a couple of rather loud jokes. They are not very bad, but they are somewhat out of place in an issue that goes into the family circle. Father may laugh at them, but the real appeal is made to mother and the children. There is plenty of clean humor to be taken up. We are inclined to think that more space given to general matter, most of it having at least an indirect bearing on the films, will prove to be better than the exhaustive treatment of coming stories. It is not so much what is printed as what is read that counts. Give them more vhat they want to read and they will read more of what you wish
the
to
We are not very strong for program jokes at best. Much humor is out of place in a house organ. There is plenty of general press matter with a humorous side that would be much better.
Aid the Spotlight.
And the Spotlight, the organ of the Fichtenberg enterprises in New Or- leans, also has a signed humorous page that might as well have been written with a pair of scissors. It is an advertisement for a comedian at present playing the houses, but it is not a particularly good advertisement and the space might be better employed.
The last issue gives a very pretty effect with two-color cover work, the red and black giving excellent results, much the same as the covers of Real Life. The Spotlight has made consistent improvement of late, but it still needs to give readable matter to cover its advertising readers.
That Hero Contest.
An anonymous writer complains that the Hero Contest of the Ladies' World was not started on a fair basis, as there are but two independent candidates against five on the licensed side. It may interest the writer, whoever he may be, to know that the list was carefully compiled from a complete list of leading men and without regard as to whether they were playing for the licensed or independent companies. The Ladies' World has nothing to do with trade affiliations and every effort was made to have the list truly representative. G. M. Anderson would not enter, but apart from him we believe that the list gives the seven most popular men in the photoplays. It was not a question of whether the contestant was a licensed or independent player but whether he was more popular than any of those left out and we do not believe that the list could be improved upon. The writer also says that Mr. Matt, manager of the Delia Theater, Flint, Mich., is exchanging tickets for votes and says that the attention the contest is drawing will more than bring back the investment of tickets. If this is the case we fail to see where he has grounds for complaint.
Improved.
The Rex Theater, Valley City, N. D., sends in an improved program, too great length since it is argued by the management w accustomed to the shape of the sheet, which is in a program is much better displayed, but we think that
It retains that the p measure t
ibli.
The
they would not hurt the looks of things if they slightly changed the lay- out. Now the program rises to the top of the page with three inch and a quarter ads below. Putting one of the three on top and sinking the program to that extent will not detract from the program and it will get two more of the advertisers "next to pure reading" and make them feel they are getting more for their money. Also, if they will frame the program in three point rule or three on six point border, they will be surprised and pleased. The back page is given to readable items about coming attractions and the house. They make each line count. The heading: "Weekly chat of the Rex and its Actors and Actresses," gives a sort of proprietary air to the whole licensed service and the state rights people. It makes the patron feel that he patronizes a house with a stock company of thousands.
A Bohemian.
The Bohemian, the organ of the Bohemia Theater, Cleveland. Tenn., is a four page paper 11 by 14 inches. It gives straight run story of com- ing films in leaded twelve point. It makes a rather white sheet, but it is easy to read, though a ten point or, better still, an eight, leaded would make it look more like a paper. It would greatly increase composition cost, but the size of the sheet might be profitably cut down to match and the same amount of reading matter given on half the paper with a general effect of compactness that is now lacking. The back page is given to Uni- versal press matter. There should be a little something said about the house each week. Apart from the title and the underline "Published weekly by the Bohemia Theater," there is not a line advertising the house. This is a mistake.
Some Stunt,
Melvin G. Winstock, who got out of the People's Amusement Company, Portland, Oregon, to get a free hand for his ideas, is doing a noved stunt in advertising a house not yet built on the principle, that by the time it is built it will be as well known as though it had been opened some months. It will seat 2,000 persons. It takes money, but it makes money. He says he is not going to die again, but is going to keep sending in stuff.
THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD
OD
THE PHOTOPLAYWRIGHT
Conducted by EPES WINTHROP SARGENT
Not Even Comedy.
SIM E lasl report Mrs Parsons of the Essanay company has buill up her comedy string until now there is an opening only for the very best. It you Jon t write the very best sort of stuff, it is utterly foolish to enrich a paternal government bj sending scripts to Essanay with from two to four cents each way. It you want to help out the postal deficit, go ahead, but if you want to sell, send to some place where there is a marki I
Closed For the Present.
Richard V. Spencer, editor for the New York Motion Picture Company,
writes that at present they arc overstocked. Nothing is wanted for Kay-
Note thai he does not say that Keystone is overstocked. Perhaps come- dies in synopsis form are desired. He does not say they are. but he does not say they are not. We are inclined to think that anything that meas- ures up to Mack Sennett's idea of humor will be snapped up. He prefers a complete but not overfull synopsis. He pays synopsis price.
Mr. Spencer says the stop order is for "the next few months."
On the Other Hand.
The American Company announces that it is particularly interested in scripts adapted for comedies or light dramas for the use of the I'.eauty Com- pany. They will pay "liberal" prices and Mr. Nehl's ideas of liberal' prices do not hover in the vicinity of seven dollars and a half. Liberal with him means regular money. Make your local house show some Beauties and then start in to fill the demand— if you can. They want only the best.
Send to the Chicago offices. 6227 Evanston Avenue. Chicago, III.
No!
A correspondent, building up on Mr. Wells' suggestion of a scene to a page in the practice script, suggests that the script be sent to the editor with a scene to a page "almost in hook form."
The correspondent is very evidently not familiar with production methods. The more compact the script, provided that it is understandable, the better. Send the finished work on 8K- by n paper and nn other.
As to That.
Several correspondents have jsked information as to the interview with Frank E. Woods, of the Reliance, recently appearing in Reel Life and other publications, in which he argues in favor of synopsis alone.
1 his was a story wri'ten by a singularly good press agent from what must haco hecn a very brief interview. All thai it rcallv means is that "Spec" wiil pay a better price than most for synopsis only. But Mr. Woods speaks for the four Mutual brands he supervises and for no others and his opinions on synopses arc of value only as you may wish to do business with him. We are rather ashamed of some of the letters we have had in which the writers argue that they should stop writing scripts ami seek to cell by synopsis.
On the other hand. Lawrence S. McCloskey. in commenting on an in- quiry wc recently made on behalf of a writer who had sent him a synopsis wrote, in effect: "Men who can write full action should not seek to sell by synopsis. If they have ideas and we want to buy them, it is all there and we can buy. We can't tell from the synopsis if the action would be good, and we prefer full action to synopsis only."
There is a growing tendency on the part of some writers to submit synopses only with an offer to send the full script if the synopsis pleases.
This is foolish and fatal to success. No honest-to-g Iness-making-a-Iiving-
at it writer ever does that. He does not send an empty box to see if you like what it contains, and the synopsis, no matter how full, never en. idea of the action.
An Object Lesson.
Here is a little object lesson in writing scripts.
About twenty-five years ago the then Commissioner of Police of New York City went out I.. see if the patrolmen were doing their duly. Ik- found one man in a saloon, but before he could get his number, all the Commissioner had was the vanished patrolman's club. That wasn't much, but the Commissioner went over to the station house, figuring that the man who came off beat without his cluh would be the one he had caught in the saloon. Relief came and the relieved platoon came in. Not a ringlt man had his club. Since then the clubs have carried the owner's shield number.
Now look at the possibilities of this story for a picture in the present mode. What are iis chances?
The Patrolman is in the saloon.
He runs away.
The commissioner finds the cluh.
The patrolman is seen urging others to throw away their clubs.
On relief no man has his club.
There is only one laugh there, that in the last scene where the men all come in without clubs. There is nothing funny in the sight of Jim Jones asking Sam Smith and Ben Black and Will White to throw away their Clubs, I he idta might be funny, but it is action, f/i/.t the idea, that counts in comedy. Something must he done to make this funny action if it is a story. Now watch.
The Chief announces that any man caught in a saloon will be tired from the force.
Jim Jones, a married man, goes into a saloon for a drink.
The Chief finds him there and blacks h
Before the Chief gets a clear identification Jones knocks the Chief down. He runs away.
I ■ i • ■ lie returns and the barkeeper tells him that the Chief has said he will know the delinquent by his black eye.
Jones meets his wife and tells her his troubles.
His wife spends the afternoon blackening the eyes of all the other police- men she meets.
The Chief goes to the station.
By the time lorn, gets in, black eyed policemen are so common that they do not even notice his.
Now there is a laugh, two laughs, in fact, where the Chief gives the black eye and is knocked down. There is a laugh each time a policeman has his eve blacked. There is a big laugh at the finish.
Watch for Lubin's "The Eyes Have It." This was the evolution of the story, the translation of idea into idea AND action.
How About It?
Some four or five months ago we got a whole bundle of letters from Pittsburg lamenting that there was no Inquest Circle there, so we coaxed Edward W. Matlack, a Kalem star writer, to start a circle and not a single solitary individual sent in for the address of the circle'. Now here is one last chance. Write in and we'll pass the letters on to Mr. Matlack. If enough come in, he will form the circle with the aid of Frank Howard -Clark. If they ran a school and charged $20 a course they would be over- run with pupils, but because it doesn't cost a penny, the advice of a couple of real writers seems to be scorned.
Two Coroners.
As soon as the new franchise for Kansas City was issued, the old Coroner sat up and began to take notice. He has not the time to give to it and so will be content to aid the new Coroner. The point is that there will be a live circle in Kansas City. Get in it.
Lloyd Lonergan.
Almost since the formation of the Thanhouser Company, Lloyd Lonergan has written practically all of the Thanhouser releases; not by merely putting his name to the scrip't he revises, but digging out the idea, getting it on pa- per and generally cutting the film afterward. We are inclined to think that he has written more produced plays than any single photoplay writer and his batting average runs about 980. He has kept on year after year, turn- ing out two or three a week and yet never letting the suggestion creep into his stuff that it is machine
ade. He do
the
same story this week that he wrote week before last and is going to write again week after next. He doesn't run his ideas around in a ring like the ponies in a circus. He makes them as different as possible and gives to the Thanhouser releases a di- versity that is lacking in some companies where the work of scores of writers are done over into the same mold by an editing Editor. He has the trick (for it is a trick, developed by practice) of seeing a plot theme in the commonest happening of life. He takes some simple little incident and makes it un- usual by skilled treatment until, if you knew the source of inspiration, you would scarcely be able to recognize the play as being derived from the incident. And it is not that he is out fur the long distance record, either, but he early found that he could write each week better stories than he could buy once a month and so, instead of wading through a mass of -torus, he advertises that he is not reading outside contributions and de- votes part of the time he saves to giving the directors just what they want. Like most prolific writers, he is an old time newspaper man, and for fifteen years he was a Hearst editor, which means a lot to those familiar with the erratic editorial policy of those papers. His faculty of seeing back of the little things was developed on the editorial desk, for the editor must be able to see beyond the copy turned in by the reporter and dig the real story out. Now he is doing the same thing, hut be is turning his stories into picture- instead of headlines and body type. Incidentally he comes of a family of writers.
Close-Ups. There seems to be a growing tendency to increase the use of close-up pictures. I-ately we saw a subject in which a sitting room was used. At various times three portions of this room were used for close-up pictures, instead of always using the full set. The idea was that it was better to follow the players with the camera than to bring them down to the front line and play all the action in one square yard of stage. If Mary had to write a letter, instead of getting paper and pen at the desk and bringing it down to the camera, the latter was moved over to get a close-up of the desk. This was vastly better, though it should be used sparingly where the close-up is but a part of a scene, the opening and closing of which uses
Lloyd Lonergan.
56
THE MOVING I'llTl/RE WORLD
the full stage. Instead show the full stage scene, cut back to something else and come to a close-up of the part of the scene you want. The temptation to overwork a novelty is strong and should be guarded against, but where it can be done without confusing the action, it is well to use the effect at times.
In writing these close-ups, do not count them as sets. If you have six full scenes and three different close-ups in a library, it is all one set and not four sets, and enter it as one set in your scene plot. Mark the scenes in this fashion:
i. — Library — and give the action.
7. — Library as in No. 1 — Close-up of Mary at desk, etc. 11. — Library as in No. 1 — Close-up of John and Mary in arm chair by fire.
This will indicate clearly just what you want shown and still not confuse with a seeming multiplicity of sets.
Plenty.
The other day a man told us that he had the names of thirteen hundred writers of photoplays for circular use, and it would seem that some of the schools double up on the pupil by selling his name to other companies. We have never been able to find that any company of the three big sections permit this, but it is "remarkable how these addresses get about.
And mind you, thirteen hundred is an absurdly small proportion of the whole number. There are more likely thirteen thousand persons in the L'nited States trying to write plays — and fewer than five thousand plays being bought each year.
Find Out.
Before you take the course of the photoplay school in Washington, that guarantees that you will sell one play, find out just what they guarantee. There seems to be no time limit, and some of the writers who have demanded the return of their money have been quieted by the offer of the company to take one of their plays for five dollars. As the company has not even a camera it is difficult to determine where they will make production, but the proposition seems to be within the postal regulations and the unfortunate pupil is left without redress. This is the same company that offers to enter you as a qualified author for a fee of one dollar. As a side line they sell the addresses they obtain to other schools. Before you invest in the course find out what the guarantee means. It is worth a couple of dollars in a legal fee to save more than that.
Floaters.
Don't be a floater. Don't stop around and take half a dozen courses because the first one did not help you much. We have been interested in a writer who seems to want to get ahead and who gives considerable promise, and we have just learned that she has enrolled in the sixth course that she has taken since she started in. She wants to get ahead and buy her knowledge ready-learned, and when she finds that one teacher cannot give her immediate success she passes on to the next and the next, never learning, but, always being disorganized because no two teachers use the same method. The only way to learn is to procure competent instruction and then study hard and work faithfully. You cannot buy your thinking ready done. Don't expect to.
Cut-in Leaders.
Do not cut in a leader immediately after the scene opens. Give at least ten feet of essential action before the leader flashes and the result will look more like a play and less like a pictorial hash. And don't merely think you have ten feet of action. Write in full ten feet of action and you'll have it correct.
This is one of the little points on which even the practiced writer may go wrong; a nicety of direction that occurs only to the studio writer or one close to the camera.
Pull.
It is all very well to talk about pull, but the only lasting pull is good work. The other day a young man brought a story into a studio with a request for a personal reading, and the editor read it just to be able to give concrete illustrations to his explanation of just why the story was impossible, but the story showed merit and the young man, an orderly in a sanitarium, was placed on the acting role for a few weeks to gain camera experience, preparatory to being given reconstruction work. There is no such thing as pull. The seeming pull is nothing more than hard work. It may take you a little time to get found out, b members of the Inquest Club, starting from the ground, are now i employ, and not one of them had the vestige of a pull other than of good stories a few months ago.
Inquiries
three
Getting Wise.
We have always contended that Marc Edmund Jones would get wisdom even though Marcedmunding is a synonym for visioning back. Never have we felt more certain that since he wrote:
^ I am going for no soeed records. After trying seven tworeelers in seven days, and finding that only two sold in their original form, I have had enough. As a matter of fact, I find that in order to keep up the quality of stuff that I have been turning out, even though I employ a stenographer, I average a little short of one story a week. If I did not sell every story I wrote and was not able to get high prices, I would soon go "busted." It is also essen- tial that each and every release be successful, and occasionally, un- usually so. But then he adds:
In this, I have been fortunate, considering that every story I turn out incorporates some new effect, and is an experiment of some sort.
NOTE — No inquiries can be replied to by mail. Look for your answer her*. No question can be replied to that necessitates the handling of the manuscript. Always give your name and address. It will not be published. A list of ad- dresses, to which photoplays should be sent, will be supplied on receipt of a STAMPED AND SELF ADDRESSED ENVELOPE. The request should b» mad© to the paper direct and not to this department, nor to the Answers Man.
C. D. M. — It is not necessary to fasten your script with a paper clip, but it holds the sheets together and prevents accident. I'se a hot iron and a piece of paper over the crease marks and you can iron them out if they are not too bad. Where a character passes from one scene to the next, he should wear the same clothes. If he comes from the street to a parlor, write in some short flash to give a lapse of time in which, presumably, this change is made. We have no line on the magazine you mention. Never did do business with that class of publication. The play scripts are probably being held for consideration. Give them time. Your faculty for picking up general information will be invaluable to you in the long run.
M. E. S.. — Not much demand for '"snow stuff." Try Miss Gauntier, in care of Warner's Features, or one of the Los Angeles companies. No company would be likely to purchase a biblical script. They have bibles and script writers of their own. The Ed-Au requires the authorship of ten scripts. Send a stamped and self addressed envelope for the address of the local inquest circle. You must have had one script produced.
N, C. — If the scene does not require too distinctively local color, it could be made in this country. You could not produce on the Harlem river a Cambridge-Oxford boat race, but you could show a field of corn. Corn fields are pretty much alike, but there is a difference in the environment of boat
J. W. — If you get more for a full script than a synopsis, try and sell the full script first. If you fail, then offer the synopsis to one of the companies buying synopses only. That's simple arithmetic, isn't it? No firm gives much consideration to the palpably amateur script, but any company will consider the work of an unknown writer if it is in proper form and they