The Moving Picture World (1907)

690 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD. INSPECTS MOVING PICTURE THEATERS". "Have you ever made a personal inspection of the various moving picture theaters in the country?" "'Yes, I have. And here I might say that I have never gone into any show in the whole of Canada or the United States and revealed my identity until after the show. I paid my nickel or ten cents at the door and walked in as an ordinary sight-seer. I wanted to see for myself exactly the way in which they are conducted. "On taking my seat in a certain motion picture theater—a big one, in the heart of Chicago—I found in the next seats to me a woman with her little girl. The picture on the screen was very good comedy, an American production picture—really good com- edy. But right in the midst of one of the most comical scenes, which, by the way, was the interior of a room, the little girl passed the following remark to her mama: 'What a pity it was ■ - raining all the time, mama!' ''This expression is more significant than we would think it on the surface, and means a lot. We have a phrase in England 'That there are only two people who tell the truth, viz.: children and dmnken men.' And if a high comedy picture should lose all its comedy in the mind of a child, and the child's real attention is drawn to the 'rain' which is running down the screen, there must be something radically wrong in the way in which a picture show is ran on tne American continent. "The knock-about comedy naturally is the first thing that a ' child is pleased with, enjoys, and is carried away with. A child hardly sees petty details, and if in the mind of the child the rain is the most attractive thing in the picture, what about the grown-up person, and the educated man and woman?" TOO MUCH SUCCESSIVE COMEDY. '"Did you observe any other direction in which you might sug- gest room for improvement?" "Well, one point which I noticed was the succession of comedy subjects following comedy. The merest tyro in vaudeville man- agement knows that he dare not put three comedians following'" one another. It is asking of human nature a little too much to sit laughing all the time. A vaudeville manager puts on a comedy, a dumb show turn, then a pathetic creation, then again a comedy, by which means the second comedy man gets a better laugh as a setrOff against the pathetic previous number on the bill. "To further illustrate what I mean, if Uncle Tom's Cabin or East Lynne were shown from start to finish without a comedy relief, it would indeed be a very dull show. That very comedy relief draws the tears more copiously from, the eyes of the audi- ence when you come to the pathetic scene, and 50 in the inverse, the pathetic sets off the comedy. The more serious the educa- tional and scenic the better the comedy picture goes. Life is made up of contrasts. If we had all business throughout our life, and no play, Jack would indeed be a dull boy, and, on the other hand, if we went about our business all day long in a hilarious spirit I am afraid business would soon fall down. We must be serious sometimes. "Don't think for a moment that I am attempting through the medium of The Shaw World to even convey the impression that I am seeking to dictate to the exhibitor in the great American continent: but I would point out to the great exhibitor that to- day, from all I can learn, he has been steadily hedged in with rules and regulations by municipal authorities which sayor some- what of irksomeness, to use no stronger expression. I would venture to suggest that if he would make his show to savor just a little of the educational as well as the amusing, he would have a magnificent answer to any criticism which was passed upon his show. The public will not stand for Ore moment paying to go into a show to be educated, if you tell them that they are to be educated. But they .will pay to go into a show to be interested and amused, and yet educated without their knowing that they are being educated. Call your show an educational medium, and I am afraid you will play to empty seats. Call youryplace an amusement, but put on some educational subjects,- and you will have success, and the general uplift will be given to the people as' well as to the tone of your own show." HINTS TO EXHIBITORS. "Do you know of any improvement which might be made by the present exhibitors, without changing their present films, ma chines and light?" "I can say, without hesitation, that every exhibitor can im- prove his show by blacking out all the white on his screen ex- cept that which is absolutely required for the showing of his picture. I find this is a rarity. Take five cents' worth of drop black and mix it with a little water and size. Then with a brush go around the screen and black in the whole portion which is not used for the picture, and you will find that the brilliancy and luster of the picture will be very much enhanced." "Another point which struck me on my visits to these ■various exhibitions is the lack of care taken by the operator in keeping the mask of his machine scrupulously clean. Look at the .first picture you see and you will find ragged edges top and bottom of the picture. This is nothing more nor less than sheer neglect on the part of the operator. At the end of each reel, if he will only put his finger in the mask and rub off any little bits of grit, or dirt, which have accumulated there, the picture will appear set in a good, hard, firm line frame. 'These little details may seem very small to the ordinary ex- hibitor, but once let him attend to them, or get his operator to attend to them, and he will see that he improves his show all along the line. We must always remember in all the interests of this business, viz.: the manufacturer, the importer, the renter and the exhibitor, that we are all dependent on the good graces of the great public whom we serve for our living, and must do all that we possibly can to make our show as perfect as it can be presented. Once let the public find grave faults with our shows, and we shall all have to go back to the respective pur- suits from which we came out of, which may be a little difficult to find room in. Hence,- it behooves us to do all that we pos- sibly can, not only to please ourselves, but to please the great public whom we serve. APPROVES CHICAGO AUDIENCES: "How does the general conduct of the audiences in Chicago compare with that elsewhere*" "The conduct within the show, and the demeanor of the audi- ences compares very favorably with anything that I have seen in any part of the world, and I say in this connection* that I have personally visited moving picture exhibitions in Mexico, in sev- eral places in South America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, India, Italy, Spain, Greece, Germany, France, Switzer- land, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and naturally, of course, in my own country,-the British Isles. In fact, the little strip of celluloid has taken me to almost every portion of the globe." "What is the difference in the form of entertainment provided the American public with, for instance, London, in the character of the pictures ?" "In England we try to make them.an animated newspaper, and show the stay-at-home Englishman the wonders of the world. We are endeavoring to make cinematography take its proper place jn the world, namely, to convey truthfully, without any garnishing, the true state of things and manners and customs, etc. KING EDWARD IN MOVING PICTURES. "As an illustration of what I mean: King Edward visited a place in Westminster called the Horticultural Hall, in connec- tion with a South African exhibition. After declaring the ex- hibtion open he called Peter Ban forward and thereupon knighted him. Accompanied by another operator, I was stationed up in the gallery, and cinematographed the whole of the proceedings. His Majesty then came down off the platform and walked around the exhibition. In the meantime my operator had got into an automobile outside and flown off to the dark rooms. Develop- ment was at once proceeded with, and almost simultaneously with a return of the King to Buckingham Palace, we were showing to the public at the Palace Theater that afternoon the whole event on the screen. This was within two hours and twenty minutes of the happening. "Another instance: One of our battleships, H. M. S. Montagu, went onto the Shutter Rocks, off the west coast of England. We got the information on the ticker in bur office, and immedi- ately sent an operator to the scene. The sea was running very high indeed, but he chartered a tug and went off to the scene of the wreck. That same afternoon he returned to London, having traveled a matter of about 600 miles, and in the evening the wreck of the Montagu was being shown on the screen in London. _ ■ . "The American exhibitor has yet to realize the drawing power of such a picture. It will induce a person to put down his money to see that incident, which is the topic.of the moment There- fore, the topical picture deserves serious thought. \ (To Be Continued) ( $$-THR NEW RHEOSTATIC INDUCTION-^ Save one-third your electrical bill in $$$ Not having the capital to manufacture the above, I give yon the benefit of the following offer: Will send you com- plete plans and specifications, so that you can construct the NEW RHEOSTATIC INDUCTION, upon the receipt of one dollar. Something every M. P. man ought to know and cannot afford to be without. Address, H. A. MacMe, 254 tflaio St. Buffalo, N. T«