The San Francisco Dramatic Review (1908)

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[arch 14, 1914 THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC REVIEW Los Angeles ^otes of Interest in the Realm of Photoplay By RICHARD WILLIS At Seligs, Adele Lane has been laying in a stirring drama, Wrecked .ives, and has had one of the tense arts which she loves so well. Miss .ane says she would rather do this ilian pose for a photographer and the jcmark was made owing to her having ipent a whole morning with Witzel, he photographer, who has turned out ome charming pictures for Miss >ane. * * * J. Parrel Macdonald has esigned from his position of director vith the J. Warren Kerrigan Com- )any and is not yet prepared to an- iiounce his plans. Joseph De Grasse 'vill now produce the photoplays in \hich J. Warren Kerrigan appears, lit is not yet decided who will take [rieo Madison's place. * * * One longs 0 see Bess Meredyth in straight coni- (ly, her bump of humor being very large. She is naturally funny and Idtiiough her work on tlie screen has :)een largely along the lines of adven- turesses and Western girls, she has Ehown her quality in an occasional omedy, enough to make a critic ask or more. She is at present playing an adventuress part and questioned as to what she was, replied "Oh, I'm a regular hussy." * * * Francis Ford has started upon the first photoplay in the big serial, Lucille Love, the Woman of Mystery, for which the iscenic artists and carpenters have 'been working for the past few weeks. Several mechanicians have been add- ed and placed at Mr. Ford's command 10 ensure smooth working. Grace ( unard has some wonderful new nowns for her part of Lucille. * * * I'-dwin August is back from the East feeling his old self again and looking as fit as a fiddle. He thoroughly en- joyed his visit. His plans are not ijuite settled but he started right in to w ork on a play with Robert T. Thorn- l)y whilst definite arrangements are being consummated. * * * Louise < llaum has fully recovered from her recent accident. The faces of all her many friends fell when they heard she had been injuretl in a fall wliilst acting opposite Universal Ike, for l.ouise is such a delightfully unaf- fected girl, who always has a cheerful smile and a kindly word for every- body. * * * Harry Pollard is getting very scrappy, that is, in his pictures. In The Girl Who Dared he and Frank ( ooley, his able assistant, had as real- istic a fight as was ever staged for the screen. Frank Cooley was a Coast ehampion at one time and Harry is no mean fighter himself. * * Burton ]\ing cfjntinues to produce some cs- |iecially fine pictures under the Usona brand. These ])ictures will make quite a stir when they are released both from their excellent direction and because of the acting and the larefully selected stories. * * Wil- 1 red Lucas is much liked by the peo])le who work under and with him. On <jne occasion he got his people to- gether and started for the mountains at 4 a. m. When the vehicles could go no further they had a six-mile hike to the snows and at an altitude of 4000 feet they took pictures until sun- down, slept on the snow and rose at 5 130 to finish the i)ictnre and then re- turned. One actor remarked, "It was no pink tea and I wouldn't do it for anyone else." * * * Edna Maison is scoring heavily with producer ()tis Turner in parts very much suited to her. She recently acted in two photo- plays at the same time and the time she was not acting' she was changing, but one never gets a whimper from Jidna. In one i)lay her hair was curly and in the other she wore it straight or as .straight as she could get her re- bellious locks, for Miss Maison hates wigs as much as Otis Turner does. Mr. Turner said to her the other day, "Why isn't your hair smooth instead of curly?" Edna laughed and replied, "I am afraid you must speak to the person I inherit it from; my mother likes my hair and I find it quite useful myself." * * * Lee Moran, the popular young actor with the Christie Comedy Comi:)any, was chairman at the last weekly supper and emphasized his na- tionality by wearing a flowing green tie and making witty remarks. Each diner found a little green flag and a filled clay pipe by his plate. The Irish were very ])romincnt and Charlie Murray gave one of his humorous im- provisations to music. * * * The Fa- mous Players Co. under E. S. Porter arc at present at Del Mar where IVIary Pickford is again being featured. Harold Lockwood, who is playing op- posite, writes that they are working hard and that he is enjoying it im- mensely. * * * Carlyle Blackwell is ])ulting on an especially interesting ])hotoplay written around a pearl necklace with a new twist to the story. When asked if there was a robbery connected with it, Carlyle said: "In .strict confidence, there is, but thank the powers that be I am not the pur- loiner for a change. This time I am the honest to goodness hero." * * * Photo]jlayers in Los Angeles are rightly indignant over a card which has been taken around to the studios which says in part "Movies Ragtime Ball. Dance with your favorite film star—50 cents, ladies free. Every- body come—plenty of chicken." It is sent out by a fighting man who is not even a photoplayer, but who works "extra" on occasions. Those who know the real photo])lay artists will readily understand their resentment, but unfortunately it .seems impossiljle to prevent girls who get into trouble and men with .some gain in view from trying to be associated with the actual actor or actress who are a credit to any society they mingle with. At the offices of Richard Willis in Los Angeles, there came into being on February 27, 1914, the "Photoi)lay Authors' League," with Ilettie Gray Baker, Wallace C. Clifton , James Dayton, Marc Edmund Jones, W. M. Ritchev, Russell E. Smith, Lois Web- er, C.'l-:. Wing, Richard Willis and l'"rank Woods as charter members. On I'riday, the i,^th of March, the league will be incorporated and a special meeting has been called. The league is protective and founded to se- cure necessary legislation and protec- tion and to be mutually beneficial. It will not be concerned with prices, nor sales, nor will it take an aggres- sive .stand with the manufacturers. The membership will be national, the fees $10 a year and limited to those having a proven list of ten produced scripts. The Photoplay Authors' League is a necessity and is already assured of far-spread support. Harry Scott Discourses on the Film Game Of course there are a lot of wise ]X'o])le in this world who aren't clas- sified by any blue book directory, but if any of 'em can foretell, with any degree of accuracy the amusement situation, their names should go down in history. When I sprung the Dante Inferno films, three years ago, a lot of the wise ones .said it was the finish. Now, I myself am lost in the mael- strom of advancement and gigantic ])rogress made by the legitimate single reel and special feature producing companies. About two years ago the disruption of the independent produc- ing concerns, .selling through the sales company, resulted in a disordered con- dition throughout the country, giving the General Film Company every ad- vantage, but P. A. Powers at the head of the then newly organized Universal Manufacturing Company, soon saved the day and the reorganization of the mutual ground by Ad Kessell and Charley Bauman assisted in regaining the confidence of the independent ex- hibitors. In the meantime numerous American and foreign producing firms kept butting in. Finally it re- mained for Adol]jh Zukor and Daniel Frohman in the organization of the Famous Players Company to start a "side entrance wedge" into the regu- lar exchange service and now the con- dition in New York in the moving pic- ture field is startling, and just where it will end remains for the wise ones to tell -before it happens. There isn't any important theatre in New York below Fourteenth street, but starting with Keith's Union Square Theatre, it's pictures aplenty on Broadway clear up to Sixtieth street." Proctor's, Twenty-third street, and Rosen- quest's Fourteenth street theatres, two years ago popular vaudeville houses, are now, practically, in the also class. The Union Square, Weber's, Savoy, Herald Square, Garrick, Broadway, Republic, Criterion, New York, Park and Circle, all formerly leading Broadway theatres, are now showing exclusively ])ictures; also Carnegie Lyceum, and by April i Proctor's, I'^ifth .\venue, the new Strand and the roller rink on Broadway at Fifty- third street will be grinding the cellu- loid. Keturning to the jjredictions of the wise ones during Dante Inferno ])eriod. all the above mentioned thea- tres arc rumiing special feature films at advanced ])rices and now Loew's circuit of vaudeville theatres is gradu- ally reducing the number of vaude- ville acts and showing five and six- reel features, indicating that the films will ultimately predominate in a ma- jority of the Loew houses, and it is not at all unlikely but that ])ictures will sooner or later be substituted for ihe cabaret performers in the bright light restaurants. The foregoing is only a part of the amu.sement situation in New York, but it is enough to set one athinking-. Thousands of actors and vaudeville ])layers are idle with no encouraging prospects in sight, but I haven't seen any of 'em shoveling snow as yet. I am still taking qui- nine and figuring out how I can collect my income tax. HARRY M. SCOTT. II Combinations Close in Van- couver Keating and Flood have withdrawn from the Avenue Theatre in Van- couver, B. C. The Tivoli Company, which was sent up north to help keep the Avenue brightened up, closed Saturday night two weeks ago, and is now on the road for a few one-night stands. The company headed by Allen, lately jjlaying at the new Tivoli in Portland, has been ex- changed with the Portland company. The Portland company opened in Portland last week. Spotlights The Stratford-on-Avon Players, including E. R. Benson, will be seen at the Columbia Theatre in the near future. One of the features of the repertoire will be Hamlet, in its en- tire text. Richard the Second and The Merry Wives of Windsor are also on the program. For A Pair of Sixes, the new farce by Edward Peple, Harry Frazee has engaged Hale Hamilton, who will cre- ate the role of T. Boggs John, part- ner in the Eureka Digestive Pill Com- pany. This will be Mr. Hamilton's first American appearance since his re- turn from London. By arrangement with Messrs. Cohan and Harris, Mr. Frazee has also engaged George Par- sons for the role of George Nettle- ton, the other partner in the new Peple farce. Ann Murdock is to be the leading woman, while Maude Eburne and Carrie Clarke are to play the English maid and the stenographer respectively. Rehearsals are now in progress under the direction of Edgar J. MacGregor. Active preparations are also in prog- ress for the production of Billy Black, a new comedy drama in three acts by Charles Bradley, and in which H. B. Warner is to be starred in the title part. H. H. Frazee has assem- bled a cast of unusually capable play- ers for the Warner Company, among whom Rita Stamwood, Annie Es- monde, Lynn Pratt, William Deve- reaux,'Bertram Marburgh and Fred- erick Malcolm are-to create important roles. There is a play over at the Valen- tine Theatre, that has something to tell you. It is Paul Armstrong's The Escape. You ought to see it, not only because it is grippingly en- tertaining, but because it has some more of those truths which the good people are just beginning to let us tell and let us hear. Futhermore, you will see a young man of the name of Norman Phillips perform, for your entertainment and enlight- enment, some character acting which you will have to agree is ex- ceedingly beyond the ordinary. The l''scai)e hinges primarily about the fortunes of a girl, but the charac- ter of the girl's brother, played by Mr. lMiillii)s, is so emi)hatically vis- ualized that he stands forth as the big character of the drama. Young iMr. Phillips has the most difficult role, the character and his portrayal of it are a revelation. Elsie Rizer did ample justice to the part of May foyce, and the others in the cast are ecjual to the occasion.— Cohimhus, Ohio, Neivs.