Film Fun (July 1915)

“I’d had some trouble getting him to register the proper expression of despairing hatred when a rival shot him with an arrow, and I was greatly pleased when he grabbed a handful of robe from his chest and handed out a line of modern, unexpur¬ gated remarks that went fine with his impromptu war dance. “It wasn’t talent as much as the swift action of a yellowjacket that had set up temporary headquarters in the upper story of the fur robe. I thought it was so funny that I sat down on the sunkissed sand of the beach to laugh. “There was a mate to the yellow-jacket on the beach. I picked it out to sit on. It was a busy bee for about five sec¬ onds, and I did some registering on my own account. The robe clad actor seemed to enjoy my yellow-jacket fully as much as I had appreciated his find. So comedy is relative, you see.” “Go on. Tell ’em about taking the pictures in the rain,” urged the camera man. “That’s not comedy; that’s tragedy,” said Horne. “We came out here to get the benefit of the fine climate and the clear atmosphere, and it has only rained steadily four months this season. You don’t need a story on that — just look at the pic¬ ture and see how pleased and comic the camera man looks.” “Did you ever have any trouble with the police in getting pictures on the street?” “Did I?” said Mr. Horne feelingly. “Listen! Last week I was doing a tramp-crook part myself, in Chinatown. The camera was set at one end of a narrow alley. I was to sneak in the other end and play my scene down the alley. I cautiously peeked around the corner to see if they were ready for me, and a sauntering policeman took a hasty peek at me. When they shouted to me to ‘come on,’ I made a rush for my scene, and the suspicious cop made a rush for me. He made the best rush. While the camera man was disturbing large hunks of the atmosphere with his honest opinion of me, I was being rudely marched to the nearest station house as a prize crook. “Now that was comedy, but not humor.” Measures Your Laughter That Charles Chaplin causes more laughter than any other comedian has actually been demonstrated by a new scientific instrument called the acougraph. The word means to write sound. The acougraph is a delicately attuned instrument which translates sound waves into lines on a sensitized plate. Laugh¬ ter sets a needle traveling over the plate. The distance trav¬ eled horizontally measures the duration of the laughter, while the distance perpendicularly measures its loudness. These instruments were placed in a number of theaters in large cities where Chaplin and other comedies were shown. In the Chaplin plays the needle’s horizontal progress practically x was unbroken, showing that laughter was continuous from the beginning of the picture to the end. In its perpendicular course the needle nearly reached to the top of the plate, which measures by thousandths parts. The needle registered but 100 in the nearest competing comedy, showing that the laughs were ten times as loud in the Chaplin comedies as in any other. The broken horizontal lines in other pictures recorded that the pro¬ longation of laughter in Chaplin comedies was about twenty times as great as in any other. Reel Lovers YYfHEN once a week I get my pay, v I take my girl and go (No matter what the weather is) To see a picture show. The house is dark, and very soon My arm around her steals ; I whisper softly in her ear Between the changing reels. We watch the lovers on the screen, But envy not their bliss; All eyes are fixed upon the sheet — I snatch a hasty kiss. Her little hand along the seat For mine demurely feels; I press it fondly to my lips, While gazing at the reels. Then, floating in among the scenes That pass in swift review, Come visions of a cozy flat, Just big enough for two, With Mamie’= golden head behind The coffee pot at meals — That’s why I often lose the thread Of stories on the reels. With nothing saved, and only just The wages that I get, I never would have dared to pop The question to her yet; But looking at the movies long, A girl or fellow feels They want to be romantic, like The lovers in the reels. Reel lovers flash across the stage And quickly fade away, But we are real lovers true — Our love has come to stay. When Father Time upon our heads Has set his silver seals. Yet still together we will go To sit and see the reels. The movies are the greatest place You ever saw to spoon; ’Twas there we settled on the day And planned the honeymoon. No wedding trip away from friends And home to us appeals; We’ll take it to a picture play In six or seven reels. —Minna Irving.