Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1928-Jan 1929)

/ / vV^hen Is a Story Stolen ? (Continued from page 113) So they register their intentions with the Hays office in Hollywood and make sure that no one else will make a similar picture. "We've been discussing a George Washington story for a long time," Montaigne admits ruefully. "Finally we thought to call up the Hays office and they told us that there were two companies ahead of us with a Washington film. Then we wanted to use the Ride of the Six Hundred, and someone else had spoken for that, too. We decided to do a picture dealing with the laying of the first Atlantic cable — and Metro had already filed intentions on that. A man is suing us now because in 'The Phantom of the Opera' we showed a flash of a stage scene from 'Faust.' He claims that he owns all stage and dramatic rights to 'Faust.' Of course, all he can own is some one unique treatment of the 'Faust' legend. "Two people often hit on the same idea at the same time. I was reading the Memoirs of Paul Blouet, the famous newspaper correspondent, some years ago, and ran across an incident which I thought would make a great picture. It was the ruse by which he got inside news of the doings of a very secret international conference. A delegate friend of his wore a hat exactly like Blouet's. At dinner time the reporter dined at the same restaurant as the heavily guarded delegates, and at the end of the meal took down his friend's hat instead of his own. Concealed in the lining was a finely written transcript of the entire proceedings of the conference. I made a scenario around this historical incident, and was about to sell it when I read a story by Richard Harding Davis, which had exactly the same plot. He and I had read the same Memoirs ! Again, I wrote last year a scenario called 'The Port of the Missing Women,' and we were about to make it into a picture when Irving Cummings came out with a photoplay of the same title, and with almost exactly the same plot! "When the cost of a production runs from three hundred thousand to a million, it is absurd to suppose that any studio would steal a plot when they could buy one for a thousand dollars. Besides, the scenario writers never see the scripts that are submitted. These are passed on by our readers who have nothing to do with the writing end." Anyone who submits a scenario to a studio may, for fifty cents, have the Screen Writers' Guild seal a duplicate of the story in an envelope, stamp it with the date, and lock it up in a safety deposit vault. Yet in spite of these things amateur writers continue to clamor that their brains are being burglarized. "My hero was a banker," they cry, "my heroine was his stenographer — and they fell in love just like that picture! They stole my plot !" These threats of plagiarism are destroying the market for original stories. Most of the studios are eager for new ideas. Universal itself advertises for original plots at great expense once a week in a great national magazine, but the cost of defending themselves against these silly and unjust lawsuits has already led Famous Players and De Mille to send out word that they will not examine any manuscripts submitted to them. The convicts with new life stories, the barbers and bakers and carpenters with different plots, the ranchers' wives with the most interesting story ever written are closing the doors of the motion picture studios to writers with real picture ideas. *T AGENTS WANTED AGENTS — We start you in business and help you succeed. No capital or experience needed. Spare or full time. You can earn $50-$100 weekly. Write Madison Products, 564 Broadway, New York. Our Superior Proposition will net you $100 a week, every week in the year. Equipment and car furnished. No capital or experience necessary. Immediate profits. Write today for particulars. American Products Company, 1850 Monmouth, Cincinnati, Ohio. Make $1,000 Before Christmas selling exclusive personal Christmas cards in distinctive steel engraved designs. Expensive Sample Book free. Wetmore, Janes and Sugden, Rochester, N. Y. EYEBROW BEAUTIFIER Mascarillo for beautifying eyebrows and eyelashes (not a dye) made in nine shades. Send 10c for samples of Exora Rouge, cream, powder and mascarillo. Chas. J. Meyer, 11 E. 12th Street, N. Y. HELP WANTED We pay $1.20 dozen, sewing bungalow aprons at home. Spare time. Thread furnished. No button holes. Send stamp. Cedar Garment Factory, Amsterdam, New York. HELP WANTED— FEMALE Ladies Address Envelopes at home — spare time. Experience unnecessary. Dignified work. $15-$25 weekly easy. Send 2c stamp for particulars. Mazelle, Dept. D. P., Gary, Ind. Homework: Women wanting, obtain reliable kinds. Write for information. Enclose addressed, stamped envelope. Eller Co., Dept. 26, 296 Broadway, New York. HELP WANTED— MALE-FEMALE Make $20 per 100, stamping names on key checks. Either sex. A spare time business of your own. Send 25 cents for sample and instructions. Good for $5 daily. R. Key tag Co., Cohoes, N. Y. . HELP WANTED— INSTRUCTION Earn $25 Weekly, spare time, writing for newspapers and magazines. Exp. unnecessary. Copyright book, "How to Write for Pay" Free, Press Reporting Institute, 960, Telephone Bldg., St. Louis, Mo. $1700 to $2700 year. Men — 18-45. Mail Carriers— Railway Postal Clerks. Steady. Full particulars and sample coaching FREE. Write immediately. Franklin Institute, Dept. G-77, Rochester, N. Y„ HELP WANTED — INSTRUCTION Men qualify for railway postal clerk, internal revenue, mail carrier and outdoor positions ; steady work, particulars free. Write Mokane Inst., Dept. B-20, Denver, Colorado. MEN, Get Forest Banger Job; $125-$200 mo. and home furnished ; hunt, fish, trap. For details write Norton Inst., 1579 Temple Court, Denver, Colorado. Wanted Immediately, men-women, 18-55, to qualify for Gov't Jobs, $95-$250 mo. Write, Ozment Inst., 294, St. Louis, Mo. Men wanting: railway mail, post office clerk, mail carrier and outdoor positions; qualify immediately. Write for list. Br"-Mey Institute, 210 Q Cooper Bldg., Deover, Colo. HELP WANTED— MALE Be a Detective. Earn Big Money ; fine work ; cities, towns, traveling if you like ; open to all ; we show you ; write for free particulars. Captain Wagner, 169 East 83rd St., New York City. Big; Pay. South American Work. American firms pay fare, expenses. South American Service Bureau. 14,600 Alma, Detroit, Mich. PATENTS Inventions commercialized on cash or royalty basis. Patented or unpatented. In business 24 years. Complete facilities. References. Write Adam Fisher Mfg. Co., 513 Enright Ave., St. Louis, Mo. PHOTOPLAYS $1250 for a Photoplay story by an unknown writer and sold through our Sales Department. We revise, copyright and market. Located in the heart of the Motion Picture Industry. We know the demand. Established 1917. Postal brings FREE BOOKLET with full particulars. Universal Scenario Company, 205 Western & Santa Monica Bldg., Hollywood, California. REDUCE A BOOKLET BY DR. DENSMORE on treatment for reduction of Corpulency will be mailed without charge upon request to Dept. "K" Garfield Tea Company 313— 41st Street Brooklyn, New York STORIES WANTED Story ideas wanted for photoplays, magazines. Big demand. Accepted any form for revision, development and submission to markets. Established 1917. Free booklet gives full particulars. Universal Scenario Company, 405 Western & Santa Monica Bldg., Hollywood, California. Md»KM| Particulars of Dr. Esenwein'a famous forty lesson course in writing and marketing of the Short-Story and sample copy of The Writer's Monthly free. Write today. dCg— jy _ THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL getanwani Dept 15 Springfield, Mass. Why MIRGRO hP haM? Why have thin strin£y unhealthy UG UdlU . hajri when you can have a mag nificent head of hair by merely using "HAIRGRO". Three sizes, $1.00, $2.50 and $5.00. ESTELLE IDLER Dept. 22, 34 S. New York Ave., Atlantic City, N. J. ■fyrurmsh Camera and Teach Yon How _ Men and Women Everywhere! Make Big Mooeyi ' FREJs BOOK Explain? opportunities as Motion Picture Camera Man, Portrait, News or Commercial Photographer. You can learn at home or in our New York Studios. Spare or full time. N. Y. Institute of Photography, 10 W. 33rd St., N. Y. Dept 29 Be A Movie Operator We furnish projector and teach you at home. Get a good pay job with Movie or Vaudeville Theatre. Write for folder. AK Earn $20 to $50 a week retouching photos— men or women . No selling or canvassing. We teach you at home, furnish working outfit and employment service. Writetoday Arlcraft Studios, Dept. B-2, 427 Diversey P'kway, Chicago THICK LIPS REDUCED! (Free Folder Tells How) Thin, adorable lips for you. Cloree Lip Creme makes thick, protruding lips thin and shapely. No straps or astringents. Guaranteed painless, harmless. If you value thin, pretty lips use this simple, easy home treatment and watch results. Praised by hundreds. Special offer and folder free. Write today! CLOREE OF NEW YORK 54-Z West 42d St., New York i"|l,l more tha rthe key-I'l 'll is now note of success, both in social and business life. Improve your personal appearance by using the new patent "Lim-Straitner," Model 18. Corrects now,''. Bow and Knock kneed legs safely, quickly and permanently at home. No costly operation or discomfort. Is worn at night. Easy to adjust; its result will save you soon from further hu . initiation and will improve your personal appearance 100 per cent. Write today for copyrighted Physiological and Anatomicalbook and experience of others without obligation. Enclose a dime tor postage. M. TRILETY. SPECIALIST, Dept. 16S4 Blnghamton. N. V. 115