Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

408 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. XIX, No. 9. Turmoil is the Life of "The Game" DAY WHEN INDUSTRY "SETTLES DOWN" MAY MEAN GETTING IN A RUT BY MACK SENNETT THERE IS NO FORM of American industry which experiences such' rapid and sensational changes as the motion picture business. There is no other business which has made such enormous strides in so short a time. It is my impression that much of this extraordinary development is due to the fact that the producers have never had a chance to get into a rut. The business is too new to have developed much of a rut. Dread Day of Settling Down I often hear producers sigh for the day when the picture business finds itself and settles down. For my part I dread that day. When it settles down it is likely to sink. The salvation of the picture business has been that the workers in its ranks have been vigorous young men who came into the field from other professions. Some came from newspaper offices a.nd they brought to it newspaper readiness and resources; also a wide knowledge of human nature. I suppose there is no institution in the world where so much is accomplished in so short a space of time as in a modern newspaper office. Other young fellows came from the stage; from the college campus; from the automobile racing game; from railroad offices and even from the prize Here is one of the best pen pictures of the motion picture industry ever written. Mr. Sennett has turned out a masterpiece, but it is a question whether he had any idea of doing so when he started out. Admittedly his purpose zvas to say something nice about "Mickey," a Mabel Normand picture that he produced and which is controlled by the Western Import Company. He has done that, but he has gone farther. Sometimes the best things one docs are zvith another idea in view. But this adds to, rather than detracts from, the effort. Read this story by all means. It is truly an inspiration. ring. Each brought youth and enthusiasm; each one also brought special knowledge. Studios a Melting Pot of Ideas The motion picture studio has been the great melting pot of new ideas; especially in the1 mechanical departments. Absolute wonders of photography have been accomplished. In fact, photography has virtually been removed from the realms of art. It has been standardized into a routine. The conduct of a studio is coming to a danger point where it will be easy to slip into ruts. It is not possible that the next ten years will bring forth the new things that the past ten have produced. As a matter of necessity the fu Constance Talmadge in the Select picture. "The Shuttle. ture development of the movies will have to be along somewhat more standardized lines. The first sprint is over; the picture business is now settling down to a long grind. Those who allow themselves to settle down with it into a rut will find the going hard. Life a Process of Changing Henri Bergsen, the noted French philosopher, wrote a young library which so few understood that someone wrote a "key" to Bergsen. So few "got" the key that another fellow wrote a key to the key. But anyhow, Bergsen gave out one mighty thought that we can all understand and take to heart: That life is the process of changing. And when you stop changing you die and decay. M. Bergsen could have said that with one eye on some motion picture studio. In my business, I do not regard 'a single rule or institution of the studio as permanent. There isn't a day that I don't change things around in some way. Sometimes these changes are made in parts of the machinery that are apparently in good working order. I believe in making changes sometimes just for the sake of the changes; just to keep things moving; to keep anybody from taking root. •'Let Well Enough Alone?" No! The man who recommended that well enough should be let alone didn't know much about modern business competition. If you let well enough alone, presently you find yourself let alone and all your customers gone over to some other fellow who did not have such complacent ideas. The most deadly thing in the world of business — especially in the motion picture business — is to tell yourself that everything at last is as it should be. No man's operations will ever actually reach the stage where he can afford to be satisfied with them. When you get to the place where you feel that you can rest satisfied with the results, you can be pretty sure that at least one part of the establishment is dreadfully out of "kilter" and that is yourself. I believe in progressiveness and the greatest example I can refer to in explanation of this belief is "mickey," which to my mind, will set a standard in photoplay producing that will require an awful lot of far-sighted thinking to surpass.