Motography (Apr-Dec 1911)

68 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. V, No. 5. ten cent house, and probably the patrons are even better satisfied because of the higher class show. One of the mottoes of the Montana Amusement Company is "class, cleanliness and comfort," and that appears to be the keynote of the success of the company. Class and cleanliness, it should be noted, relate to the pictures and songs as well as the conduct of the house. The Park Grand theater, in the same city and operated by the same company, is distinguished chiefly by the fact that it has a screen unlike anything else in the country. The curtain is prepared with an invention of the manager, Mr. William Cupps, and the pictures are projected onto it from the rear, eliminating all noise and machine distractions in the front of the house. For definition, detail, light and all other picture essentials Mr. Cupps claims his screen is really superior to any he has tried. He has not placed his invention on the market, nor does he intend to, believing that the advantages of his theaters are made greater by the use of an exclusive device. The Montana Amusement Company, which began operations in Butte a little more than a year ago, is today in control of a chain of profitable houses extending from Billings on the east to Butte on the west and to Great Falls on the north. In Butte the average weekly attendance at the houses controlled only by. this company aggregates 28,000 persons, this figure including the liberal patronage being accorded to the reorganized New Empire theater, which only a few weeks ago passed into the hands of the Montana Amusement Company, and which, under the Alladin-like touch of a capable management, has already become what is undoubtedly the Treasure State's foremost vaudeville house. While the amusement company has recently brought high-class vaudeville within its broad scope of entertainment offerings, the chief source of revenue is derived from its vast motion picture interests. The Imperial theater stands as a monument to the growing popularity of this form of amusement and bespeaks for the Montana Amusement Company and for Butte the high favor in which a superbly appointed motion picture emporium is held by local theatergoers. The Alcazar theatorium in Anaconda is being remodeled and will be arranged like the Imperial. The Anaconda house will take first rank among the most costly photoplay theaters in the country and will add but another mark of distinction to this rapidly growing enterprise. Educator Advocates Film Instruction Professor C. W. Childs, for several years president of the San Jose (Cal.) State Normal School, is working in the interests of a new idea in educational work — the motion picture. He believes that the use of still pictures, or lantern slides as they are commonly called, such as has been using in the Grammar and High Schools of Oakland, is a superior method of teaching the pupils lessons in geography, history and in industrial subjects. "With the motion picture the advantage would be decidedly greater. The schools, he says, are much behind the business world in taking advantage of one of the greatest means now available for teaching the youth of the land. He pointed to the many motion-picture shows that are thriving in every city and almost every village — an industry that has grown up recently. By equipping a school with a motion-picture outfit, which Professor Childs says can be done at comparatiely small cost, such subjects as volcanic eruptions, the work on the Panama canal, the silk, the fruit, the lumber and other industries could be shown in a half-hour in such a manner that the child would receive a lasting and valuable educational impression. One of the chief difficulties in the way of introduction of this work in the schools, Professor Childs says, is the fact that there is considerable difficulty in procuring the best subjects. One of the large firms in New York has agreed to make a set of pictures, as those suggested by the educator, if it can be assured that there will be call enough to. warrant the investment. It is for the purpose of testing the temper of the various school authorities that Professor Childs is traveling through the state. Oakland, the school department with which he is connected, is heartily in favor of the motion picture. When Professor Avery, Principal of the San Jose High School, was approached by Professor Childs he also expressed himself as a believer in some such system of teaching subjects which, to most children, are otherwise dry. Letters endorsing the idea have been received by Professor Childs from many of the larger cities of California and also from cities in the Middle West. He feels sure he can convince the maker of motion pictures, with whom he is in correspondence, that there is a large demand for educational films and that it will be worth while to take up this new line of work. Professor Childs especially seeks to get the schools interested in the purchase of films in a partnership way so that the lectures may be conducted on a circuit principle. In this way exchanges of films between the schools may be effected at a minimum cost and all the schools in the circuit will have the benefit of the same course of motion-picture instruction. With a sufficient demand, he hopes that the manufacturers may be induced to provide the educational films desired. The matter is yet in embryo and the success of the plan depends on the action of the various School Departments which Professor Childs is visiting. Mansion Burned for Photoplay The historic Sicard mansion at New Rochelle, N. Y., built 250 years ago by a Huguenot family and the scene of many festive meetings of aristocratic society in colonial days, is a mass of blackened ruins today. It was sacrificed to furnish a spectacle for a motionpicture film. The site of the house was purchased recently for a new Episcopal church, and the old mansion, offered at auction, was bid in b)' a moving-picture company. With the permission of the city authorities the company set fire to the house in order to obtain a series of realistic pictures of the rescue of a child, a village bucket brigade in action and a mournful family viewing the ruins. Cowboys and sweethearts were not the chief characters of the motion pictures given at the Linwood Boulevard Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas City. There were views richly colored and religious scenes that pleased the children probably as much as the 5-cent theater kind and their elders more so. Comedies as well as the serious scenes were produced on the screen.