Motography (Apr-Dec 1911)

May, 1911. MOTOGRAPHY 77 The Old Lady in the Audience Mother Squeers Gossipe About tne Film Makers OUT in one of the suburbs of Chicago lives an old lady who is well known to the photoplay patrons of that section. They call her Mother Squeers. Her daughter and son-in-law run a motion picture show, and it is Mother Squeers' pleasure to be present every night. She watches the flitting photodramas with huge delight, and takes an intelligent interest in the motion picture output that is critical in the best sense. Her son-in-law, who runs Licensed films, has two competitors in the same neighborhood, one Licensed and one Independent. Mother Squeers, being a dyed-in-the wool "fan," often manages to make a round of all three theaters, and generally of two, during an evening-. She thus sees most of the Licensed output and much of the Independent. She loves to talk about the films, and it is not unusual to see her in animated conversation with an auditor in a neighboring seat, or with a whole group of auditors, for that matter. At the outset we called her old, but that is only because she has passed the sixty mark and possesses certain endearing characteristics that go with old ladies. Mentally she is just as young as she ever was, and still has a lively tongue. One night, during intermission (it was a rainy night and the intermission was along one), somebody asked Mother Squeers which was her favorite filmmaker. "Well, that's a pretty hard question to answer," she responded wrinkling her dear old brow thoughtfully. "Just as you asked me, Biograph popped into my mind; but I don't know as I like Biograph better than the others. Not a great deal better, anyhow. There's Edison and Vitagraph, and Lubin, and Gaumont, and Urban-Eclipse, and Pathe and all the rest. There's something I like about them all. Still, I'll tell you what I like about Biograph : it's all those nice young folks. The actors are so young and lively and mostly good looking, and there's something youthful about the whole outfit. I always feel as if the Biograph films were managed and produced by a youngman — a young man with brains. You know the kind I mean. I always feel when a Biograph starts, that it is going to lead to something. Its just like when my grandson, Harry, takes me down town at Christmas time to see the lighted windows — you know my Harry, don't you? He's a fine young fellow. Well, when we get down into those crowded streets I begin to feel rather nervous and fidgety, but Harry takes me under the arm and marches straight ahead, and I just know we'll get there. That's the way I feel about Biograph. You're always sure they've got something worth while to show, and that they'll lead you to it right. "But sometimes Biograph gets on my nerves, just the same. They're always forcing emotions. There's too much of that staring into vacancy with twitching hands and trembling lips. To see a face in mental agony is no pleasure to me, especially when you know the actor is just doing it for effect. Of course, once in a while it's tremendously effective, when the situation warrants it; it is in fact one of Biograph's best tricks ; but it seems to me they're overdoing it lately. I do hate to see an emotional situation overdone. Now take Edison— they never do that. They never force more into a situation than it will stand. Restraint is their watchword. Do you remember that scene in 'The Doctor??' The actors stood as still as death, there was no movement anywhere ; and yet, my goodness, how it gripped your heart ! Most of Edison's strongest scenes are done that way ; the actors move you more by what is held in than by what is let out. Edison is the sanest company of them all. I wish, though, Edison had some of Biograph's tricks. The Edison people are not clever at telling a story. They are so afraid that the audience won't catch the point, that they are always over-explaining it and putting in unnecessary details. It takes fine discretion to know just how much to tell and just how much not to tell. I think that's why so many of the Edison comedies miss fire. The little points are made so heavily, and the big points lose effect for lack of contrast. Sharp contrast seems to be so necessary to comedy. "Oh, but comedy is such a difficult thing, no matter how you look at it ! It's difficult to do, and it's difficult even to talk about. I never have been able to get the ins and outs of comedy. It gets my goat — as Harry would say. A successful comedy is the hardest kind of a film to make. Comedy is really the test of a film maker's ability. That is why I sometimes put Biograph and Lubin in the first rank. Their comedies are in a class all by themselves. Take those recent Lubin comedies with Florence Lawrence in the cast; aren't they perfectly delightful? Nothing clownish or exaggerated — just downright human nature bubbling over with fun. Speaking of Florence Lawrence — don't you like her? Oh, she's a dear! My grandson Harry is wild about her. I hear she's married though. I remember Lotta Crabtree and Maggie Mitchell and several'other famous stage pets of longago, but none of them ever pleased me better than Florence Lawrence. Lubin certainly made no mistake when he hitched his wagon to this star. But Lubin isn't the kind to make mistakes anyhow. For a longtime he dished out cheap farces and melodramas for a public that liked nothing better. Then came a change in public taste, which Lubin Avas a little slow in catchingsight of, but when he did catch sight of it, he reformed the whole works and now gives us every Monday dramas that are as good as anybody's. The Lubin transformation was one of the miracles of motion picture history. In* one month he brought himself into the front rank of American manufacturers, and made the number four where it had been three. "That makes me think of Vitagraph. Vitagraph is undoubtedly the most popular maker ; and I've sometimes wondered why. I think it's because Vitagraph hits the taste of the average audience better than any of the others. The Vitagraph dramas have a very moral and respectable tone ; the plots are just mental enough to make people think they are thinking; and they play upon the emotions that are most easily stirred. Just think of all the "family" dramas Vitagraph has turned out, and all the dramas with children in them! It's no wonder Vitagraph is popular. The leading member of the Vitagraph stock company is a child, judging by the number of his appearances. Seems to me I see Kenneth Casey twice