Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1914)

THR MOMNG PICTURE WORLD 265 The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of A New Two-Reel Version of an Old Edison Comedy Reviewed by Louis Reeves Harrison. Farmer Davis Harry Ey tinge Nellie. Iiis daughter Gladys Hulelte Joe Skifkins Richard Tucker Mrs. Davis Cora Williams MK Stephens William Bechtcl Grace, his daughter Gertrude McCoy VERY FUNNY, so funny that every actor and actress in moving pictures should see it. "The Stuff That Dreams .■\re Made of." has a serious purpose concealed in its merriment. In every studio there are quite a few self-sufficient ladies and gentlemen who think they could act if they ever had a real chance. Tliese \'anity Boxes, inore familiar Scene from "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" (Edison) ly known as "Vee-Bees," have a passionate fondness for publishing their performances, past and present, with an additional hint at the offers they have been compelled to turn down. While the plain and disagreeable truth is that a lot of us are getting easy money in this line of business who ought to be earning wages, some of us appreciate that the busi Scene from "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" (Edison) ness made us. whereas "quite a few," especialy Vee-Bees of guady publicity in magazines and papers with space to fill, think the) made the business. These actorettes and actorines are the idols of immature minds, from children to kitchen maids and hopeful clerks. Postal cards bearing hectic half-tones of mcvie hero and heroine are widely circulated among the unthinking with a sad result. When one of tile Vee-Bees lays his, or her, tired head down at night, tile tire is usually punctured if the head has not suffered a blow-out. Supposing you had an unbelievable publicity man handing out a lot of knock-kneed epigrams, decrepit narratives and press-agent perversions of God's naked truth about you while you were engaged in a campaign perpetual of self-expUiitation wherever you could find a listener, perhaps your well-tired head would suffer a blow-out. just as did Nellie, the daughter of Farmer Davis, in Edison's revived comedy. Nellie saw strange thmgs m her dreams but nothing more wierd. really and lioncstly. than much we see on the screen at the picture show. She saw actorettes and actorines strut al)Out and mouth "My God" in an omelette soutTle of yellow nothingness that was only mildly amusing until I saw the point. The point being that the participants in Nellie's nightmare were taking off Vanity l^oxes of moving pictures; then I began to sit up and smile. It was the art of acting left to itself, unguided by directorial control, a rampant reproduction of all that makes serious photoplays so screamingly funny, just such a shifting of violent incident without meaning or purpose as we find in five-point type among the release notices, and watch in a bewildered state of mental appendicitis on the screen when we pay ten cents to loop the loop with tliat little remaining sense we have. It was all much funnier than I expected because it was so much like what we often expect, and much funnier than the performers may have expected. They were not exaggerating a great, after all. "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" also takes off with rare ingenuity those old scenic devices which used to thrill in stage melondrammers. which are not greatly removed from the million-dollar effects of the present day in actual photo-dramatic value. People will lau.gh at the comedy for various reasons, some of which are above enumerated, and thanks be to the producer who gives an occasional chance to enjoy ourselves in that way. The Picture Saleslady WOMEN achieve success in so tnany fields of liuman endeavor that it is not in the least surprising that she should succeed as a seller of motion pictures. A notable example of woman's success in this line is found in the subject of this brief sketch. Miss Agnes Egan Cobb, who conducts the features department of the Eclair Film Company, known to the trade as the Leading Players Film Corporation and Features Ideal. Though Miss Cobb has occupied this position but little more than a year, she has greatly popularized the brands under her control and has demonstrated that at least there is one woman who can sell motion pictures better than some of the men who have preceded her in the same position. Miss Cobb has been connected with the motion picture business for several years and is as fully conversant with the trade as any man engaged in the business today. Energetic and persistent, she has built up a stable market for the Leading Players and Features Ideal brands that will last for some time to come. In her work as sales manager she has charge of the publicity apper Agnes Egan Cobb. tammg to the subjects to be disposed of and not only prepares the text descriptions and the display advertising matter, but selects the poster copy, a very important item in the marketing of a feature motion picture. Miss Cobb is a regular attendant upon the various exhibitors' conventions, state and national, and few men in the business are better or more favorably known than she to the exhibitors of the country.