Moving Picture World (Jan-Jun 1909)

55& THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD I TOLD YOU over a vear ago that the HALLBERG Automatic Electric Economizer would do away with your hot rheostat and save 6o<fc to 9096 on your M. P. lamp current bill, and give a brilliant, steady light. Nearly one thousand M. P. theatre owners have bought the HALLBERG and saved from S300.00 to $1,600.00 per year Why Are You Holding Off Read the opinion of one man who is using five of my Economizers : PROCTOR'S THEATRE Elizabeth, N. J., March 9, 1909 Mr. ) H. Hallberc, No. 30 Greenwich Avenue New York City Dear Sir: I am writing in reference to the " HALLBERG" Economizer on alternating current, and will say since the installation of your machines the results have been very gratifying. A much better light is obtained, and a great saving in current, a wonderful improvement over the old rheostat system. As a practical man I can cheerfully recommend your machine. Thanking you for past favors, I beg to remain, Your very truly, F. THOMSEN, Proctor's Theatre, Elizabe'.h, N. J. WRITE NOW and get my NEW prices J. H. HALLBERC 28 Greenwich Avenue New York "The Lost Sheep." — A Vitagraph film in which the story is told of a girl who goes astray in the usual way through being attracted by the blandishments of a young man, tricked into a mock marriage and then abandoned. She finds her way home i" her mother and her lover and is taken back by them It has a moral teaching which is not without its value. but the picture, as a whole, is depressing in its influence, and the technical quality is not up to the standard of the Vitaph in all seines. "A Faithful Fool." — A Vitagraph subject in which a court Foo orms a lover that the girl he loves has been stolen by a rival whom her father favors. He and the fool follow the captors and overtake them in a wood. In the sword duel which follows all the brigands are killed and the fool ives his death wound, dying after the lovers are reunited. The acting is good, the staging could scarcely be better, but the story itself contains too much of gloom to be amusing and too little fresh dramatic interest to be particularly attractive. "The Suspicious Fencing Master" is certainly not up to the standard of the rooster trade mark. The subject is weak, not to say insignificant. The Pathe Freres show us, generally, better acting and better photography. "The Fairy's Presents." — A short trick film of the Pathe Freres which is well worked and rather amusing, well colored and offering some fine scenic effects. At the death of her father, a young girl is thrown out by her greedy brothers. She meets a fairy and her first act is to make her bad brothers share her good luck, but when they find themselves in front of a table loaded with edibles, they chase away the sister. She returns with a second gift. This time it is gold, and as the bad brothers want the whole of it, they once more throw away their sister, but they are punished by an explosion. The fairy then appears, turns the bad brothers into pigs, while the young girl is made a princess. "Old Heidelberg." — An Essanay production that is a departure from their usual line of work. To Americans it is an interesting and satirical representation of the customs of the German court, but we imagine that if it had been produced in the land of the Kaiser the producer would have been haled up for lese majeste. Fairly well acted it called for favorable comments from the audience, but the representation of the famous Heidelberg University and the lack of court etiquette provoked comments from some Germans who were in the audience. The photography is good and remarkably steady. A lack of detail in the faces and white dresses is a defect which was noticed in this and also other films shown during the week. It is to be hoped that the articles on technique which are now appearing in The World will stir up manufacturers to give stricter attention to that important element of good photography, viz.. sufficient exposure of the negative to bring out the detail without having to force the development and thus block the high lights and lose the delicate half tones. "Love Under Spanish Skies," a full reel subject from Selig, has been generally commended this week as a piece of magnificent stagecraft, and the story is told in a more connected manner and more vividly than in most subjects of this character. It is well received and a film that one would like to see more than once. NOTES OF THE TRADE. Chicago, 111. — A Levinson is planning to erect a $50,000 vaudeville and moving picture theater at Garfield boulevard and Calumet avenue. Tallulah, La.— The Tallulah Social and Literary Club has been organized, with A. J. Sevier, Jr., as president, for the purpose of erecting an opera house at a cost of $2,500. Winston Salem, N. C— James S. Kerr and R. V. Brawley, of Statesville, will open a new moving picture theater here in the Fogle Building. Cincinnati, Ohio. — The Anderson-Ziegler Theater Company, of this city, will erect a number of moving picture theaters in different cities. Brooklyn, N. Y.— Mrs. J. F. Kelleher has applied to the l'.oard of Aldermen for a license to operate an open-air theater at 1 to South street. St. Louis, Mo. — Eugene and Harry Freund will erect a $0,000 moving picture theater at the corner of Cherokee -tieet and Ohio avenue. Florence, S. C— Charles A. Hines has purchased the Elite Theater and Moving Picture House on West Evans street, and has taken possession.