Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1919)

M ovies as Colonel Edward J. Parker points out the pK^ssibilitics of impressini:, by tiln-i, the historiv: spirit of" General William Booth. A LIEUTENANT ol the Lnited State* Signal Corps, having >et up his motion re camera during a particu spectacular bit of action near Noustarted to grind a\v.iy with as much alance as the whizzing shells, booni-Jtu and generally unsettled condition: him permitted him to assume cnant5 of the Signal Corps. accu< to gomg into action with no more y weapon than a camera, dont get scared— -; But this lieutenant became, let u* sav i :tlJe apprehensively excited. The crank of his camera began to rcvoiw -i>ter His mind was on his job all righ* enough only it had ceased to function properly. Just as the excitement oi tattle was causing the American oughboys he w^s photographin;o forget many of the principle, of musketry their instructors ha.l Allied them in. leaving them only with the idea of "get tin" uie Germans." and getting inem m the easiest "■Jickest way that sus ^ted itself, so thi~ imera man's onlv fa was to gr! ctures. From bend the lieui-Jnt sude n 1 > ' u n d e d ringing :ce. Careful baK^astiok AanDiy HOLLYWOOD. , CALIFORNIA Jl iilpit ? By J. Rav J O H .MS O NT ^re. son! came words. "You're -' too fast!" • '.. turning his crank, the Jtenant turned to regard a ish. spectacled man of midage, who wore the overseas uniform of the Salvation Armv . camera man grinned a litt'c ruefully, nodded his thank, i sickened the speed he was applying to his camera hanhor a few minutes he continued to make pictures then hghtmg stopped, and he took down his camera and walked k to greet the Salvation Army man. who was watchine n from the shelter of a shell hole, "■••"exclaimed the lieutenant. "Vou sure «aved me filing some mighty f^ne stuff! I was making the old K'H — but how did you know it?" «r^^iV ?w. ^^'' ■^^''■^''0" •^"">' man easily. 'I've monkeyed around a little with moving pictures." The Salvation Army man was Colonel Edward T Parker lk^'l?r ." 'l"" ^"^''^i ^"'' ^''''*^^' -^ff^'"--* Department of Vbt Salvation Army. who. if he hadn't been a Salvation Armv Mn. certainly would have been a pioneer in American motion picture prwiuction. a£^'°"!| ^."^"■. l\ *^^ overseas in charge of Salvation Ann> activiUes with the American Expeditionarv Force wa. ttf owner of one of the first motion picture cameras in «ncnca. It was a good camera, for he made it him^lf For Colonel Edward .1. Parker, secretary of tl,.. \aval and .Military AtJair. Dcpt. of the Salvation Army. Colonel Parker wa« the owner of one of the first motion picture camera, in America. yiar;. he had been a 'bug' the woril is his own— on photograi)lu • n. , u.-ing only such knowledge of the prin ciples ol molography as he was able to glean troni books, constructed for himself a motion picture camera, rude, of course but one that made excellent pictures— still make-, tnem. in fact. .Moreover, he made a developing machine. 1 printing machine and a projecting machine to tit his camera, and some o' the choicest pieces of negative he ha.-; in a -library" which has grown for a score of years are products of this home-made outfit. Since those carlv days Colonel Parker's activities in the field of mot i 0 n picturehave e.\pandcl greatly. O u t of 2, GOO feel of negative which he took with him on a tramp through ^' e I 1 o w stone Park some ten years ago. the Kaleni Company w a s able to release more than i,8oo feet in a series of scenics, which were -hown in this country and abroad an<l which are among the l>LSt views of the NaPark which have been by a motion picture tionai made camera. •More recently he made a series of war pictures — "just for fun." he says himself— but they are good enough to be the pictures which Burton Holme-;, who is a close friend of Colonel I'arker. uses to illustrate his lecture on the part the Cnitcd States played in the war. Colonel Parker has definite ideas on the subject of motion pictures, one of which is that the screen is going to be a favorite pulpit for the Salvation .Army in the future. "We have neglected to use motion pictures in thi past." he saifl at his office in .Salvation Army. National Headquarters in .New ^'ork recently, "but that was onlv because we were too busy doing other things. We have thousands of feet of excellent film, but most of it has never been assembled and titled, and scarcely any of it has been shown to the public. I imagine all that will be changed, however. We intend doing a lot of things we never did before— including bringing our film out of our vaults. "I don't want you to get the impression that the making of motion pictures is any novelty to the Salvation Armv. Far from it' In Australia a few years ago the Salvation Army was one of the most extensive manufacturers of motion pictures m the land. Th. Army had a staff of camera men and