Pictures and the Picturegoer (October 1915 - March 1916)

FICTURES AND THE PiCTUREGOER 58 Wkek ending Oct. 16, 1915 THERE'S A REAL TREAT IN STORE FOR YOU WHEN YOU SEE "A WOMAN WITH A PAST." Ask the rranager of your local cinema when this wonderfully thrilling great NORDISK Star Turns' in Spider-Land 'UlS production is due at his Theatre. Tell him you must see it! Read the story in "Pictures & The Ficturegoer" for Oct. 2. C. H. B. S. TOFFEE DE LfixT!^ U11NT DE LUXE Just Butter, Sugar, and thick rich Just Toffee de • Luxe cunningly Cream blended m the " Mackintosh blended with real English Mitchaui "Way." Peppermint. a's Grown-up connoisse lis appreciate IVinckintos jus! as much as She ikiddies do Experience of more < | i l\ desonlj brings a greater enjoymenl of the simple homely sweetmeat John Mack int. sb invented years ago— and no oth r baa l)een able to improve <>n sine.'. Take some homo to-night ami share the delight with ilw kiddies. (.;< L.J &■'.'). (in, G/; J/A ■ ■ II cliontrsa <ji The private lives of Flies, Frogs, Spiders, Snakes, and Hats revealed by the camera. V "HI-, most wonderful motion pictures of animal life are tlv>se which have been made by Raymond L. Ditmars. Curator of the Bi New York. These amazingly interesting picture excursions into the lives of the hunted have been purchased by the Trans-Atlantic Film Company, and will be enjoyed by picture in this country in dne Foi fifteen years P Uitmars. who is a Fellow of th> Zoological Society, has been in charge of the >n of mammals and reptile at the Bronx Zoo. Three years ago lie began to make motion pictn tie animals. In order t" obtain pictures of his charges just as they lived and fought and died Dr. Ditraats built a special studio at Scars lale, JN V.. where the most intimate secrets of the wild creatures have been revealed to the all-seeing camera. It required a sympathetic as well as a scientific mind to search for inspirations in work stub as Dr. Ditmars has done. Mrs. Ditmars was an able aid. In one particular instance she was a star director. A deadly ring-necked cobra was being filmed. This species spits its venom toward and into the eyes of the intruder. Mrs. Ditmars had been watching the operation from the far end of the studio, where she had been entreated to remain. The sorely frightened camem operator was grinding his crank within fifteen feet ol the cobia. A Snake's Stare on the Screen. i: The deadly stare of that snake is positively uncanny." said Mrs. Ditmars. " How wonderful it would l>e if the camera could look him straight in the eye and picture him as I see him how! " Her advice was followed. Professor Ditmars and his wife put on auto-goggles to protect their eyes from the sprayed poison. The camera was focussed upon a spot not four feet away, then belted to an electric motor. The snake was slid along on a long pole in front of the camera, and photographing began. Mrs. Ditmars was not satisfied. ."She wanted the snake to rear and pose. Moving to the sta^re, she flicked s handkerchief at the reptile, which reared to meet her. It struck and posed again, then darting with such force as to slide from the platform and fall almost at Mrs. Ditmars' feet. Dr. Ditmars reached forward to swing her away, but she had jumped upon the housing of an electric coil. The snake wriggled away under her feet, sending the electrician rushing through the door Eor safety. When the film was screened the cobra seemed to literally darken the auditorium with the spread of his ominous hood, while the terrible head with the glassy eyes looked down in malignant fury. It was a wonderful delineation of reptilian rage. In tie1 illumination from the mercury vapour the Ditmars were taking a scene that illustrated the moonlight prow of the lancehead snake, the lethal fangs of which cause many fatalities among the people on the sugar plantations iu tropical America. [n the picture a prowling animal is to alarm the snake. At first thei - • »f the diamonaj shaped head. Then the lithe body is suddenly contorted in S-shaped loops, and the em . a to hurl him self forward with the force and precision of a suddenly released steel spring. One might fear that th. monster baa jumped oil' the screen into the audience. Actually the venomous reptile had hurled himself at Mrs. Ditmars, wh been working the camera when this iug taken. It fell within a foot of h md she saved berseli on'y by most precipitate retreat. The Film Story of a Spider. The development of the i a tained with a camera >,■! before a Bohemian gloss jar. and from this