Motion Picture News (Jan - Mar 1914)

32 THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS The Motion Picture News MOVING PICTURE NEWS EXHIBITORS' TIMES Published Every Week by EXHIBITORS' TIMES, Inc. 220 West 42nd Street, New York City Telephone Bryant 7650 Ohle»&o Office 604 Schiller Building WK. A. JOHNSTON President HENBY F. SEWALL Vice-President E. KENDALL GILLETT Secretary WENTWOKTH TUCKER Treasurer This fubhotttcn is owned and published by Exhibitors' Times, incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. The offices and principal place of business are at 220 West i2nd Street, New York City. The address of the officers is the office of the publication. Entered as Second-Class matter at the New York Post-Office. ■obicriptloa (2.00 per year, postpaid in the United States, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Bico and the Philippine Islands. Canada and Foreign fS.M per year. ADVERTISING RATES on application Copy for next issue must reach us by Wednesday 11 a. m. Cuts and copy are received subject to the approval of the publishers and advertisements are inserted absolutely without condition expressed or implied as to what appears in the text portion of the paper. Vol. IX January 10, 1914 No. 1 THE STAGE AND MOTION PICTURES IT WERE foolish for the motion picture and the stage to be jealous of each other. Their precincts do not overlap appreciably. But the stage owes it to itself in the interest of realism and faithfulness to detail to give the motion picture its proper due. These things are called to mind by what seems to precede a wave of speaking productions which have to do with the subject of motion pictures. These are naturally watched with considerable interest by the motion picture folk. These productions give to many persons only familiar with the legitimate stage an impression of motion pictures, which does much to form their opinion one way or another. One instance recently brought to the attention of the public is the late and unlamented production "Kiss Me Quick." This show based most of its actions upon motion pictures, which it rather held up to ridicule and also got itself into difficulties by calling a negro servant Lotto Briscoe. Miss Briscoe, leading woman of the Lubin Company, sued for damages. The show slid quietly into innocuous desuetude anyway, so the whole thing didn't amount to much, but just the same the spirit was there and was not appreciated by motion picture people. Now there comes a production entitled "The Girl on the Film" and shortly another will be seen entitled "The Queen of the Movies." It is around "The Girl on the Film," an English importation, that the present discussion centers. The action of the play concerns a motion picture producing company and the adventures of its leading man. The first comedy scene comes when the company plans to produce a picture featuring Napoleon, and the action before the camera is interrupted by the entry of British farmers with scythes, pick axes, shovels, etc. The farmers, seeing the uniforms of the picture soldiers, think they are German invaders. It is this scene which is so uneffective. Jjt Jj» 5jc 5pS HP HE first production of "The Girl on the Film" A was witnessed by a large number of motion picture people who gathered at the close of the show and were unanimous in expressing disapprobation. To persons familiar with the production of motion pictures, the scene was foolish. The camera man threw up his tripod and simply placed the camera on top without screwing it on. The working lines were taken by a gentleman waving a black handkerchief, then they were not laid down on the stage but were evidently remembered by the players. When the action started, the camera man turned his crank at the rate of two or three pictures a second and many of the unimportant characters crowded within four or five feet of the camera. Had a picture been taken, the important characters would not have appeared on the screen, as the "supes" filled the foreground. All this may seem unimportant and trivial but the producers of the show lost chances for fun because they did not reproduce the scene faithfully. Had the working line been laid down, comedy could have been afforded by efforts to keep the actors within the working lines. Had the camera man screwed his camera to the tripod, all in the audience would have caught the realistic touch. Had he turned his crank faster, it would not have looked so much as if he was going to sleep. Furthermore the production of motion pictures is something in which a surprisingly large number of persons are interested and an effort to reproduce it faithfully on the stage would have had considerable interest as well as being an excellent vehicle for comedy. SJC 5jc JjC SJC TT is understood that when "The Girl on the Film" -*■ was produced in England, a practical motion picture man was called to help stage the second act. Had this course been followed in this country, the action would have been much improved. Motion picture people are most of them graduates of the stage and take keen interest in it. They have a keener interest where their new-found vehicle, the motion picture, is concerned. Representatives of many studios were present at the first night of "The Girl on the Film" and the consensus of their opinions was unfavorable. The stage has nothing to gain by misrepresenting motion pictures through carelessness or haste in producing a show. Motion pictures have never wilfully misrepresented the stage. On the contrary most persons in the motion picture business are lovers of the stage. They have given it a square deal. The speaking stage, to be fair, sbould reciprocate and present motion pictures in their best possible light.