Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1917 - Feb 1918)

AUG -3 1917 PATRIOTI SM AND PICTURES WHEN they are silent they cry out." The voiceless call to arms, which the cinema sounds, is no less stirring because its appeal is through the eye. Filmdom is agog with patriotism. No great industry in the land is doing more to arouse the nation to its war duties and responsibilities. Motion pictures have become a power in this country second only to the press. They reach the masses almost as generally as the newspapers do. Their influence is now being exerted forcefully and efficiently to promote a spirit of common endeavor and purpose, as it applies to the conduct of the war. This is seen in numerous preparedness plays, in poster slides which urge men to volunteer, in pictures of trench warfare, and in scenes which relate to military get-readiness in America. As the days of preparedness creep on and the day for action draws nearer we find that motion-picture people from every branch of the industry are offering their services to the country. Actors, many of them well known, and studio employees of every craft have been enlisting in large numbers. Moreover, perhaps sixty per cent of the artisan workers in the industry are subject to being drafted. With regard to noncombatant work, actresses throughout the land are devoting their energies and sympathies to the war cause. A goodly number of screen favorites have gone to Europe to> enter the Red Cross service; while the vast majority, who of necessity must remain at home, are engaged in various fields of helpfulness. Some are training to be nurses ; others have organized sewing clubs which put out bandages, knitted socks, and other war-time necessities ; still others are aiding recruiting by making appeals for volunteers. These appeals are not