Picture Play Magazine (Oct-Nov 1915)

24 PICTURE-PLAY WEEKLY in and about these great cities, the Europeans received a more enlightened conception of the life and wonders of this great country. "I believe that between the pillars of the great churches the motion-picture screen will, sooner or later, be permanently fastened. Why not? Seeing is believing ! Pointing to the motion-picture screen, as the pictures appear, the clergyman will exclaim : "This is Jerusalem ; here we see the Mount of Olives ; here is wbere the Bible tells us Christ was crucified; this is the Sea of Galilee.' In this manner, the Bible will be made yet more dear to many, and its lessons made the more vivid and impressive. "And I often hear adverse comments upon the melodrama of the motion pictures. This melodrama is not so bad : I speak from experience; there is always a moral lesson in movie melodrama, and many are beautifully pictured, like great paintings of tragic action. We must all have our tragedies, our melodramas in real life, and what, by the way, is more melodramatic than the Bible or Shakespeare? "If I did not think the motion-picture art dignified, wonderful, educational, widely beneficial, I for one would not lend my humble talents to' the silent drama. Industrial motion pictures show you the art of making steel ; the art of manufacturing shoes; how to conduct a large dairy, bakery, or laundry ; in brief, these pictures give one an insight into the various arts and trades that a lifetime of personal investigation would not bring home. Motion pictures keep the boys and the girls off the streets; rescues the man of family from the association of vile companions, vile thoughts, and vile surroundings. In the picture theater he is taught the wonders of nature, views scenes of foreign lands; enjoys stories with beautiful settings which coax his imagination to beautiful things ; he may see how people disport themselves, perhaps, in a little higher walk of life than he is accustomed to, and he is seized with an ambition to also move upon a higher plane. Isn't all this educational? "Decadence of the drama is always marked by the decadence of the country where the conditions prevail. This has been proven by history. Queen Elizabeth's reign was made great in many respects by Shakespeare's plays. The motion-picture drama is supplanting the spoken drama to a certain extent, for there seems to be a dearth of great stage artists. There are none who have filled the vacancies caused by the death of Irving, Booth, Barrett, Kean, McCullough, and others. There are but a few left. "I have put my best work into the character of Maverick Brander, the Texas Cattle King, in Charles Hoyt's play, 'A Texas Steer,' released as a Selig Red Seal play. There are many opportunities in that character role for humorous work. The knowledge that my acting will bring lighter hours to many will be enough reward for me. "I do not think that I shall return to the spoken drama. In motion-picture art one has his evenings at home with the family, and there is no long railroad journeys to make or trunks to continually pack and unpack. I repeat, the motion pictures have a great future, and I hope to be enabled to become more and more strongly identified with that future." Vaudeville Pictures. THAT there could be anything new in movies in a motion-picture-mad amusement world at this late date is a big surprise, but there soon will be, and vaudeville is to receive the greatest shock that has ever been given it. "Vaudeville movies" are the latest — that is, pictures of vaudeville acts for exhibition, instead of the acts themselves, followed by a comedy afterpiece in which big headliners will participate. A company with a capital said to be two million dollars has been formed, which is to be called the Vaudeville Players Film Company. It is backed by several multimillionaires, and it is going to make only vaudeville films. Already overtures have been made to many vaudeville headliners of importance in this country to act for the new concern, on a yearly contract. The scheme is to film all kinds of vaudeville acts which are adapted for the camera, and to use the stars of the vaudeville stage as motion-picture actors for comedies and dramas. Acrobatic, dancing, and those styles of acts which will film easily are to be reproduced for the screen, and it is planned to give an exhibitor a complete program of vaudeville acts, and an afterpiece in which the leading stars of the varieties will appear, one release a week being the rule. Illustrated Recipe. A soldier of the Legion Lay dying in Algiers ; There was lack of woman's nursing. There was dearth of woman's tear A comrade stooped beside him, As lifeblood ebbed away, And hissed : "Come on, more ginger It's the best scene in the play!" Stir quickly. "He's quite an author, isn't he?" "Yes. Why the other day he drew up a plot about a comic hen so naturally that when the editor threw7 it in the wastebasket. it laid there."