The Moving Picture World (September 1907)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD. 4 21 „ r clothes or dump their elderly relatives in water, or cause them to fall down steps or out of windows. Or there is grown- up fun of the same species, with a knock down or drag out in every picture; and, truth to tell, the audience as a general rule looks on in more or less tolerant silence, not laughing as much j$ you might expect If the moving picture is harmful to the eye it should be improved upon; if it is harmful to public morals or to childhood, it should be abolished.— Philadelphia Telegraph. At the last meeting of the New England Insurance Exchange the following new rule relative to moving picture machines was adopted, being a modification of the original recommendation of the executive committee and adopted by the Exchange for a I per cent, increase in the rate on all policies without exception covering buildings where these machines were used: "Local committees may promulgate a reduction of not over ;5 cents from the i per cent, minimum charge for the installa- tion of moving picture machines when installed in strict com- pliance with the rules of the National Board and the national electrical code." All theaters controlled and operated by the Middle West Managers' Association will, after September I, devote three evenings of each week to high-class vaudeville. This action was determined at a meeting of the officers and board of directors of the association, held in the offices of Arthur Fabish, 167 Dearborn street. "The action of the meeting to-day," said Mr. Fabish after its conclusion, "was for the purpose of combating the inroads made in the theatrical line by the 5 and 10-cent theaters. They are thriving, and where our nouses were dosed two and three evenings of each week, our loss was the gain of the smaller houses. Our circuit controls 280 legitimate playhouses in many cities in the States of Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri, Indian Territory, Michigan and over forty cities in Illinois alone. Vaudeville is securing a hold upon the people, who demand popular priced attractions." The assembly at St. Paul, Minn., voted to transfer the license of Francis H. O'Rourke to maintain a moving picture show to Frank Seifert. The place of business is 219 East Seventh street, and before the transfer was accomplished counsel was heard for both sides. The troubles of the parties involved are complicated. The argument began before the committee on license, previous to the meeting of the assembly. Counsel for Mr. O'Rourke ob- jected to the transfer of the license because of the methods used a obtaining possession of the picture business from Mr. O'Rourke. Mrs. Henderson owned the building which a year ago Mr. O'Rourke rented for his moving picture show. It was stipulated In the lease that if the property was transferred during the three years the lease was'to run Mr. O'Rourke was to vacate on sixty days' notice. Mrs. Henderson sold the property and jO'Rourke was notified that he would have tc vacate on July 30. ""tourke is then said to have sold the picture outfit to Frank fert for $700, and Mr. Seifert's counsel claims that he was «11 satisfied with the price. O'Rourke professes to believe that 'rs. Henderson in some way was connected with the sale of s picture business, and that he was forced to sell for less than e business was worth. He has brought suit in the court and id last night that the transfer of the license would give Seifert 1 advantage over him. The assemblymen failed to see how e litigation over the property involved the transfer of the icense and adopted the favorable report of the committee. . * * * Fire Marshal John Lattimer has declared himself that he nor y members of his department shall rest until they make the :al 5-cent picture show establishments safe for women and ildren. Chief Lattimer and his assistant, "Teddy" Wilkins, ealize the need of greater precautions in these establishments. hey know that many of them are not fire-proof, nor do they T ord proper protection to the public. Therefore both Chief tttimer and Assistant Wilkins have been devoting their time 0 the investigation of these shows. Mr. Lattimer had a bill ntroduced in the last Legislature for that purpose, which some- iow failed to pass. The fire marshal said that so far as he WW there had been no open opposition by the proprietors of jjjdi places, most of whom, he thought, favor the licensing of *or houses, on the ground it would give them a better standing. Mr. Lattimer says there are about ninety of these amusement wes in Philadelphia. They ;sv no license fee, mercantile or sthenvise, and are under Jv: supervision of the fire marshal W These places arc sca:!«.re J all over the city. Between ^ghth and Thirteenth street, on Market street, there are a num- *r of the larger and better eq-.-ipsed kind. The proprietor of 5R e of these has paid $500 for a theater license. The others are 0 j* found, mostly, on such streets as Germantown, Lancaster ma Ridge avenues, and in the southern'uJid northeastern parts B the city. Of late their number has rapidly increased. Small "°res and even dwellirg houses have been remodeled to make these moving picture amusement halls, which are crowded nightly, the audiences being composed mostly of women and children. Some of these halls are 7 or 8 feet long and only 15 feet wide with a narrow aisle down the center. Although standing room is said to be prohibited, every night in many places large groups of spectators sj^nd behind the scats. The little closets containing the moving picture machines are almost invariably placed at the front, or entrance end, so that if the films should catch fire the source of danger would be at the usual place of egress. The fire marshal, whose inspectors exercise close supervision of these places now, insists that, every hall shall have one or more fire exits at the side or rear;, shown by red lights and the word "exit" over them. But in some" of these long, narrow halls the danger of a panic's jamming the aisles so that rapid escape would be hindered is obvious. One of the sources of danger is the operation of the machine by an inexperienced man, who might no$ work the apparatus at the proper speed and thus cause a fire that would in turn cause" a" panic. For this, too, Mr. Lattimer has a remedy. He would forbid the operation of machines exc^t by persons who had been duly examined for ability and made to register and pay a small license fee. * * * Arrangements are being made to open the "Superba," a mov- ing picture and high-class musical act establishment at 143 Bull street, Savannah, Ga., early in September. It is claimed for the place that it will be different from anything of its kind ever opened in Savannah. Mr. H. A. Bandy, of Birmingham, will be the manager of the Superba. He says the building in which the amusements will be given will be finished in white and gold and cooling and ventilation provisions will be made. What are known as first service pictures will be shown with a change of films every day. The Superba will cater to the best class of patrons in the city. * * * An exhibition of moving pictures representing wild animals in their natural environments was given in Colorado Springs by C J. Jones, better known as "Buffalo" Jones, in a tent east of North Park. Mr. Jones was for years game warden of the Yellowstone National Park and is known all over the United States for his efforts at preserving the wild animals, especially the buffalo. He has the most complete collection of moving pictures of animals in the world and his lectures have attracted attention at Harvard, Yale, West Point and all the large colleges and universities in the country. He has on exhibition two live mountain lions which he recently captured near his ranch in Arizona. * * * • MOVING PICTURE PERVERSION.—The province of amusement in this workaday world is a very large one and its boundaries are expanding and its interests developing and multi- plying at a marvelous rate. In these facts the optimist finds much satisfaction, and, not strange to say, those pessimistically inclined discover a thoroughly disheartening tendency. Most of the popular amusements of the day are mere time- ■ killers. They are silly, unrefreshing, when not positively destruc- tive of good taste and right impulses. From Sunday supplements of daily papers at a cent a copy to pleasure parks with a multi- tude of catch-dime allurements, and roof-garden spectacles at $2 a seat, the bulk of the entertainment offered is not merely frivolous and of the moment, but actually judgment-warping and thought-stifling. And this in spite of the possibilities latent or misdirected in all of these variant devices. One of the great inventions of the closing years of the nine- teenth century was Edison's kinetoscope or "moving-picture" ma- chine. Its designer planned it for noble purposes, and could see instruction and inspiration in the work it would do. In the beginning there w as at least partial fulfilment of its benign intent, but that idea has been submerged in the trifling and even vulgar uses to which the ingenious mechanism has been per- verted. The biographs, vitascopes, cineographs, polyscopes and optigraphs which are now important, if not the leading attrac- tions in thousands of the vaudeville theaters, museum halls and nickelodeons of the day, are occupied in producing "comic" pic- tures. For one series of pictures scenic views grven here and there infrequently there are scores of fictitious creations repre- senting trains of mishaps and blunders in real life or fanciful inventions like the half-remembered visions of delirium. A single novelty is noted. During the time "The Mikado" was under ban, an enterprising manager presented moving- picture scenes from the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, pho- tographed from a private production, and had some of the solos and concerted music sung by professional singers, avoiding the strictures of the censor, and attracting profitable patronage. This last-mentioned feature should be something more than a novelty. The nearest approach to it here is a minstrel "first- part" scene, in which the singers give songs and choruses from