The Moving Picture World (October 1907)

'484 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD. as each letter becomes cleared; it will thus appear as though the title was being written each time the film is passed through the projecting machine. The object of SKY FIQ- having the title slide in a horizontal position when making the film is to facilitate the work of removing the soot, and also to obtain a sky-light. The appliance is equally suited for the production of lightning sketches. Manufacturers desiring to make one should commission an artist to make his caricatures (say of parliamentary celebrities) upon sooted glasses meas- uring about 12 inches by 9 inches, and such productions should be protected by a cover glass, thin strips of card- board being placed round the edges to keep the sooted surface from coming into contact with the inner surface of the cover glass. Both should then be bound up after the manner of an ordinary lantern slide. With a set of these drawings the maker is equipped with all that is necessary for some very successful films. He should use the apparatus as already described. The outer sur- face of the bound-up picture is sooted as already de- scribed. In removing the soot as shown in the figure the drawing becomes revealed to the camera lens, and when the film is projected upon a screen it will appear that the drawing or caricature is being executed by the artist for the first time. It is obvious that the speed at which the drawing appears to be made can be regulated to any desired extent, and accuracy of drawing is a fore- gone conclusion.— Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly. theaters in Los Angeles. The price of the lessons often is five cents and never more than ten cents. This sum admits the student to one performance. Among the subjects in the curriculum are train robbery, bank robbery, plain burglary, highway robbery, assault, confidence game, murder, intrigue, suicide, forgery and simple theft. At any per- formance in almost any of the many little cheap theaters one maj see one or more of these crimes -made the subject of a short realistic drama. For instance: A picture that went the rounds of the theaters recently showed a man seated at a table in a beer garden. .\ woman seats herself across from him. By pointing across the room she distracts his attention from the glass of liquor he is drinking and while his head is turned drops a powder into it. He drinks the liquor and in a short time shows signs of distress He rises from the table and staggers away, the woman following him. A street scene is shown. The man reeling from side to side staggers along with the woman supporting him. At the comei she makes a signal and then turns the man into an alley. Anothei man crosses the street, enters the alley and calmly goes througl the pockets of the woman's companion, who is now unconscious The woman stands by and watches to see that no one interrupts This is only a short portion of the particular picture. The resl is all of the same plane. Others show other crimes and all 0 them are intensely realistic. That is what makes them so great a menace to society. The commission of the crime is portrayed so faithfully that il is as if one were to witness it in real life. Japanese and Cholos are among the principal patrons of these places. They watch every picture eagerly. Until the council recently passed an ordinaance prohibiting am child under 14 years of aage from attending a theater without at adult escort', boys from 6 years up were among the most frequen patrons, and every audience contained a large number of little girl of the same age. The new ordinance barred these out, but thcr is nothing to prohibit children above 14 years from attending, am there is a question if their minds are not in a state more suscep tittle to the influence of the pictures than when they are youngci The attention of city officials, particularly the police, has beei called to these theaters, but they say they are powerless to clos them or to prevent the exhibition of crime pictures. Heretofor it has been impossible to find a legal method of regulating the: but City Attorney Hewitt now believes it may be possible draw an ordinance that will modify, if not suppress, the cv He is studying the legal questions that are involved and mi: soon be able to present some plan to the city council. A RebuRe. Is It Deserved ? Cheap lessons in crime, constituting a thorough and modern course embracing all of the vices most dangerous to society, are being given every afternoon and night in nearly a score of schools of crime in Los Angeles. The pupils, every one of whom is an enthusiastic and earnest student, comprise young boys and men, the majority of whom belong to the poorer classes among the city's foreign element. Most of them possess hereditary vicious instincts, which make them apt pupils. In many of them the criminal sense is already acute and only needs the slightest suggestion to stimulate it. Crime is being taught in nearly every one of the moving picture ir "l l NICKEL MADNESS. In some vaudeville houses you may watch a diversity of pc formances four hours for so humble a price as 10 cents, provide you are willing to sit among the rafters. Yet the roof bleacher were never so popular or profitable as the tiny show places th; have fostered the nickel madness. An eloquent plea has bee made for these humble resorts by many "friends of the peepul They offered harmless diversion for the poor. They were edin ing, educational and amusing. They were broadening. The revealed the universe to the unsophisticated. The variety of th skipping, dancing, flashing and marching pictures was withqt limit. For 5 cents you were admitted to the realms of the pri; ring; you might witness the celebration of a pontifical mass St. Peter's; Kaiser Wilhelm would prance before you, reviewin his Uhlans. Yes, and even more surprising, you were offered modern conception of Washington crossing the Delaware "acti out by a trained group of actors." Under the persuasive fon of such arguments, was it strange that alermen befriended tl nickelodeon man and gave impetus to the craze? The chief argument against them was that they corrupted t young. Children of any size who could transport a nickel to tl cashier's booth were welcomed. Furthermore, undesirables many kinds haunted them. Pickpockets found them splendid convenient, for the lights were always cut off when the pictrn machine was focused on the canvas. There is no doubt aba the fact that many rogues and miscreants obtained licenses set up these little show places merely as snares and traps. The were many who thought they had sufficient pull to defy decen in the choice of their slides. Proprietors were said to work hai in glove with lawbreakers. Some were accused of wanton ( signs to corrupt young girls. Police Commissioner Bingham, New York, has denounced the nickel madness as pernicio demoralizing, and a direct menace to the young. If you happen to be an outlaw you may learn many nioi lessons from these brief moving picture performances, for rnj of the slides offer you a quick flash of melodrama in wh« the villain and criminal are always getting the worst of it.