The Moving Picture World (1907)

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702 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD. reached everybody, which months, or even years, of travel would never have enabled me to do." "We have received innumerable inquiries from interested par- ties as to the future supply of new subjects. What is your opin- ion on this point?" "I think the production of subjects is illimitable. I have only to point out one or two businesses which depend upon novelty to show you that the moving picture manufacturer should have no difficulty in supplying the demand. I refer to wall-paper manufacturers; the cartoonist—and here I might say that the cartoonist gets the bulk of his inspiration from the matter of the moment Again, the artist for the colored supplements of metropolitan newspapers, the song writers, and story writers in the magazines. Here are a few instances of that illimitable sup- ply which the human brain is capable of evolving. Then, as regards actualities, or natural subjects, or scenic subjects, or whatever you call them here, the earth has only yet been scratched. "Here is one idea which one would think very stupid of a picture man to risk his money and the life of his operator in securing. On December 26, of this year, one of our operators, O. I. Roseman, sets out from Hammerfest, Northern Norway, on absolutely untrodden ground, with Harry De Windt, the emi- nent explorer, and William LeQeuex, the great novelist. The combination is a happy one. You have the moving picture man to depict for the eye, the lecturer to tell the story by word of ■ mouth, and the novelist to paint the word pictures for pos- terity. "They are setting forth across Lapland, and will come out at Archangel, in Russia, given good luck, about the end of May next. FOR THE FIRST THREE MONTHS" THEY WALK IN TOTAL, ABSOLUTE DARKNESS. Of course, no pos- sible use could be made of the camera. Then kind Nature be- gins to give a little sunlight to those northern regions, and the camera is unpacked, the tripod and machine brought forth, and the camera man sets to work on that vast waste of land., known as Lapland. "The unthinking will say, but why go in the Winter time? Why not, when there is light? My answer to that is that it is impossible for man or beast to walk in the Summer time across Lapland. The perpetual snow is sloppy, and they would sink. It is only possible in the Winter time, when the snow is frozen hard, to give them a foothold for themselves and their reindeer pulling their sleighs. "St. Nicholas, returning from having administered to the joys of mankind the day after Christmas, will look upon this brave little band, • who are giving up their holiday pleasures, and for what ? For the amusement of the public and the instruc- tion of the world. "Without regard to the tremendous cost of such an expedi- tion, think of the hardships which a camera man has to endure^ Think of his boundless ambition, his courage. Money is a great incentive in causing these men to undergo such hardships, but the prevailing influence is the glorious reception accorded them on their return, and the craving to see the realization of their dream on the screen. "But the future supply of moving picture subjects depends largely upon the encouragement which those who exhibit them to the public give to the manufacturer. As a business proposi- tion Lapland sounds somewhat absurd. But if you encourage us manufacturers to go on with such exploitation we will go to the furthermost ends of the earth to meet your wants. No expedition is too big, too hazardous, or too costly to undertake, if the manufacturer feels that he has the whole of the trade at his back, and will duly'support him on the return of the expedi- tion. \ "While on this subject of the support which the exhibitor can give the manufacturer, there crosses my mind one great ban in the moving picture industry, and that is duplicating the product of a man's work, brains and money, t. 4, making spurious prints from an original. This is a very serious phase of the business. Let me put it to you in cold dollars and cents. A manufacturer starts an expedition off with some thousands of dollars in. their pocket They must have cash because checks are useless, and there is no credit He spends his money, the expedition returns, and he puts the result of that expedition on the market. . "It is possible" for a man devoid of all commercial morality to unscrupulously take one of the prints and make copies there- from. He floods the market with such duplicate copies, and thereby' robs the manufacturer of the profit which HE MUST HAVE TO ENABLE HIM TO MAKE THESE EXPEDI- TIONS POSSIBLE. "Apart from the robbery and the injustice to the orieinator of such expedition, you have, bad. photography, which will not do credit to your show, and hence you are offending the artistic taste of your audiences. "If every exhibitor would make a careful study and avoid, as he would loathsome disease, any pirated or duplicated copies, regardless of the monetary difference, he will find that he is budding up a business for the future, and not one upon the sands of unfair and unscrupulous business competition. "In this business we all depend upon one another. The pub- lic- depends upon the exhibitor; the exhibitor depends upon the film exchange man, and the film exchange man depends upon the manufacturer, and it is the duty of all of us to see that we get that which we pay for, or to use an old worn-out phrase, 'Beware of spurious imitations.' "While the trend of my thoughts is in this direction, might I venture to suggest that there is another grievance which we manufacturers have against some other manufacturers? Per- haps I ought not to mention this, as it is rather a matter of manufacturer to manufacturer than of general interest to the renter and exhibitor, but I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without giving 'you, or saying to you in the strongest possible terms which are at my disposal, how I abhor, and what a miserable business proceeding it is for one manufacturer to re-stage another manufacturer's ideas. "Perhaps, after all, it does somewhat affect the renter and exhibitor, in so far as the exchange man has to buy, and the exhibitor has to put before his public very often an absolutely similar subject photographed scene for scene, action for action, in exact replica of that which he had handled a month pre- viously. Here again I appeal to the exhibitor and the exchange men to put their foot on such proceedings. Remember that once you take the impetus of initiative away from the manufacturer by ANY means, whether it be by giving bad shows or duplicat- ing or by re-staging, so sure will the days of the moving picture industry be numbered." WHEN "MUSIC". IS A NUISANCE. A peculiar phase of the nickel theater is on trial, literally as well as figuratively, in quiet Philadelphia. The cheap "shows," in addition to other objectionable features, have introduced "outside music" by phonographs and small bands. As Market Street, one of the best business thoroughfares of Philadelphia, is blessed with an abundance of the S-cent thea- ters, the result of the energetically applied innovation will easily be imagined. A local contemporary speaks of the music discoursed by the competing instruments and bands as "a horrid din" that reminded the traveled citizen of Cairo and the average man of the midways or pikes or trails of the world's fairs. Gentle suasion was first resorted to in the hope of inducing the owners of the picture shows to dispense with the musical forms of street advertising. It failed sadly. Police admoni- tion came next, but for some unexplained reason that, too, proved ineffective. Finally the business men of Market street applied for an injunction to restrain the employment of bands and instruments and the making of "outside music" for the purpose of attracting patronage to the cheap establishments. This measure raised delicate questions of law and art Unnecessary noise has, to be sure, been held as a nuisance, but is music unnecessary noise? And if the answer be that a lot depends on the "music," who is to determine when harmony passes into discord? Again, if the employment of barkers is lawful in advertising legitimate business, why is the use of bands or phonographs unlawful? The court, however, was equal to the difficult task. The injunction was granted, but the noise versus music issue was evaded. The opinion contained some dicta about "constant and.incessant playing" becoming intolerable, even maddening, where an occasional performance might be pleasurable, but these were only incidental observations. The order stopping the outside music was based on the fact that it had resulted, according to the evidence, in the blocking of the street, the interference with the business of adjoining stores, obstruc- tion of entrances and views of artistically arranged shop windows, and injury to trade at least as entitled to protection as the moving picture entertainments. This is hard sense rather than art criticism, but it will answer.—Chicago Record-Herald. * * * A moving picture theater was opened Wednesday in Middle street, Pittsfield, Me. The managers, Messrs. White & Totrr.an, claim that they have a good entertainment in the moving picture line together with illustrated songs. The theater is open after- noons and evenings. . * * * An interesting lecture on moving pictures and .how they are made was- delivered bv Mr. S. Lubin, at the .Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, last week.