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did undoubtedly fill in a time when we were beginning to enlarge our ideas. Some of them were worse than others and some better than the average but it would be very invidious to sort them out and that is why I do not wish to mention any names at this point. They all had one peculiarity in common which I did not like at all. They harangued and abused the poor little tame actors and actresses who were working for them and spilled their unpleasant language all over the place. I felt that I knew nothing about these things, but I protested. They all informed me then that it was perfectly usual, the invariably common practice on the stage, and, in fact, that it was the only way to get any good work out of stage people.
It may have been the usual behaviour on the stages they came from — though I doubt it. It was certainly not the way of things on the theatrical stage when I became better acquainted with it several years later. Nothing of that kind goes on in the theatre of today or in any studio. I am quite sure it was never the best way to get good work out of any actors, whatever their station in life.
It appears from the silent evidence of the catalogue that it must have been about early 1905 that our little company was joined and refreshed by the coming of Lewin Fitzhamon, whose original and sprightly ideas had a considerable effect upon our work. The Press Illustrated, parodying the titles of a number of popular journals, shows his puck-like humour to much advantage.
The next film that catches my eye after a procession of comics, scenics and general interests, is a long 'dramatic' called Falsely Accused, which had a considerable vogue in spite of its extortionate length of 850 feet. And 1905, introduced by The Derby, The King of Spain's Review, The Royal Wedding at Windsor, and some other topicals, as well as many 'made-up5 films, brings us to the most notable for many years, Rescued by Rover.
I had been dropping out from the actual making of films and devoting myself more to the supervision of the work of others and to scenic photography which has always been my hobby, but Rescued by Rover was a particularly family affair. My wife wrote the story, my baby — eight months old — was the heroine, my dog the hero, my wife the bereaved mother and myself the harassed father — though why in the world I should have thought it necessary to play the part throughout in a frock coat and tall hat is more than I can understand.
This was the first occasion in which professional actors were
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