Camera (April 1920-April 1921)

CAMERA 1 "The Digesl of the Motion Piclure Industry" Page Nine PICKUPS BY THE STAFF NEW FEATURE Ciunera \ wishes to announce the acquiiement of an exceptional featuie. Be^innins' "^vith next issue, FVitzi Reniont. the famous o-rapiiologist, will Avrite a series of analyses of character from handwriting-. Send your signature on plain white paper to Fritzi Keinont, Box 310, ]\Iain Office, San Francisco. Calif. Then your signatui'e will be reproduced and analysis from it published in Caiuei a ! Next week we will ])ublish .Miss Reiiioiit's readings of George Hackathorne, Chailes Ogle, Margaret Shelby, Thebna Percy, and Bertram Grassby. EXHIBITORS TO ACT SOON Interview With President Cohen (As published in "The Billboard,") "As president of your national organization I am receiving enthusiastic assurances of support from every section. The tenor of most letters is optimistic, but there is an undercurrent which makes it plain that the great exhibiting body of the country demands action against the aggression of certain producers. "The great responsibility that the convention has laid upon my shoulders makes it imperative for me to consult with the E.\ecutive Committee. We propose to move and move quickly, but we do not propose to move without due deliberation. I have received many suggestions and we will consider them carefully. "If certain offending elements persist in their mistaken policy of seeking to undermine our investments they must be prepared to meet the consequences. One concern engaged in distributing has intimated a desire to co-operate with the exhibitors, and we have assurances from one of the big producing companies that they want to discuss the situation with us in a spirit of reason and amity. The men who will see the light and accede to the just demands of the organized exhibitors of the country will show good business sense. "The Executive Committee of the organization is preparing a complete printed record of the proceedings and all the official documents which played a part in the deliberations at Cleveland. The bulletin will be published under the seal of the organization and will constitute the official record. "The exhibitors, big and small, throughout the country, realize that the one reliable source of insurance for the protection of their investments is a powerful national organization. No time is being lost in providing adequate quarters properly equipped where data may be gathered from all over the country as to conditions existing, and if any inroads are being made by prodticerexhibitors, so this organization can meet the attack. In a very short time organizers will be sent out in order to bring the organization to the exhibitors throughout all parts of the country, so thU every exhibitor, no matter how small his investment may be, will be given an opportunity to join with his fellow exhibitor in bringing about a one hundred per cent national organization, an organization that will prove its motto, 'An Injury to One Is the Concern of All.' " Continuity Writing COMEDY By WyclifEe A, Hill Author of "Ten Million Photoplay Plots" Jack Cunningham One of the Leaders in the New Screen Writers' Movement Installment One A. D.'S TO DANCE AT BRUNTON'S The Assistant Directors' Association will hold its second annual barn dance July 31, at the BruTiton studios, according to Allen Watt, chairman of the committee in charge, who selected the location after a careful study of four of the largest fUrii plants in California that had been offered for the occasion. Through the courtesy of Robert Brunton, the association has had placed at its disposal for the affair a stage 250 feet long by 150 feet wide, which has just been constructed at the studios and is said to be the largest motion picture stage in the world. Approximately 5,000 people, it is planned, will attend the affair. A refreshment bar the width of the stage is now being constructed and appropriate decorations are being prepared. Two orchestras, it is said, will furnish music for dancing, while "Blondy" Clark and a nmnber of entertainers have promised to be j)resent and make the evening a most interesting and enjoyable one for all attending. The association is planning to make its second occasion the greatest social event of the industry and no stone is being left unturnc'l towards this end. FLORIDA HAS NEW COMPANY St. Petersburg, Fla., .luly 2. — A studio i.s being constructed by a new firm known as the Quality Film Company. M. A. Kelly is manager and director. Mr. Kelly is in New York now placing an order for $20,000 worth of equii)ment. Comedy writing is one of the most difficult branches of scenario work. Some wiiters are naturally adapted to i1, while with others it is simply out of the question. The fact that a writer is an adept at dramatic construction does not necessarily mean that he, or she, can write good comedy. Those writers who arc sufficiently versatile to be good at both, are few and far between. The same may be said of directors and actors. Some are especially adapted to comedy and others are not. Producing companies, as a rule, have apparently not yet come to appreciate the value of writers and directors of good comedy. 1 say this because they do not pay such salaries as would indicate that they have. The average price for the synopsis of a two-reel comedy is around one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars. It .should be nearer five hundred. And, instead of l)aying the comedy director — I mean the one who is . producing two-reel comedies — two hundred and fifty dollars per week, they should ])ay as much as the dramatic director receives. Just becatise one man is allowed five thousand feet of film in \vhich to tell his story, and the other is limited to two thousand, does not seem to me to be a legitimate reason why the two-reel director should be paid half as much salary as the othei fellow. Nevertheless, such is usually the case. The same argument would apply to the writer, in my opinion. The market sim])ly must have comedies. They are an essenlial ingredirni of the exhibitor's program. The margin of profit made by the piodueci on good comedy is just as great, or greater, than that made on the five-reel drama. Then, considering the fact that good comedy is more difficult to write — and direct — why should the scenario writer and <lirector be l)ut in the two-l)y-f()ur class? However, 1 am getting off the track. We were going to discuss coiiKuly const i-uction. i^et us first classify comedy. There arc several kinds. We have straight comedy, oi' sittiation comedy — (Continued on Page 13)