Camera (May 1922-April 1923)

CAMERA I The Digest of the Motion Picture Industry' Page Pift*Mi Mrs. C. B. Collins is looking after the casting offices at United studio during the absence of her husband in New York. Jack Pearce, hurt recently while working in some scenes of "Omar, the Tentmaker," has almost recovered from his accident. He will assist Henry Otto, directing Edward Alexander in a five-reel western which carries a working title of "Smashing Through." The company is to work at Warner springs and other locations. T. "Doc" Joss, who has been assisting Nat Eoss at the Big U, left that organization and intends to turn his attentions to directing. At present he is working at United studio aiding George Berthelon and Director Colin Campbell in a satire on the movies. .Hampton Del Ruth and Rex Thorpe are two busy individuals at Balboa studio. The incorporation papers have been returned from Sacramento with the stamp of approval on the Balboa studio's business affairs at Long Beach. Bob McKenzle is working with the Bruce Mitchell company at Berwilla studio doing a farmer. A championship polo match at the Santa Barbara polo grounds is being started by director Frank Lloyd for "The Voice from the Minaret," Norma Talmadge's forthcoming feature production for First National. "Bill" Colton, a gateman at United studios, was called upon to don grease paint and costume for an appearance in the production, "The World's a Stage." Marshall Neilan's "Fools First" has been named as the best picture of the month by the National Board of Review. "East is West," featuring Constance Talmadge, has been completed at the United studio. Ten weeks were consumed in the making of this picture. Katherine MacDonald has completed "Money, Money, Money," a Larry Evans story written for the screen. Buster Keaton has decided upon a title for his next comedy. It is to be "The Love Nest." This comedy is unique in that there is not a woman in the cast. The title for the next Jackie Coogan production will be "Fiddle and Me." Jack Coogan, Sr., wrote the story. Helen Lynch is playing a role in John M. Stahl's production of "The Dangerous Age." H. E. Stockwell has finished playing a part for Maurice Tourneur in "The Christian." After a vacation in San Francisco, George Sheldon has returned to Hollywood to start work in "Manslaughter." Cullen Landis may leave for New York after he has finished his part with Billie Dove in "Country Love." Leatrice Joy will be seen in a leading role in produtcion, "Her Man." Audrey Chapman, in Douglas Fairbanks' "Robin Hood" and Jack Pickford's "Garrison's Finish," has been engaged by a newspaper syndicate to write a series of articles on how women can make their own clothes cheaply. Monkey Glands for the Screen By Ferdinand Earle WITH enthusiastic faith that the screen may yet become the supreme manifestation of the spiritual life of mankind, our organization has been occupied for over six months on a production of "Faust." FERDINAND EARLE No photoplay that aspires to rise above the deadly level of "program pictures" can be concocted over night. The finest output of the studios is marred by the earmarks of . hasty production. One's senses are glutted with sustained suspense and pictorial entertainment; but it is safe to declare that the souls of motion picture devotees are literally starved for some crust of the deeper truths of life. Would it not be a literary crime to distort Goethe's world-story into a monstrosity of melodramas, stripped of its underlying philosophy? Exhilerating possibilities unfold themselves to the screen pioneer eager to explore this battlefield of the human soul. It has taken nearly a hundred years for critics and scholars to understand the undying story values of this greatest of all messages to mankind. Such a drama should become a permanent classic for schools, colleges, clubs, theatres and homes, and be a service to fellow men. It might exert as much influence as years of a university's activity, and rouse new respect for the screen, proving that it is the prodidious half-brother of the printing press. ENTERTAINMENT POSSIBILITIES Over seventy thousand photographs and engravings illustrating the various phases of the story have been selected, filed and catalogued. And many thousands of pages of literature dealing with the subjects have been digested. We are preparing the first really sychron ized score, from Berlioz, Boito, Gounod, Li.stz, Wagner and numerous others who have already written more Faust music than can be used. Besides this, I spent the best part of twenty years in Europe, visiting and living in many ancient towns and familiarizing myself with Gothic architecture and the customs of primitive peoples, and with the culture of artists and writers of old. And we feel even cocky about it, and are tempted to promise settings and imaginative scenes unlike anything heretofore attempted. In Faust's time humanity had scarce awakened from the Dark Ages and was dreaming back to a golden age of fable and song. The action takes place in Gothic cathedrals of mediaeval Christianity, in castles and towers of the feudal barons, and in the gabled houses of ancient Germany, as well as in settings suggesting Dante's Inferno and Paradise and the Grecian tragedies. Without pity for some of the stuffy traditions of the stage, and with one eye on the New Theatre movement, and with the use of oil paintings for many of the scenes, it is safe to predict a production on an undreamed of scale. But archaeology and history and scholarship, untouched by poetic insight and poetic vision, create only a post-mortem portrayal of the past, and catch but little of the quivering life that colored the fragmentary facts that have survived their day. The love story of Faust and Margaret is one of the treasures of the world, and would suffer from a dry-as-dust or a melodramatic rendering. Some mythical rennaisance, some inner awakening must lift screen drama out of the rut into which it has fallen, to treat such a story. And the writer is not ashamed to say that we are trying to make a drama wherein the actors shall be as masks imaging forth things of the spirit — a drama of clashing ideas and ideals. GOETHE'E PROPHETIC DISCOVERY Curiously enough, it may have been Mephisto who first tested the value of monkey glands in the scene of Faust's rejuvenation in the Witches' Kitchen. We should like to think that perhaps "Faust" will help rejuvenate the screen. Century Notes "Hansel and Gretel" will be the next Centurized fairy tale to be made by director Alf Goulding. Jack Earle, seven-foot, five-inch "heavy" will play a big part in "Hansel and Gretel." Arvid Gillstrom is working on Lee Moran's next story, and is now finishing Brownie's newest comedy. Sig Neufeld, Century's film editor, left for a three-week vacation in New York. Johnny Fox will play Hansel in the Centurized fairy tale, "Hansel and Gretel." Baby Peggy will play the part of Gretel in Century's "Hansel and Gretel." Ena Gregory, blonde beauty, will appear in Arvid Gillstrom's late Brownie comedy. Pearl Schwartz will assist Sig Neufeld in his film editing. "Brick" Enright has been appointed gagman for the Arvid Gillstrom company of Century Comedies. Jack Sullivan is assisting Gillstrom directing Lee Moran. Percy Pembrook is now assistant director to Al. Herman, all-animal and novelty director.