Camera - April 14, 1923 to February 16, 1924 (April 1923-February 1924)

ESTABLISHED 1918 — A FILM MAGAZINE AND A FILM NEWSPAPER IN ONE Entered as second class matter, August 11, 1918, at the postofflce at Los Angeles, Cal., under act of March 3, 1879. S. W. (DOC) LAWSON Publisher and Manager DELBERT E. DAVENPORT _ _ Editor JOHN CORNYN Advertising Manager Marbridge Building NEW YORK CITY H. H. CONGER COMPANY, National Advertising Representatives First Nat'l Bank Building Holbrook Building CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO Price 10 cents per copy, $3.50 per year in Los Angeles County. Outside Zone, $4.00 per year. Canada, $4.50, Foreign, $5.00. Issued on Saturday afternoon of each week at 6318 Hollywood Boulevard, in Los Angeles, California. Phone 439-869 Address All Communications to Camera! Vol. VI. SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 1923 No. 9 The Editor Advances Some Opinions Foreign competition in the raw film line is becoming quite pronounced. There is a veritable flood of a German product in the country at present and although many cameramen do not like the composition of this stock so well, it is perfectly apparent that there is a very active market for it. The best evidence of it is, Aftnerican companies are showing more solicitude in the matter of "getting the business." Meanwhile, competition, so long as it is fair, is never a bad thing. There is a reassuring movement of centralizing picture making on the Pacific Coast. Many of our "steady home talent'' who have been working back east for some time are returning to resume studio endeavors here. Simultaneously an almost unprecedented number of stage artists of note are joining our colony to both work in pictures and to enjoy vacations. It is more than ever a certainty that Los Angeles is destined to become as much of a mecca for members of the acting profession as li'l ol' Noo Yawk. Nor will any set do more to make life lively in li'l young L. A. Now that we have had our era of historical and costume photoplays, to what class shall the next era belong? Some say melodramas of the old-time sort with up-to-the-minute settings. Others say comedy dramas in which there is incentive for tears and mirth in equal quantities. Still others hold that baffling mystery is due to hold the screen for a while. However, let them all be right in their predictions just so long as one fact remains conceded — the story must be human and of general interest. Whoever can write stories which ring true from the human angle need not worry about trying to write masterpieces. During the last fortnight there has been just the slightest lull in production activities due principally to a quite general finishing up of big productions at various studios, but it is already patent this little lull is to be followed by even augmented activities. Some of the bigge st pictures of all times have just been started or are about to be, including Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments" and Douglas Fairbanks' "The Thief of Bagdad." These two productions alone will give more people employment for a longer period than an average dozen films and there is certainly no occasion for any panicky feeling in any quarter. Whatever may happen to the program picture, it is just as well. The public has reached that stage of natural fastidiousness where seeing the same old thing in the same old way has ceased to be bearable and therefore it is necessary to develop the bigger and better pictures. But, as some of the more conservative producers are pointing out, "bigger and better" is not a term synonymous to "costlier." It has been proven many times that it takes more than money to make a good photoplay. Now, above all times, is the time for genius to assert itself and to make its influence felt irrespective of the personal financial status. Verily, it is a healthy condition the elimination of the machine-made program picture brings about and one from which much good in behalf of the cinema art is sure to be derived. ' " It is said that eastern and mid-western picture theatre s are doing a better business right now at the outset of the warm season than they did last winter at the height of the season. It is noticeable that as the army of unemployed dwindles, the attendance at all classes of theatres increases and in these times of "the heyday of the movies," the cinema emporiums are getting the bulk of the increase. It is all very important since business conditions seem certain to justify the midsummer release of many pictures which ordinarily would be held for fall showings. The importance of this is, there will have to be more photoplays made to fill the gap next fall and the more photoplays they make the more prosperous everybody in filmland will be. So let the merry tendency go on merrily. Some of the big producers are once more discussing th It would seem that the "re-hashing" of old published material Therefore, it would undoubtedly be a fine thing to make imme ing to the reasoning of advocates of the original story. It is t initiative in starting the ball to rolling in the right direction b just as so many of them abandoned the latter class some tim never be a distinct screen literature unless it is especially writ of an oft-expressed hope — may the original come into its own e feasibility of having stories written especially for the screen, and of unsuccessful stage plays cannot continue indefinitely, diate preparations for supplying the inevitable dearth by listeno be sincerely hoped that some one big producer will take the y abandoning all other stories excepting original screen ones e ago. There can be no questioning the fact that there will ten as such and with the idea of it living. So here's repetition after all! The fad and fashion for chasing the false gods of alleged exploitation as a means for "putting across" inferior pictures cannot be eliminated by a mere ignoring or a nonchalant assuming that no harm is done thereby. As a matter of fact, exploitation in some cases is the most dangerous enemy the motion picture industry as a whole has and it is high time that the common habit of employing the whole category of superlatives should be stopped. The "greatest" picture of all history has been made so many times that it has long since become most monotonous. The "greatest" cast has been assembled so many times that it has ceased to be the least bit alluring. The "greatest" book ever written has been picturized so many times that there are hundreds of them. Need there be more said in opposition to the modern manner of exploiting motion pictures? Why not, instead, a simple, straightforward presentation of the facts concerning each production? Would it help Wrigley one iota to call his chewing gum the greatest confection ever made since the creation of the world?