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

iimera! 'The Digest of the Motion Picture Industry' Page 5 A Sanskrit Inspiration By GEORGE LANDY Age is a relative matter, so it is not necesIrily of interest that such-and-such a person the youngest successful worker in his, or her, e. That is, not of itself; although the matter age does undoubtedly give an added fillip interest to the story of Winifred Dunn's sucss; for she is the youngest person to hold the st of scenario editor at any of the big studios, lore important, however, is the story of her hievements, how she works, and the ideals d plans that she puts into her scenarios for letro. Her inspiration has been the following wellown quotation from the Sanskrit: "Look well | this day, for it is life — the very life of life. | its brief course lie all the verities and reali|s of your existence, the bliss and growth, the bry of action and the splendor of beauty. For sterday is only a dream and tomorrow only a feion. But today, well lived, makes every yesfday a dream of happiness and every tomor|w only a vision. But today, well lived, makes jery yesterday a dream of happiness and every morrow a vision of hope! Look well, thereIre, to this day — such is the saluation of the Iwn !" jln other words, Miss Dunn feels that the hrth-while scenario, the scenario that can be ade into a good picture, is based on the daily currences of real people in real circumstances, j fact, she believes that once you have conIved your characters and have clothed them j flesh, so to speak, they develop themselves turally and without straining the imagination the author. Get your people firmly fixed in jur mind and they will automatically take care I not only their own characters but also of le situations into which you plunge them at ie outset. In fact, once she has started typing |r first draft, Miss Dunn claims that the keys Jem to print action on the paper, almost withit her assistance. More — if she is too conious of straining after drama and character ization, even the physical act of typing becomes a hardship, almost an impossibility! Starting your characters, she says, is like throwing pebbles into a lake of dramatic occurrences; waves are created that go on and on, practically without end, and overlapping all the time. Each of these points of contact is a dramatic moment, a plot situation. When Winifred Dunn was just a young girl, she and her father moved from Chicago to an island home in one of the Wisconsin lakes, where he gave her the benefit of his own Oxford erudition, turned her loose on a vast library of the classics and led her to become an integral part of Nature. Naturally, her imagination developed with her vocabulary and her feeling for the verities of life. In her teens, she came to Chicago, studied stenography and soon thereafter aided a European playwright to translate and idiomize his script. When he joined the scenario force at Selig Polyscope, then a powerful factor in the film world, she tried her own hand at scenarios and sold her very first effort, entitled "Too Late." Soon she was contributing regularly to this company. In all, she has given over fifty originals to the screen and has adapted more than as many stories by other authors. She has "doctored" a number of successful films, has titled perhaps a score and has even made two of her own productions. Now, she is head of the scenario department at Metro, so her thoughts have the authority of accomplishment behind them. Too many young writers, says Miss Dunn, misjudge the public's honest desire for realism and give it sordidness, instead. Audiences want a romantic background — even if the costumes and locale are here and in the present — they still insist on the characters of the story being real people, developing logically and naturally. Further interpreting her inspirational Sanskrit quotation, Miss Dunn urges the import Mah Jong! By Raymond McKee \Mah Jong! As some folks think it sliould not played. yifter reading these articles you will not know iy more about that game than the author. \In these days of forced variety, when a feikv •who devotes all of his time to perfecting h chosen calling, is called narrow and lacking \ versatility until most of us feel obliged to iden ur range of study without perfecting our lives in anything, it is something of an advenye to write a column on any subject that any\e is apt to know about; therefore, I, Raymond IcKee, being of, or at least believing myself j be of, sound body and weak mind, [else I ire not tackle such a subject), have decided .at, as long as I must write something to fill lis space, must fill the same with something lat folks know very little about, thus giving \yself free reign to speak freely. I shall tell ]/ / know about the subject, which will not take \ng. My main object being to confuse my \aders as much as possible until all readers \igagc themselves in a civil war and gradually '{terminate themselves. Mah Jong! Puug Jiow! Mah Diao! Mah Cheuk! and Pe Lino! \l mean the same to me. GAME EXTRA ORD'^AIRE! That is my subject. If you are not Uerested, read no further — and if you are inIrested, then read no further, for you'll know \ss of the game after you've read it, than be\re. The game is not governed by uniform vies. Different rules and different methods of play have been adopted in different parts of the country. This is probably due to the fact that the first writers rushed into the papers without going into the original Chinese rules. I am well acquainted with a number of China people and have discussed it until 1 fully realize that I know nothing of the game, therefore I shall tell you all about it, beginning next week. There have been many books written about Mah Jong and there will be many more written before even the obvious points of this centuries old game will be revealed. The overnight enthusiast believes the game to have just recently been introduced to this country, while as a matter of fact, and any historical student will bear me out, if I should have the courage to say it. I will have the courage, Mah Jong was, even during the civil war, counted upon to lessen the long hours of General U. S. Grant while waiting for his boys to reload their trusty muzzle loaders. See footnote "P," in Major Cement's History of Traffic Conditions During the Civil War. It reads, in part .... and there was no pleasanler sight in the world, than that of the stalwart young Abraham, (meaning Lincoln, o f course) in the early days of a rainy day between battles, having his game of Mah Jong. The battles, referred to in the foregoing line, we take to refer to the battles Mr. Lincoln was known to stage with his beloved wife Lizzie, for the reason that Honest Abe was too old during that war for the draft. There is also an old wood cut accompanying the footnote which shows a striking likeness of Hon ance of every bit of action, every word of dialogue and every minor player in the story. A tiny false note will spoil the mosaic which the good scenario must be. Above all else, she reiterate? the caution to keep people human. If they are real to the scenario writer, they will be real to the audiences. Recently, Winifred Dunn finished the scripts on "The Eagle's Feather" and "Held to Answer,' both forthcoming Metro specials; she collaborated on the scenario of Victor Schertzinger's "The Man Life Passed By," and is now adapting "The Shooting of Dan McGrew," Robert Service's famous poem, soon to be filmed by A. H. Sawyer for Metro release. est Abe, trying to remedy a defect in the game which is a delayed call of pung. This snap shot, (flash light, of course, for in those days Kleig lights were almost unknown), was taken immediately after a player, (Carrie Nation, I think it was) had exposed her hand by taking a discard for a sequence. I'm sure we ail recall that beautiful old poem, with great pleasure; written by, was it Horace Greely? . . . . "Who touches a hair of yon grey haid; Dyes like a dog! Mah JONG! HE SAID! That alone is proof enough. More Anon! JOE DED By Bert Tracy JOE DED wants to know the difference between Lou Chaney and a good gambler. Here's hoping he finds out by next week at the latest.