The theatre of science; a volume of progress and achievement in the motion picture industry (1914)

of Science 29 tainment, and so presented in first-class theatres that it would appeal as strongly to the amusement-seeking public as any other type of theatrical attraction. No doubt this idea was originally engendered by his experience several years previous, when managing Miss Clara Louise Thompson, a dramatic reader, in what was then called a picture play, entitled "The Chinook." "The Chinook" was a four-act drama, the action of which was illustrated by means of stereopticon slides thrown on the screen in rapid succession, while Miss Thompson read the dialogue with appropriate change of voice for each character. This proved a unique entertainment, but lacked the essential realism of action that moving pictures might have given it. Mr. Shepard's aim in preparing his first exhibition was to have it appeal to all the human emotions so far as possible, embracing comedy, tragedy, pathos and thrills intermingled with glimpses of things beautiful, and so selected that the entertainment in its entirety would be equally pleasing to all classes of people, from the most intellectual down to the most uncultured. He assumed that by thus presenting an amusement with a general appeal to all classes, its drawing power would consequently be much greater in scope than the average theatrical attraction, which necessarily was confined in its appeal to some one indiviudal class. At this time moving pictures were confined in their use in America to vaudeville theatres, where they were put on as the closing act of the bill, and were considered of such slight interest that most of the audience usuually walked out during their presentation. Vaudeville managers, who used pictures at all, only wanted comedy subjects, and as the manufacturers catered