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

of %)Cience 83^ twenty minutes this great silent actor would be depicted on the screen sitting in a chair with a book in his hand, moving scarcely a muscle, yet through sheer facial expression and utter repression of theatrical effects, the art of McDermott held an audience, none too intellectual, as spellbound as one may possibly hope to achieve even in these days of wondrous science, and this, too, without an ally save the intermittent flashing of a line from the immortal verse of a Tennyson on the screen. Perhaps Mr. McDermott may achieve world-wide renown as a result of such productions as "The Man Who Disappeared," but it is not a reflection on Richard Watson Childs' literary effort to cherish the hope that a true artist like McDermott may be utilized less for thrillers wherein he may easily be replaced and his artistry preserved for that vital era of the picture play v/hen such as he alone can establish what the new art really stands for. New v/onders of the film studio are being revealed so persistently that even the miracles of long standing are often overlooked. I have often heard men high in authority on the artistic side of the theatre express themselves in terms like this: "It is all very well to boast about the young players who come before the camera without stage experience and quickly achieve fame and fortune as well as leading stellar positions, but how much of this is due to the director? "You do not, however, gaze upon the spectacle of a director of photoplays who has 'made good' who has not had stage experience and plenty of it, at that." For a long period I was much impressed with the truisms of these expressions, but research, such as the