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

9i Cfte C&eatre their genius lends readily to the constructive side of the motion-picture art. Bannister Merwin is a name that has been displayed on the screen long before the present custom of crediting photoplaywrights with their achievements, and the day is near when such as he alone will provide scenarios. When the present vogue of stage adaptations ends, the real photoplay author will come into his own. Mr. Merwin has written many Edison successes. His best photoplays follow: "Home, a Thanksgiving Story," "While John Bolt Slept," "A Concerto for the Violin," written in collaboration with Mrs. Merwin; "The Sunset Gun," "The Antique Brooch," "Her Royal Highness," "The Dean's Daughters," and "All for His Sake." Mr. Merv/in is now in London, preparing for forthcoming productions with the London Film Company of "The Menace," and "Child O' My Heart." It will be interesting to watch the efforts of such authors as Bannister Merwin, who have never written for the stage, but who represent, in the writer's opinion, the future ammunition of the film producer. Emmett Campbell Hall is noteworthy not only because of his eminent position as a photoplajrwright — a position which enables him to command a salary considerably better than that received by a cabinet officer — but because he is probably the only author who, having already attained success in the field of general literature, had the foresight and courage to devote himself exclusively to the new art of photoplay writing, and this at a time when thirty dollars was regarded as a good price for a scenario. Events have fully justified his faith in the future of the motionpicture play, however, in the development of which he has been no inconsiderable factor. Mr. Hall's man