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

0 f %) c I e n £ e 123 with the hardships of a precarious calling, found fame and financial reward, so hard to acquire in his earlier career, almost from the very outset of his Vitagraph advent. Like so many others, Brooke has been in the Vitagraph Stock Company for several years. I saw him portray Armand Duval in "Camille" nearly thirty years ago. The performance, aside from Brooke, was so primitive that I wondered how he came to be in the cast. I never saw him again in the flesh, but a score or more of his film creations are recorded in my diary. Most of these were written and directed by him, for Brooke is, indeed, prolific as an author, versatile as an actor, and a real genius in staging what the Vitagraph aptly calls its "life portrayals." It is, indeed, an inspiring spectacle to witness that of the patriarchs of the stage finding in the theatre of science a new vogue for their artistry — with largely increased compensation and enabled to enjoy in the evening of life that domesticity that was never theirs in the older field. If the craze for moving pictures has entailed hardships for the managerial element and has changed the theatrical map from coast to coast, this is due greatly to the reluctancy of theatrical business men to recognize the opportunity before the public demanded a better return for its money paid at their box offices. And now with these theatrical managers following the lead of Daniel Frohman and reducing their productivity for the stage to embrace the more popular field, the actor is due to enjoy a period of prosperity, with a far greater demand for his services than has ever existed in this generation. William Humphries is another of those experienced