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

142 Ci)e Cfieatte actress, and when she returned to his management direct from her screen triumphs her pay envelope contained an increase of 1000 per cent over that previously accorded to her by the same producing manager. Yet Mary was not happy, despite overwhelming publicity and all of the honors meted out to a successful star in a Broadway production. Besides, the call for her return to the film studio was insistent. Whether Miss Pickford's desire to resume her film career was effective in curtailing the vogue of "The Good Little Devil" as a stage attraction or not, it is certain that its production as a photoplay, with Little Mary in her original role of the blind girl, had a tremendous appeal with photoplaygoers. One may only conjecture as to what measure of success would result in the event that the spoken play will be revived with Miss Pickford as the star. This is one phase of the present theatrical situation that is more widely discussed than any other because of the many stage stars and productions now relegated to photoplay exploitation. Daniel Frohman and others experienced in both fields have stated that the resultant effect of the movement has been to enlarge the public following when these stage favorites returned to the older field. It would be interesting, indeed, to observe the outcome of a well-developed plan to convert the popularity of a Mary Pickford into a gold-laden theatrical attraction. The success of John Bunny, Francis Bushman, and Florence Turner, when appearing in vaudeville or in person in photoplayhouses, despite all the discussion as to the advisability of such procedure, has not as yet indicated any decline in their vogue as film stars ; but these are real film stars, not merely temporary con