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

0 f ^ c i c n c e 215 tourage in the history of moving pictures, the financial fiasco, was, indeed, colossal. George Kleine was interested to some extent, and before Lee finally collapsed, hypothecating his entire plant, so that he could not even resort to his old vaudeville act to keep the wolf from the door, he had so many partners that the item of transportation alone exceeded the box office receipts. At Lee's urgent request, I journeyed to Chicago to witness the production which was really a moving picture version of his "Great Men Past and Present." The spectacle of an audience of about 300 persons in the vast Chicago auditorium seating 6,000 was alone uninspiring enough to cast a gloom on what was to my view, an epochal presentation in which Mr. Cannock revealed himself as a camera wizard to such an extent that Lee was wont to insist that the operator acknowledge the applause at least equally with himself. Cannock is now one of the heads of the Simplex Company in which he is still affiliated with Hollaman and Porter, of the Eden Musee days. Of the stars of the speaking stage to find a permanent vogue in the moving picture field, Maude Fealy of the Thanhouser Company is a striking example. In fact, it is doubtful if to this day there has been recorded an accession to the photoplayers' ranks of greater artistic significance. Moreover, Miss Fealy's film career is interesting from various angles in that she was the only American actress honored by the late Sir Henry Irving whose leading lady she was for a long period. Also as Miss Fealy is often referred to as "a child of the stage" and began to "star" before she was sixteen, there was considerable curiosity as to what