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

cif@)j:ience 233 were informed of their coming or going. Yet here was the greatest actress of her time, to see whom playgoers of three decades were wont to stand in line for hours in the effort to secure seats at $3.00 each, but when it was possible through the genius of the film studio to witness a fairly adequate production of the elder Dumas' most compelling play, with no seat costing more than 25 cents, the press hardly noticed the innovation. One of the first, if not indeed the first, class of publications to recognize the significance of the motion picture from various angles was the scientific and mechanical magazines. Of these, "Scientific American" revealed to the layman persistently almost every development, illustrating the articles appropriately and presenting the text in non-technical language. Being a weekly publication widely circulated throughout the nation, the influence of Editor Munn in breaking down the barriers against the new art in editorial sanctums cannot be overestimated. In fact, previous to 1904, articles originally published in "Scientific American" and reproduced or reviewed throughout the country (not always with credit, however) was practically the first extensive publicity accomplished. It is also true that as the progress and expansion of the motion-picture industry became more pronounced, it was an almost regular thing to see from one to three pages in Mr. Munn's weekly given over to the newest phase of film progress. One had to look to the scientific or trade issue almost entirely for any adequate recital of what the camera man was accomplishing, and fortunately a few of these publications, those that were first to see the trend, were not only of wide and enormous circulation, but their influence with editors of the big dailies was