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

of^cicnce 235 of the cinematograph and the inauguration of the photoplay era, full-page articles, such as are now common, found little appeal in editorial sanctums. The writer having contributed to many publications, is able to state that during the first ten years following the first presentation of motion pictures not one in twenty magazines or Sunday nev/spapers accepted this type of article even when profusely and elaborately illustrated, but from 1908 onward articles on the film industry from all angles found a larger appeal and a readier sale than all musical and theatrical subjects combined, and this statement is true to-day to an even greater extent. The first group of Sunday newspapers to present lengthy essays was what is known as the "Associated Sunday Magazine," which provides a separate magazine for a dozen big city Sunday issues. One of the first, if not indeed the first, big city newspaper to devote a page regularly to motion pictures was the "Cleveland Leader," and this feature has from the outset exerted a wide influence, vastlj' increasing the circulation of the publication itself, while as a result of accurate and first-hand information the Ohio publication has come to be regarded as a vital factor in the industry. Many of the manufacturers advertise in it and considerable national advertising of a film character may now be seen in its pages. About two years ago interest in photoplays became so pronounced that m^any of the nation's newspapers in large and moderate-sized cities started full-page departments. In m_any of these to-day more space is given over to motion pictures than to opera, drama, and vaudeville combined, while in the majority of smaller cities the newspapers use syndicated matter, the New York concerns sending out matrices. One of