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

of defence 239 serial increased more than 100,000 a month, which is not surprising when we consider that after seeing the film story on the screen the "fans" were wont to hang about the newsstands in the hope of thus obtaining the magazine earlier. The success was such with the first series that a second almost immediately followed, entitled "Who Will Marry Mary?" which so materially added to the magazine's following that its editor was in a quandary as to what might happen if the contents page contained nothing of interest to the photoplay following that had doubled its circulation outside of the subscriptions. But "The Ladies' World" has never been issued since without a "movie" feature — more often than not there are two or three, the latest and perhaps the most effective to date being "The Hero Contest," an original idea conceived in the editorial sanctum of the magazine. Selecting for the purpose a story by Louis Tracy, called "One Wonderful Night," the action of which is built around a typical hero of fiction, the editor then selected seven of the most prominent leading men of filmdom and put it up to the magazine's readers to decide v/hich was best fitted to play the hero. At this writing the voting is tremendous, with Francis Bushman in the lead. In theatrical history there is no record of such extraordinary publicity accorded to players or plays. Surely Mary Fuller, of the Edison Company, was famous enough before "The Ladies' World" began to add to her vogue. To-day Mary Fuller is known by sight and by name to more than ninety per cent of the people all over the world. On the speaking stage Miss Fuller is one of the few film stars with a record of achievement on the stage, but none will deny that she