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

of defence 241 newspapers not included in the number presenting the serial for several consecutive days published interviews with different players, directors, and mechanics concerned in the production, and through this source it was learned that a prominent Chicago exhibitor who had long been accustomed to combining vaudeville and motion pictures eliminated the latter just before the advent of the "Kathlyn" series, giving as his reason that motion pictures having reached their zenith, were now on the decline, that he shifted to vaudeville entirely through fear of losing his public following. When the "Kathlyn" series was started, this exhibitor, attracted by the newspaper accounts as well as the illustrated full-page chapter in the "Chicago Tribune," proceeded at once to a near-by theatre owned by his rival, and was so impressed by the production and by the crowds seeking admission that the next day he announced "The Adventures of Kathlyn" as a regular three-day attraction in one of his theatres, and in the others each installment was kept for an entire week. Now eleven new theatres in Chicago present the film serial every day. The spectacle of a line a full block long approaching the box office was almost daily on view in different parts of the western metropolis. Mr. Selig truly has shown great enterprise and not a little of that rare quality called showmanship throughout his long and unexampled film career. One of the earliest pioneers in the industry, his efforts have long since ceased to be characterized by selfish aims. Undoubtedly Mr. Selig attributes much of the financial success of the Kathlyn series to the advertising resulting from the combined co-operation of scores of vastly circulated newspapers. In fact, the number of publications which presented the fiction series was greatly