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

266 Ci)e Cibeatre rected by Barry O'Neill, who also had been the stage manager of a stock company in which she had gained a large measure of her stage experience. In the Lubin release, "When the Earth Trembled," which v/as the first three-reel photoplay produced by the Philadelphia organization. Miss Clayton nearly lost her life in an accident in the earthquake scene, but such catastrophes are by no means uncommon these days, when the directors of the Barry O'Neill type stop at nothing to achieve their aims in realism, and the manner in which the one-time timid stage folk accept their fate appears to be but an expression of appreciation of what the newer art has accomplished for those long identified with the vicissitudes of a precarious stage era. The writer is not assuming that Mr. O'Neill is responsible for Miss Clayton's accident; merely wishing to indicate that the effort to achieve realistic effects may be carried too far. Miss Clayton now is cast almost exclusively for the leading roles in the picturized versions of stage plays such as "The Lion and the Mouse," "The Gamblers," "The Wolf," and "The Sporting Duchess." John Ince, also of the Lubin Company, like his brothers, Thomas and Ralph, is achieving renown as a director, though he is wont to pose far more frequently before the camera; in fact, John Ince has made his impress as a photoplayer so positive that it is hoped he Vv-ill not emulate his brothers by gradually confining his activities to directing, but the financial reward meted out to an expert director has been, up to now, far greater than to the player, yet in the last year the number of photoplayers to receive weekly salaries in excess of $200 has increased greatly. Aside from the