Exhibitors Herald (Apr-Jun 1922)

52 EXHIBITORS HERALD April 15, 1922 Screen Production a Glorious Adventure, Says Tully Relates Experiences During Filming of His First Picture For First National Distribution J~)ICHARD WALTON TULLY, who lias just completed "The Mas7Y (llieracler" starring Guy Bates Post, for First National distribution, is one of the few stage producers to actively participate in the affairs of the screen. In the appended article, the producer relates his interesting experiences and his favorable reactions to the world of the photodrama: TT HAS been a glorious adventure, a golden voyage of discovery, this, my first experience in cinema production, which has just ended. When I first decided to enter this field of activity, it was with a certain amount of trepidation. Would I find studio work congenial? Would the modes and methods be so utterly different from those I was used to on the regular stage that my only desire would be for a speedy return to the field I already knew? The play I selected for my initial effort was "The Masquerader," which both as a book and play had been remarkably successful for many years. Thus I felt that I was providing myself with extraordinarily good material at the outset. Then, too, I was delighted when Guy Bates Post, who for six years had starred in "The Masquerader," and who is, in my opinion, the most distinguished actor upon the English speaking stage, told me that he would be glad to make Richard Walton Tully his screen debut in "The Masquerader." I was fortunate enough also to gather together a staff of assistants of the highest calibre, including James Young, director; Wilfred Buckland, art director; Georges Benoit, cinematographer, and A Carle Palm, laboratory expert. It seemed to me that at the very outset I had the three most important essentials towards the production of a really superior picture — a great story, a great star and a great staff. The first big discovery I made was that the methods I had used, and the same effects I had striven for, on the speaking stage held equally valid for the camera. A play is a play, and acting is acting, whether it is for stage or screen. For years we have been used to seeing endless posings and posturings on the part of screen actors. In filming "The Masquerader," all of us hoped we could hold these deadly tiresome moments down to a minimum, but little did I realize that we could obviate them altogether. It all happened this way. In looking at some of our first "rushes" it struck us that we had consumed just about twice as much footage as the scene was dramatically worth. So the next day I suggested that we reshoot the scene, eliminating every movement and every gesture that we would have removed had the acting been on the legitimate stage. The result was magical! MONEY MAKING IDEAS Which Have Exhibitors to Been Used Successfully by Build Up Their Patronage By J. F. REES (Regal theatre, Wellsville, Mo.) About five months ago, we decided to play western features only on Tuesday night and advertised the fact on our screen and in the newspapers, 'driving home the knowledge that regardless of whether western pictures were shown any other time, TUESDAY was sure to be a western. Attendance shows about 70 per cent increase on this night since this policy has been established. Also, it gave us the information that our patronns appreciated the outdoor atmosphere. Now, many of our specials are selected with that in view. By J. F. LAWRANCE (Halls theatre, Halls, Tex.) Tuesday is my dull night. To build it up, I try to get a better picture than usual and advertise it heavily. On Tuesday night, March 14, I had "The Unpardonable Sin." I got out a lot of circulars. On the bottom, I made a coupon which read : "Save this coupon. Bring it to the Halls theatre with a dime and get a pass to the show March 14. 1922." You ought to have seen how they packed my place. Try this on your dull night. The developed strip held us spellbound by its intensity, its vividness, its clarity. So thereafter we followed that method. Through long experience the publis is educated to where film action can be better timed than in the past. I believe that the eye of the film patron is now trained to recognize a situation quickly, and then let the actors pass on. The old idea that posing and posturing before any climax was important will, I am sure, soon become a dead letter. Looking back over the whole experience, I can truthfully say that I didn't encounter a single situation in filming "The Masquerader" which could not be met with the same knowledge and the same art that a similar situation on the speaking stage would demand. Even the tendency to waste time, about which one hears so much, was really, not in evidence with us. * * * One doesn't have to be engaged in film production a week to realize how easy it is for thousands of dollars to be thrown away in wasted time— in waiting upon a star or a set or a property. When producers will emphasize the necessity for everybody to get together so as to make use of every working minute of every day, they will save fortunes for themselves. I recall that one time Mr. Young, looking over the schedule of the day's work, discovered that Mr. Post would be called upon to make seven complete changes of costume. "Precious little shooting we'll do today," remarked Mr. Young. "Why?" I asked. "Because stars always take an hour for changes like these Mr. Post has got to make," he answered. Knowing Mr. Post as well as I did, it was hard for me to repress a smile, but I simply said, "Wait and see, Jimmy!" And Mr. Post's average for the seven changes was exactly three minutes each! It will only take you a second to figure that the difference between twenty-one minutes and seven hours consumed in costume changing in a single day made a difference of hundreds of dollars to me. As in practically all studios, we were supposed to start work daily at 8:30, and we did! In other studios I visited, I found that they considered themselves lucky if they started shooting by 10 or half-past. Thus it goes, day after day, and all through the day, — a needless loss of time that eventually costs thousands of dollars. The exhibition rentals have to be notched up by just so much to cover it, and in the end the public have to pay a higher scale of admission than they would if waste and extravagance were eliminated. I entered picture production determined to avoid waste and extravagance, and not only found that they were unnecessary, but that it was the easiest possible thing to curb any tendency towards them. From my first experience f have emerged more than ever convinced that good, basically-sound stories are as essentia) for photoplays as for stage plays. Most important of all. I think screen actors must adopt more and more the straightaway, direct methods of the stage, in contradistinction to the posings and frills that have for so long been over-elaborating and stifling film presentations. A . H. Fischer Dead (Special to Exhibitors Herald) NEW YORK, April 4.— Adelbert H. Fischer, president of Fischer Features, Inc., Motion Picture Laboratories of New Rochellc, died at his home there March 30. He was born in Germany in 1865 and came to New Rochellc from Gloversville, N. Y., in 1919. He was a member of the Friars Club.