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150 THE HOUSE THAT SHADOWS BUILT
governing principle. And, having made such films, it would exhibit them so far as possible in first-class theatres on a parity with the legitimate stage. To succeed on this scale, they must excel not only in length but in quality anything that Trust or independents had ever done before. But American films were improving; Zukor could feel a rising tide which must somehow, somewhere break the barriers. Already the business had developed much talent which might go far if given its head. Such directors as Porter, Griffith, and Dawley were chafing at the limitations imposed upon them by men who would never understand — praying for a chance. Actors, real actors who understood the technique of the screen, had begun to emerge from the ruck; not only Mary Pickford but Costello, the Gish sisters, and “Bronco Billy.” They, too, quarrelled with the trivial scraps of story which they were given to interpret, and above all with their forced anonymity.
As for the vital basis of this trade — the story — producers had been working with thirty-dollar scenarios. And there were the wonder-stories of twenty centuries and twenty races awaiting interpretation by this new medium. To Zukor, as I have said before, the mode of telling a story, whether by prose, poetry, drama, or pantomime, is immaterial. His mind darts to the essential, even when he considers art. Only, to translate and adapt great stories from one medium to the other would take brains. Well-skilled dramatists, expert story