Motion Picture Classic (Jan-Dec 1916)

MOTION PICTURE •JAMES, TTIE LIJBIX MONKEY, ENTERTAINING MARIE DRESSLER AND ACTON DAVIES L. Lasky, who lost his fortune thru the Folies Bergeres. Lasky had made his money as a vaudeville producer, and he is one of the very few showmen to enter the newer field seriously, intrenching himself with capital and affiliating with such men as David Belasco. Also, the Lasky productions have added no little prestige to the artistic development of the entire industry. It was Lasky who induced Geraldine Farrar to bestow of her artistry for the screen, altho there are many experienced film men who believe that such engagements as that of the diva indicate the near approach of that day when the famous name will cease to conjure, for it is conceded GEORGE BEBAN IN (<AN ALIEN ” (N. V. M. P. CO.) that not one in twenty of the stage celebrities have “made good” in pictures. The number of these to appear in a second production is of even smaller proportion. About a year ago there came into the Motion Picture field a man with an idea, by name Louis Selznick. From whence he came no one seemed to know, but in a few months this man has shifted the scenes in the camera man’s domain at almost every turn, creating, from a small, independent film organization, what is now conceded to be the mightiest institution in all picturedom. Selznick is the head of the World Film Company, capitalized at two million dollars and including among its officers such men as George B. Cox, of Cincinnati; Congressman Joseph Rhinock, Lee Shubert and William A. Brady. The stock of this company is actively traded in on the New York curb and in the principal stock exchanges of the country. A feature of the company’s business procedure, which Selznick believes has been its greatest boon, was the introduction of profit-sharing in almost every branch. No one can predict, for even the immediate future, in this aspectchanging industry so persistently referred to as being “in its infancy.” Nearly all of the accepted stars of the screen came to their goal meteorically. Some never had the least stage experience ; for instance, Anita Stewart, who, three years ago, was new even to the screen, but is now earning a salary paid to few Broadway stars. The same is true of Alice Joyce, who never trod the boards in the flesh. Yet, if she wished to convert her fame as a screen-star into cash by way of vaudeville, her pay-envelope each week would contain a sum that would excite the envy of a grand-opera diva. No better illustration of the strange distinction between stage and screen can be pointed to than the astonishing experience of Charles Chaplin, a comedian who, as recently as two years ago, was wont to appear in the vaudeville theaters, where he was not even featured. If he was even paid more than fifty dollars a week on the stage, there is no record of it. Now this same Charles Chaplin, who a year or so ago made his debut on the screen, is the highest-paid man in all picturedom. John Bunny, his predecessor in the esteem of the movie public, left but eight thousand dollars at his demise. Chaplin, who is a mere youth, has to reckon with the possibility of some obscure player, with a new method of creating laughter, appearing in the film arena as unexpectedly as he did and becoming famous overnight. ( Fifty-two )