Motion Picture Classic (Jan-Dec 1916)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

The Boys of the Screen By STANLEY W. TODD As we have come to know him in Moving Pictures, the American boy is a bright, irrepressible but likable little chap — all boy, every inch of him. In fact, so dominant is the boy element in our daily life that picture plays would not be like home without an “under-footer” or a Tom Sawyer. Messenger boys, newsboys, schoolboys, office boys, street urchins, country kids — they are all as necessary to a picture as the sun and the camera. It takes real, live boys to play these parts, and the youngster of today has proved himself to be a pretty fair actor, and fearless to the last degree. Some producers have been so impressed with the strong appeal that youth makes to the average picture audience, that the)’ have formed companies composed exclusively of children, with boys predominating. Even the baby has been used, time and again, to “put over” a picture. Several recent features have been written around familiar boy characters, while there have been not a few “boys’ series” among the weekly releases. Many of the long established companies having a large output have such frequent use for boys in different scenes that at least one experienced boy actor, and sometimes three or four, can be found on the dramatic rosters of every large studio. There are at least twenty-five boys acting each day before the camera at variousstudios', receiving salaries that would comfortably support many a small family. Scores of other boys are under special engagement, whether it be as star of a big feature or as one of a crowd in a single scene. While some boys have displayed exceptional aptitude in their work for the screen, their success has been due in no small part to the tact and patience of directors. It is the usual thing for a director to strive for the friendship of his boyish player. The ordinary kid, be he a stage, screen, or just a plain boy, is loyal to the core and will put forth his very best efforts for the person he likes. Scenes in which children are the principals spell arduous work for directors. There are bashful boys* qwkward boys who should be graceful, and graceful boys who should be all hands and legs. Boy scenes, you may be sure, involve forgotten instructions, repeated rehearsals and an “iron strain” all around. Some youngsters — rare treasures in the finding — take to pictureacting like ducks to water, and are not disconcerted even by the presence of ANDY CLARK BROOKS MC CLOSKEY COBBY CONNELLY day ; “I’m fond of them. I seldom have much trouble with boys. Usually they’re quick as a flash ; they always have plenty of spunk, and, what I like most, they are natural. You cant make a boy anything else.” Take, for instance, smiling Bobby Connelly — that five-year-old bunch of winsome, boyish cheerfulness. This little Vitagraph player has made “Sonny Jim” a famous and universally beloved child character. The GEORGE HOLLISTER, JR. a curious crowd of spectators, which often makes older players nervous. “Give me the boys,” said a wellknown director who has had a deal of experience with them, the other ROBERT MILLER GEORGE BANKS (Twenty)