Motion Picture Classic (Jan-Dec 1920)

CLASSIC Gossip of the Pacific Coast {Continued from page 82) married again in February. She has sold her house on Bronson Avenue, right near Victoria Mix's home, and bought a larger and more beautiful mansion not very distant from the Mixes, for I dont know what Vicky would do without her mother. Those two enjoy shopping together as few mothers and daughters do. Both have exquisite taste and the means to gratify their longing for pretties. Lee Moran and Eddie Lyons are a pair of cut-ups offstage. When Mr. Moran was laid up with flu, Mr. Lyons continued making scenes in which his partner did not appear according to the script. Upon Lee's return, Eddie said, joyfully, "Glad to have you back, Lee ; heard you were dead !" Lee grinned, winked one eye and said, "Heard the same rumor, Eddie, but knew it was a lie, minute I heard it." Mary Miles Minter will stand as godmother to Juliet Shelby Whitney, her namesake, on Easter Day, at the famous Mission Inn, Riverside, California. Charlotte Whitney, baby's mother, lives with the Shelbys, since Mary's secretary must be constantly on hand to direct her publicity, answer fan letters and post photographs. Margaret Shelby has an excellent part in Mary's new picture. On April 1st, Mary's eighteenth birthday was celebrated, and she comes of age in California, altho according to the terms of her contract, made in New York, she is not of age, "pictorially speaking," until 1923, when she will be twenty-one. Miss Minter takes herself very seriously. She is quite a reader and has a talent for writing, and I'm expecting to see her name on a scenario or novel before she's thirty and when she has tired of acting. Winifred Westover, at last report, was dickering about the payment of salary in the Swedish motion picture concern which stars her for a year abroad. It seems that Winifred wanted the salary paid in American coin, while the promoters wanted to pay her the contract salary in Swedish currency, which would have meant a considerable loss when exchanged. Cablegrams have been sent by all concerned and, as a long-distance disagreement of this sort is rather expensive, we all await the outcome with considerable interest. The winner of the Fame and Fortune Contest in our magazines is hard at work on the Universal lot. Virginia Brown Faire has adopted the "U" menagerie, even including a vicious horse which she's learning to "stick by." THE BURDEN By Betty Earle There was a vast pale sobbing once that leapt And swelled to anguishes as on a sea Whose mad-drenched rocks the white hands blindly swept — And then at last a strength came quietly. So stand I like a shadow, without trace Of grieving left ; only solitude ; And in the cool the night is all my face, And over all the stars I bend and brood. Wanted This Year A grave dearth of story plots now confronts the motion picture industry. Producer* will pay you well for any suitable story-ideas. Literary ability not a prime factor. Learn how you can write for the screen. 5000 New Story=Ideas for Motion Pictures The above figure does not include material needed for religious, cammercial and educational films. SOMEWHERE in America this year, scores of new motion picture writers will be developed. (For the motion picture industry must have a continuous supply of good, new story-ideas if it is to survive.) Most of these new photoplaywrights will be men and women who never wrote a line for publication. They will be people with merely good ideas for stories, who are willing, during spare hours, to learn how picture directors want their plots laid out. Producers will pay them $100 to $500 each for clever comedies, and $250 to $2,000 each for five-reel dramatic scripts. They will pay these prices because they must have stories. 95% of book material is unsuited to their need, and as yet not enough people are writing for the screen to supply the demand. The above is a statement of fact concerning the motion picture industry. If you have a storyidea as good as some you have seen produced, this opportunity is wide open to you. There is plerity of proof that producers really do pay the prices stated above. For they are paying these prices constantly to people we have taught to write for the screen — people who never saw a motion picture studio. In Two Short Yeeas It was a little over two years ago when the famine in story plots first became acute. Public taste changed. Playgoers began to demand real stories. Plenty of manuscripts were being submitted, but most were unsuitable. For writers did not know how to adapt their stories for the screen. Few could come to Los Angeles to learn. A plan for home study had to be devised. Frederick Palmer (formerly staff writer of Keystone, Fox. Triangle and Universal) finally assembled a corps of experts who built a plan of study which new writers could master through correspondence. The Palmer Course and service has now been indorsed in writing by practically every big star and producer. Back of the Palmer Plan, directing this work in developing new >vr iters, is an advisory council composed of the biggest figures in the industry. It includes Cecil B. DeMille, DirectorGeneral of Famous PlayersLasky Corporation ; Thomas H. Ince, head of the Thomas H. luce Studios; Lois Weber, America's greatest woman producer and director ; " Rob Wagner, well-known motion picture writer for the Saturday Evening Post. In two short years we have developed dozens of new writers. We are proud of the records they have made, and wc prefer to let them speak for us. A Co-operative Plan — Not a Tedious Course Our business is to take people who have ideas for stories and teach them to construct them in a way that meets a motion picture producer's requirements. We furnish you the Palmer Handbook with cross references to three stories jl^ ready successfully produced. The scenarios come to you exactly as used by the directors. Also a glossary of studio terms and phrases such as "Iris," "Lap Dissolve," etc. In short we bring the studio to you. Our Advisory Service Bureau gives you personal, constructive criticisms of your manuscripts; — free and unlimited for one year. Criticisms come only from men experienced in studio staff writing. Saiurday t Special Contributors Twelve leading figures in the motion picture industry have contributed special articles to the Palmer Course. These printed lectures cover every phase of motion picture production. Among others these special contributors include: Frank Lloyd and Clarence Badger, Goldwyn directors; Jeanie MacPherson. noted Lasky scenario writer; Col. Jasper Ewing Brady of Metro's scenario staff; Denison Clift, Fox scenario editor; George Beban^ celebrated actor and producer; Al E. Christie, president Christie Film Co. ; Hugh McClung. expert cinematographer, etc., etc. Our Marketing Bureau is headed by Mrs. Kale Corbalcy, lomierly photoplaywright for Mr. Advisory Council Cecil B. DeMille Director-Gen. Famous Players -Lasky Corp. Thomas H. Ince of the Studio that Lois Weber imerlca's greatest woman producer and director and Mrs. Sidney Drew. In constant touch with the studios, she knows their needs, so that when our members so desire, we submit their stories in person for them. Thus we not only train you to write; we help you to sell your story-ideas. $3000 for One Story Plot Our members come from all walks of life; mothers with children to support, school teachers, clerks, newspaper men, ministers, business men, successful fiction writers. In short, we have proven that anyone with an average imagination and story -ideas can write successful photoplays once he is trained. One student, G. Leroi Clarke, formerly a minister, sold his first photoplay story for $3,000. The recent success of Douglas Fairbanks' "His Majesty the American." and the play. "Live Sparks," in which J. Warren Kerrigan lately starred, were both written by Palmer students. Many students now hold staff positions, four in one studio alone. We have prepared a book, "The Secret of Successful Photoplay Writing," which will inform you of the Palmer Course and service in greater detail. If you desire to consider the unusual opportunity in this new field of art seriously — this book will be mailed to you free. At Least Investigate For there is one peculiar thing to consider in the Palmer Plan. One single successful effort immediately repays you for your work. Not all our members begin to sell photoplays at once — naturally. But most of them do begin to show returns within a few months. And the big majority are not literary folks. They are people who have simply made up their minds to make money out of storyideas they have in the back of their heads — and incidentally, perhaps, to gain some reputation. The way is open. Producers are making every effort to encourage new writers. The demand is growing greater every day, and the opportunity is rich in its rewards because it is young. If seriously interested, mail the coupon. Palmer Photoplay Corporation Department of Education 517 I. W. HeUman Bldg.. Los Angeles, Cal. Palmer Photoplay Corporation Department of Education. 517 I. W. Hellman Building, Loa Ajigeles, Caiirornia. Pioase send me. without oblieation. your new book. ■'Thi' Secret or Successful Photoplay Writing." Also '■Proof Poaitive" containing Success Storiea of many Palmer members, etc Namii Address City State