The Motion Picture Director (Sep 1925 - Feb 1926)

MOTION PICTURE ]. Stuart Blackton Editor Bernard A. Holway Managing Editor Dedicated to the Creation of a Better Understanding Between Those Who Make and Those Who See Motion Pictures IT is with a sincere feeling of sympathy and regret that the management of The Motion Picture Director is called upon to announce the resignation of George L. Sargent, founder of the magazine as the official publication of the Motion Picture Directors’ Association and its editor during the first year of its existence. For the past several months Mr. Sargent’s eyes have been giving him increasing trouble, and while that condition is considered only temporary and largely due to a ner Vol.z. No. 4 CONTENTS who are entertained by the products of the industry — and to the frank discussion by readers and contributors of features of screen production which are of interest to both. In a sense The Motion Picture Director is blazing a new trail, and asks the constructive aid of its readers both within the field of motion picture production and exhibition and without. Nov. 1925 No publication belongs to itself but to those whom it serves. King Vidor ( Photo by Ruth Harriet Louise) Cover vous affliction of the eye muscles, a complete rest has been deemed necessary. MUCH as we regret the circumstances attending Mr. Sargent’s resignation, it is with pardonable and justifiable pride that the management announces the advent of J. Stuart Blackton as editor-in-chief of the publication. Mr. Blackton is particularly fitted for the editorial chair of such a magazine as The Motion Picture Director. As the founder and organizer of Vitagraph he is one of the pioneer producer-directors of the motion picture industry and has since its earliest days been one of its foremost exponents. Now that Vitagraph has become a unit of Warner Brothers production program, Commodore Blackton continues his production and directorial activities in association with that enterprise. In addition to his long years of experience in motion picture production, Commodore Blackton also brings to The Director definite publication experience as founder and early advisor of the Brewster Publications, publishing Motion Picture Magazine and The Motion Picture Classic. With J. Stuart Blackton as its editorial head The Director is definitely launched on a program of activity which has as its purpose the creation of a better understanding between those who make and those who see motion pictures. In the furtherance of that purpose its columns shall be devoted to the discussion of interesting phases of motion picture production activity — phases which are of concern both to those within the industry and those J. Stuart Blackton In the Director’s Chair Screen Personalities Directing Harold Lloyd . . . Sam Taylor Why Hollywood? Robert Vignola KFWB Norman Manning Custom vs. Costume . . Bertram A. Holiday New Stories Albert LeVino The Man on the Cover The Big Parade The Night Bride (A Serial) The Screen Club .... Grown-Ups and the Serial William Lord W right Bill Hart . Adam Hull Shirk Robert M. Finch . Frederic Chapin Harry D. Wilson Sid Grauman Frank Cooley 3 7 13 15 17 19 23 25 30 33 34 35 36 38 41 I Motives and Motifs . . . The Barnstormer (Part III) Directorial Briefs . . . Off Screen Personalities 42 Angle Shots 45 Slants on Exploitation The Boulevard Reporter 47 The Directory 49 Wampas Doin’s A. Wampa 51 What the Directors Are Doing Charley Chase Turns to Acting Edith Ryan Getting the Third Dimension FOCUS Wilfrid North The Wasps Edith Ryan N no way may the purpose of the magazine be more effectually accomplished than by serving as a medium for the interchange of ideas between those who make motion pictures and those who see. Published in the heart of the film center of the world, by men who are actively engaged in the production of screen entertainment, for those engaged in motion picture activity as well as for those who constitute the theatre-going public of this country, we believe that The Motion Picture Director is peculiarly suited to that purpose. But, while we who are a part of the industry are in a position to present to you who see pictures subjects pertaining to the production side of that industry, your ideas can only be expressed by you. It is vital to the future of motion pictures that, as outlined by Commodore Blackton in this issue, we receive from you expressions of your likes and dislikes. Write us frankly and freely about the pictures you see. Tell us what you have liked and what you have not liked. Tell us, and through us, the motion picture industry of which we are a part, the kind of pictures you would like to see. Help us to make The Director a meeting place for the frank discussion of ideas. And tell us too about the magazine. By so doing you will aid us in making your publication of greater interest and value to you. Tell us what departments you would like to see introduced, what new features developed and how you like the departments and features in the current issues. But above all else write us frankly about the pictures you see and the pictures you would like to see. 52 55 58 61 64 Published Monthly by The Director Publishing Corporation, 1925 Wilcox Avenue, Hollywood, Calif. J. Stuart Blackton, president; Frank Cooley, secretary and treasurer; Richmond Wharton, business manager, J. Stuart Blackton," editor ; Bernard A. Holway, managing editor.’ Single copies 25 cents, yearly subscription, $2.50. Entered as second class matter, October 1, 1925, at the postoffice in Los Angeles, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. PRINTED IN U.S.A.