Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1918-Jan 1919)

" standards. No producer has been more criticized or ridiculed in the past few months than J. Stuart Blackton simply because he wished to make pictures in his own way. Mr. Blackton's first couple of Paramount pictures were by no means masterpieces, but, personally, we saw an individuality and "class" about them that was up to the finest standards. Then came "Missing," which every intelligent reviewer classed as amongst the greatest photoplays of the year, and now all the "wise ones" are forced to admit that the Commodore has more in his head than they gave him credit for. The truth of the matter is that Mr. Blackton and his ideas are a little ahead of time, and, to get the credit due him, he will have to wait for a slow class to catch up. LOST, S. OR S. Robert Harron's mustache. H. O. Davis' efficiency. The Paralta plan. The Paramount serial, "Who Is Number One?" By Pauline Frederick, apparently 20 lbs. Englishman. America apparently has done nothing. Which reminds us of the time the American tourist was looking thru a British museum and got into an argument with the keeper regarding the Battle of Bunker Hill. "That's the time we gave it to you, awl right," said the keeper, "and we 'ave the cannon 'ere we did it with to prove it." "Yes," replied the Yankee, "but we've got the hill.'' And America has about everything in and about the M. P. industry that's worth having. REELISM Seen Only on the Screen Busy office help. Cops on hand when needed. East Indian servants. Side-whiskers on butlers. Manicured fingernails in Dead Man's Gulch. FIVE THINGS WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW Why did Marshall Neilan leave Paramount-Artcraf t ? Who pays for Jesse Lasky's cross-country trips and what's the big idea? Why does F. B. Warren, the real brains behind Goldwyn, keep himself in the dark? What does the profound silence from Louis J. Selznick mean ? When is Thomas Ince going to give us a new picture, personally directed? Say the producers to scenario writers : "Dont send us stories dealing with the war. We have no use for them. The public has been surfeited with the war for over four years. They want a rest, a relaxation. It is our duty to cheer them up. What we want is comedydramas. But nevertheless war films are daily on the increase and almost forty per cent, of last month's releases featured the war in some way or other. Verily, verily, a close-up of the American flag and a patriotic appeal can be made to cover a multitude of photodramatic sins. It may be imagination, but somehow or other to us that the longer a player appears in motion the better-looking she gets. We dont want to mention any names, but there is a certain actress, an Ince star, whom we have in mind, that was far from goodlooking when she first became prominent a couple of years ago, but now she is so gosh-darn beautiful that she knocks your eye out. This same improvement is noticeable in the case of many other actors and actresses. Whether it is the mental suggestion brought to play upon them by the hundreds of flattering letters received from admirers, or whether it is simply a matter of achieving a wonderful make-up by months of experimenting is a puzzle to us. it seems pictures There hasn't been much in the movie periodicals about George Loane Tucker lately. What's the matter? Is his publicity man sick ? Or is the latter now working for Monte Katterjohn? At a meeting in London, recently, the film men of Great Britain decided that a 1 m o st every important invention related to motion pictures was the in/TWention of an Some day in an inspired moment a film genius will devise some new way of indicating approaching motherhood in the silent drama, but until that day directors will have to be satisfied with the old device of showing a pair of crocheted panties. Of course girls never do this in real life, but what's a little realism in the movies? Actors like to write about the "most difficult part I ever played," but our idea of a hard job to play is the role of an Englishman without parting the hair in the middle or without the use of a monocle. Curtain ! The height of ignorance — asking Billie West who is the screen's greatest comedian. The height of (Continued on page 110)