Motion Picture Magazine (Feb-Jul 1919)

4Hf!SS&3!$ A Plea for the Unhappy Ending (Continued from page 65) Colin gets his Phoebe and the curtain descends upon a stageful of neatly pairedoff lovers, even the wicked Oliver having reformed, made amends, and married a pretty girl. The primary question is not whether a play should or should not end happily. The fall of the curtain, the winking of the film is only an artificial terminus at best. Life itself has no endings which are not beginnings of new stories, new plots and complications. Marriage — as most of us can testify — is not an ending anywhere, except in books and plays ; even death itself is a beginning, rather than an end. Therefore, no happy nor unhappy ending can be, strictly speaking, true to life. But it can and should be the lifelike working out of what has come before, the normal, the natural, the logical thing that results from other things ; as Dumas puts it, the conclusion must be the mathematical sum total of all the other scenes. £1 "Romeo and Juliet" the audience feels from the beginning the workings of Fate, inevitable, remorseless, not to be escaped by the unhappy lovers no matter how gallantly they pit their frail human wills against it. In "The Lady of the Camellias," Marguerite was doomed, not by the arbitrary will of the author, but bv the unescapable law of God, which has decreed that the wages of sin are death. If in a moment of pity or weak yielding to the whim of the public, Dumas had permitted her to live and realize her dream of happiness with her lover, he would have been guilty of a monstrous lie. Given her nature and her life there could be no other ending for the play. In "The Call of the Blood/' the Paramount picture in which Pauline Frederick played the part of the intriguing wife, the heroine moved inevitably step by step thru her scheming and plotting to the final tragic moment when, laughed at by her lover,' scorned by her husband, she walked blindly out into the desert where lean grey wolf shapes moved across the brassy disk of the rising moon. It may not be pleasant for the audience to reflect on things like tl.e inevitability of punishment of bin, the inexorable bill rendered for the piper's playing, but the playwrig cannot shirk his bounden duty, nor would his patrons forgive him if he did so. However, there are other plays in which the stern retribution of an unhappy ending is not called for by any weakness on the part of the characters themselves. Take such a photoplay as the "Flower o' the Dusk," the Metro feature, in which' wistful fragile little Viola Dana played. The poignant pathos of the fading of this delicate flower life may seem to some unnecessarily, deliberately heart-wrenching. Yet it is very simply done, without morbidness O-" bathos, leaving us with tears in our eyes, perhaps, but in our hearts only a sweet sympathetic melancholy like the scent of dead dried rose-leaves or a memory of old lost days. Why should the scenario writer be barred from touching upon Life's greatest of all experiences, Death? Surely every one who watches the miraculous changes of heart and of fortune of the characters in a screen drama with an illogical happy ending realize that Life is not like that, however much they may wish it to be, and that they are "kidding themselves" by complacently accepting false viewpoints. It is the childish mind that begs for only a "so-they-lived-happy-ever-after" ending. I am not advocating a flood of sad plays, of deathbed scenes, and separated lovers. If a play can be cheerful and truthful at one and the same time so much the better, but cheerful at the sacrifice of truth, no ! In the long run a pic j ture will be a success not according to \ whether it has^ a happy ending or not, but according as it "holds the mirror up to nature," and allows us to see therein our own problems and longings, our hopes and fears, our victories and our defeats. For the shadow folk flitting before our eyes are not story-book characters, not abstract creations of a writer's fancy, they are humanity — they are — ourselves. Our Animated Monthly of Movie News and Views (Continued from page 103) Director Douglas Gerrard has had the flu. so that held up his new production starring Fritzi Brunette and William Sheer. Dorothy Phillips has been working in "Destiny" and her director, Rollin Sturgeon, is much pleased with the rushes. Allan Holubar. Miss Phillips' husband, couldn't direct her because he was busy titling and cutting and editing her previous play. Mary MacLaren worked night and day under Rupert Tulian to finish "Dearie" — which is said to be a very eerie sort of play. Oh. Helen Keller delighted the shipworkers at San Pedro one day by a sudden burst of wit. They asked her, thru a spokesman, why she was so happy, whether she'd mind giving them her secret. Miss Keller said she'd like to write her answer, so they led her to a drawing board and this is what she gave them : "Work like HEL-en be happy!" The men have adopted it for a slogan, and it was a pity she couldn't hear the cheers they let out, tho her teacher explained to her that they were shouting approbation. Josie Sedgwick, one of the best-known horsewomen of the movies, will pit her knowledge and cleverness against the famous feminine riders of our country at the Phoenix, Arizona, State Fair soon. It is expected that many pictures of the events will be taken. Sunshine Mary Anderson is engaged to play opposite Bill Desmond, directed by Jesse Hampton. Work of production will be started by the end of November. Clara Kimball Young has been made defendant in another suit. Last March James Young was divorced _ from her, and now he claims $5,700 due in salary, at the rate of $850 per week, with Mr. Young as director, J. C. Williamson, who formerly managed Enid Bennett and Sylvia Breamer, has been negotiating for _stars . in this country. Fred Niblo was asked to sign a contract for Australian work, but has decided to remain over here and do pictures with his wife. Lolita Robertson and Max Figman, former motion picture co-stars, are leaving for Australia and will appear in a repertory of plays under Mr. Williamson's direction. Exquisite nails are the reward of training, "The Better Way to Manicure" tells how to give your nails the charming shape and finish you have often admired on others, without cutting the cuticle or removing it with injurious acids. Your copy of this instructive book, with sufficient Lustr-ite Cuticle Ice to soften and train your cuticle, will be sent you free on request. The five essentials for manicuring the Lustr-ite way are: Lustr-ite Cuticle Ice Lustr-ite Nail Bleach Lustr-ite Nail Whitener Lustr-ite Salve Enamel Lustr-ite Nail Cake On Sale at All Department a?id Drug Stores Lustr-ite Corporation 48 Fulton Street Brooklyn, N, Y. *) 7 BACK IF YOU ARE V HOT SATISFIED AFTER \ COMPLETING TEN/, TwoVfcar flomeSl-udy The lack of High School training bars you from a successful business career and the leading professions, from wellpaid civil service jobs, teaching zS^jgSggr and college entrance. You don't 2F want to be barred. You don 't have to be! You ■ can complete oursimplifiedHighSchoolCourse I by spare time home study within two years. I Remove Your Whether you need High I nnvnirAP School Training or special ■ **AiMM*m.\*i*.ar jzecj instruction the Amer ■ ican School can help you remove your handi ■ cap. Check and mail coupon for Free Bulletin I and money-back guarantee. m American School of Correspondence! Dept. H-1542 Chicago ..High School Course ..Electrical Engineer ..Airplane Mechanic ..Architect ..Draftsman ..Building Contractor ..Structural Engineer ..Mechanical Engineer ..—Civil Engineer .....Steam Engineer .....Shop Superintendent Business Manager ..—Certified Public Accountant Bookkeeper Sanitary Engineer .....Automobile Engineer Name . AddresB.. Wrestling Book FREE Be an expert wrestler. Learn at home ' by mail. Wonderful lessons prepared by world's champions Farmer Burns and Frank Gotch. Free book tells you how. Secret holds, blocks and tricks revealed.. Don't delay. Be strong, healthy. Handle big men with ease. Write for free book. State age. Farmer Burns, 1542 Ramge Bldg., Omaha, Neb. COPY THIS SKETCH and let's see what you can do with it. Cartoonists and illustrators earn from $20 to $126 or more per week. My practical system of personal individual lessons by mail will develop your talent. Fifteen, years* successful work for newspapers and magazines qualifies -me to teach you. Send sketch of Uncle Sam with Gc in stamps for test lesson plate; also collection of drawings showing possibilities for YOU. STATE YOUR AGE. THE LANDON SCHOOL of Illustrating and Cartooning 1402 Schofield Building Cleveland, O. PA£ LI