Motion Picture News (Sep-Oct 1923)

September S , i 9 2 3 1237 NEW THEATRE construction & equipment pr°jection Department P. M. ABBOTT CAMERA TECHNICAL EDITOR Dutch Dance Prologue Explained in Detail Specialty Used by Stuart of Missouri Theatre Offers Valuable Suggestions FROM out Missouri way come some suggestions in the line of pantomime dancing which are quite interesting and worthy of consideration by all managers desiring to add a finished touch to his program. Hersehel Stuart, managing director of the Missouri theatre, St. Louis, Mo., father of these ideas, produces evidence that they are practical by submitting photographs and detailed information as to the proper application of his suggestions. Charles C. Dahl, technical director, also helped in the contribution. It being impossible to show all these suggestions in one issue, they will be shown separately from time to time. The first, called " A Study in Delft," in the nature of a dance divertisement, shows, at the rise of the curtain, two Dutch figures, boy and girl, standing posed before a huge Dutch Plate as if painted thereon (Fig. 2B). To the tune of familiar Dutch music the dance begins, the dancers jumping off the platform, on which they had been standing, and going into Flirtation Dutch Dance. The dance is finished in a position such as that shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2A and then to closing music the dancers go back to the plate and assume their opening position shown in Figure IB. Costumes So much for a sketch of the performance. S. M. P. E. Local Chapter to Be Formed THE West Coast members of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers recently held their first meeting at the California Country Club at Culver City where ten of the industry's best gathered for supper and formulated plans for the organization of a local chapter there. The members present were Roy J. Pomeroy, in charge of the Experimental Department of the Lasky Studio; his assistant, W. M. Hutchison; Earl J. Denison, projection engineer for Lasky Studio; Leslie Cuffe, projectionist at Lasky Studio; J. Lee Rauch, electrical engineer at F. B. O. Studio; Fred Rudolph, foreman of machine shop at Lasky Studio; A. G. Wise, foreman of machine shop at Standard Laboratory, and H. F. O'Brien. While there are not a sufficient number of active members to organize a local chapter, nearly all of the members present evidenced interest enough in the organization to change their associate memberships to active and to solicit new memberships during the next month so that the chapter may be under consideration by the first of September and be in shape to proceed with regular meetings. The props and accessories necessary to carry out the act will now be described. The costumes of the dancers can be made from a cheap grade of cambric, the colors thereof matching those painted on the Dutch plate. The principal ones being blue and white, the costume of the girl can consist of a blue dress with white starched apron, neckpiece and cap. White stockings for contrast and, of course, the indispensable wooden shoes will finish the touch. As for the boy, blue trousers, wide and baggy, in the Dutch style, a white jacket fitting snug and tucked into the trousers having two rows of large buttons down the front, supplemented by a blue neckerchief, white socks, cap and wooden shoes are required. The Plate The prop requiring the greatest expenditure of time and effort is, obviously, the plate (designed after the fashion of a Dutch dinner plate). This can be constructed of framed beaver board and should be cut in the form of a circle, 10 feet in diameter. Upon the surface of this should be painted in colors matching the costumes of the dancers, i.e., blue and white, some typical Dutch design. This can, if necessary, be copied from a real plate. If none is at hand, however, the conventional windmill can be painted in addi(Continued on page 1238) ANTI-CLIMAX 10-0 Platform OPENtNS CLOSING POSITIONS U3) — /TVywre. <2 — Hhde spoil ignis When dancing (73 ; The Dutch Delft number arranged by Hersehel Stuart, managing director of the Missouri theatre, St. Louis, and fully described in the accompanying article.