Motion Picture News (Oct 1914-Jan 1915)

December S, 1914. iilllllilllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllilll MOTION PICTURE NEWS lllllillllllllliM^^^^^^ 33 Blanche Sweet Is Engaged by Lasky SAMUEL GOLDFISH announces a contract has been concluded between the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company and Blanche Sweet, whereby she will appear in the new series of Lasky-Belasco productions now being staged for the screen. Miss Sweet was selected by Mr. Belasco and Cecil B. De Mille, for the LaskyBelasco productions, and signed a contract for a term of years at a record breaking salary. Blanche Sweet needs no introduction to lovers of photoplays, for, though she is only eighteen years of age, she has been making history in this art for several seasons. She is especially famous for her intense though restrained gestures and a marvelous command of facial expression for "close up" effects. Up to the present time Blanche Sweet has been mainly associated with David Griffith, in most of whose leading productions she has appeared. She worked under Mr. Griffith while he was directing for the Biograph Company, and played the title role of "Judith of Bethulia," which electrified all America last spring. More recently she has been working with Griffith for the Reliance and Majestic companies, and has played the leading feminine roles in "Home, Sweet Home," "The Avenging Conscience," "The Escape" and other film plays which have reached Broadway. Under the management of Mr. Lasky, and appearing in Belasco productions, Miss Sweet will be creating roles for dramas already of international fame, and she will be a member of the family of stars, which includes Dustain Farnum, Robert Edeson, Marguerite Clark, Edith Taliaferro, Edmund Breese, Charles Richman, Edna Goodrich, Theodore Roberts, H. B. Warner and others. Miss Sweet will make her first appearance as a Lasky-Belasco star in William C. De Mille's famous success, "The Woman," which played at the Republic Theatre for two seasons, and which will be ready for release on February 15. Work will begin within a week. tion of the Life Photo Film Corporation. Present plans provide for the release of "The Avalanche" through Alco as the next Life-Photo production following "Springtime." This former Broadway success deals with the attempts of a woman to wreck a man through manipulation of the mining stock Avalanche. Before the man's marriage, he and the woman were engaged. She subsequently married. Her husband died. Meanwhile her former fiance has married. This arouses the hatred of the central feminine figure in the play, which Miss Countiss is to portray. BLANCHE SWEET Blanche Sweet has the distinction of being the first film star to join the Lasky ranks, hitherto made up of stage celebrities. SCENES TAKEN ON NOTED COLORADO RANCH "When East Meets West," a forthcoming release by the Thanhouser Film Corporation, was taken on the Walsh ranch, near Denver, the birth place of the famous $1,000,000 McLean baby. The picture, which has Mignon Anderson and Morris Foster in the leads, furnishes an excellent illustration of life on a well-ordered ranch. The wild riding and milling herds are the same as in the old days, but great substantial barns and buildings have displaced the "dobe" shacks and fence corrals. This picture is one of the much-heralded releases made by the Thanhouser "Yellowstone" company. CATHRINE COUNTISS FOR NEW LIFE PHOTO PRODUCTION Cathrine Countiss, who was starred in "The Awakening of Helena Ritchie," "The White Sister," and "The Christian," has just been placed under contract by the LifePhoto Film Corporation for photoplay work. Miss Countiss will do her first work for this producing organization in the photoplay field by assuming the lead in "The Avalanche," another recent acquisi GISH SISTERS TO STAR IN MUTUAL DRAMA For the first time in more than a year the Gish sisters, Lillian and Dorothy, are featured together. They appear as co-stars in the Majestic-Mutual feature "The Sisters," written especially for them and produced by W. Christy Cabanne. In working together in "The Sisters" Lillian and Dorothy have succeeded in adding their natural personal touch in their relation to each other as sisters, which makes this charming pastoral feature an excellent offering. SCREEN FAVORITES WHO WILL FIGURE IN KINETOPHOTE'S NEW FEATURE "THE SPAN OF LIFE" GLADYS WTNira EDWARD MACKAY LYSTER CHAMBERS LIONEL BARRYMORE ALMA MARTIN