Motion Picture News (Mar-Apr 1916)

April 29, 1916. MOTION PICTURE NEWS 2533 rLLTJSTSATING TWO COMING METRO PRODUCTIONS; "DORIAN'S DIVORCE" AND "THE SNOW BIRD" LIONEL BARRYMORE, GRACE VALENTINE, AND MABEL TALIAFERRO ARE FEATURED IN THESE PHOTOPLAYS NORMA TALMADGE A TRIANGLE STAR Norma Talmadge, who followed her sister Constance to the Pacific Coast last fall and is now a Triangle star, is featured in an early May release from the Fine Arts studios, called "The Children in the House." Meanwhile Constance, the pioneer, has decided that there's no place like home and she appears infrequently in Triangle pictures. But Norma is fired with ambition, which has been growing every year since she made her film debut at the age of fifteen. NORMA AND CONSTANCE TALMADGE (Fine Arts) Norma crossed the country to play with Robert Harron and sister Constance in "The Missing Links." She was featured with Tully Marshall and Seena Owen in "Martha's Vindication," and as a reward for merit is to have the big type exclusively in "The Children in the House." "GARDEN OF ALLAH" A SELIG FILM Following the production of the Selig drama, "The Crisis," William N. Selig is planning to film "The Garden of Allah" in an elaborate and spectacular manner. Fox in Charge of Paramount Publicity Department Former Editor of Pictographs Is Working Out Policy for Special Stories and Feature Articles for Sunday Magazine Sections of Newspapers EDWARD LYELL FOX, newspaper man and only recently European war correspondent, with a staff of cameramen at the front, is now publicity director for Paramount Pictures Corporation. Mr. Fox was managing editor of Paramount Pictographs before assuming the duties of director of publicity. Mr. Fox contemplates the development of new fields for newspaper publicity very shortly. "I am devoting particular attention to special stories and feature articles for the Sunday magazine sections of newspapers," said Mr. Fox to a representative of Motion Picture News. "Such a field offers unusual opportunities for picture publicity if it is only gone about in the right way. "Many publicity men seem to forget that in their stories for newspapers they are writing to enlighten and entertain the public. From the looks of their stuff one might suppose that they were attempting to see how many times they could get the brand name of their company in one line of type. That is not good publicity and certainly not good publicity for a Sunday magazine. Mention your company's name once or twice or three times, but don't forget the use of pronouns. Such stories will command much more attention than the other sort. • "The Paramount company has lately been issuing complete music folios with each feature release. There is a fine chance here for distinctive articles. I have secured permission from many grand opera singers to print their names over articles dealing with music and the picture. "I have also secured other well-known names to incorporate in stories dealing with Paramount pictures. Such articles will undoubtedly call for more attention than plain press stories." Mr. Fox will also give special attention to trade paper publicity. "It is an angle of the business which is just as important as the newspaper stories," said Mr. Fox. "I am endeavoring to sharpen this press matter up, to make it as brief and concise as possible." GriflSth Publishes Book on Censor Menace In "Rise and Fall of Free Speech in America" Constitutional Rights by Attempts to A POWERFUL array of arguments against the censorship of motion pictures is presented by David Wark Griffith in his book, "The Rise and Fall of Free Speech in America," recently published in Los Angeles. Mr. Griffith attacks censorship as a violation of the freedom of publication guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and of the States, shows that it springs from intolerance, and that it offers a threat to the press as the next victim after the picture. He points out that the purport of censorship is to forbid the portrayal of vice in any form, and that this piece of sophistry and Noted Producer Lays Stress on Violation of Force Censorship in This Country injustice, if enforced, would make impossible any picture of worth, because the vital conflict between vice and virtue would then have to be eliminated from the drama. History could not be screened, either— not even the life of Christ, because one of the chief figures in that picture would be a certain Judas Iscariot. Included in the book, on alternate pages, are short, incisive arguments against the menace of censorship, illustrated by satiric drawings, showing the absurdity and hypocrisy of the censorious attitude of mind. The late Mayor Gaynor's veto of the New York Censorship ordinance, and editorial expressions from newspapers, are quoted.