Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1916)

402 MOTION PICTURE NEWS Vol. 14. No. 3 pied solely by Wilfred Buckland and his assistants ; because of the material increase in the size of the stock company, many more dressing rooms were found to be needed ; and a building was erected solely for the use of the stars, and contains eight suites, each furnished to suit the desires of each player. All star rooms are connected with a green room, where prominent members of the organization can be found at all times. The rows of dressing rooms that line Lasky Lane have been double decked, and back of these has been erected a mammoth stage 80 by 250 feet. Perhaps the most important improvement to the plant is the $150,000 laboratory in which all prints of Lasky pictures for the Paramount Exchanges are made. By Eastman specialists, this is said to be the most complete and best equipped laboratory in the world. It was designed by Cecil B. deMille, director general, after he had made visits to all the large plants in the east, and Alvin Wyckofi, Lasky director of photography. The capacity of the plant is 500,000 feet of positive weekly. There have been but few cliangcs in the orgnni-'nticn. .M;Uo'i E. Hoffman, former manager of the Peerless studio, has been added as general manager to relieve Cecil deMille of many worries, and give him more time for writing and directing. Other directors are William C. deMille, former scenario editor ; George Melford, responsible for eighteen or more Lasky productions ; Frank Reicher, who has been a member of the staff for the past nine months, and James Young, who has produced two pictures. The most recent addition to the list of stars is Marie Doro. The principal players are Blanche Sweet, Fannie Ward, Cleo Ridgely, Anita King, Wallace Reid, Lou Tellegen, Theodore Roberts, Tom Meighn, Raymond Hatton, Tom Forman, Horace B. Carpenter, Ernest Joy, James Neil, Lucien Littlefield, Camille Astor, Dorothy Abrille, William Elmer, Florence Smythe, and Parke Jones. The studio now occupies one entire city block, 400 by 700 feet, and negotiations for additional property across the street are now pending. The company uses many large sets, and because of this, additional space is needed. I Majestic Studio Is Three Times Its Original Size i A marked enlargement of the Majestic Motion Picture Company's studio in Hollywood, the home of Triangle Fine Arts photoplays and comedies, has been made, and the new plant now covers fully three times the space that it did one year ago. Laboratories added make positive prints of all subjects. Here twelve months ago, the producing organization was engaged almost wholly in the making of one, two and three-reel subjects. Now nothing but five-reel dramas and two-reel comedies are filmed, the change being due to the discontinuation of the Mutual release, and the company marketing its productions on the Triangle program. The personnel of the producing staff has not been materially changed ; D. W. Griffith being the general manager ; Frank E. Woods, manager of production ; Bennie Ziedman, publicity writer, and J. C. Epping, business manager. In the scenario department are Hettie Grey Baker, Tod Browning, Bernard McConville, Mary H. O'Connor, Roy Summerville, and Granville Warwick. The list of directors includes William Christy Cabanne, Alan Dwan, Lloyd Ingram, Paul Powell, Edward Dillon, Chester Withey, C. M. and S. A. Franklin, and John Emerson. G. W. Bitzer is superintendent of the photographic department. In addition to doubling the space occupied by the studio proper, three additional city blocks have been leased for use where exterior settings are used. Two mammoth stages, one 90 by 180 feet with forty-five foot diffusing system, and an interior stage 70 by 100 feet have been built within the year, making a total of four stages with a total capacity of 130,000 square feet. I Christie Studio Is Complete Comedy Plant | The stars of the Fine Arts organization are Mae Marsh, DeWolf Hopper, Douglas Fairbanks, Fay Tincher, Tully Marshall, Norma Talmadge, Bessie Love, Seena Owen, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Wilfred Lucas and Robert Harron. In the stock companies will be found such well-known players as Ralph Lewis, Walter Long, Eugene Pallatte, Mildred Harris, Elmo Lincoln, Max Davison, Elmer Clifton, Spottiswoode Aitken, Sam deGrasse, Howard Gaye, F. A. Turner, Alfred Paget and many others. At the expiration of the contract of Al. E. Christie, producer of Nestor Comedies, with the Universal in January, Mr. Christie organized the Christie Film Company, and leased the plant where, more than four years previous, this same director had opened the first motion picture studio in Hollywood. The organization became known as the Christie Film Company. The last year Mr. Christie was with the Universal he had his own private stage, offices and complete corps of stage help, cutters, and laboratory men, in addition to his regular stock company of players. When the new organization was formed all of the people went with the new company. For about four months the new company continued to make Nestor Comedies for the Universal, forty reels in all being made. Under a new contract, the company has produced twenty-four thousand feet of comedies. The personnel of the organization includes Al. E. Christie, who supervises all productions in addition to directing a company. His brother, Charlie Christie, is business manager ; Horace Davey, a director; Anton Najy and Al. Cawood, cameramen. The players are Billie Rhodes, Ethel Lynn, Betty Compson, Jane Waller, Stella Adams, Nolan Leary, Eddie Barry, Harry Hamm, Neil Burns, Dave Morris, Harry Rattenberry, Gus Alexander, George French and others. Mr. Christie in the past six years has supervised the making of about five hundred comedies, three hundred of which have been directed by himself, and seventy-five per cent, of the total number are from original stories prepared by him. I Rebuild Keystone Studio by Aid of Laughs | Laughs perpetrated by Mack Sennett and his corps of assistants and comedians have made possible the complete rebuilding of the Keystone plant. The new home of this producing organization is one of the most modern on the Coast, the buildings being of concrete and steel construction of a fireproof nature, and equipped in a manner which adds great efificiency to the thirteen producing companies. Fifteen months ago the Keystone plant occupied one-quarter of a square, while today it covers the greater portion of two blocks, besides a young mountain back of the studio which is util t Bird's-eye View of the Keystone Studios, Los Angeles ized for exterior settings. Mr. Sennett liked the location of his plant so well that when it was impossible to expand eastward as he desired, because a foothill stood in the way, the Keystone maker promptly removed a greater portion of said foothill, and in its place erected a gigantic enclosed stage, and an exterior stage with steel diffusing system thirty feet above the floor space. The original exterior stage of the Keystone containing the 20 by 40 tank is still in use, and across the street, on another block owned by the company, is a stage of equal size, giving to the studio a stage f^oor space of more than 100,000 square feet. Mr Sennett has looked after the comfort of his players, and the dressing rooms provided by the new buildings contain every