Motion Picture News (Jan-Mar 1918)

1732 M o t i 0 11 P i c 1 11 r c N e s Ready IVIacI .Mar> I'iclvfortl in " Aiiiarilly of Clotlie-liiR Alle\ "—Best Yet I I'aramtiunt I'ivt lift I I'rodiittioii) Mary Pickford in " Amarilly of Clothesline Alley." This will be the attraction at the theatre on of svcek. The story was written by Belle K. Maniates. scenarioized by Frances Marion and produced under the direction of Marshall Ncilan. In the supporting cast arc seen William Scott, Norman Kerry, Ida Waterman. Margaret Landis, Kate Price, Thomas H. Wilson. Fred Goodwins, Herbert Standing, Wesley Barry. Frank Butterworth, Antrim Short, Geori>c Hackathorne and Gertrude Short. This IS the most amusing picture that Mary has done. It is full of wholesome philosophy, showing that people from the environments of such places as Clothesline Alley can never mix happily with the upper classes of society. One of the scenes of the picture is that showing Chinatown, of San Francisco. Mary has the title role and lives in the tenement home with her jolly, tenderhearted mother and her small brothers who are messengers and newsboys. Amarilly is the boss of the Alley and makes the boys " toe the mark." She obtains the job of scrub-girl at a theatre and her fiance, Terry McGowan, is the pride of the alley and the bartender at the Midway saloon. Terry is temperance, however. Gordon Phillips, a wealthy young man, while on a slumming expedition, is injured in a brawl, and Amarilly takes him to her home and nurses his wounds. Terry becomes jealous. After Gordon's recovery Amarilly is given the job of caring for Gordon's studio and when her brothers arc stricken with scarlet fever, she is given a permanent home with Mrs. Phillips. After the quarantine has been I fted, Amarilly's mother is received at the home of Mrs. Phillips, which visit results in humorous scenes and proves to Amarilly that the Alley gang can never mix with the upper crust. Mary Pickford in " Amarilly of Clothesline Alley " will be seen on the screen of the theatre on of week. Ann Penniuglon, Pretty Ziegfeld Follies Girl in "Sunshine Nan" (Paramount Five Reel Production) Ann Pennington will return to the screen of the theatre on of week, in " Sunshine Nan," adapted from Alice Rice's " Calvary Alley." Eve Unsell-, who has made the adaptations for many of Paramount's most successful productions, did the continuity. " Sunshine Nan " was produced under the direction of Charles Giblyn. In the supporting cast with M•^s Pennington are seen Richard Barthelmcss, John Hines, Helen Tracy and Charles Eldridge. The former star of Zie.Tfeld's Fellies is seen at her best in her latest work before the camera. Alice Hcen Rice will be remembered for her work, " Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch," " Lovey Mary." and " Mr. Opp." Miss Pennington has the role of Nance MoUoy who lives in Calvary Alley, back of the great cathedral, the only world that she knows. Dan Lewis, an orphan, is her only friend. Nance is always getting into trouble with the Alley " rats," as the children are called, and Dan is always getting her out of trouble. MacPherson Clark, one of the choir boys, whose father owns the Clark shoe factory, is the leading spirit. Nance detests him. Four years pass and Nance has learned stenography at school and accepts a position at the Clark factory. Dan works in the chemical department and thev become engaged. Dan has discovered a chemical process of value and Mac, who has returned from collcpe, plans to steal the proce<is. The invention makes Dan rich and he and Nance arc married. Ann Pennington in " Sunshine Nan " at the theatre on of week. Xaylor Holmes in Hin Funniest (".omedy Drama, " A Pair of Sixes " I I '■• rfri lion I'ii r Ilrel Production) Sixes," adapted from Edward Vr "av success of the same title, has br ■/ Essanay for the Perfection nr' r Holmes, supported by Alice M.i feminine role, in the fea tiri 1 . . one of the famous comedian's he^t corr.' iy portrayals. In the supporting cast are '.een Kobert Conness, Edna Phillips Holmes. Cecil Owen. Maud Eburne. C. E. Ashley, John Costar. Byron Aldenn. Virginia Bowkcr. and Tommy Carey, with Miss Mann in the principal feminine role. Mi^s Mann will be remembered (or her work opposite " Fatty " Arbuckle in some of his most recent comedies. The production was made under the direction of L. C. Windom. Mr. Holmes has the role of "T. Boggs Johns, one of the proprietors of the Digestive i READY-MADE AD-TALKS PUBLISHED t I IN LAST WEEK'S ISSUE | I March 16, 1918. \ \ FEATURES I 1 TITLE OF PLAY PRODUCERS i = " The Rough Lover " Bluebird 5 reels i 1 " The Spurs of Sy i bil " World 5 reels i i " The House of = Glass " Select 5 reels i 1 " The Thing We Love " Paramount 5 reels 1 H " The Wasp " World 5 reels | i " The Trimmed 1 Lamp " General (O. Henry) 2 reels ? H " Marrying Off Dad " General 2 reels f i "A Soul In Trust" Triangle 5 reels | 1 " The Beggar Woin = an " Pathe 5 reels i 1 " Eve's Daughter " \ " Nobody's Wife " Paramount 5 reels i Universal 5 reels ? 1 " The Family Skele I ton " Parahiount 5 reels I ' " The Song of the i Soul " Vitagraph 5 reels I Pill Manufacturing Company. His partner is George Nettleton, and they cannot agree and they decide upon an unique method of solving the trouble. 'They play a hand of poker, the loser to become the servant to the winner for the period of one year, and the winner shall have full control of the business for the same period. If either member reveals the circumstances of the pact, he shall pay a fine of $5,000. The hand is played, Boggs loses, and he is delegated to serve as butler in the Nettleton home. Coddles, a house maid of antique vintage, makes love to him. Bogg's sweetheart comes to the Nettleton home as a puest. She tries to learn what has brought about the change in Boggs, but he cannot tell, under penally of $5,000. Then the fun starts. Come to the '■ theatre on of week, and learn how Boggs and his partner and his sweetheart decide when to call it " quits." " A Pair of Sixes " will be seen on the screen of the theatre on of week. Emmy Wehlen in " Tlie Shell Game," Rippling Comedy-Drama (Metro Five Reel Production) Emmy Wehlen, the clever little English comedienne who has been seen in several Metro productions, will be seen on the screen of the theatre on of week, in the screen version of Kenneth L. Roberts' Saturday Evening Post story, " Good Will and Almond Shells," appearing on the screen under the title, " The Shell Game." The production was made under the direction of George D. Baker. In the supporting cast are seen such popular Metro artists as Henry Kolker, Joseph Kilgour, Fanny Cogan, I^icca Allen, Hugh Jeffrey, Richard Thorton Clarence Hermitage and Donald McBride. A set theory of " Silk " Wilkins, a confidence man, is that all mortals get sentimental around Christmas time, and that their pocket-books can be easily reached. " Silk " saunters in one of New York's fashionable hotels and sees Lawrence Grey, a wealthy real-estate man, counting his bank-roll. " Silk " makes himself acquainted and the two adjourn to the dining room. The subject of conversation changes to Christmas tidings and " Silk " learns that his friend has lost, several years before, his wife and child in ■n accident. He was not sure i^hether they were killed or had disappeared. " Silk " promises that if his friend's daughter were alive, he would find her. In a cheap boarding house where " Silk " held forth, lived Alice Sheldon, from the Middle West, who hatl been fleeced of all the money her father had left her, by an unscrupulous music teacher. She became despondent and decided that the only way out was to turn on the gas. " Silk " sees in her a good substitute for Grey's daughter. She consents to be a pirty to the plan, the scheme works. Alice gets everything that money can buy from her " father " and " Silk " decides that it is time to make a killing. He demands $10,000. Alice refuses to accede to his demands and confesses everything to Grey. But Grey knov/s all about the scheme, for he had "Silk" watched. He was perfectly willing to be a father to Alice and he gives " Silk " $10,000 for finding his future wife. At the theatre on of week, Emmy Wehlen in " The Shell Game." Smiles and Thrills in " The Floor Below," a Mabel Normand Picture [(Joldwi/n Six Reel Production) Mabel Normand, whose recent appearance in " Dodging a Million " has set motion picture fans the country over singing her praises, comes to the screen of the theatre on in " The Floor Below," a Goldwyn production. The story is by Elaine Sterne and it has been admirably interpreted under the direction of Clarence G. Badger. While the star is given ample opportunity to display her well-known attainments as a comedienne, there is much of the really dramatic in her role cf Patricia O'Rourke, the copy girl in a newspaper office, who is assigned to unravel a mystery which long has baffied the police as well as the star reporters. Her errand takes her to a rescue mission conducted by Hunter Mason, a young millionaire. From this mission are believed to emanate the plots whereby several robberies of fashionable homes have been committed. Entering the place by way of the fire escape and being mistaken for a thief in sore need of reform, the girl is received by Mason and Latham, his secretary, and so appeals to the millionaire that he enlists his mother's aid in caring for her. At the Mason home she meets Louise Vane, a girl who, in spite of her love for Latham, is making a bid for the affections of Mason. There is a benefit dance given at the house for the Mason mission and everybody is asked to pay for the privilege of dancing, the money being deposited in a box in charge of Patricia. The ball room is thronged with fashionables and the contribution box contains a large sum of money. Nobody, not even Patricia, suspects that among the guests is the very person responsible for the robberies, but when one of the crooks is sweated at headquarters into making a confession, the police make for the dance. What follows furnishes the big surprise of the story. Tom Moore, as Hunter Mason, is the ideal leading man and the remainder of the cast is capable. " The Floor Below, " a comedy-drama starring Mabel Normand, at the on . " Hu('k and Tom," Another Tom Sawyer Picture, Coming (Paramount Five Reel Production) Another Tom Sawyer picture, this one " Huck and Tom," relating further adventures of the youth immortalized by Mark Twain, will be seen at the • — theatre on . Again Jack Pickford appears as Tom Sawyer, and in this second edition of the adventures he continues with pronounced faithfulness his remarkable poi"trayal. Hardly less commendable is the work of Robert Gordon as Huck Finn, and the entire cast is of corresponding excellence. The producing company, bent upon making as accurate a reproduction of the author's story as possible, took its organization of players right out to Hannibal, Mo., Mark Twain's boyhood home, which is the scene of the pranks of Tom and Huck. With the aid of these settings Director William D. Taylor succeeded in injecting an atmosphere which, to the lover of Mark Twain and his heroes, will prove a revelation in picturecraft. In the story Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn sneak off to a cemetery in the dead of night, there to cure some warts by the magical dead cat treatment. To their surprise they come upon a group of body snatchers. The ghouls are quarrelling and Injun Joe, one of the party, kills the chief body snatcher. The half-breed puts the knife in the hands of Muff Porter, an aged derelict, and the old man really thinks he committed the crime. At the trial Tom's testimony acquits the old fellow, and Iniun Joe jumps through the window and makes his escape. Tom, now the hero and glorying in the love of Becky Thatcher, still has time, however, to sneak off with Huck in search of further excitement. This time they enter a haunted house and there come upon Injun Joe again. This leads to a chase for the culprit which takes the boys through all sorts of exciting adventures. "They even penetrate the recesses of a wonderful cave and there, strange to relate, they again find the Indian. How Injun Joe is finally killed and how Huck and Tom find his hidden treasure is all delightfully told. " Huck and Tom," or " The Further Adventures of Tom Sawyer," at the on . .Tack Livingston and Margery Wilson In "The Hard Rock Breed" " The Hard Rock Breed " is the title of the Triangle feature which comes to the theatre on of week. Jack Livingston, Margery Wilson, Jack Curtis, J. Barney Sherry, Marion Skinner, Lee Phelps, George Chase, Louis Durham, Thorton Edwards and Aaron Edwards are seen in the principal roles. It tells the story of the restless fighting spirit of men who delight in fighting their way through difficulties,. The son of one of them has been brought up in wealth and luxury until he is a spoiled sob. He has inherited the spirit, but the only outlet he finds for it is in reckless deviltry. 'Twentv-five years before. Bill Naughton and Lynch Dolan were foremen on construe