Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1918)

September 28 , 1 9 / 8 2013 At the left stage display on " Indiana " at the Circle theatre, Indianapolis, and at the right the one for the Fourteenth of July How Stage Spectacles A To Inspire Audiences By Davis Hampton ONE might advantageously paraphrase George M. Cohan's memorable theatrical advice. '* Always leave them laughing when you say good-bye," and hang an additional memo, on the office wall reading " Always start them applauding when you say 'Hello!'," for if a good finish is desirable, a good start is more than likely to swell your monthly report of war tax collected. The entertaining business is founded on amotions and the feeding of them. Give an audience the kind of emotional food they crave, and they express their approval in the most natural way by applause. The physical action jars the carbon out of their mental cylinders and oils the Toad for their evening's enjoyment. Primarily, patriotism is the greatest stimulant to enthusiasm. Just as it sends thousands of marching feet to fields of "battle, so does it arouse an audience to an emotional outburst when a patriotic appeal is made from the screen or behind the footlights. But they are equally as ready to condemn the commercialization of their love of country. The patriotic speech of an actor, the inspiring stage spectacle done with sincerity and with a lofty ideal behind its presentation is theirs to applaud and approve, but to damn the man that prostitutes the flag. All of which brings up the subject of tableaux, both patriotic and otherwise, that so frequently grace the performances at the Circle theatre of Indianapolis. No historical day in our country, no occasion of national interest goes by without a fitting tribute paid it by S. Barrett McCormick, the managing director, usually with tableaux, and which by their beauty appeal, and inspiration have come to re Used at the Circle and Arouse Patriotism be anticipated by the public. There is no red fire or false dramatics in them. But they carry the wallop of a Liberty Bond poster and are equally as effective. The most recent of these produced by Mr. McCormick was presented during the Indiana State Fair, and was entitled " Indiana," and served both as a tribute to the state's achievements and part in the war. To the sweet strains of the favorite song, " Indiana," the draperies parted to disclose a massive base, stone colored and roughly hewn, like the base to a sculptor's group, and divided into three parts connecting in a half circle. For the background, and apparently a part of the base, a large outline map of the State was seen. Painted in the same gray tones and giving the physical outlines only, it made a striking ground for the groups of living statuary. On one side a farmer with an amber light thrown on him was seen, his sleeves rolled up and throat bared as he bent over his plow, lending his every effort to help feed America. Opposite him a giant of a man stripped to the waist, his body glistening under the red glare of a furnace fire, toiled with white hot steel that the guns of America may not be silent until its work is done. In the centre group was Indiana's fighting men, armed and ready, while Miss Indiana's beautiful figure in white, her arms extended, guarded over them. Applause? It came like thunder and never ceased until the draperies fell and the last strains of the music faded away. Such a picture, earnest in sentiment, loftily conceived and beautifully done, will put a bigger punch into a program than all the tin pan patriotism in the world. While huge stage spectacles are constantly being presented at the Circle with complete ballets, massive settings, startling mechanical effects, it is also the little touches that have added much to the theatre's reputation for originality. In commemoration of the French national holiday, a single figure was used in a tableau symbolic of France unconquered, a girl in the tattered uniform of the French Revolution standing in a battlement, a gun in one hand, the shellriddled tri-color in the other, calling comrades in arms to follow. The Fourth of July brought forth a living reproduction of the Spirit of 76. Another occasion, the departure of Indiana troops for the front, was honored by a tableau of a soldier and his sweetheart bidding farewell, while with a mechanical effect an army was made to seem as though marching in. The human element is always brought into the McCormick presentations. Painted scenery is always but the background to his stage pictures. A gorgeous scene of the North may make a beautiful picture, but a single man trudging through the snow or a dog or a bird will give the picture reality. Perhaps this accounts for the fact that one never sees a stage setting or spectacle at the Circle empty and devoid of life and labeled " Alaska " or " India," or whatever it may be and may serve to analyze McCormick's psychology, perhaps based on the knowledge that while thousands of pictures hang on gallery walls unnoticed and unsung, the man in a store window trying on suspenders or demonstrating a new kind of razor will always draw a crowd. Exhibitor Uses Cigars for Advertising Star M. W. Neilson is using a novel plan in his exploitation of Tom Moore, in his first starring production, " Just For Tonight." It turns out that there is a cigar called the Tom Moore. It isn't named after the Goldwyn star, but the Irish poet, but it is going to work for the production just the same. He is offering free admission to the Crystal theatre, Wayne, Neb., to every child who presents ten bands from Tom Moore cigars.