Motion Picture News (Oct 1913 - Jan 1914)

THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS 15 LASKY AND DE MILLE ENTER PICTURE FIELD Company is Incorporated in New York State to Produce Famous Plays and Novels on the Ground Where the Action Was Supposed to Have Occurred — "The Squaw Man" Will Be Their Initial Feature A RUMOR which has been going the rounds in motion picture circles for the past eight months to the effect that Jesse L. Lasky, the well-known theatrical producer, was to enter the realm of the film is at last an accomplished fact. A statement issued at the Lasky offices in the Longacre Theatre late this week confirmed these reports and announced that the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Motion Picture Company, incorporated under the laws of the state of New York, would in future be devoted to the production of famous plays and novels in film form. The announcement also said that several men prominent in the theatrical and motion-picture world would be associated with Mr. Lasky in the new company. Jesse L. Lasky, perhaps best known as the creator of the famous Folies Bergere and the producer of many important vaudeville acts, is the president and guiding star of the new organization and will have charge of the numerous details connected with the enterprise. Associated with him will be men of distinction and note in the amusement field. * * * NOTABLE among these will be Cecil De Mille, for the past few years associated with David Belasco, both as a playwright and as a stage director. Mr. De Mille has already collaborated with Mr. Lasky in several dramatic triumphs and will act as general stage director in charge of all the productions of the new company. Mr. De Mille's activities were confined exclusively to the drama, but since the Jesse L. Lasky Company was first spoken of he has been an ardent student of the screen drama and is now a full-fledged believer in the motion photo play. As an aide and first-hand assistant, Mr. De Mille will have Oscar Apfel, the former Pathe director, who has been turning out features for Reliance and Majestic and before that with the Edison Company. Mr. Apfel will be associated with Mr. De Mille in all productions under JESSE L. LASKY taken by the Jesse L. Lasky organization management. The officers of the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Motion Picture Company are as follows : Jesse L. Lasky, president ; Cecil De Mille, general stage director ; Samuel Goldfish, treasurer and business manager, and Frank A. Tichenor, general sales manager. Mr. Goldfish will have complete charge of the commercial end of the Lasky organization. Frank A. Tichenor, who is in charge of the sales department of the new company, was for a time the head of the Manhattan Slide and Film Company and, in consequence, is known to many in the motion-picture trade. As chairman of the Motion Picture Exhibition and Convention at the Grand Central Palace he greatly enlarged his circle of acquaintances and gained many friends. THE policy of the Jesse L. Lasky Company will be the adaptation of famous novels and plays for presentation on the screen, using as a background the precise locality where the action of the play or novel was supposed to have occurred. Contracts have already been made with Edward Milton Royle and the new company's first production will be "The Squaw Man," the drama in which Dustin Farnum starred. Mr. Farnum has been engaged to play the leading role for the Lasky company and as many of the original cast as can be secured will be utilized in the coming production. Mr. Royle, accompanied by Cecil De Mille and Dustin Farnum. are now in the West in search of the exact spot upon which Mr. Royle based the action of his drama. Mr. Lasky as yet has been unable to announce the names of the cast which will support Mr. Farnum, but it is expected he will do so in the near future. The mere announcement of the formation of the new concern and the character of its coming productions has resulted in many requests for territorial rights.