Motion Picture News (Oct 1913 - Jan 1914)

i8 THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS PICTURE THEATRES AND OTHERS THE new art of photoplay offers the widest latitude for the playwright and the producer in an appeal universal for the people. In its primitive stages many things flashed into photoplay that sense and censorship have since eliminated, but it is now finding itself as a big, fixed and important form of art. The pessimists have long ceased to prate about the doom of motion pictures, to denounce them in general terms for isolated individual offences and to sniff at them simply because they were an amusement within the reach of the most modest purse. This new form of amusement, however, has dealt a telling blow at the arbitrary powers controlling the destinies of the nation's theatres. The prohibitive prices that once were asked for the artificial stuff that was parading on the stage as real have been reduced to a more reasonable basis, and it is generally considered that the character of the entertainment has been bettered by a competition once scorned as unworthy of notice. It is now pretty definitely determined that the new form of entertainment has a very close relation with the old one, and the former is drawing upon the latter for its sinews of talent in histrionic and producing forces. Many an actor, who once sneered at motion pictures as a thing beneath contempt, has come to regard them with a respect born of positive profit — something that may eliminate the drudgery of onenight stands and the old time business "bunk" with which most of them were sadly familiar. * * * IT has in a similar measure interested the powers of contemporary fiction to provide mediums of expression, so that distinguished writers are adapting their pens to the new forms fitting the silent drama. Pantomime is the oldest art of the world and its rejuvenation in motion pictures indicates its potentiality and its artistic growth upon the widest scale the world has ever witnessed. Not only has this new factor in the field of amusement shown steady growth in every detail of service, but it submits as an enlightened art to a censorship that it is hoped will give it wholesome advantages and make it distinctive over every form of art that deserves to triumph in the esteem of the present and future generations. As the service of its supply has bettered and progressed, the character of its environment has improved (so that the patronizing public gets more comfort and more security than ever before for a cheap tariff. Architectural forms have been adapting themselves to these requirements very adroitly and while the demands of city boards in calls for safety and for sanitary regulations occasionally appear arbitrary and exacting, they are all for the best. They add to the protection of the patron and aesthetically serve to keep up with the advanced comforts of the age without adding to the high cost of living. A recent issue of The Motion Picture News devoted to motion pictures had an interesting series of designs showing the modern habitations for this class of amusement. These index better than anything else could the demand of the day for secure, sanitary and attractive surroundings, in association with the showing of pictures that all through indicate a betterment of workmanship and improvement of ideals in an entertainment that is beyond compare, touching as it does the relaxation hours of people all over the world. EXECUTIVE BOARD OF M. P. E. A. OF NEW YORK STATE, WHO WILL MEET AT THE HOTEL IMPERIAL ON MONDAY