Motion Picture Story Magazine (Aug 1911-Jan 1912)

ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES 145 "Milly," Meriden. — The "charming little woman" is Miss Florence Lawrence, now with the Lubin Company. Yes, we know whether she is married. You do not ask us to tell, and it will be no use to ask. "Why doesn't the Biograph stop being stingy with the names of their players? It is so much more interesting when you know who the players are." — Stetson, Portland. We do not know the exact reason, but presume that it must be a good one to be maintained in the face of the fierce efforts made to obtain them. Just the same, cant yon name the players yourself? Before the players were known, the practice of naming actors was a common one, and it served just as well. C. B., New York. — Nat Willis is not a permanent photoplayer. He merely filled a special engagement with the Powers Company. If you could see some of the contracts he signs with the vaudeville managers, the four-figure salary would explain why he doesn't "act regular" with the film company. "Where do some of the picture producers get their ideas of Indians — from the dime novels?" — Allan F., Reno. We have to give this one up. It has puzzled us for a long time, but the data is not derived from the dime novels. "Educational," St. Augustine. — We are sorry, but we cannot give you a list of schools using Motion Pictures as a part of the course. We do not believe that there is any school yet using the pictures daily. The list of schools using pictures as a supplement to the lecture courses would be too long to print here. We are sending you an address to which you may write. G. S. B., Havana. — We welcome our first foreign visitor. Frank Dayton is the Essanay "heavy," concerning whom you ask. He is a recruit from the Frohman companies and was in the original "Shenandoah" company, following Henry Miller in the part of Col. West. He has also scored successes in "Lost Paradise" and "The Girl I Left Behind Me." J. G., Albany. — Kenneth Casey and Adele de Garde are the two Vitagraph children. Yale Boss is the Edison youngster you indicate. See note above about Biograph players. "Detail," Wichita. — The Vitagraph film, "The Shelling of the San Marco," was made with government permission and was not faked. If you think you can fake "as good," there's a place for you in almost any film company. Mrs. M., Harrisburg. — The convincing castle scenes in Edison's "The Crusader" were made in Cuba and not in England, as you suggest, tho they look as if they might have been made in some baronial castle. The Palestine scenes were made at the same time. J. M. B., Stillwater. — It would require too much space to give a catalog of sound effects. Visit some theater and sit close to the drummer. There are English machines, electrically operated, which produce the sounds by special mechanism, but there are few, if any, in this country. Credit should be given Trewey, the old French shadowgraphist and entertainer, for being the first to use effects with pictures when he exhibited the first Lumiere machine in London, in 1895. B. T. M., Oakland. — You are right. The stout comedian with the Essanay players is Harry Cashman, for so long with the Tivoli Opera Company. He has had dramatic experience, as well, with the Frawley Company, James Niel and others. We cannot advise you "how he compares" with the others you mention. That is a matter of individual preference. B. M., Burlington. — "His Misjudgment" appeared in the Associated Sunday Magazines about a year ago as "Purple and Fine Linen." The fire scenes looked real because they were real. The scenery was set afire and extinguished with the hose after the last scene was taken. Mirian Nesbitt and Robert Conness were the principals. The Edison Company had produced other of Mr. Hanshew's stories, the most recent being "A Case of High Treason." J. P. C, Quincy. — The best way to study scenario writing is to send for a slip such as most companies furnish without charge, get an idea of the scenario form and then study pictures on the screen. Reason out why and how things are done and you will be able to do them yourself. F. K. E., Los Angeles. — Your question is vaguely stated, but the "horseback dance" to which you refer is probably the mounted quadrille in Melies' "An Unwilling Cowboy." M. U., Boston. — We have no knowledge of motion photographs of the Maine as she now is, but the Edison "In and Around Havana" shows the work as it was just before the water was pumped out. "Admirer," Philadelphia. — The reason the Kalem stories fit Miss Gene Gauntier so well is because she writes the scenarios herself. She has written a majority of the Kalem pictures for the past couple of years and has plotted practically all of the big productions. She is now with the section of the company in Ireland. "Is Marc McDermott, of the Edison Company, as cross as he looks in the pictures?" — M. M. P. Not even as cross as that. You cannot expect him to act like a comedian when he is playing serious parts, but we dont think that he "looks cross" in the majority of his roles. He is not the studio "cut-up," but he is genial and not at all assuming.