Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1912)

Newspaper vs. Newspicture (Pathe Freres) By LILLIAN CONLON Dining at a friend 's home the other evening, I was surprised at the ease and intelligence with which his two children, of grammarschool age, joined in the table-talk. They were better informed on current events than most adults of my acquaintance. When the talk switched suddenly from home to foreign affairs, the children were not in the least discomposed, and several times the father appealed to the younger boy for the exact locality where some interesting event had occurred. "I've read in the Mother's magazines about bringing up children like that," I remarked, after the youngsters had retired, ' ' but I never saw it done before. How do you do it? Pay them by the page or the hour for reading The Revieiv of Reviews or the Outlook?" "No," laughed their father, "it's easy enough. In fact, the children discovered the process themselves. They suddenly began to show a knowledge of current topics that amazed their mother and me. Then I discovered the secret. It is the Pathe's Weekly. They see it every week at the Bijou, just across the street. Now the tabletalk in this family approaches the ideal we had always dreamed of, but despaired of realizing." I had seen, and enjoyed the Pathe's Weekly in various picture houses, but somehow had never realized before just what a wonderful bit of film it was for educational results. So, after I left my friends that evening, I dropped in at the Bijou to study the Weekly, which was advertised on the bulletin. In that one film I saw depicted events of world-wide significance from all quarters of the globe. The Motor Cycle Races at Melun, France, were followed by the review of the Boy Scouts by Kaiser Wilhelm, in Breslau, 90 Germany. Then we saw the reinforcements for the Italian army arrive at Palermo, Italy, and make their camp outside the city. The village of Tregeron, Wales, recently devastated by a flood, was shown, and no printed description of the horrors of this calamity could have made us catch our breath in sympathy with the pretty, peaceful little village as this pictured story did. The scenes of the great anniversary celebration at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and some charming pictures of the King and Queen of Roumania, seemed to bring the audience into close touch with those countries. Returning to America, we viewed the beautiful rose festival at Pasadena ; saw the planters of Bowling Green, Ky., bringing their crops to the Annual Tobacco Pool, which was formed a few years ago in a desperate effort to break the grip of the tobacco trust ; and finally, back in New York, the magnificent illumination of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, and the welcoming multitude which greeted the return of Cardinal Farley. "Isn't it wonderful?" I remarked to my neighbor in the next seat, who was evidently as much impressed as myself. "Yes," she responded, "and, you know, these films are shown in all countries. I was in Paris all last year, and used to go twice every week to see them. In Paris, it is a semiweekly, instead of weekly, and they say it will soon be a daily. It is immensely popular, there. And just think what it meant to me, a homesick American, to go in and see a scene which took me straight back to my homeland. Sometimes it made me feel like remembering the Pathe Freres in my devotions!" The impression made by all this was so strong that I determined to learn