Motography (Jan-Mar 1916)

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NICKELODEON Vol. XV CHICAGO, JANUARY 15, 1916 No. 3 Metro Begins 1916 with Many Activities COMPANY GOES TO LABRADOR METRO begins the new year with a rush that bodes well for the coming season, according to an announcement made at the new offices of that corporation in the Longacre building, New York City. Two new directors have been added to Metro's already large staff, a new star will shine from the Metro firmament, a new leading woman, who later will doubtless achieve stellar rank, will be seen and the initial work has been done on many new and elaborate motion picture productions. O. A. C. Lund, who has a long line of motion picture achievements to his credit, is one of the new directors, and the first feature he will produce for his new connections promises to be one of the most notable and unusual ever planned for the Metro program. The locale of this feature, which is as yet unnamed, is in the snowy wilds of Labrador and thither Mr. Lund will go with a company of Metro players, headed by Hamilton Revelle and a very well known leading woman who has been selected, but whose name is at present withheld. Mr. Lund is now in Portland, Maine, whither he has gone to perfect arrangements for this distinctive feature picture. Early last week he telegraphed from that city that he had chartered two ships, with which the Metro players, cameramen, etc., will make the trip into the frozen north. One of these vessels will carry the party, and is an Arctic-going ship, capable of withstanding the pinch of the ice floes, which are certain to be encountered north of Newfoundland at this season. The other is an old -tramp steamer to be used in staging the photoplay. What is said to be one of the most startling effects ever shown on the screen will mark the destruction of this latter vessel, which, when all is ready, will be sent full speed ahead until it crashes into a huge iceberg. This will mark the climax of the expedition^but many other scenes, equally thrilling and equally perilous will be filmed beforehand. Real icebergs and bona fide views of the desolate Arctic wastes, which are required in the development of the story, led to the determination of the Metro officials to send the company under Mr. Lund's direction into the Labrador region. The start will be made during the next fortnight, Mr. Revelle and the other players leaving New York early the coming week. The production will be made under the auspices of Rolfe Photoplays, Inc., for the Metro program. An unusually strong supporting cast has been engaged. Mr. Revelle, who was last seen on the screen in "An Enemy to Society," a Columbia-Metro feature picture, has been appearing in a prominent role in "Fair and Warmer," one of the big stage successes of the present season, at the Eltinge theater, New York. He will leave the cast of that play to accompany Metro's Labrador expedition. Mr. Revelle is a permanent Metro star, and it was only through permission granted by Metro that his services were loaned to Selwyn & Company to appear in the stage production under their management. Metro also announces that Julius Steger, the popular dramatic actor, who recently joined forces with Metro as a permanent star, will begin work immediately upon the five-act feature production, "The Blindness of Love." This dramatic vehicle, which was especially selected with Mr. Steger's gifts in mind, was written by Ruth Mitchel Comfort, the well known dramatist and novelist. The production will be made by Rolfe Photoplays, Inc., for the Metro program, and will be directed by Charles Horan. Mabel Taliaferro, who achieved fame on the speaking stage in "Polly of the Circus," "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" and other notable productions, will begin work on two new Metro wonderplays. The interiors for both will be made in the Rolfe Photoplays, Inc., studio, and the exteriors taken as soon as the weather permits. However, there will not be an unnecessary delay, for if inclement weather prevails for any length of time the company of players will be sent south, where other Metro companies are now at work in Florida and Georgia. Edwin Carewe, who directed Emily Stevens in "Destiny, or The Soul of a Woman," and "The House of Tears," and Ethel Barrymore in "The Final Judgment," will direct Miss Taliaferro in the two new feature productions. A new leading man will be seen with Miss Taliaferro in both these features, although he has not yet been selected. ' The Taliaferro features will also be produced by the Rolfe Photoplays, Inc., for the Metro program. William Nigh, who is at present directing Valli Valli in "Her Debt of Honor," has a few exterior scenes to make before completing the feature, and as soon as they are finished he will begin work on another big Metro production in which Lionel Barrymore and Marguerite Snow will be starred. This five-part photodrama is still unnamed, and was written by Mr. Nigh himself, who is also the author of "Her Debt of Honor" and "A Yellow Streak," two Metro productions. Howard Truesdell, who has been associated with Charles Horan as assistant director at the Rolfe