Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

270; MOTOGRAPHY Vol. XIX, No. 6. Triangle-Keystone Speeds Up Work Favored by Delay in California Rains, Five Companies Are Busy on Snappy Schedule of Comedies FAVORED by the delay in California rains, the Triangle-Keystone forces have been making hay while the sun shines. Five companies are busy at the Culver City studio on the extensive schedule of unusual comedies which S. C. Burr, comedy production manager, has mapped out for the present year. An all-star cast under the direction of Herman Raymaker is completing work on the two-reel comedy, "A Playwright's Wrong," in which one of the striking scenic features is the interior of a motion picture theater. Much of the sparkling action which prepared the way for a series of novel and ludicrous situations takes place within this specially constructed palace of silent fun. Throughout the filming of this story there have been few moments when Raymaker's troupe was not playing to a big audience composed of directors and performers who were off duty. Billy Franey, Maud Wayne, Dora Rodgers, Ward Caulfield and Milton Sims had exceptional opportunities to show their skill in straight comedy work and the laughs they drew from the critical crowds gathered around the camera convinced them that their work "went over." Director Charles Avery has a big cast at work on a "society-crook" comedy, "Her Bohemian Party." Dainty Ruth Langston plays the principal feminine role, a society girl whose longing for new sensations leads to many harrowing and laughable experiences. Eugene Corey, as her sweetheart, and Arthur Moon, as a suave leader of a band of discriminating crooks, have good roles. Others in the cast are Al Harris, Joseph Belmont, Jim Rowe and Cliff Jordan. Director Reggie Morris, who contracted a severe attack of grippe during the holiday season, is back at work on a one-reel comedy, "Three Hats and Two Heads." The complications which result from the similarity of milliners' creations and the finding of one of these hats in another man's home are so original and funny that Morris and his coworkers have many real laughs. In the cast are Rae Godfrey, Frank Bonn, Mario Bianchi, Rose Carter, Martin Kinney and Marianne Torre. "A Rough Diamond," with Paddy McQuire, headed by a big cast of wellknown fun makers, is having its finishing touches adjusted by Director Harry Edwards. Many of the important scenes are "shot" at one of the largest and most exclusive jewelry shops of the west. With thousands of dollars worth of gems within reach, temptation insisted upon flaunting itself in the face of McQuire, who happened to be cast in the role of a former crook who was finding it hard to reform. Director William Beaudine has his latest two-reeler, "Slinging It," almost ready for the cutters. An unusually large cast, headed by Ray Griffith and Max Asher, was busy for nearly two weeks on this comedy, which is described as a "muddle of mud and money." Many exteriors, showing various phases of city and country life, were taken before any work was attempted at the studio. The weather man was guessing that rain might descend "almost any day" on southern California and Beaudine hurried along his outside "shots" and had them completed before the first big shower of the season set in. Quaint Types in "Prunella" The cast in "Prunella," Marguerite Clark's next vehicle for the Paramount program, includes quaint and interesting types of days gone by. Miss Clark plays the title role of Prunella, the unfortunate child of an elopment, who, after the death of her mother was reared from infancy by her three spinster aunts, Prude, Prim and Privacy, characterized in the photoplay by Isabel Berwin, Nora Cecil and Marcia Harris. Jules Raucourt, who has just completed his work in "La Tosca," with Pauline Frederick, as Mario, plays the part of Pierrot, the impetuous lover who takes Prunella from the home where she has been brought up to young womanhood as innocent of worldly things as a child, and after a few years of married life deserts her. He finds that he cannot live without her, however, and comes back to the broken-hearted girl humble and penitent. "Prunella" holds pleasant memories for Miss Clark, for it was in this vehicle that she scored one of her biggest stage successes and which led Adolph Zukor to seek her services under the Paramount banner. The extreme innocence of Prunella and the efforts of her aunts to withhold from her all knowledge of affairs of the world leads to many humorous situations, in marked contrast to the later incidents in which Prunella excites much sympathy. Maurice Tourneur, who has won such great commendation for his artistic direction of "Rose of the World," an Artcraft picture starring Elsie Ferguson, and who has just finished the spectacular production of "The Blue Bird" for Artcraft, is directing Miss Clark. Carmel Myers in the Bluebird film, Green Seal." The Exhibitors Praise Mutual Mutual's big stars, William Russell, Mary Miles Minter, Ann Murdock, Edna Goodrich, Margarita Fischer, Olive Tell and Billie Rhodes, continue to elicit unqualified praise from exhibitors and Mutual's service is being commended. When an exhibitor writes: "You seem to feel that I am not a 'second-story man' and you are serving me as though my business was appreciated," there is no doubt that he is well pleased. This is what Geo. A. Bleich, manager of the Amusement Enterprises, Owensboro, Ky., writes Mutual, and also adds: "Don't send any salesmen to see me; just continue supplying releases of the quality as at present, and I will be with you every minute." The popularity of the William Russell picture continues to grow. F. M. Holmsley, manager of the Crystal Theater, Pittsburg, Texas, writes: "Keep sending me such pictures as 'High Play' and I will use them as long as I am in the game." The consistent excellence of Mutual star productions is expressed in a concise manner by L. E. Holwager, manager of the Grand Theater, Madison, Indiana, who writes: "There is nothing on the market better than Mutual all star features."