Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

1054 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. XIX, No. 22 Louise Glaum Completes "Shackled" Second Paralta Play a Stirring Drama of Tangled Lives with Sensational Climax THE FINAL SCENES of Louise Glaum's second Paralta play, "Shackled," have been completed and the production is now in the laboratories of the Paralta studios in Los Angeles, where it is being assembled for release. The play is taken from an original story by Lawrence McCloskey, which deals with the life of Lola Dexter, a girl alone in the world, whose life is apparently wrecked through her love for Walter Cosgrove, a man with the veneer of a gentleman, but through whose nature there runs an undercurrent of debaseness. On the eve of his wedding to Edith Danfield, he tells Lola that his funds are exhausted and that he is to marry this girl, whose father is a man of wealth. Grief stricken, Lola goes away and arrives in Palm Beach, Florida, where she becomes the companion of a man whose limbs are paralyzed and who is spending the winter months in that resort. Lola's sunny disposition awakens new interest in life for the man. He falls in love with her and she consents to marry him. They return to his estate, where she finds that he is the father of the girl Cosgrove married. Terror-stricken, she decides not to let anyone know her past. After a brief honeymoon Cosgrove and his bride return. He soon neglects her and becomes notorious in his affairs with women. Lola dares not intercede for fear he will denounce her to her husband, whom she has been nursing back to health and who is now able to walk. The thread of the story becomes further tangled when Lola discovers that Edith is about to desert her worthless husband to elope with her former sweetheart, who has returned from the battlefields of Europe. The study mounts to the highest tensity and the solution seems impossible— when the most unexpected happens and the final smashing climax sweeps aside the veils of intrigue and deceit with a single stroke which brings happiness as its reward. Lincoln Brings Film to New York E. K. Lincoln, who has been engaged in the making of a feature picture in California for the past three months, is expected to arrive in New York this week with a print of the subject. His plan of release will be announced upon his arrival. Mr. Lincoln is a star of great popularity. Last year he was featured in a big patriotic picture, "For the Freedom of the World," released by Goldwyn. He then supported Mae Marsh in "The Beloved Traitor," also for Goldwyn, leaving the east for California to make the picture he is now bringing to Gotham. World Proposes Title Clearing House All Companies Would Submit Names of Pictures and Infringements Could Thus Be Avoided Easily June Elvidgc, World star, at home. ONE of the most important, yet least heard of departments in connection with World Pictures is that of the title bureau. The object of this bureau is not to suggest titles, but to protect the company from any innocent appropriation of titles belonging to features already produced and presented to which prior rights have been obtained. When it is considered that 258,000 plays have been produced on the English speaking stage and that there are titles for more than 900,000 novels and short stories, it is not difficult to realize the tremendous task the title department has to keep from encroaching upon the rights of others. Of course, in a number of instances the copyright laws guarantee the protection of titles and limit the use of a title for only a definite number of years. The copyright law thereby automatically releases a large number of titles each year. It is generally believed that one can copyright a title, but the courts have held that a title cannot be copyrighted, as it is merely a handle to indicate the proprietary rights to certain subject matter. Still, the courts go further on the theory of unfair competition and guarantee proprietary rights to a combination of words because these words have something to do with a valuable right made so by usage. The combination of words such as "Veribest," "Uneeda," "Takhoma," "Tarvia," has been classified as fanciful and such titles have been held to be the property of the creator. Generic words can not be appropriated. Immediately upon the production of a picture, the title department of World Pictures searches through its catalogue to learn whether or not some one else possesses a prior right to the title, and if this is found to be so another title is selected. Some day it is hoped that the production end of the industry will be so well organized that a clearing house will be established to which all titles will be submitted and passed upon. World Pictures submits this idea for consideration. Metro Engages Thompson Hugh Thompson, who has supported many famous stars of the screen, has been engaged to play opposite Emmy Wehlen in her forthcoming Metro AllStar Series picture, "For Revenue Only," which was written by Katharine Kavanaugh and adapted for the screen by Jun Mathis. E. K. Lincoln.