Motography (Apr-Dec 1911)

August, 1911. MOTOGRAPHY 83 jump from windows into nets and the solitary girl left is rescued by the daring fireman. In connection with this reel, the Selig company is making a series of educational pictures of fire work at Los Angeles fire stations which will be shown in all parts of the world. The rescue scene from the Broadway fire will be included in these. To make up the full page, the Herald used three big still pictures and a mammoth sketch of a fireman bearing the unconscious form of a woman through the flames and smoke to safety. The film, as it was taken at the fire would have made a thrilling topical. But that was not enough for the Selig producers. And so around the exciting actual occurrence a lively drama of love and heroism was cast. In the words of the company's synopsis, it runs as follows : "Tom, the handsome fireman, and Betty, the factory girl, are keeping company. En route to work one morning, Betty meets the manager of her department, and they proceed to the factory together. Betty is pleased by the attention of her manager. "When Herbert and Betty reach their department he lingers beside her machine a moment, and as he leaves he brushes against the freshly painted trash can, which leaves a trace on his coat. He goes to the storeroom to repair the damage with gasoline and, lighting the gas, he gets busy with the coat. He is called into the work-room and forgets to cover the bottle or to turn out the gas. There is an explosion so severe as to demolish the door and break the windows. "Pandemonium reigns supreme, the terrified girls rushing madly for the stairway. The windows seem the only means of escape, since the elevator shaft and stairway are enveloped in flames, and one girl after another drops to serious injury or certain death. "Betty finds a rope, and here Herbert shows the yellow streak by grabbing it from her and rushing to the window to save himself. "Tom's engine house gets the first alarm ; his mind full of Betty and bent upon saving her if possible, his ladder is the first to be raised. The fire rages fast and furious. Finally Betty sees him and, rushing to him, he carries her down the ladder to safety. "The next day Herbert, who has escaped unharmed, comes to Betty's home to offer apologies for his unfeeling and mad haste to save himself, and is met by the hero, Tom, who makes no ceremony of throwing him out." Here is the dramatis personae of the story : Betty St. Clair, a factory hand Betty Harte Tom Gaylor, a fireman Thomas Santschi Herbert Crane, factory manager. . .Herbert Rawlinson Sam Bauman, owner of the factory. George Hernandez Mrs. St. Clair, Betty's mother Leonide Watson Factory Inspector James L. McGee Foctory Girls, Porters, Firemen, Crowds, etc. There is no need to go into rhapsodies over "Thro' Fire and Smoke." Everyone knows what a good Selig picture is, and nearly everybody is familiar with at least some of the Selig fire films. It is enough to say that this is the best of them all. The writer saw it at a preliminary showing a few days ago, and he feels no hesitancy in saying that the person who could look upon it unmoved and without deep interest would be hardened and blase indeed. Big Poultry Industry in Pictures The poultry industry of Petaluma, Cal., the greatest of any in the world, is to be shown in all its phases by moving pictures. For many days a moving picture company has had representatives at Petaluma securing sets of pictures, which will show every phase of the work, even to the smallest detail, on both the large and small ranches, so that anyone interested may get the right conception of how to operate and perform the necessary work to be successful, for not one part of it has been neglected or overlooked. Never in the history of picture making to illustrate any industry has so much attention been bestowed on the little details. Imagine a band of 16,000 chicks cared for in one brooding house, and this almost countless number following closely upon the heels of the attendant as he passes about the yard scattering feed, jumping and half flying over the backs of each other to get at the first kernels of feed that may be dropped, and then being quickly transported out into the broad fields and see a flock of 12,000 White Leghorn hens, just as persistently chasing a farm wagon on which is carried the feed, all on the same poultry ranch, and one can form some conception of the magnitude on which the poultry business is conducted at Petaluma. In quick succession follows a landscape scene showing a section of Petaluma country dotted with farms, cottages, poultry houses and sheds, which scene may be duplicated a dozen or more times in the valleys near by, with its million and a half of laying hens, making a picture that cannot now or possibly at any future time be seen elsewhere on earth. Praise for Confederate Pictures The Memphis Commercial Appeal had the following to say in praise of the moving pictures of the twentyfirst annual reunion of Confederate Veterans and Sons, which were produced by the Industrial Moving Picture Company, Chicago : "The pictures are very fine. They are clear-cut, distinct and tactfully taken. They are valuable both in recalling the scenes of the late reunion and also in preserving for future generations a historic view that will never again be so complete. The pictures not only show distinctly the arrangements of the Little Rock people for the entertainment of the veterans, trie brilliantly decorated city, but they also show the clear features of the generals who survive and the meli Avho marched with them. The Forrest cavalry division is "especially interesting and the audience enjoyed picking out the familiar faces of friends. In addition to this there are views of the Sons of Veterans and here again many familiar Memphis faces could be seen and identified. The concluding picture showed Little Rock fifty years after the war. A general of the North and a general of the South stand, a wall between them. One is in the Federal National Cemetery, the other in the Confederate Cemetery. The two approach the dividing wall, salute, rest their swords on the wall and clasp hands. It is both effective and dramatic. The pictures will be valuable for the future generations, for when the last of the old guard answers that sad summons the views will remain for posterity to look upon, and once more the scenes of the reunion will be lived over again."