Motography (1912)

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NICKELODEON Vol. VIII CHICAGO, OCTOBER 26, 1912 No. 9 PUBLISHED BI-WEEKLY BY ELECTRICITY MAGAZINE CORPORATION Monadkock Building, Chicago Telephones: Harrison .5014 — Automatic 6102S Ed. J. Mock and Paul II. Woodruff, Editors Mabel Condon, Associate Editor Allen L. Haase, Advertising Manager Entered as second-class matter at the postoffice at Chicago, Illinois, under act of March 3, 1S79. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION United States Cuba, and Mexico Per year, $2.00 Canada Per year 2.50 Foreign countries within the Postal Union Per year 3.00 Single copy 10 NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS Changes of advertising copy should reach the office of publication not less than ten days in advance of date of issue. Regular date of issue, every other Saturday. New advertisements will be accepted up to within five days of date of issue, but proof of such advertisements can not be shown in advance of publication. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS Remittances — Remittances should be made by check, New York Draft 5r money order, in favor of Motography. Foreign subscriptions may be remitted direct by International Postal Monev Order, or sent to our London Office. Change of Address — The old address should be given as well as the new, and notice should be received two weeks in advance o( the desired :hangc. London Office 36 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden S. Rentell & Co., Representatives This publication is free and independent of all business or house connections or control. S'o manufacturer or supply dealer, or their stockholders or representatives, haze any financial interest in Motography or any voice in its management or policy. CHICAGO, OCTOBER 26. 1912 TABLE OF CONTENTS Baby Lillian Wade in "Kings of the Forest" Frontispiece Editorial 30/-3O8 What Progress Has Meant 307 That New Motor Drive Device 308 Driven Projectors Made Safe 309-311 Serious Uses for Moving Pictures. By Arthur R. Ormes 311 312 Wet Bat Working 312 .illery of Picture Players 313 Hackley. the Brute. By Opie Read 314 On the Outside Looking In. By the Goat Man 315-318 Lillian Russell in Private Motion Pictures 318 rt Picture Exhibitors' League of America. The Texas Convention 31 9-320 The Making of a Great Animal Picture 321-323 Lubin Explains About Betzwood 323 Opie Read Addresses Chicago Pre-1 Club 324 Sans Grease, Paint and Wig. By Mabel Condon 325-326 Recent Patents in Motography. By David S. Hulfish 327-328 Pueblo Schools in Line for Pictures 328 Thanhouser"s "Star of Bethlehem" 328 Photoplays from Essanay's 329-332 Picture Houses in North China Scarce 332 New Hivcn Exhibitors Form League 332 Current Educational Rcl< 333-334 Of Interest to the Trade 335-339 Nixon Talks on Photoplay in History 335 Health Department Warns by Film 336 Teachers Plan Educational Film Exhibit 336 Film Advertising and Educating Abroad 338 Brevities of the Business 340 342 Complete Record of Current Films ...343-344 WHAT PROGRESS HAS MEANT. UNTHINKING exhibitors and those who have newly engaged in the theater business during the last two years are prone to rail against the Motion Picture Patents Company and the General Film Company, but if a little thought was placed on the whole matter a number of benefits would immediately become apparent. Granted, for the sake of argument, that you personally are dissatisfied with your split of the program; Jet us defer this discussion until we reach the question logically in sequence. The first step forward in the chaos of the moving picture industry was the formation of the Motion Ficture Patents Company. Those wdio remember the long drawn out legal fight between the Edison Company and the American Biograph, when hundreds of thousands of dollars were being poured into the legal mills to determine the priority of certain patents will admit that the money thus spent was taken from the business and detracted from the quality of film production turned out. No exhibitor could be certain of building up a patronage on a brand of film, as there was no way he could be certain of obtaining the brand indefinitely or not become subject to costly damage suits as an accessory to patent infringement. It took daring then to line up with one side or the other. Those wishing to show Biograph films bad one type of projector taking the wide Biograph sprocl-et-holedess film, the Edison Company using the present type of film with sprocket holes covered by its original patent. The entrance into this mixed-up controversy of Vitagraph, Lubin, Selig and Pathe imported films creI a much broader program to choose from, but there was still a shaky feeling to the industry. No gre^t amount of capital for theater purposes could be obtained because there was no security to the business. While undoubtedly a wise plan for the manufacturers, the formation of the Motion Picture Patents Company was of much greater benefit to the exhibitor himself. Xo one unacquainted with the history of business combinations can judge, from the indications now present showing the successful operation of motion picture manufacturing companies not members of the Patents Company, that successful operation could have obtained during the early years of tins industry with every manufacturer trying to put the others out of business. Even the quality of the raw negative was indeterminate. The Eastman Company, although anxious for orders for negative stock, was not willing to provide machinery for turning out a high grade product, with no standardization of product and no means of determining the stability of the business. As a consequence, with the limited experience gained from the photographic field requirements, motion-picture film stock was