Movie Pictorial (October 1, 1914)

1 V v ** THE MOVIE PICTORIAL 33 West Coast Stuadio Jottings News of tlhe Flhotoplsi^ers I in So^atlnerm Ceiliformia By Richard Willis I HATE to tell tales out of school, but this is a fish story and therefore exempt from ordinary ethics. F. A. Kelsey, Eddie Dil- lon, R. A. Walsh, Bobby Harron, Donald Crisp, Arthur Ward, Jack Adolfi, Eugene Pallette, F. A. Turner, and Sam De Grasse went afish- ing last Sunday—spent all day at it and came home too late to be able to buy any trophies at a market. Nary a bite had they, and, what is more, several of them enjoyed acute sea- sickness—no, I will not mention special names. The war is claiming some of the actors from Los Angeles, and this week C. Rhys Pryce, a familiar figure around the studios, and Anthony Hammond of the Kalem company left for Can- ada, where they will join the reservists for the front. J. Francis Dillon is now directing Carlyle Blackwell and is doing it very effectively. The first picture is about finished and already comes “The Man Who Could Not Lose” from the story by Richard Harding Davis. Carlyle is tickled to death to be back in Los Angeles again. He does not like New York any more —says it is “dance mad,” so you can’t have any real fun. G. P. Hamilton is expected back again soon and the Albuquerque Company will be at it again. Dot Farley will have to stop tending those flowers and riding Hell Cat into the mountains. Pardon, Hell Cat is a pet horse who once had a vicious nature but who now eats out of Dot’s hand. Lee Moran, the bright young comedian with the Al. E. Christie, Nestor Comedy Company, was in Chicago for a visit recently. It is the first time in five years that he has been home, and it is to be regretted that the occasion was the funeral of a brother. Lee was young when he left home to go on the stage and he had a joyous reception from his immediate family after these five years. If it hadn’t been for Nestor comedies, which they never miss, they wouldn’t have known him. « Harold Lockwood writes me that he has had to draw the line at a certain gift, or rather at a certain prospective gift, and that he mortally offended the would-be donor. The gift happened to be a full-sized Newfoundland dog. Now Harold lives in apartments, none too large, and even if he could see turning the bathroom into a kennel, the dog couldn’t have got in, hence the refusal. Margarita Fischer ’phoned me that if I did not go up to Santa Barbara and get lots of news about the Beauty company, she would cut me off her visiting list, so I’m off and will have lots of Santa Barbara news next week for a change. I found E. D. Horkheimer back at the Balboa studios, whilst H. M. is in New York. The former has recently returned from Europe and believes that the war will greatly help Amer- ican films. The home market must be sup- plied, and when the war trouble is over there will be a rush of films to the other side and exports will continue, anyhow. Everyone knows Ben Deely and Marie Wayne, who have been trotting around the country for ten years now with “The New Bell- boy.” The Deely person has ideas of doing the adventures of Ima Simp, detective, in a series of films with Marie opposite himself. The films will be made at the Balboa studios and will be released through that company. William Wol- bert will direct and Charles Dudley will be a member of the company. Charles is the man who acts and draws rude pictures of those who act with him. William D. Taylor continues his policy of advancement at the same studios and is put- ting on one feature after another. He is at present engaged upon a three-reeler, “At Police Headquarters,” in which he takes the lead and has Neva Gerber, Jack Bryce, Nell Franzen, and Billy Beckway. the camera man, with him. Taylor says that Billy is giving him some of the best camera work he has ever seen. Edna Maison tells a true and very pretty story connected with her frequent visits to San Diego. There is a blind newspaper seller in the station there and Edna stopped several times and talked with him, for she is always ready with the sympathy which means so much to those who are afflicted. Once after she had been away for two weeks, he said, as she walked up to him, “Here is your paper, Miss Maison—glad to hear you back.” He had come to know the sound of her footstep. Poor Ed. J. Le Saint, he seems to be cussed with bad luck, as far as his car. goes. He made a trip to San Diego and all went well, but it took over twelve hours to return—what with blowouts and an iniquitous sandbank. The machine is in the shops again and Ed. is walking to the studio mornings. Eastern St^adli© News Gossip of ttlhe Players Izm amidl Aro^andl New YorSi Lloyd Lonergan, Thanhouser production chief, was forced to abandon his contemplated trip to Yellowstone Park and return to New Rochelle because of the tragic death of C. J. Hite. Mr. Lonergan had reached Chicago be- fore the time the news reached him. The rest of the company, including Mignon Anderson and Morris Foster, continued westward. P HILIP LONERGAN, Thanhouser and Princess scenario editor, has an innocent looking cottage out in the vacant lot be- hind the studio. He intends to have it burned, knocked off of its props, or otherwise destroyed just as soon as he can decide on an excuse for its destruction. It will, of course, be worked into one of his scenarios. As is his usual habit, he will probably pick out his best friend at the studio for the victim under the wreckage when it falls. L. Rogers Lytton is a most villainous villain during working hours at the Vitagraph Flat- bush studio. But when quitting time comes he ceases to be a heartless scoundrel and not only has tastes and recreations like a regular person, but travels all the way out to Manhattan Beach armed with a swimming suit to indulge in them. Some of Mr. Lytton’s best “heavy” parts are in “Shadows of the Past” and as the Chief of Police in “My Official Wife.” Sidney Bracey and his June bride have pledged allegiance to New Rochelle as their “home” town hereafter, notwithstanding the fact that New York is just forty-five minutes away. Mr. Bracey, who is Jones, the butler, in “The Million Dollar Mystery,” and his wife have taken apartments in Beacon Hall, which is right next door to the studio and within easy reach of the Sound where the Bracey motorboat is located. When Walter Perkins began work on “My Friend From India” at the Edison studio, he was told that if he stepped outside of the tape- line he was out of the picture. Of course Mr. Perkins had no intentions of being left out of his own picture, so when he was crowded for room he just pushed the lines out a little bit. Harry Benham has eliminated the “high cost of living” subject from the topics of conversa- tion in the Benham household. His method is simple. He boards his newly purchased Ford (high caliber), and does all his table shopping at the farms around New Rochelle. In one of the latest Thanhouser pictures, called “Harry’s Waterloo,” Mr. Benham played all of the parts, thirteen in number, and appeared as often as four times in some scenes. In one of them he impersonates both a woman and a man and invites himself to sit on his own lap—which he does. Harry Palmer, cartoonist, and well known for his “Babbling Bess” creations, has sailed for the war zone of Europe in the interest of the Centaur Film Company. His destination is Liege, where he intends to make a number of sketches of the battles. After “The Siege of Liege,” which is to be the name of the first picture, he will journey to whatever point promises the best opportunities for sketching and shipping. Considering Mr. Palmer’s expe- rience in dodging bullets in the Boxer uprising in China and the Spanish-American War, the chances of coming out of the present trouble unscathed are much in his favor. Robert Conness has returned to the Edison company after some months’ absence and will now appear regularly in Edison releases. Mr. Conness began work with the Edison people about five years ago after a brilliant career on the legitimate stage. Some time ago he became engaged in a large theatrical production and was compelled to forsake the screen for a brief period; but he is now back at work in the Bronx studio and has already appeared in sev- eral pictures. One of his best is “The Blue Coyote Cherry Crop.” In one of the features of the Alice Joyce series soon to be released the popular Alice will wear a gown valued at $3,000 and jewels worth a cool million (dollars). If the costume for the picture were as staggering as its total value Miss Joyce would have to be helped into the set. The jewels are to be loaned by a Fifth avenue jeweler, and the gown is being made by “Lucille” (Lady Duff-Gordon), and will be one of the greatest creations of that fashionable modiste. One recent Saturday night Clara Kimball Young attended Proctor’s Fifth Avenue Theater with the intention of seeing “My Official Wife” (in which she plays the lead) from the spec- tators’ point of view. But, unluckily for her purpose, she was discovered and applauded for fully three minutes. She finally responded by ascending the stage and making a short speech, much to the delight of the patrons. Dustin Farnum has lately been a familiar figure on Broadway now that “The Virginian” has been completed at the Lasky Hollywood studio. The West has long been acknowledged as possessing beauty in its pure, unadulterated form, but as soon as the stage folk are through with their work there they hasten east with just one outlined idea—to see old Broadway, and Mr. Farnum was no exception. His first few days in the East were busily spent in shaking hands and trading tales of experiences with his many New York friends. Evelyn Nesbit Thaw is now busy at the Lubin Philadelphia and Betzwood studios working in “Threads of Destiny,” in which she is to be featured. The well-known comedian, Fred Mace, has signed a co'ntract with her for the production, and it is being made at the Lubin studios by special arrangement with Siegmund Lubin.