Moving Picture World (Jun 1916)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD June 17, 1916 i be argued with ■ patron over the validity of a ticket, but the 9 were offending hundreds every week, escaped. Evidently the manager paid all attention to the front of the house, as most managers do. If more exhibitors would watch the back of the house with the vigilance they do the box-office and front of the house, there would be fewer complaints about pour business. A successful musical interpretation is as necessary to a picture as good project ion. How many managers tolerate for an instant a Mm that Jumps, flickers, or is out of focus? They pay careful attention that their patrons' eyes do not suffer. They read the trade magazines, always endeavoring to select the best pictures and best s. T\ ice Their machines receive careful attention. They are oiled regularly and when a part becomes worn, it is replaced with a new part at once. No expense is spared on the quality of their films or projection. They consider their patrons' intelligence when it comes to features and projection, but forget the discord and noise that comes from the orchestra pit — which offends their patrons' ears and intelligence. Their money is going out every week for rent and salaries — but money spent on such an orchestra as I have just described is money thrown away. Intelligence enters into the success of any undertaking, but many managers neglect one of the most important features of a moving picture theater — the music. Whether a pianist, an organ or an orchestra, the musical setting at all times should be in keeping with the atmosphere of the picture and never for an instant be permitted to interrupt the picture, any more than a film be permitted to jump all over the screen. There is always room for improvement and development in music the same as anything else. There are many different ways of playing a picture well and it behooves every manager to see that his musician or musicians study the work and develop a style and method that meets with the approval of the most discriminating patrons. It can be done and is eventually bound to be recognized by the public. The manager should always recognize a musician's ability and pay him accordingly. Good things come high, and this is certainly true of good music. Most audiences demand good music the same as they do good pictures. Until the music in picture theaters is seriously reckoned with, many houses throughout the country will suffer from poor business. It has been proved that good pictures and good music are money makers and the sooner the manager realizes this, the better for himself and the long suffering public. the hut in obtaining double exposure effects. Mr. Vallejosaw the point. Mr. Brown's original intention was to have two or three characteristic backgrounds for his leaders, these to rurr through the subject. For example, he chose a frame of eucalyptus logs tied with leather thongs for the direct quotations from Mrs. Jackson's book. For the "Romana prologue with its pronounced Spanish and Indian flavor, Mr. Brown chose the '"dobe" wall, showing first the window and again the doorway, double exposing the title over these. Then he discovered he must escape the peril of monotony, so he chose other typical backgrounds, such as a Mission Indian blanket or the pair of horses' heads. _ "When Mr. Brown's noodle gets to work," as one of his associates declared in speaking of the subject ol "Ramona" titles, "it is rapid and fecund. He soon had the idea of a moving background. Hence you see the birds moving about on the branches or the Indian running through the Haming embers of the village of Temecula behind lettering." The idea of the titles according to Mr. Brown's explanation, was like Topsy— "it just growed." One of the striking leaders is printed in white on a mountainside. The camera is shut down so as to bring the hills into silhouette, while the narrowed light has clearly brought out the clouds above. Another, during the sheep-shearing period, reveals thousands of sheep, moving like waves behind and to the side of the leader. These are but a few instances of the many that enter into the making of the picture. That the innovation will be erasped by other producers is to be expected — and for thaf matter to be hoped for. Some have already declared their intention to "grab" the idea. One or two have attempted titles seemingly suggested by those in "Ramona," but apparently they have failed to realize that the chier virtue in the Clune title is its simplicity— the presence of the natural, the absence of the artificial. "Ramona" Titles an Innovation Clune Company Makes Distinct Artistic Advance with Its Leaders Superimposed on Still and Moving Backgrounds. NEW ideas in the making of pictures' are not so frequent that we can afford to pass without comment the titling of "Ramona," the first production of the W. H. Clune Film Company. There can hardly be question that the manner of presentation of the titles in this subject adds to the charm of the picture as a whole, that the leaders serve materially to decrease the illusion-destroying powers of these necessary evils. For evils in large measure titles undoubtedly are — and what good director does not go to lengths in his efforts to avoid their use, to so clarify his action as to reduce to a minimum the number that may be required intelligibly to tell the story. Less of fruitful thought has been given to the making of titles than of perhaps any other department of picturemaking. The greatest producers of the day — just as an illustration — continue to tint their titles in the same bath as that which carries the scene that follows it. On the heels of a scene in straight black and white will be a leader in pronouncedly contrasting tint — a glaring signal to the millions of picturewise that what comes next is to be a moonlight situation or one of sunlight or one of lamplight. It is a jolt, a piece of inartistry that is as frequent as it is inexcusable. It would seem to be a case of thousands of dollars for the director but not even tens of dollars for the laboratory. Ask a producer the why and the wherefore and he will blandly inform you that it is a matter of convenience to tint the title at the same time the film for the ensuing scene is dipped; that leaders at best are a nuisance to be got over in the easiest way. The leaders in "Ramona" mark a distinct advance. They make for artistry, for notable progress. Briefly, they are printed upon film that carries under or near the lettering matter of atmospheric value, that which holds the spectator in the illusory grip of the particular scene about to be enacted. Lloyd Brown, general manager of the Clune company is credited with the idea. It seems that Mr. Brown in the course of his work decided he wanted something distinctive in the way of titles. With that absence of commotion that marks the development of all of the schemes that hatch in his mind, he quietly ordered an adobe hut built as a background. Then Enrico Vallejo, the Clune company photographer, was asked why he could not use LITTLE AUDREY BERRY VISITS OLD FRIENDS. Little Audrey Berry, who will be remembered as one of the most popular child artists in motion pictures, was a visitor at the Vitagraph Flatbush studios, during the week and renewed her acquaintance with the various stars with whom she worked while a member of the stock company. The photoplay star was compelled to forego the lure of picture posing, for the time being, in order to pursue her studies which took up all her time. "I am coming back to pictures some day. replied the little lady to a question as to what she intended doing when her education was finished, "and I do hope the Vitagraph company will give me another chance to meet my many friends through the medium of their pictures." Miss Berry's most important pictures under the VitagrapiT banner includes "The Jarr Family Series " in which sheplayed Emma Jarr: "Mr. Santa Claus," "A Close Call, The Crime of Cain" and "The Arrival of Josie." WESTERN STORY FOR KERRIGAN. F McGrew Willis of the scenario department at Universal City is at work on a new story for J. Warren Kerrigan, which is entitled "The Beckoning Trail," and in which the popular star plays the role of a dissolute young New Yorker, who goes to a Western mining camp where, during the train of events, he develops into a real man. One of the strong features of the story is a saloon fight in which Kerrigan is offered a splendid opportunity to display his gift of unusual strength, putting half a dozen Western huskies hors de combat in short order. JACCARD TO FILM SERIES. Under the main title of "Dollars and Sense," Director Jacques Taccard will film a series of one-reel underworld photoplays, most of which will be written by himself. The first one will be entitled "Men and Women," work on which has been commenced. Jaccard's company will consist of G, Raymond Nye, playing the featured lead, with Miss Roberta Wilson, Miss Peggy Coudray and Si Clegg. Jaccard recently has finished a five-reel underworld film play entitled "It makes a Difference." FEATURING THE DESERT. Desert land close to Newhall, Calif., just outside of the beautiful San Fernando Valley, will serve as a setting for a number of the scenes in the forthcoming Horsley-Mutual production, "The Fool's Game," an unusual story from the pen of Crane Wilbur, who .will also be seen as the star in this picture.