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THE PER1L5
OF THE ,f
SECRET JERMCE ^
BEING THE m ADVENTURES OF
YOME NORROY
p/PLOMATfC A6EHT
WRITTEN AMD DIRECTED BY -•'^'■fe,
GEORGE BRON SON HOWARP ^
FEATURING ^
KINGSLEY BENEDICT J
By MARJORIE HOWARD
EHERE seem to be a few abnoi'mal people among the motion picture public, who declare that they don't care for serials. Possibly the mental elfort necessary to remember the identity of the leading players from one week to another, is too great for them; possibly the suspense which every Universal serial works up from one episode to the next is too much of a strain on their overtaxed nerves. But the Universal, with its usual resourcefulness, has discovered a way to include even this limited class of patrons, and at the same time to please the rest of the people with the continued story, or the adventures of a screen character, which they so much enjoy.
On March 9th the first of a series of two-reel pictures, written by no less a personage than George Bronson Howard, the famous son of a famous father, and directed by him in person at Universal City, will be released. The series will bear the promising and inspiring general title of "The Perils of the Secret Service," and each story will be a separate adventure, with a plot complete in itself, and a change of cast, with the exception of two characters. The first one is entitled "The Last Cigarette," and besides serving to introduce the leading character, Yorke Norroy, the diplomatic agent whose exciting professional experiences make up the series, it will be found to be an enthralling story in itself, with a surprise finish which is really something new in pictures.
Several years ago, when George Bronson Howard was younger than he is now, he wrote the stories called "Yorke
Norroy, Diplomatic Agent," in hopes that the money hereceived for them might help to boil a pot, which at that particular time showed no inclination of boiling by itself. The stories were published in a popular magazine, and were an immense and immediate success. They werebrought out in book form, have been through many editions, and are still in demand. These are the stories which Howard sold to the Universal Film Company for use on the screen. There was at first no intention of his being his own producer for the tales. He had never directed a motion picture film, and the series was too important ta be entrusted to an amateur. Howard, however, in themeantime had visited Universal City, and became fascinated by what he saw there. The desire to produce pictures became an obsession with him. He asked the favor of being allowed to direct the first story in the series a& an experiment, and went to work with the greatest enthusiasm. When the two reels were completed and showi> to the authorities, there was no question of chosing a director for the rest of them. Not a trace of the amateur was to be seen in his work, and there were touches in the production which raised it right out of the ordinary run. of pictures, while the main theme was developed in logical progression.
Of course, George Bronson Howard knows the theatreas few authors know it. He has written several successful plays, and collaborated in a score of productions. His work for the theatre covers every variety of performance, from a Winter Garden Show ("The Passing Show of IDll,""