Moving Picture World (Jan-Mar 1912)

28 THE INIOVING PICTURE WORLD working this lead for a while I decided to try to interest George Spoor, in which venture I succeeded. The rest of the story you know. "I have made Western pictures because I know that they are the kind that get the 'hand' all over the country. I have a definite idea of the kind of picture I want to make and write most of the scenarios myself. We do not pretend, of course, that we portray life in the West as it is at present, but we put life and romance into our subjects and they are characterized by the excellence of the work we do." We suggested to Mr. Anderson that his experience in the business must have led him to form some opinion of the trend of the picture development beyond the making of Western subjects. His reply was gratifying: "Film-making will develop along the line of big productions. The film of the future will cost $25,000 to produce. It will comprehend an evening's entertainment and will tell the whole story where we now give only an occasional scene. Miss Vedah Bertram. It is certain to be with the picture as it has been with the drama: the moment there is the least retrograde movement the public will begin to lose interest, and when that happens there will be an awful slump in the picture business. So it will be necessary for pictures to improve steadily. "We hear a great deal about the poor business of the legitimate theatrical producers. They have no one but themselves to blame. It was their practice of putting on the road inferior companies to play New York successes until the public refused to stand for the deception. The old theater-goers will never come back to them, and they will have to wait for an entirely new generation of patrons before they recover the business lost. The same thing will liappen to the picture producers if they do not continue to advance in the production of pictures. In amusements, business once lost does not come back." Mr. Anderson spoke interestingly of his work in pictures and of the risks taken by the players, especially in the "chase'' pictures. "In the deseperate riding and driving," he said, "it is a wonder that someone is not injured in every picture we take. When Miss Fisher was thrown from the coach I had visions of a $25,000 suit for damages, but, by the rarest chance, she was only slightly injured. We have learned to ride, though, and that is the one thing that helps most to make our pictures popular in the West. One thing the Western man knows is riding horses and, if you do not get on right, or if you grab the horn of the saddle, you are at once disqualified as a rider in their opinion. The Eastern people do not know about those things and do not notice the mistakes of the rider in the film, but every little thing counts in the West. Mr. Anderson intimated that he had come on to New York more especially to secure a new leading lady for his company, and declared that he had found the one he was looking for. A little later we had the pleasure of meeting her — Miss Vedah Bertram, a graduate of Wellesley College. A glance at her picture as reproduced herewith should satisfy the most critical expert. Her expression is most pleasing and her manner is equally charming. If she comes out in the films one-half as pretty as she really is, she is certain to become a great favorite with the admirers of the Essanay Western pictures. Miss Bertram is looking forward to some good work when she reaches California and believes that she is going to like the work, for this will be her first time in pictures. Mr. Anderson expressed himself to be well pleased with his good fortune in finding so pleasing a personality as Miss Bertram's and was confident that she would make good. Upon leaving New York Mr. Anderson said that it was his intention to stop oflf for a week in Chicago and then to return to San Rafael and his work at once. SCHOOLTEACHER BECOMES PICTURE CONVERT. How Imagination Was Stimulated in the Pupils of One Chicago School. Imagination is being kindled in the Chicago child and good books are for that reason more appreciated, according to one Chicago public school teacher. Motion pictures are given the credit. It seems a far cry from the "nickelodeon" to the dramas and Shakespeare, according to this pedagogue, but the two go hand in hand, the one cultivating a taste for the other. "When I first started teaching English," said she, "I found it almost impossible to interest my pupils in books that really are worth while. For a long time I thought it was ignorance on their part, but I soon found that many of those pupils who did not seem to care for books were in reality a great deal brighter than I ever had been, were quick to learn and had more retentive memories than I. "Then I evolved the theorj' which I still hold — that only persons with good imaginations enjoy reading books. I talked to many of my pupils who did not enjoy reading and in practically every case I found tPle difficulty the same — they regarded a book merely as so many printed pages ; there was no 'human interest,' as the phrase is. Before the moving pictures were as popular as they are at present I tried the scheme of working in reading in my classes in connection with history. I tried picking out historical novels for auxiliary reading and before I gave them to my class I gave a brief review of the historical facts touched upon. This gave fairly satisfactory results, for instead of being lay figures, the character in the books gradually came to be old friends to the readers. "When the moving picture shows came into popularity-, however, it was interesting to note the change. As I remember, we had been studying Shakespeare'^-. 'Macbeth' and as ii^ual the classes were making a dreary grind of the work. Then one morning my first class surprised me by manifesting real interest in the play. My astonishment increased as each succeeding cKtss manifested ever growing interest. Finally I asked one of the pupils what had caused the sudden interest, and was informed that the Shakespearean drama was the subject of one of the reels at a nearby moving picture house the preceding night and the majority of my pupils had taken advantage of the opportunity' to get acquainted with the play. "After that I was a motion picture convert." — Chicago Daily News. CANADIAN FILM MAN DROPS IN. Mr. P. Kauffman, of the Canadian Film Exchange, Toronto, Can., was a caller at the office of the M. P. World last week. He reports business to be good in the provinces and said that great improvements were being made in the picture theaters. Western Canada, he said, was taking the lead in the matter of fine houses and that good pictures and good projection was the rule.