Moving Picture World (Jan-Mar 1914)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 23 J. P. Chalmers, Founder. Published Weekly by the CHALMERS PUBLISHING COMPANY 17 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY. (Telephone, 3510 Madison Square.) J. P. Chalmers, Sr President E. J. Chalmers Secretary and Treasurer John Wylie Vice-President and General Manager The office of the company is the address of the officers. Western Office— 169 West Washington Street (Post Building), Chicago, 111. Telephone, Main 3145. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. United States, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Rico and Philippine Islands $3.00 per year Canada 3.50 per year Foreign Countries ( Postpaid) 4.00 a year ADVERTISING RATES. Display Advertising Rates made known on application. Classified Advertising — no display — three cents per word ; minimum charge, 50c. NOTE. — Address all correspondence, remittances and subscriptions to Moving Picture World, P. O. Box 226, Madison Square Station, New York, and not to individuals. {The index for this issue will be found on page no.) Ejitered at the General Post Office, New York City, as Second Class Matter. Saturday, January 3, 1914. Facts and Comments AT the close of the year a brief retrospect seems timely. As motion picture history shapes itself, a period of twelve months is full of events and full of meaning. No man could have prophesied the present conditions when the now dying year was young. The changes in 1913 have in many respects been revolutionary. The importance of the single reel, at one time the mainstay of entertaining kinematography, has been crowded into an almost obscure corner by the arrival of hundreds upon hundreds of multiple reels, of which at this time there seems to be no end. They have made the motion picture entertainment more pretentious and perhaps more fashionable, but they have undoubtedly detracted from its "infinite variety." It is idle to predict how the situation will clarify at last. At present there is much confusion and many exhibitors are confronted with new and unexpected phases of competition. * There seems to have been an inflation of the feature market. The great feature wave seems to be slowly receding. The demand for superheated productions is obviously falling ofT. To a discerning eye there never was any genuine demand for multiple reels ju>;t because they were multiple reels; audiences are more discriminating than ever before, and they have learned to distinguish between a truly extraordinary production and one which was only called so by the producers and their press agents. It is certain that the great spectacular features will retain their popularity ; feature making will develop into an art of its own. We expect to see greater features in 1914 than we saw in 1913. * No less striking than the changes in the pictures have been the changes in the personnel of the men who are engaged in the exhibiting of motion pictures. They have established higher standards for the conduct of their business, they are recruited from the best classes in the community. Take the owners of the new type of improved motion picture theaters. Comparatively few of them are managerial graduates of the speaking stage. Not a few of them are old exhibitors who have kept pace with the expansion of the industry. They started with small houses, often with a capacity of less than three hundred, and by their energy and their progressiveness have been able to build new theaters with often five times the seating capacity of their first little theater. The art of presenting the picture, beginning with proper projection, has gone forward with rapid strides. The influence of the model theater is felt thousands of miles away. Compare the cheapest and humblest show of today with the same type of show two or three years ago and you cannot fail to notice the many improvements. * Most gratifying is the progress made by the motion picture in the esteem of the public. The best evidence of this may be found in the changed attitude of the daily press. A couple of years ago the sanctum of the dramatic critic on the daily paper was locked and barred against the motion picture. If the picture received any notice at all it was the unflattering attention of the man who runs the funny department, so called. Occasionally a ponderous paragraph would speak of it with much complacency and little wit. The poor picture was a waif in journalistic ?yes and its devotees were objects of divided pity and censure. Today the motion picture section of the daily newspaper is treading close upon the heels of the regular theatrical department. * We should not let the year pass by without a word of very hearty and grateful recognition of the great credit due to the artists of the screen. These men and women, often underpaid and misunderstood, can take no inspiration and no pleasure out of the applause of their audiences ; the glories of the footlights and the thrill that comes to the artist as he looks into a sea of admiring sympathetic faces can never be theirs. Nevertheless their fame is greater than that of the most widely known actor of the speaking stage, and their opportunities of cheering their vast audiences and bringing sunshine into all the little dark corners of the world are enviable. They often work in surroundings and under circumstances that are not at all conducive to inspiration. In such moments it is hard for them to look beyond the present, which always seems like a defeat, and conjure up in their imagination the millions to whom their work gives pleasure. The motion picture brings its daily message of consolation to all who are unduly burdened. Little mothers, lonesome men and women in the great cities, the drudges of the household, the workshop and the farm, the dwellers in the lowliest tenements, are the most faithful and the most grateful worshippers at the motion picture theaters. In this age of service from man to man the thought of pleasing so deserving an audience ought to prove a source of perpetual inspiration.