Moving Picture World (Jan-Mar 1914)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 29 Mary Fuller. and in dealing with desperate criminals his efforts are as startling as they are amusing. As director of this series Charles Seay will have an opportunity to full play to his fun-loving disposition and the stunts cut out for "Octavius" to perform will lose nothing by reason of his direction. Mr. Seay has many excellent pictures pictures to his credit and his long connection with the work as writer and player as well as director assure a finished product. There will be lots of laughs connected with the afTairs of "Octavius." Anything we might say about Mary Fuller would seem almost superfluous, beyond the fact that it is necessary to record that she is scheduled to appear in one of the serials. Her work in "What Happened to Mary" and "Who Will Marry Mary," is what put the seal of final approval upon the original idea. To her enthusiasm and earnest effort the success of those series was largely due, so it would be a tactical mistake to think of producing further serials if she was not included in some one of them. Undoubtedly the Edison folks recognize that fact for they have made a place for Mary in one of the best of the series. "Dolly of the Dailies" is to be the title and Mary is to be "Dolly," The stories will be written by Acton Davies, than whom there are few others better qualified to write the scenarios for such a series of pictures as are contemplated. Dolly is to be a newspaper woman. She is to come to New York without any previous experience in newspaper work or with the least knowledge of the big city, and she is to work out her own salvation against odds known only to those who have tried to break into the metropolitan newspaper field. Mr. Davies has been connected with New York newspaperdom for many years and has been an eyewitness to many tragedies of this sort, so he will write by the book, as it were. Given some real happenings to depict and Mary Fuller to enliven them with her strong personality, and you have a combination that, for picture production, will be hard to equal. Then add to this the keen preceptions possessed by Walter Edwin, who has been selected to direct this series and we may reasonably expect something quite out of the ordinary. The first "Dolly" picture will be released January 31 and will continue thereafter to appear on the last Saturday of each month. Still another — a sixth — serial picture is scheduled to be made by the Edifon Company. Details are not yet ready for publication beyond the fact that Marc MacDermott will be the leading player. But it is sure to be something good or Mr. MacDermott would not be chosen for the leading role. W ait and see. It will be noticed that tlie Edison Company have departed Walter Edwin. somewhat from the usual in selecting the leading players for its serials. Femininity has almost uniformly been selected to bear the heavier burden of popularizing the picture; but the Edison program is strong for men and of all the six serials but one will feature a woman. It will be interesting to note just how successful the plan proves to be. The matinee idol is not unknown to the pictures, however, so it is suspected that no mistake has been made in casting the most popular of the Edison young men for leading parts. In this connection we publish engravings of the leading players and the directors for each serial, together with scenes from four of the first releases. This new Edison program may also be taken as that company's answer to the question of multiple reels. It contradicted a mistaken announcement to the effect that it was to add another multiple release to its weekly output and this rogram makes apparent the fact that there will be no place in the calendar for subjects of more than one reel in length for some time to come beyond the one they now issue every Friday. PRINCELY CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR PICTURE MEN. "Pop" Rock Has Splendid Gold Dinner Sets Made for Three of His Friends. Everybody who passed down Liberty Street, New York City, just before Christmas, stopped in front of the International Silver Company's display window to gaze at a rich, gold dinner set. It was one of three that "Pop" Rock, of the Vitagraph Company, ordered, and it was a Christmas gift. One of the three was given to Mr. J. Stewart Blackton, another to Mr. A. E. Smith, both his partners, and the third was for Mr. Siegmund Lubin. Afany a poet in the old princely days had written of the beauty of such gifts as these and put them into some saga or epic song of emperors and kings. The Moving Picture World is writing the epic of the motion picture business ; every week we get out a canto, and it is sure that we mustn't go to press without duly recording the beauty and loveliness of these dinner sets. We can easily guess at the pleasure of the lucky friends of "Pop" Rock who received them. Eacli set comprises 540 individual pieces — plates, candlesticks, knives, forks, spoons, etc. They are of solid gold and designed in simple, graceful curves, full of dignity. Mr. Rock declined to tell us how much they cost, but we will venture a guess that $2,000 would be small. Each set is in a mahogany chest, in itself a thing of beauty. NOTED AUTHORS TO WRITE FOR MUTUAL. In its effort to raise the standard of moving pictures, the Mutual Film Corporation has contracted for the stories by many of the most prominent authors of novels and magazine stories and they will be condensed into scenario form and produced under the direction of D. W. Griffith. Among the authors whose work has been contracted for are: Thomas Nelson Page, ambassador to Italy; Paul Armstrong, playwright, whose drama, "The Escape," a romance of the underworld is now being produced by Mr. Griflith personally; John Kendrick Bangs, George A. Birmingham, who wrote that very successful Irish comedy "General John Regan," now playing in a long run at the Hudson Theater, New York; Daniel Carson Goodman, author of "Hagar Revelly," the publication of which .\nthony Comstock attempted to prevent; Zona Gale. Eleanor Ingram, author of "The Car Behind"; Robert H. Davis, of the Munsey Magazines; Paul West, of the New York World; H. R. Durant, playwright and associate editor of "The Cavalier"; Gardner Hunting, editor of the People's Magazine; Homer Croy, the humorist of Judge, Leslie's and Collier's; George Pattullo and Roy Norton, both of whom are famous writers of Western stories; E. Phillips Oppenheim, the celebrated English novelist; Mary Roberts Rinehart and Roy McCardell. Wood B. Wedd. Scene from "Her Face Was Her Fortune." "Chronicles of Cleek." Scene from "The \'anis!iing Cracksman." Andy's Adventures. Scene from "Andy Gets a Job.' "Octavius." Scene from ".\ffair of the Actresses' Jewels."