Moving Picture World (Jan-Mar 1914)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 283 Stuck and — Not long ago a^ newspaper man wrote and asked us what we thought of the chances of his success as a photoplaywrjght. We told him the situation as we saw it and as we thought it would be, and he decided to stick. Now he writes: You may remember that I wrote you asking whether or not it would pay a busy person to stay in the photoplay game, and you gave me some very good advice in reply. I had intended to send you the next script I had returned for criticism, but instead of getting the last one back, I got a release from Lubin for it at $50. This was a one-reel subject, and I feel very much encouraged to get this price, which I understand is pretty close to the maximum, for the first play that I have sold, particularly in view of the fact that I have only written four altogether. That is, four complete scripts, in addition to a few synopses submitted to Mr. McCIoskey by special permission. There is a good market for good stuff, but there never was and never will be much of a market for bad stuff. Travesty. Travesty seems to be coming into vogue, but do not try to write travesty unless you have a keen sense of humor and a knowledge of what you are writing about. Travesty may be divided into two general classes, travesty of things or methods in general, and travesty of some well-known writing. The latter is perhaps easier to write, but it has the handicap of being really amusing only to those who know the original. The other day we saw a travesty of a recent two-reel release. It was funny — in spots — to those who had seen the original two-reel release, but comparatively few of the theater-goers see any particular release, and the others would wonder what it was all about. It may be advanced as a general argument that it is not possible to travesty any particular release. So well-known a story as "Uncle Tom's Cabin" might be made the subject of travesty, and this holds true of plays like ''Hamlet," "East Lynne," "Carmen" or any other widely known dramativ performance, but the list is small at best and this side it would be well to leave alone. Methods offer a broader field. A spectator who sees such a reel as Edison's "Stuff Dreams are Made of" may not have seen "Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl" or "Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model,*' but he does know melodramatic methods and can laugh at the good-natured fun poked at the villainous villain, the heroic hero and the virtuous heroine without reference to any particular play. If he has not seen one he has seen another and all are of a kind. The travesty of the stage generally gains its laughs through the perversion of the lines. In photoplay the lines are not read and the laughs must come instead through the perversion of the business. There is a very lightly defined borderland between the heavy melodrama and the lighter travesty, indeed one of the most successful melodramas, one that ran a full season in a Broadway theater, was originally planned as a travesty in which all of the ingredients of! the melodrama should be worked into a single play. It read so well that a sl^ht alteration made it a dramatic and not a farcical hit. On the other hand, more than one melodrama has been found to be a farce. Travesty, therefore, should be clearly marked, not so much through gross exaggeration as through the definiteness of the business. To go to the Edison for an example, we have the hero run down nineteen flights of steps to save the heroine from being crushed under the weight of the safe the villain! has just thrown out of the window. That, of course, is exaggerated, but it is definite. If the villain had merely held the five-ton safe in the air while the lady escaped, there would have been a laugh, but to beat a falling safe down the side of a skyscraper was unmistakable. Where gross exaggeration is used it must be clever. It is not clever if it is merely idiotic. It requires skill to be intelligently foolish,, and this is where many fail. There must be a thought back of the laugh. If ytou parody the death scene in "Camille" and the doctor comes in and kicks her out of bed, it is not travesty, but horseplay. If he applies the phonographlike stethescope to her chest, drops a nickel in her mouth and listens to the music, it is burlesque. If he feels her ankle instead of her wrist to count her pulse it is travesty. The last is a parody of a usual action. Most writers make the mistake of mixing travesty and burlesque, resorting to the latter where their invention fails and getting a hybrid product that seldom is amusing. Jones' Statistics, Marc Edmund Jones has a passion for statistics, and his latest compilation applies to his story number thirteen. He writes: I have just sold my story number 13. It sold in substantially the same form as I wrote it, but it has seen its fourth revision where I changed it about a bit so that I could keep it going. It was out just 22 times. Kalem had it four times, Biograph and Vitagrraph each had it three times, but it was none of these that bought it. Edison. Selig and .American each had it twice. I wrote it originally August I, 191J. and it has been going continuously ever since. Good Advice. Here is part of a letter from an author whose success represents about the average writer who cannot devote his entire time to plays. It may help some of you to realize that the business is not yet a getrich -quick concern, but is getting better : Had good business with the plots in November; sold four, one to for $25, one to for $30. and two to (halfreels) for $20 and $25 respectively, making a hundred even, and have a good start on December with one sale to to my credit. These knockers and tummy-achers make me peevish. Tell 'em to write something besides their troubles and they may get on. Guess I've lost a script — the first one — and I'm not going to sue anyone for damages. writes that a script about which I had inquired, which had been in their hands for a long time, didn't seem to be around the studio. But this old typewriter is good for re-copying, I guess, and I have plenty of time, and possibly can improve the thing. One thing gratifying about my November sales is that all three companies, with which I have been doing the most business, raised the ante $s per, which buys some smokes. Note that paid me $25 per half-reel, which looks good to me. They started at $15 with me, then raised to $20, and the last one was $25. This makes twenty-five comedies in the last six months. Pretty good for a dub down here in the mesquite? Going Up. Lately we told of a young man who wrote George Kleine that he was getting a hundred dollars a script for his stuff, with a rising market. Evidently prices have skyrocketed since then, for in his last letter — well, here it is, just as Omer Doud sent it in, that we might share his laugh; Dear Mr. Kleine: How would you like to sell my moving picture scenarios and keep the money. This is what I want to do. I sent you a moving picture scenario to sell and you keep the money and send me a moving picture machine. You will like to do this you will be getting money ahead. The company pays me $1,000 each now. If you send me a Power's No. 6A $250 machine you will be getting $850 ahead. If you send me a Power's No. 6 $225 machine you will be getting $875 ahead. If you send me a Edengraph machine, $185, you will be getting $915 ahead. If you send me a Power's No. 5, $195, you will be getting $905 ahead. If you send me a Power's No. 5, $185, you will be getting $875 ahead. If you send me a Power's No. 5. $175 machine, you will be getting $925 ahead. You will be glad to do this. When you get some 1914 moving picture machine catalogue printed send me one. I will give you a list of companies who will buy your stories. I will be in Chicago next week, on Wednesday, 24, 1913. Let me hear from you within two days. If you can't sell my scenarios send' them back to me and I will thank you for same. Those sums in addition seem to need editing. Inquiries. NOTE — No inquiries can be replied to by mail. Look for your answers here. No question can be replied to that necessitates the handling of the manuscript. Always give your name and address. It will not be published. A list of addresses, to which photoplays should be sent, will be supplied on receipt of a STAMPED AND SELF ADDRESSED ENVELOPE. The request should be made to the paper direct and not to this department, nor to the Answers Man. G. W. B. — Essanay, Vitagraph and one or two others have announced that the.v are not in the market for one-reel stories other than comedies. Edison, Universal. Mutual and ot''°rs still want one-reels. Send stamped and addressed envelope for add^ess^■> in accordance with note above. M. M. S. — Your paper is u-o thin. That would not, of itself, cause the rejection of your stor/, but it assuredly does not help any. Get a paper that will not permit the writing on the second page to s'how througli the first. If you are a newspaper Liau. why do you expect youp first six scripts to sell? Did you sell your first six fiction stories? Did on walli into a newspaper sliop and taki the city desk away from the editor? It is no easier to write a photoplay than a story, or to dig up real news. You must go the line and learn to cover the route. Give the editors what they want and the.v'U probably buy it. If they are buying what the public does not want, give them what they want, anyway. It is not for you to worry if they bankrupt the boss. When you want to know what is a "perfectly good" working, plot, do not consult your newspaper associates, who know no more than you do about it. Get an opinion from someone who does know. Your letter suggests a certain complacent feeling that must be corrected if yoa would be successful. W. K. B.— No answers to questions we can't answer, as we have hereinbefore explained. We have answered some of these questions before. Yoa must read tlie Inquiries if you want to see the replies you ask for. We do not remember the lady playing with Mr. Kerrigan, still we do not remember that she did not. We do not discuss relationships. We have no "Englishman and the Girl" listed as a release. Give some other parts be has played. The same applies to the Biograph release. If you'll give us titles correctly and not ask if they are married, or vpho a player's grandfather is. the -Answers Man will be tickled to death to reply, but the Inquiries are going to be closed down for a couple of weeks presently, while the Answers Man goes on an alligator hunt. LOIS — ^We told you a few weeks ago that if you and others did not ask questions there would be no job for an Answers Man, and right away you stop asking questions again. It doesn't look flattering. Technique of the Photoplay (Second Edition) By EPES W. SARGENT. Not a line reprinted from the first edition, but an entirely new and exhaustive treatise of the Photoplay in its every aspect, together wath a dictionary of technical terms and several sample scripts. One hundred and seventy-six pages of actual text. Special chapters on Developing the "Punch," Condensing the Scrip.t. Writing the Synopsis, Multiple Reel Stories, Talking Pictures, Copyrights, etc. In cloth, two dollars. Full leather, three dollars. By mail postpaid. Add ten cents if registration is desired. C^ AddreaM all Orders to THE MOVING 17 Madison Avenue PICTURE WORLD New York Oty