Moving Picture World (Aug 1919)

658 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD August 2, 1919 Cities report a far greater business in the month of July, the first month of the "great drouth," than during the corresponding month a year ago. Just listen to Frank Smoleski, proprietor of the Mazda, one of the houses that raised, that doubled if you please, its price of admission : "Prohibition is the greatest thing that ever could have happened to the moving picture game. We have raised our admission prices and the audiences are larger than they were in June, despite the heat. I have noticed an increase in the number of men attending the shows. It has not been a great increase, but just the same it's an increase in the face of higher prices." "Father is paying more attention to the family than to the bartender now," says Harry Billings, general manager of Ruben & Finkelstein's twenty-one houses. "He takes out the missus and the kiddies to see a wholesome moving picture show." And so goes the testimony down the line. We'll hear a lot of this sort of talk in the next few months, if this story from the Northwest is any criterion. And if we do we may be sure there will be gold as well as silver to decorate the lining of the Cloud. Macnamara Had Finger in That Pie IN our issue of last week, in speaking of George Loane Tucker and "Traffic in Souls," the Moving Picture World was made to say that Mr. Tucker wrote the scenario of this great melodrama himself. We'll wager a cigar that somewhere between here and Los Angeles there is speeding eastward a letter from Walter Macnamara gently chiding the editor for letting the just-mentioned statement "get by." And Walter will be absolutely right. For he had much to do with the writing of "Traffic in Souls." If we recall correctly, at the time the subject was released there was no question that the always entertaining Irishman was the author. And another word about "Traffic in Souls." In the story referred to there was an allusion to the "first million-dollar American picture." The sum mentioned must have to do with the money the production made for its distributors. The cost was roughly between five and six thousand dollars — a figure not without interest in these days of the high cost of film. Good Luck to Sydney Chaplin SYDNEY CHAPLIN is on the Atlantic, on his way to France to make pictures. His small party forms the vanguard of the friendly "American invasion," and it is probable he will have many followers. Mr. Chaplin stated before his departure that his brother and Douglas Fairbanks were much interested in the outcome of his trip and that the idea of making pictures abroad appealed strongly to both of them. Unquestionably it will to many others. Mr. Chaplin admits the question of locations is a matter of concern in Los Angeles. To an American producer abroad that will be one of the least of his troubles. It is likely that just now one of the larger elements militating against him will be the matter of transportation — across country and between countries. But as to locations — these are practically endless. Americans never will tire of looking at American backgrounds so long as these are chosen with even average discretion, but the foreign settings will add the charm of variety and the fascination of viewing scenes associated with the romances of yesterday. The wide world is the camera's empire. The drawing power of the foreign scenic is conceded. Why should not the lure be many times multiplied if these locations are employed for dramatic — or comedy — productions ? The Motion Picture Is Not a Joke A NUMBER of the daily newspapers in the larger cities have devoted considerable space to the misstatements given out by an exhibitor from California who has been telling a lot of New York clubwomen and other well meaning but poorly informed persons that "the motion picture as it stands today is the biggest joke in the world." As to the reliability of such an assertion a moment's intelligent thought will settle the matter on the negative side. The man who made the assertion may drop out of sight but the industry will go on improving its product without his aid or that of any other reformer perhaps not oblivious to the lure of the limelight. A list of the worthy pictures given to the public during the last three years is all the proof that is necessary to refute this exhibitor's statement. The really regrettable part of the whole affair is that some of the newspapers have published articles upholding the stand this exhibitor has taken. The following extract from an article in the Pittsburgh Sun is the right view of the case : The progress made during the last few years is earnest that picture plays will continue to become better. But the people, who are good judges, are pretty well satisfied that in the films offered them now they are getting all that could be reasonably expected. The photography is excellent; the stories, though overdrawn, generally amusing; and the acting satisfactory. As for the stars, it is true one will not find on the screen today actresses of the caliber of Sarah Bernhardt, Ellen Terry, Charlotte Cushman, Maude Adams, Julia Marlowe; but it must be remembered that there are no such tragic and classic roles in the picture plays as gave the women named their fame. The film stars are mostly called upon to play the part of charming American girls, and they do it with surprising cleverness. The best brains in the industry are constantly striving to make the best pictures possible. They know more about the difficulties in the way than any person outside the business. They do not need any urging from any outside source. They are very much alive to the advantage of making the best pictures possible, and their actual experience in making such pictures is the only practical way to learn how to make them. Dual Role Kills Realism MR. WALKER, manager of two theatres in Dartmouth and one in Imperoyal, N. S., enters in this issue a complaint against the dual role. He suggests that the appearance of a player in a dual role is advertised as a wonderful feat, but insists that not one in a thousand picturegoers is interested in any performance in which this illusion-killing device is a factor. He says truly that the playing of two parts by one person takes out the realism. He is not quoting his own opinion ; he points out that he is expressing the views of his patrons. We agree with Manager Walker. Once in a while, a great while, we see a picture in which a dual role may add to the novelty of a subject. But one swallow does not make a summer. The number of subjects in which we have had two brothers or two sisters played by one person is legion. The number of these that have been successful, that really have been satisfying, have been comparatively few. There was a time when the dual role was a novelty. That was a long time ago.