Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1925)

January 3, 1925 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 21 OatheredMa^Bmdtm/ By W. StephenBush The Capitol program this week is full of material iirdicating a very high order of showmanship. The various units, of course, centre around the Christmas idea and are distinctly seasonal of course. The fine idea back of the show, however, is well worth recording, and it might pay to file it away until next Christmas, when it will be just as valuable, for Christmas ideas, like Christmas trees, are always welcome at Christmas time. I know that in the words of the poet one does not always learn weaving by watching the weavers. A little plus in the way of inborn showmanship is necessary, and as most of our exhibitors possess this valuable instinct, an analysis of the Capitol idea and a description of the details seem amply justified. There are three distinct notes in the presentation of the Christmas introduction, which is flashed into the minds of the audience so intelligently and rapidly that the impression on each face was obvious. The notes were first the joyous note of glad tiding, then the solemn note of the birth of the Savior and the motherhood of Mary, and the merry note, the note that appeals most to the children. Here is the masterly manner in which the three ideas were conveyed : The house was half lighted when immediately after the overture chimes were heard playing an appropriate Christmas melody. The air was picked up by the orchestra playing softly. Presently the entire house was darkened, only very faint lights in the two huge Christmas trees on each side of the stage remaining. The curtain then opened on a scene suggesting a purple dawn, with a star high in the centre, The dimness continued as “Holy Night” and “Adeste Fideles” were sung back of the purple screen. A spotlight, well handled, gradually showed a tableau, with Mary and the Divine Child close to the footlights, shepherds and wise men and other figures only dimly visible in the centre and background. It was a marvelously well thought out production of a famous painting, presented, of course, by living people. The audience was deeply impressed when the curtain closed slowly and the third note of social gladness was sounded in having the conventional Santa Claus appear before the footlights, calling upon a fairy to make the children happy, and the whole atmosphere changed into just plain cheerfulness, the scene being continued with a resumption of music and a parting of the curtain showing living pictures and music from “Babes in Toyland.” “The March of the Toys” fitted in a hundred per cent, and the effect of the whole was heightened by bringing the lights in the Christmas tree to their fullest capacity. The finest possible Christmas atmosphere pervaded the house after that and every unit was received gratefully. There was a unit subdivided into five, all of them consisting of excerpts from well-known musical comedy successes. These selections cleverly concluded with “Kiss Me Again,” from Victor Herbert’s “Mile. Modiste.” I say cleverly because that well worn and popular air fitted in excellently with the early scenes of the feature, “So This Is Marriage,” which followed. Other excellent descriptive numbers for this feature which proved specially suitable and seemed to please the audience were: In the very beginning of the feature and after dwelling for a bit on the Victor Herbert number just mentioned, two numbers that hit off and emphasized the atmosphere of the feature were, “When a Maid Comes Knocking,” from the “Firefly,” and “Nights of Gladness,” a waltz by Ancliffe, an English composer. The great opportunity which offered itself to the composer of the music score upon the change of the modern picture into biblical episode of King David was utilized to the fullest by Musical Director Mendoza. The transition from the modern to the biblical theme was signalized with “Oriental Chant,” by M. Moussorgsky, while the great spectacular scene in the King David scene was well illustrated with a Bacchanale by .■\dolph Schmidt. At the Rivoli an old stage effect was cleverly adapted for use in connection with the Christmas greetings. As the same adaptation will serve many other occasions, especially for comedy effects, it seems deserving of special mention. The novelty of the thing is far as a picture house is concerned is technically known as the Kliegl stage snow effect, which is worked with a spotlight provided by a Kliegl lamp and a stereopticon. Both the lamp and the stereopticon were placed in the extreme left of the booth, while an ordinary Simplex machine was placed in the extreme right corner. About two hundred feet of reindeer film were put in the motion picture machine, which was slowly turned on its own pedestal simultaneously with the workings of the snow effect. The result was a flash of reindeer in a perfect hurricane of a snow storm. Not only the stage but the entire foreground of the theatre was covered with most natural looking snow flakes, varying in size and getting or seeming to get larger as they were closer to the audience. The falling of large flakes on the orchestra gave the whole thing a look of startling reality. The audience was both mystified and delighted by this novelty and there was a great deal of curious wonderment as to how it was done. At the end there was a lot of appreciative applause. Credit for the conception and execution of the idea belongs to Harry Rubin, chief projectionist, and his assistants. The Rivoli was strong in the prologue to the feature, “Argentine Love,” and the prologue was entirely original, though a theme cast in exactly the same atmosphere with the same star had been presented only a fortnight before at the Strand. It consisted of tango music and dancing most cleverly arranged, and won some applause. The musical score showed the best Riesenfeld standard. Early descriptive numbers were from the “Suite of Serenades,” then Amerinda un soir de fete en Havana, “When the Shadows Fall,” a waltz, “A Sunkist Cottage.” Some of the descriptive numbers for the pathetic parts, where the wife was shown in her moods and paths of error, were excellent, among them an Agitato Minor in D and “Tragic Parting,” “Fantastic Espagnole,” “The Dream of an Exile” and “At the End of the Road.” ^A^T the Piccadilly a striking and original •‘^feature found an immediate and responsive reception from the audience, particularly from the large feminine contingent. It was described on the program as No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. No. 4 showed the latest modes of the season in Prizma-colored films and was quite pretty but had been 'done frequently before. The surprise came with No. 5, described as “the second part,” and it was found to consist of famous living models in the flesh, who wore all the pretty furs and dresses previously shown on the screen. As all the models had evidently been selected with a view to their beauty — Lee Ochs being a little Ziegfeld in his way — and as their furs and dresses were most becoming, the women in the audience gave way to loud expressions of delight, while the escorts smiled in discreet silence. After the exhibition on the stage, the models stepped down among the audience and slowly filed out through the big centre aisle, followed by appraising glances until they disappeared. A long burst of applause showed how well the audience liked this number.