Moving Picture World (Jan-Jun 1910)

Moving' Picture World THE WORLD PHOTOGRAPHIC PUBLISHING COMPANY 125 E. 23d Street, NEW YORK (Beach Building) Telephone call, 1344 Gramercy Editors: J. P. CHALMERS, THOMAS BEDDING, F. R. P. S. SUBSCRIPTION: $2.00 per year. Post free in the United States, Mexico, Hawaii, Porto Rica and the Philippine Islands. ADVERTISING RATES: Whole page, $60.00 ; half page, $30.00 ; quarter page, $15.00 ; eighth page, $7.50 ; one inch (3^ in. wide), $3.00 ; one inch (2^ in. wide), $2.00 ; classified (no display), 3 cents per word. Time Discounts: 5% two or more insertions, 10% three months order, 15% six months, 20% twelve months. JOHN M. BRADLET, Western Representative, 913-915 Schiller Building, Chicago, 111. Telephone, Central 3763 Entered at the General Post Office in New York City as Second-Class Matter. Vol. 6 MARCH 26, 19 10 No. 12 Summary of the Week. Where to Sit in the Theater 457 The Picture on Its Trial 45^ Optics of the Moving Picture 459 "Man-About-Town" comments on the self-appointed local censor 460 "Lux Graphicus" enjoys a ride with a film exchange owner on his business rounds 461 Words of Good Cheer, by W. Stephen Bush 462 Why Not Do Things Right? by F. H. R 462 Absurdities in the Producing Field 462 The Free Usher Evil, by Bertram Adler 463 Questions and Answers — Best Projection Surface — Calcium Light — Focal Length of Condensers — Shutter Adjustment 4^4 Patents Company Get Temporary Injunction 464 Chicago Xotes . 4^5 Comments on the Films 466-468 Coming Headliner — "The Fall of Babylon" 468 Lubin Manufacturing Company's New Plant 473 The Eye and the Picture. Where to Sit in the Theater. The human eye was defined by Helmholtz, the German physicist, as being an imperfect optical instrument. Nevertheless the most superficial study of what the eye does and can do, shows that it has properties not possessed by the most perfect microscope or telescope ever made. It has one property in particular which is a very wonderful one. This is called "accommodation," which is controlled indirectly from the brain and directly by the set of muscles or nerves by which the eye is actuated. This faculty of accommodation means simply that the normal eye can "accommodate" itself to seeing clearly an object near to it or distant from it. This distinguishes the eye from optical instruments such as the microscope, telescope and the photographic lens, which have to be focused in order that images of near or distant objects. as the case may be, may be received on the ground glass or sensitized surface. Now what has this to do with moving pictures? We will endeavor briefly to tell the reader. In a recent number of The Moving Picture World, a correspondent complained of certain imperfections, or alleged imperfec tions, in a noted film. We replied to him that probably he sat too near the picture and therefore saw too much. Everybody knows that if you go to a theater or any public entertainment and you sit near the stage the illusion that you go to see is robbed of much of its effect. We, ourselves, recently have had to suffer this loss, because it is our business to get as near to the picture as possible in order to closelv scrutinize its technical and other qualities. But in doing so we make allowances ; we realize that we are seeing the picture under more or less abnormal circumstances. In other words, for the completeness of the illusion we are sitting too near the pictures. Distance lends enchantment to the view, and our correspondent lost that enchantment by sitting too near the picture. Hence his hypercritical expression of opinion. Where, then, is the proper, or rather the best place to sit in a moving picture theater for the purpose of getting the best view of the picture? That depends upon the quality of the sight of the individual. Some of us are long-sighted, some of us are short-sighted, but most of us are of normal vision ; that is to say, we see an object placed ten inches from the eye with proper clearness, one of the tests of vision. Much, then, depends upon the condition of the eye of the individual when going to see moving pictures. A short-sighted man, for example, might get into the front row of a moving picture theater and yet not see too much of the picture on the screen, as did our correspondent, because, unless he wore correcting glasses, nature is more or less of a blur to him, so that the very defect of his eyes would produce the necessary effect of softness and illusion. On the other hand, a long-sighted man would probably find himself in the predicament of our correspondent and would see too much. With advancing years, as is well known, the sight has probably lengthened, that is to say, the crystalline lens of the eye flattens and the eye becomes telescopic ; and so it sees distant objects sharply and near objects less distinctly. What we are driving at in this article is this : that as the focal properties of the eyes of individuals vary, it clearly follows that in going into a moving picture theatei or into a church or any other public building, the sight of the individual must be accommodated to what he is looking at. There is, then, for each one of us a propel place in a moving picture theater to sit for getting the proper effect of illusion of the picture. It is not necessary for us to see the details of the actors' make-up, nor the very finest lines of facial expressions, nor is it neces