Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1911)

784 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD is 50 dignififed that they compel admiration. And the socalled trick camera work is so well carried out that there is m, sense of illusion; Pluto, Geryon, Minos, Lucifer— the three giant— all seem to Ik rial, of the apparent dimensions, and the perspective is perfect. The film is altogether marvelous, and the only possible criticism for it is that it is not for the ordinary picture show. It is indeed fortunate that this is so, as such a work of art deserves a better -fate than to be "shown" for a dime or a nickel and run through the machine in forty or fifty minutes. The weakest part of the entertainment at the Princess was the music and the sound effects. The music was furnished by an ordinary parlor organ, and the selections were by no means suited to pictures of the infernal regions. In fact, in one scene I caught a bar of "Nearer, My God, to Thee," which was scarcely appropriate for the infernal regions. The effects were very weak and half-hearted. Correct sound effects would make this picture a great success, where now it must depend upon its own intrinsic beauty to compel attention. Especially should the scene of the approach to the City of Dis be worked up, with its earthquakes and explosions, but they were mostly silent, at least at the two shows I saw. QUALITY STANDS THE TEST. Rarely has the picture of quality, representing higher ideals been subjected to a more severe test than was Dante's Inferno in the city of Providence during the week ending September 2. On the opening day the skies began to weep and continued for practically the entire week to pour. One of the local papers under date of August 31 printed the following: The manager of the Providence Opera House, the oldest show house in town, where the production was put on, had no faith in the possibility of success. It was said, that the Inferno was too "high" for Providence, that it was a manufacturing town and demanded cowboys and melodrama. Everybody was agreed that no one would pay 50 cents to see pictures. To point out the superior quality of the picture, the added feature, such as lecture and music, was of no avail, the enterprise was condemned in advance as a hopeless failure. Strangely enough, the public had the audacity to reverse all the Cassandra predictions. From the very first it showed that it liked the films and the dignified way they were presented. Business steadily increased and the total receipts for a house of about 1,400 capacity considerably exceeded two thousand dollars. W. Stephen Bush had been engaged by the lessees of the film, Messrs. Feighery and Place, to take entire charge of the presentation and to deliver the lecture. The effects used were all subdued and had been most carefully rehearsed by Mr. Thomas G. Gaffy, who is an advanced student in the psychology of effects. No attempt was made to turn this wonderful ar^stic production into a cheap masquerade or a menagerie. WANT ORDINANCE ENFORCED. The Cincinnati Operators' Local Union secured the passage of an ordinance by the Common Council of that city two years ago calculated to secure better protection to motion picture audiences against danger from fire or panic. Failure on the part of the city authorities to put the ordinance into operation has caused the union officials to address the following letter to the president of the council: „ _ Cincinnati, 0., August 30, 1911. To His Honor, the President of City Council, Dear Sir: Through the efforts of our local union about two years ago, the City Council passed an ordinance requiring all persons engaged in the occupation of moving picture machine operator to obtain a city license: operators to be examined according to age and ability or experience, before license would be granted, for the purpose of having competent men in charge of picture machines, operating in such places of amusement where the protection of lives and property are an essential consideration. Council did not appoint a board of examiners as we supposed they would. but left this work to the building commissioner, who has no knowledge of the practical part of an operator's position or how he should be examined. The result is the ordinance some two years old, is of no use to any one and the business is flooded with incompetent men and boys. For the enforcement of the right meaning of this ordinance, we hold the City Council should appoint a board of examiners composed of one expert operator to serve the .■iry oralis, and an assistant of the building commissioner, man who has charge of the electrical inspection in the picture machine booths: examinations to be held weekly or twice monthly and lo consist of questions drawn up by the board, pertaining to tile business as a whole, a percentage of questions answered correctly to be required before a license is issued. This plan followed strictly and justly, we believe will eliminate entirely the dangers thai confront the public of to-day, who are lovers of the motion picture show. We therefore recommend that Council take such steps to better enforce the ordinance. Respectfully submitted, MOTION* PICTURE & PROJECTION MACHINE OPERATORS' LOCAL, Per ARTHUR H. FIX, Business Representative. TAKING PICTURES UNDER DIFFICULTIES. O'Kalems Brave Real Dangers and Endure Hardships in the Emerald Isle. When the Kalem company of photoplayers. now widely known as the "O'Kalems," sailed away on the Baltic last June for a picture-making tour of Ireland, everyone was speculating upon the different kinds of a good time the chosen ones would have, and there were some heart burnings among those who were left behind. But the stories sent hack by the Kalem players indicate that they have been reposing upon no bed of roses. Little stories of the difficulties they have been "meeting up" with at odd times havetrickled through in occasional letters to friends, but the real adventure has just come across in a letter written to the World by Miss Gene Gauntier, telling of the hardships endured by four members of the company in securing some scenes for a fishing picture. .We are going to let Miss Gauntier tell the story in her own words, written at Beaufort, County Kerry, August 4: "1 want to tell you about the most miserable seventeen hours four of us have ever spent. After a wild goose chase around the coast of Ireland looking for cliffs and primitive fishing villages, Mr. Olcott, Mr. Hollister, Mr. Donaldson and myself landed at Houth, just out of Dublin, where the herring are running now, and made arrangements to go out one afternoon on a little 50-foot fishing smack to take several scenes, among them the lowering of the nets at night and the raising of them in the morning. We went aboard and cast off at 3 o'clock p. m. It was a boat full of smells and fishscales, with a tiny little cabin with bunks filled with gunnysacking and a boiler to run the engine which draws in the nets, and which raised the temperature of the room to about 140 degrees. "Fifteen minutes after leaving we wrere in the high seas, which rolled the little boat about like an eggshell. Before we were set up for the first picture Mr. Hollister, the photographer, contracted a severe case of mal de mer, which continued with increasing severity until we reached land seventeen hours later. The rest of us rather enjoyed it — for awhile. The boat shipped water continually and it was impossible to move without the assistance of the sailors. Mr. Hollister was too sick to sit up and lay groaning upon a sail while Mr. Olcott got the camera in position, then he would be carried and held up by two sailors while he turned the crank to the end of the scene, when he would fall white and fainting to the deck. It certainly was taking pictures under difficulties. Mr. Olcott was taken a short time later and then Mr. Donaldson. I was the only one who wasn't. but I felt mighty squeamish several times, I can assure you. The sailors said that if we had waited a whole season for a stormy sea we could not have picked out a better. "Night came on bringing with it a driving rain. I refused utterly to go down into that furnace of a cabin, so the sailors rigged up a place for us as best they could on deck. Sails were spread on the after deck and I was laid between two spars which held me so I couldn't move or roll about. Mr. Olcott and Mr Donaldson were planted also, and then canvas was spread on spars about a foot above our faces to keep the rain off. It was very uncomfortable and very wet. I was so tired that I fell asleep only to be awakened later by something wet pressing upon me. Putting out my hand I found the sagging canvas filled with several barrels of water, about an inch from my face. Just then a great wave dashed through the hawse holes in the stern and wet the canvas under us. The boys declared that they had enough and would go below, but not I. I was not seasick and had no intention of becoming so by going into that hot, malodorous room below deck. So we stayed and talked and dozed and woke up and prayed for morning. Finally we heard the fishermen coming up and knew that it must be time to raise the nets. "'What time is it?' we asked. The answer was, 'One o'clock.' "Well, all misery has to end somehow: at 8:30 o'clock we reached harbor, twenty hours without food or drink, though the carefully packed hamper of delicious food was there for us. But we got our scenes and when you know you have accomplished what you set out to do. you think it was worth while after all. We got two pictures which will be finished on the steamer coming home and in New York — trans-Atlantic pictures such as "The Lad From Old Ireland.' Both are fishing pictures, but I think very different. One deals with herring fishing, the other with lobster fishing. We finish 'Arrah Na Pogue' this week and have only three more pictures to take. How heartily glad we will be to get back home."