The Moving picture world (November 1925-December 1925)

MovilsrG Picture WORLD FouticIqcI in l^OJ hi^ J, T^, Chalmers Shaking Hands FOR thirty-five minutes last Tuesday Warner Bros, owned the most novel theatre in the world. In a little over half an hour their investment soared to the SKY and came to EARTH. Not a penny was lost in this amazing theatre deal. But two dreams met in the transaction. And a new chapter was written in the history of the MOVING picture. SKY WRITING. The theatre which Warner Bros, so briefly and so historically acquired was the Sikorsky Theatre, the giant biplane built and piloted by Igor Sikorsky, the Russian inventor. High up in the clouds above Long Island Warner Bros, staged on last Tuesday the first exhibition in America of a motion picture in an AIRPLANE. A little portable projector whirring against the roar of two twelve cylindered motors! A screen made of airplane WING linen hanging snug in the bow of tlie ship — a FEATHER borrowed from plumage of the EAGLE! Instead of a clock above the proscenium arch — an ALTIMETER every "minute" on its face meaning a thousand feet in AIR! No need for STUDIO clouds to move across the stage for the prologue of THIS picture. New clouds were born in NATURE'S studio for this feature eveiy minute. The only standee — or rather "KNEELEE" — in the house was J. Harrison Edwards, crouching at the projector on the floor of the cabin amongst PATRONS who were willing to offer an insurance policy as the possible price of admission. Jack Edwards, in charge of exploitation of Warner's Theatre, is the man who originated and staged this unique presentation. Edwards, in his own way, will rank with the other famous "NUTS" of history— "nuts" like C. Columbus, R. Fulton, and T. Edison. To us Columbus, Fulton, and Edison are great men. They got their start, however, under the TOLERANCE accorded men just one jump ahead of the MAD HOUSP' superintendent. Marie Prevost in "Bobbed Hair" was to have been the heroine of this AERIAL RELEASE. At the last moment a print of "Bobbed Hair" was not available, and Rin Tin Tin galloped to the rescue in "The Clash of the Wolves.'" The dog fought a brave battle on his sky screen against the sun beating in through the ciibin windows. But tlie SOLAR "baby spot" proved too strong for him. Nevertheless the experiment was a success. Now, moving pictures have been exhibited in (jueer places before. In an igloo on the rim of the ARC/FIC tlie Eskimo has been startled by slow movies of him.self, Iiis seal and his polar bears. On a coral isle in the SOUTH SEAS the cannibal has gazed in wonder at his own behavior. But up in the clouds above LONG ISLAND one GREAT DREAM clasped hands with another— the motion picture and passenger service in the air. The meeting was more with the Clouds than the product of an exploitation mind. It showed ANEW that the heights of the motion picture as a medium of entertainment are far flung as the sky toward which the Sikorsky Aerial Theatre vaulted. A few pounds of celluloid, a few pounds of projector and an airplane wings over land or sea with a LAUGH in its heart! Get the picture, not so very many years ago, of a row of still cameras standing at the turn of a race track, to make a "moving" picture of a horse race. THEN get the picture of two rows of audience, — including Mr. and Mrs. Undersigned — sitting in the aibin of an airplane; tearing through space at one hundred miles an hour, watching Rin Tin Tin, the modern four-legged parallel of the original subject. The motion picture climbed skyward last Tuesday on the shoulders of a scientific giant — aviation. Every day a tiny strip of celluloid reaches out and clasps an art or a science to itself with hoops of steel. The motion picture is the meeting place of all the arts and of all tlie sciences. The INFANT industry, but born in the LAP OF THE GODS and there reared. It was fitting that the first airplane exhibition of motion pictures should have been presented in the plane of Igor Sikorsky. And that Sikorsky himself should have piloted the first aerial theatre through the clouds. For Sikorsky is a DREAMER. His original financing was done by hard working Russians who believed in him. Refugees who could ill afford the luxury of a vision gone wrong. There is coming a time when not one but many theatres will travel in the air. When Warner Bros, will add an AIR DIVISION to their exchanges. When Rin Tin Tin will gallop acro.ss the Atlantic in thirty-odd hours. When the nimble witted moving picture critic of the "Aerial Express" will radio back his first wise crack review: "Here's a picture no air audience ain WALK OUT on." And who knows but by that time the Air Traflic Board will have judiciouslv ordered the gentle regulation of "Dropping the MOVfE CYNIC"— overboard? Last Tuesday was Election Day. Warner Bros, were elected the Wright Bros, of aerial exhibitors. It was not a landslide. It was a SKYSLIDE. AND we voted THIS ticket: — We are prouder than ever to be associated with the MOVING picture industry.