Moving Picture World (Jul - Aug 1918)

1114 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD August 24, 1918 and presently she would enter a taxicab and speed away into the night. She was going to what the elder sisters termed "one of those horrid movie balls" and she shivered with a mixture of apprehension and delight every time she did it. She knew they would not approve of such a thing, but she was very popular at these balls and she was not content to be a Cinderella all the time. Presently a hue and cry went up that Prince Public was searching for a certain young lady who had lost a slipper at a ball, and would not be happy till he found her. The slipper had been lost at one of those horrid movie balls, too, and this annoyed the elder sisters exceedingly for they had not been there. They did not even know that Prince Public was in the habit of frequenting such places ! But if Prince Public had his heart set upon finding the lady who could wear the slipper, they must of course oblige him. So they began trimming their toes and paring their heels in order to be able to give Prince Public what he wanted. The process caused them to limp rather painfully, but the slipper was said to be ridiculously petite, and the}' agreed that at least one of them must wear it. Having got themselves up to the best possible advantage, the elder sisters sallied forth, leaving the third sister as usual by the fire. They moved about as conspicuously as possible and soon had the satisfaction of meeting Prince Public, lie greeted them with a smile, but when it came to trying on the slipper, there was general disappointment. With all the pains they had taken, the slipper was still a wee bit small. Prince Public bowed himself away and the elder sisters wandered about in a sad and discomfited state. After a long while they determined to return home. thinking it would be nice to spend at least one evening with the third sister by the fire. When they arrived, great was their chagrin to find that Prince Public had preceded them and that the slipper had been found a perfect fit for their sister, little Miss Photoplaj ! The elder sisters, Miss Literature and Miss Drama, were naturally quite peeved at this, but they were really very nice girls at heart, and besides Prince Public was still fond of them. So they both kissed little Miss Photoplay and she invited them to the next movie ball, and they all lived happily ever after. Cheer Up, Brother Johnson ! By Edward Weitzel. ACCORDING to Julian Johnson, "The chief thing wrong with motion pictures today is the class of intelligent people who continually find fault with them." He also puts it down that "We want from the intelligent men and women of the United States unquestioning, enthusiastic belief in the motion picture as an instrument of destiny in bringing men and their motives together throughout the world, as a disseminator of knowledge, and a purveyor of beauty and emotion." He also utters this solemn warning: "Have a heart and help. If you don't, I tell you that as sure as we're both here, the Motion Picture— and the Photoplay, which is the Motion Picture's biggest and finest expression — will come to a full stop." Cheer up, Brother Johnson! The Motion Picture, either capitalized or lower cased, will be doing business throughout the civilized world and also in a portion of the uncivilized long after the seed of the Kaiser has ceased to trouble the earth. The screen has already become a necessity and a part of our daily life, and will no more be thrown into the discard than will its great forerunner, the printing press. The intelligent men and women of the United States will always judge the Motion Picture on its merits — and recognize its limitations. They realize that the method of producing the photoplay is the most costly form of getting beauty and emotion before the public. It is not possible to take a portion of a pictured story as one can a passage from Shakespeare and spend five minutes in studying such a wonderfully condensed criticism of life as that found in the philosophy of Friar Laurence: So light a foot Will ne'er w*ear out the everlasting flint: A lover may bestride the gossamers That idle in the wanton summer air And Vet not fall ; so light is vanity. The artist paints a great picture and it is reproduced by many inexpensive methods. The dramatist writes a fine play and it is possible to own a copy of the work and study it at leisure. The motion picture can be seen only in a theatre, and is always shown in its entirety. At some future day every home of refinement and culture may be equipped with its own projection* machine, and short pictures, appealing to the highest artistic sense, may be a part of every intelligent person's motion picture library. In the meantime, it may he as well to refrain from uttering solemn warnings or from scolding the public for its lack of unquestioning belief in the screenplay. 'fhe silent stage has a loyal following, in spite of its mistakes, and will work out its future b) force of its inherent worth. Nothing will so assist its progress as a concerted effort on the part of directors, scenario, and continuity writers, to relegate the screen novel to the rear and produce photoplays that are dramas in the theatre seiibe of the word. Zukor Will Aid Department of Labor In Carrying Out Billboard Campaign of Famous PlayersLasky, He Will Reserve Space for Message to Workers. I attention having been attracted by the recent announcements in tin trade papers of the Famous PlayerSr La sky Corporation's country-wide billboard campaign*, the United States Department of Labor has written to President Adolph Zukor requesting that a portion of the space to be used be reserved for a message from the Department. The letter, while incidentally laying emphasis on the tremendous interest being aroused in the campaign everywhere, opens a new avenue through which the motion picture industry may render most valuable service to the Government. This is through systematic poster displays in the lobbies of picture theatres in every city and village in the country, and in a letter to David K. Niks, of the Bureau of Information and Education of the Department of Labor, Mr. Zukor not only has made the suggestions but has offered the services of his organization for carrying it out. This, of course, is in addition to the co-operation in the billboard advertising which' the Labor Department solicited and which was forthwith promised by Mr. Zukor. The shortage of labor in the essential industries has been a matter of considerable concern to the Government for some time, and Mr. Zukor calls the attention of exhibitors to the fact that here lies an opportunity for service in helping to win the war which they can embrace with a minimum of inconvenience, constituting an effective supplement to their work of assisting the Fourth Liberty Loan "over the top." CASSIL JOINS MILITARY PHOTOGRAPHERS. F. H. Cassil, of the Kansas City office of the Fox Film Corporation, has left for the Aerial School of Photography in New York State, adding another star to the Fox service flag.