Paramount and Artcraft Press Books (1918)

PRESS REVIEW To Be Sent to the Newspapers Immediately After the First Showing of William S. Hart’s New Photoplay. / An Artcraft Picture. ^^Big BilV^ Hart Hits the Trail for the Big City in His Great New Photoplay ^^Branding Broadway” Picture Which is Quite Different From His Usual Vehicles, Has Delightful Story which Proves Most Acceptable to big Audience at Its Premier Presentation Here. SOMEONE once wrote a poem about a homesick cowpuncher in Manhattan, who' sat beneath the shade of a rubber plant and bemoaned his fate, longingly sighing for the plains and mountains of his beloved West. “Big Bill” Hart — it seems unnatural to refer to him as William S. — is pretty well identified with the West by his famous Artcraft pictures, and it is conceivable that if he were to be stranded in the metropolis he might feel just like that. However, Bill was once a Broadway actor — ^'yes, he even played Romeo. And he can be perfectly at home on the pavements and under the incandescent glow of the now more or less darkened “White Way.” But not from choice will Bill hit the trail for the big city. He prefers the untamed West and the open lands, even if he does drive an auto these days and has put his Pinto into private life on a pension. Still, a change is always welcome and in his latest Artcraft picture, “Branding Broadway,” which was presented with brilliant success at the theatre yesterday. Mr. Hart travels to New York and we actually see him in a dress suit. This is the result of the trip made by Bob Sands, a cowboy, with some of his boon companions, to Whetstone, Ariz., one day. They all want a good time and when they find the only saloon in the town practically closed, the town having gone dry, the punchers wax wroth and proceed to tear things wide apart. But the members of the Law and Order League get busy, put the cowboys to flight and capture Sands, whom they place on a train going East ward, as the best means of getting rid of him. He sees an advertisement in a newspaper inserted by Harrington, a railroad magnate, offering a job to a strong minded man to keep his son out of mischief. Sands goes to New York, applies to Harrington for the job and gets it. Larry Harrington, the son, is a wild lad and when Sands starts in to tame him he has a hard time of it along the Great White Way. Larry has written some letters to Mary Lee, keeper of a restaurant, and Harrington hires a detective to wrest them from her. Sands has met and loved Mary and to be near her, he rents a room next door to her apartment. The detective enters Mary’s room and after ransacking it finds the letters and is secreting them in his pocket when Mary surprises him. She gives him battle and the sounds of the struggle reach Sands, who goes to her rescue and throws the detective bodily down stairs. When he learns that the man has stolen the letters, he appropriates a policeman’s horse and chases the detective, whois riding in a taxi. He takes the letters from the man and explanations with Larry and his father follow. Sands declares his love for Mary and they plan to go to Arizona, where Sands has a fine ranch and where they may raise cows, an” geese, ’n everything. Mr. Hart’s portrayal was artistic as usual,, while the work of Seena Owen as Mary Lee was eminently artistic. The support was adequate throughout, and the picture as a whole reflects great credit upon C. Gardner Sullivan, the author, and William S. Hart as director. r William S. Hart By Morrie Ryskind. What time he roams the wellknown plains And makes a living robbing trains, Until some female wins his Hart, We say, “Some class!” meaning, “What art!” And yet we’d have you understand That Bill’s not limited to land. We’ve seen him play a husky sailor Aboard a North Pacific whaler. Oh, put him on the land or sea — But show the five-reel film to me! ^ 7