Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1924)

Photoplay Magazine — Advehtisikg Section DRAWING IS A WAY TO FORTUNE Ali Bated, a Persian farmer, sold his acres to j?o O'lt and seek his fortune. He who bought the farm found it contained a diamond mine which made him fabulously rich. Ali Hafed overlooked the great opportunity at his aoortogofar afield In search of weal th — whichlllustrates a great truth. EARN $200 TO $500 A MONTH If you like to draw, develop your talent. Your fortune lies in your hand. Present opportunities for both men and women to Illustrate magazines, newspapers, etc., have never been excelled. Publishers are buying millions of dollars' worth of Illustrations each year. The Federal Htime Study Course haa been prepared by such famous artists ae NcysaMcMein. Norman Rockwell. Charles Livingston Bull. Claro BriflTga. Sidney Smith. Fontaine Fox and fifty others. Each student gets individual personal attention. No previous training ia necessary. Every step Is clear and simple. FREE, illustrated catalog on request. 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Money back if not more than pleased. Also $3.76 Boudoir Sets, complete with dainty collapsible shavinK brush and scented antiseptic BbavinK stick, each In fancy nickel-plated 1 t-ceptaclea. Send today for the set you desire Order C.O.D. if you wish. EVERETT SAFETY RAZOR COMPANY Dept. 10 Sault Sto. Marls, Michigan, U.S.A. {Dealers being supplied as rapidly as possible.) "A Few Strokes and you are Free from Un■der-arm Hair" Be a Dentist's Assistant $25 to $50 a Week Qualify in this fascinating uncrowdcd woman's field. Learn at home. Dignified, pleasant work. Easy hours. Course is short, thorough and practical. Outlitfrec. Tuitionearncd in a few weeks. No Educational requirements. Free employment service. Many successful graduates. Write for catalog No. S-62. McCarrie School 34 W. Lake St. Chicago, Illinois Free to Scenario Writers Send for FREE copy of THE POPULAR SCENARIO WRITER which contains more material of interest to screen writers than any olhcr magazine. Published right on the ground in Hollywood. Address THE POPULAR SCENARIO WRITER 202 V.uiiu Bltl;., SS07 Santa Monica Bird.. Hollywood, California SEND US YOUR FILMS Mafl as 20o with nnv alio film for development and nix prints, or nend lis six netratlvci. any site, and 'Jlie for rut prints. Trlnl (Vx7 enlsrirenieot in liandm.me folder. ":„-. Ov.rnn.-ht Service. ROANOKE PHOTO FINISHING CO. 2JB Do.i Ave. Roanoke, Vat. royalty and $25 a week on the operetta during its playing lift — if any. The operetta succeeded and DeMille and Lasky became business associates and fast friends. Lasky was now beginning to recover from the shock of the grand collapse of the "Folies Bergere." It was hardly to be expected that he would have an enthusiastic ear for another new project. He had bought about a half a million dollars' worth of pioneering experience in the cabaret. While Friend talked feature pictures, Lasky went fishing in Lake Sebago. Lasky Feature Play Co. Born When the vacation was over and the Friends, Laskys and Goldfishes were again in New York, Friend was still talking motion pictures. Samuel Goldfish, however, had his mind on two other business projects which had first to be tried. They did not go to his liking. Friend was still talking pictures. He convinced Blanche Lasky Goldfish. Finally at the luncheon table at the old Hoffman House, Goldfish surrendered to Friend's everlasting campaign. They would go into the motion picture business. Jesse Lasky was still wary. He could be committed no farther than to participate by nermitting the use of his name. So the Lasky Feature Play Company was lorn. All they needed now was capital. The first financier they sought offered to raise them a hundred thousand dollars in capital for a commission of twenty per cent, which horrified Friend and Goldfish. They fled that office and decided to go ahead with the $26,500 they could raise themselves. It may be remarked in passing that twenty per cent is a commonplace commission for motion picture financing even today, and that within a very recent period producers have paid sixty cents per dollar for capital. Farnum Misses a Bet At the Lambs club, Cecil DeMille and Jesse Lasky overtook Dustin Farnum and sought to decoy him into the motion pictures. They suggested that he might have a substantial interest in the concern for his services. They intended to make "The Squaw Man," purchased for $5,000, a thousand down and the rest on terms. Farnum was cautious. He opined that he would rather have S5.060 in cash. Farnum on this occasion missed a bet, but on the grand average of such propositions he was correct. "The Squaw Man" was Indian and western. Cecil DeMille was to make the picture. The Lasky Feature Play Company looked over the map and elected to go to Flagstaff, Arizona, to make the first production. The name seemed majestic, lone, dignified as a cactus and sufficiently romantic to inspire a great picture. When Cecil DeMille and Dustin Farnum got off the train at Flagstaff they looked about and saw absolutely nothing. There was nothing to see. Right there Flagstaff, Arizona, lost the chance that comes once in an con. The Flagstaff Rotary. Kiwanis and Commercial clubs, the Elks and the City Beautiful Committee should have been at the station with a brass band and a hack decorated with banners to welcome the distinguished strangers. Hollywood might still be growing thick-skinned oranges. But Flagstaff did not know that the man who was to make Moses famous by a rediscovery of the Ten Commandments was at the city's gates. When the train was iced and watered to resume the long haul across the desert, the engineer whistled and the conductor highballed for a departure. Dustin Farnum and Cecil DeMille got oil right behind the conductor, bound for Hollywood. They had heard that it was a good place to make films. Shortly the New York office of the Jesse Lasky feature Play Company, established in the Longacre Theater building, was petrified with a wire reading: "We have rented a barn in Hollywood for two hundred dollars a week." The barn was at Yine and Selma streets. It still is, now a shipping room, neatly incorporated into the acres of Famous Players-Lasky studios. The home office advised the busy barnstormers of Hollywood to go slow scattering the company's money around among the orange trees. The Wobbling "Squaw Man" "The Squaw Man'" was in due time "shot." developed and printed. Meanwhile the picture had been sold to the state's right market for S43,ooo, a handsome profit which put the company on its feet at once. But disaster loomed dead ahead. It was discovered that the picture wobbled and danced all over the screen. Dustin Farnum's "Squaw Man'' appeared to have a terrible case of St. Vitus. Complaint of vast violence came in on the wires from the purchasers of the territorial rights. Hurried consultations were held. What was wrong? Something had to be done or ruin was at hand. "Defective film" some one said In a fever of haste it was decided that they would file suit against the Eastman Kodak Company forthwith. The papers were drawn up for filing. Revenge and indemnity were to be theirs. Meanwhile it was suggested that it might be well to consult some further experts. It would be a good thing that they have some witnesses to put on the stand to clinch the thing. A Case of Too Many Cameras The negative was bundled up and taken over to Sigmund Lubin in Philadelphia. "Pop" Lubin was, of course, in the Patents Company, but there were instances known when he was willing to deal with Independents if not too conspicuous. "Pop" Lubin ran the negative rapidly through his fingers and held it to the light. "Terrible, terrible — this is very serious." He spoke like a surgeon who had been called too late to operate. "Isn't the negative defective?" Arthur Friend, the legal head of the concern, demanded. "No — the negative was all right," Lubin replied, still shaking his head. Friend was annoyed extremely. This would not do the law suit a bit of good. "Is there anything that can be done with it now," the depressed delegation demanded. They hated to hear the answer. "Well," said Lubin. "you used several different cameras, didn't you." They had. "And no two of them had the same frame line, so your negative won't match. But maybe I can fix it for you." Lubin grinned. He was enjoying the terrible suspense. "I will just re-perforate the film, so the sprocket holes come right and then I can make you good prints. " "The Squaw Man" was saved, and with it the Lasky feature Play Company. The concern went on to other feature successes, with a bigger development just around the corner. This same season of 1013 when Arthur Friend was talking the project that resulted in the Lasky Feature Play Company, another fruitful chain of events was started in motion in a most casual way on Broadway. Adam Kessel. busy with the growing affairs of the New York Motion Picture Company and the Keystone comedy concern, occupied an o(\kc in the Putnam building. In casual moments when the whim willed he looked in on the shows up and down the street. The one eventful day concerned he passed a nod to Mike Sullivan, manager of Hammerstein's, and remarked he would look the bill over. A skit entitled " A Night in a London Club" was on. Kvery advertisement in photoplay MAGAZINE is guaranteed.