Photoplay (Sep - Dec 1918)

Photoplay Magazine — Advertising Section 17 War and the Fifth Estate A BUGLE shrilled in the darkness of the big theatre. The pictured actors ran to the window of the Paris hotel. Far down the street came a flutter of flags. The bugle call sounded again and then on the screen were flashed the words, "The Americans have come!" It was the climax of a picture that had stirred every emotion. Men and women had wept and laughed and shuddered as war's comedy and tragedy sprang into being before them. They had seen the German horde sweep down into France, they had seen the poilus standing up under the withering fire of the boche artillery, they had gone into the trenches and fought alongside these brave sons of a brave nation, and now came the thrilling sight of men of their own flesh and blood marching to join in the struggle for democracy. Do you wonder that they cheered and cheered and cheered again, standing in their seats with tears running down their cheeks, cheering until far up the hanging globes of the highest lights shook at the storm of it? To every man and woman in that great theatre the war became from that time forth a living, breathing thing. No longer a remote passage at arms in distant lands, it was brought before their very eyes in all its grimness and glory. And here was but one of countless such experiences that have their counterparts in moving-picture houses the country over. The Greeks believed that drama had a cleansing effect upon all those who watched it. They believed that it purged a man's soul of the baser things, lifting it up to the heights of the emotions rising out of the acted scenes. If this world-old theory is indeed true, what a mighty cleansing the soul of this nation has experienced in watching the drama of war as portrayed by the moving picture! It was1 not the fault of the American people that they did not realize the full meaning of the war from the outset. There was little reason why they should have. All too many of those who were shouting, 'Wake Up, America" were men (and women, too) who heretofore had held themselves coldly aloof from America's democratic aspirations and dreams. They were not the sort the people trusted, they did not speak the people's language and some parts of the nation waited to be shown. They were shown. They are being shown today. With their own eyes they saw America arming. They sawr their boys change from slouching, callow youths into upstanding, responsible men in the magic crucibles of cantonment and training camp. They saw the vast trains of supplies being moved to feed these men better than any army is being fed. They saw the workers in the munitions plants forging weapons for America's fighters and they saw the finished products, those splendidly trained soldiers of ours, marching aboard the transports. As they gained a first-hand knowledge of events from the physical pictures on the screens, their mental pictures of the war broadened into a true perspective of its overwhelming importance. Today as they see our khaki in Paris, on Flanders fields, in the American-held trenches, they grasp the meaning of it all with a human understanding that never could be cajoled by orations or essays. All the Allied governments have been quick to realize the outstanding importance of the Motion Picture as a moulder of public sentiment, a stabilizer of civilian morale. They have called up the best brains of the business and put them to work devising the most efficient methods of screen propaganda. In Washington whole offices are devoted to this vital work. Pictures of America's preparation and landing in France are shipped regularly to Spain, South America and other neutrals. What they have done in offsetting the thoroughly organized German propaganda in these countries may never be known but we can be sure their influence is felt. Nor is it alone for propaganda purposes that the governments so universally look to the Motion Picture. They have not neglected the recreational value of the screen. At one time in the first black days of the war the authorities decided to close the Motion Picture houses of Paris. They soon saw their mistake. There were very definite evidences of the dangerous effects of depression caused by lack of the accustomed diversion. Like individuals, nations cannot afford to dwell too persistently upon the one thought of war. Man must have his lighter moments if he would face the ■ sterner ones. The splendid service rendered by the Motion Picture in the sale of Liberty Bonds and Thrift Stamps, in the promotion of the work of the Food Administration and the numerous other war activities need not be emphasized here. It is familial to anyone who has been in a motion-picture house since April, 1916. In a time of world agony there comes the Moving Picture to lure the tortured mind into pleasant places, to hearten the desolate, refresh the weary. Well may we call the Motion Picture the Fifth Estate. It has worthily proved its right to stand beside the Press as the new expression of our new Democracy. On the screen, Man sees his brother Man and his heart goes out to him in the true spirit of fraternity. Now this Fifth Estate has its interpreter and the name of that interpreter is Photoplay. Where the Motion Picture goes, Photoplay goes. Whom the Motion Picture interests. Photoplay interests. In picture and in type it is the magazine of the MotionPicture world that reflects most accurately the most important developments in that world. Like the Motion Picture, its appeal is human and universal. (Copyright, 1918, Photoplay Magazine)