Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1919)

Educational Fil A department of service in the application of the motion picture to one of its greatest fields of usefulness. / By Henry MacMahon c DO you know that the dormouse has never felt the thrill of hanging up his stocking on Christmas eve — simply because he sleeps without a break from November to March? Do you know that the python can eat ^-„a pig four times its own size and not feel stuffy? Perhaps you do; maybe you have read about it in a book. You have, then, relied on the written word. But would you not be '^ffi more interested and would not the impression be more lasting and vivid ^ were you to see — actually see — the dormouse sleeping while autumn turns to winter, or the python in the midst of swallowing his portion of food, whose size Hoover could never sanction? Motion pictures showing the lives and habits of animals is but another great, new phase of the educational film. In the series, "The Living Book of Nature," Raymond L. Ditmars is accumulating a priceless "library" for the eyes and brains of those who are interested in animals — whether that animal be a lion from Africa, or an alley cat in Toledo. Already Mr. Ditmars has dogged with his camera fifty-three differ ent animals during their most interesting hours. Often months were required to collect a reel showing such difficult bits of ac tion as the life of our distant friend, the skunk, or Mis t e r Katydid grinding out his love song. Professor Ditmars, a member of the New York Zoological staff and otherwise a famed animal authority, has At right — Reptilian camouflage. These pale green serpents from Brazil look like th vines of the tropics. These creatures lived weeks in the Ditmars' studio until they became accustomed to crawling naturally among settings imitating their native jungle, when they could be "shot" by the camera. Photos by Educational Films Corporation Showing a katy-did in die act of "singing." You may not have known that the songs of insects are produced by rubbing brittle parts of the wings that are known as the stridulating organs. These organs are clearly shown behind the head, and look like discs of rough mica. Mr. and Mrs. Ditmars at work in the laboratory with an intricate camera which may be thrown into various ratios of gear in order to photograph and portray types of motion that are too quick for the eye to follow. The camera is fitted with a lens of great magnifying power and records the most intimate close-ups of the smaller creatures. 40 devoted the past rive years toward transferring the moods and peculiarities of animals to the screen. Professor Ditmars' library of fifty-three subjects indicates the limitless field for further revelations into which he intends to step deeper. In earlier years Professor Ditmars told what he had discovered in books, but the possibilities of even more vividly revealing animals in their natural haunts came to him through a study of the motion picture camera. "In 'The Living Book of Nature.'" explains Professor Ditmars. "I am not looking for thrills or for camera tricks, but rather studies of the animals to reveal characteristic traits, habits and life histories unnoticed or unattainable by those who wander casually past the cages. "None of my work is in the nature of made-up acting, and even in the monkey house I do not train the simians after the manner of the professional stage trainer, but rather educate them to investigate the extent of their mental capabilities. Stace training is largely the infliction of fear and punishment, but our method is entirely one of imitation and suasion. Thus the monkeys learn to handle knife and fork, to wear clothes, to perform intricate mechanical tasks, simply by watching and imitating human beings doing these things. For instance, there isn't an animal in our monkey house that won't put on a hat if it is handed to him. As favorable opportunities occur I accumulate film bits of their intelligent actions until finally I have a pretty complete life-history of the monkey from the lowest to the highest stage of intellectual development. It may take the better part of a year to build up this one film subject, but while I