Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1916)

-110 Photoplay Magazine entirely on the weather, for the California certainty of rainless months was here pointedly absent. Waste in the daylight that is money, was a much more serious problem. As Paul was now directing as well as acting, his time was reasonably full. He believed in releasing his company by five o'clock, but circumstances determined this. Lunching at the studio, he was lucky to get home to a seven o'clock dinner at his hotel, usually bringing with him material to be read or studied afterwards. He worked a good many evenings, but he found his relaxation in light musical comedies, a few social gatherings, and in breathless detective fiction. Obviously this life did not provide time for much fast traveling along the White Lane. The fact of the matter was that Paul found it necessary to observe the hours and habits of an athlete in training, a mode of life to which he subjected himself for reasons of experience, and not because he was "better" than anyone else. Like most men he could look back on wild days. The life of the screen had long since lost for him any illusion, glamour or romance that it might once have held. It represented hard work leading to the goal of affluence and independence, and he adhered to his strict life primarily because reason told him it paid the highest dividends. His employers were aware of these facts and trusted him correspondingly. His judgment was good, and Stannard often consulted him on matters vitally important to the Company's interest. He was well on the way to becoming a leading figure in his profession, and June Magregor, placed between Paul Temple and Stephen Holt, a man equally big in his way, was in the position of the grist between the mill stones. Wednesday evening of every week was set apart for viewing new Graphic productions, a function which everyone of importance in the company was expected to attend, and which took place in the projection room of the executive offices located in a sky-scraper near Broadway and Fortysecond Street. This room was a tomb of a place provided with a slanting floor and fitted up luxuriously with opera chairs and deep-pile' carpet. The usual screen was at one end, and square holes cut in the other allowed for throwing the picture from the operator's fire-proof box just outside. This Wednesday evening as usual men and women commenced to drift in at quarter to eight, being deposited by the elevator at the fifteenth floor in groups of two or three. Most of these were Graphic people, but they included also news and trade-paper reviewers. Paul arrived almost at eight o'clock, in company with Gene Perkins, his camera man, a long, melancholy individual who had directed the artillery during Briscoe's work in the North, and was accustomed to risk his life with an unchanging expression of ennui. They managed to find seats and a few minutes later the lights were snapped off and the showing began. The first release was a five-reel feature called "For Conscience Sake," and had been made in the Fort Lee studio though not by Paul's company. As each character was introduced at the beginning of the picture, he or she was greeted by applause. Similar praise greeted particularly welldone scenes. At the end of each reel the lights flashed on to permit of changing the film, and people blinked and discussed the picture with their neighbors. Here and there laughter sounded, and there was an intermittent shuffling of feet as late comers entered and stood at the back of the room. Following the feature came the Graphic weeklv. shown here for final editing. At this time feverish preparations for trouble with Mexico were under way and many of the scenes were martial. But there was the usual interspersing of accidents, sporting events, and freak items. Finally, after an extraordinary photograph of a cyclone approaching a Kansas town, this title appeared on the screen : HOLLYWOOD, CAL., MOVING PICTURE STARS WORK FOR CHARITY International Favorites Unite in Monster Lawn Fete for the Actor's Fund of America Instantly Paul Temple was alert, hoping to see Tune, for she had written him of the preparations for the event and of the part she would take in it. The title disappeared and the picture flashed on, showing the throngs of people surging beneath the eucalyptus trees and