The Photodramatist (May 1922-Feb 1923)

20 Photodramatist for October manufacturer of grape juice, and perhaps that made his moral sense all the more acute. Positive virtue is the triumph over temptation, and if you can't picture temptation you can't prove virtue. But there is no use explaining that to the chorus of Katy-dids. In a certain issue of the Century I opened the magazine with a wonderful story by a then new writer, Phyllis Bottome. It was called, I think, "An Awkward Turn." It had to do with a loyal wife whose almost maternal love for her attractive but erring spouse made her overlook his weakness in an attempt to help him. She finds him dying in the house of another woman and as he dies he mutters a girl's name: it is not that of his present mistress, and the wife pitifully explains to the weeping woman that it is not hers either. A grim jest, as the man dies; and a pathetic sidelight on the long suffering wife. 'TPHIS story did not present the glamor ot per-*■ fumed sin ; it revealed scofchingly the evils of licentiousness and its tragic reaction on innocent people. It was as moral a tale as I ever read. But two well-known advertisers complained, and at least twenty old ladies cancelled their subscriptions because the old Century had dared to recognize the existence of illicit love. The publisher smiled grimly and said : "Don't do it again!" Katy did — then Katy didn't. But the climax of absurdity came with this same issue. And even as the publisher laughingly remarked, 'Well, there's one department the sensitive advertiser won't pick on — and that's In Lighter Vein," in rushed the advertising manager waving a letter. Now it happened that in Lighter Vein I had run a humorous sketch about a sleeping-car, descriptive of a fat man's difficulties in reaching an upper berth. The letter was from a certain railroad company, threatening cancellation of the advertising contract because we were holding sleeping-cars up to ridicule ! So you will perceive that a very potent if unofficial board of censors exists for the publisher and the editor, and it is just about as intelligent and reasonable as that which rides the motion picture industry today. THESE censors constitute a new species of the Katy-did family — Katy mustn't! Katy-mustn't suffers from a complication of diseases — exalted ego, hardening of the brain-cells and a kind of auto-intoxication. And these in the end will kill her off. But what the censor is doing to pictures is nothing to what the average producer is himself doing to the industry. His is a mathematical mind ; for naturally his chief interest is money and there is an endless fascination in figures which represent money. His whole theory of business is based on the obvious fact that two hundred dollars are twice as desirable as one hundred. But his usual mistake is to apply mathematics to creative art. A child has but two parents and a brain-child should have no more. But your ambitious producer is by now obsessed with the multiplication table, and the birth of a modern picture story reminds one of a royal accouchement in the days of Louis XIV when the unfortunate little prince came into the world surrounded by six physicians, ten ladies-in-waiting, a couple of mid-wives, the master of the bed-chamber, the master of horses, the king's equerry and about thirty odds and ends of palace flunkies. And everybody had a good time except the author of the child's very being who probably would have preferred to finish her creative job with less assistance and much less confusion. If the royal offspring not unnaturally developed epilepsy or became a drooling imbecile did they blame the noble chorus of palace Katy-dids? No indeed! It was the royal mother who was in disfavor. She had not made good. ' I "'HERE is only one way consistently to make suc■*■ cessful pictures ; a really creative writer collaborating closely with a really creative director should be subject to no other check than that of a well defined studio policy interpreted by a broad-minded executive. If this does not bring results the fault is not with the plan but with the personnel. A vital story grows as a plant grows, acted upon by the slow creative forces of a trained imagination. Its various elements cannot, and never will be, supplied effectively by a group of minds untrained in ere ative work, and these elements merely tacked together with dramatic tricks. "Business," composition in photography, skill in actual direction — these are the garments the brain child wears, but they should be made to fit, without altering the created values of the story and the characterization— otherwise the illusion of reality is lost and the picture fails. It is being proved daily that the public will overlook mediocre production if the story interest holds and if the shadow characters which flit across the screen have in them the breath of life. The story is, and always will be, the thing, let the Katy-dids argue as they will. Magic By Marion Carr Schenck A coin thrust through a grating; then darkness, the purr of fans and Fairyland thrown on a screen. Here are palaces for the poorest, youth for disillusioned age, foreign lands for the stayat-home, romance for the empty heart: light in little dark lives. Old friends dance down a moonbeam to hold out welcoming hands. What largess of love they bring to shy and lonely, bit ter and sad : laughter and pleasant sigh ; warm, slow-brimming tear; flashing revealments of self; warning, encouragement. Creeds and ideals that appeal even to those who may spurn school or church ; strange, secret trysts, vicarious passions, intimacies beyond speech: a magic window opened on Infinity. And we call this Miracle — Movies !