The Photo-Play Journal (Jul 1919-Feb 1921)

46 Photo-Play Journal THE GREAT SCREEN SCHOOL The ideal agency which combines education and pleasure and thus becomes a most powerful factor for the dissemination of knowledge By MELVIN M. RIDDLE THE motion picture spectator says, just before departing for the theater, "I am going to the picture show." He could very truthfully express his intention in this way : "I am going to school." The argument has been expounded that motion pictures are more potent as an educational factor than any other source of learning, because they combine pleasure and learning. The motion picture patron goes to a theater for pleasure and enjoys the pictures that he witnesses, and 'is therefore impressed by whatever knowledge he may gain through the program, because it is coupled with enjoyment. This orinciple is illustrated by the fact that anyone who studies vithout a certain amount of pleasure in the revelations that are being made to his mind through the printed page or the lecturer, never remembers well what he had studied. Take, for instance, the school child who reads his history lesson with avidity or at least with a very small amount of reluctance, and finishing that, opens up his geography book with a sigh and a feeling of hopelessness and struggles desperately to glean the knowledge that to him seems dry, uninteresting printed words and facts. In which lesson will he be more proficient the next day, in his class room? Which lesson will he have absorbed? The answer is obvious, and the reason is that with a study of the one was coupled a certain amount, however small, of pleasure and willingness, while the other was a mere grind — dry and uninteresting to him. A successful doctor is successful and has learned his business because he has found a certain amount of pleasure in the work of learning and practicing what he has learned. But hating law, could the doctor, by mere work and grind, become a successful lawyer ? Thus, it will be seen how, through the medium of pleasure, the motion picture spectator absorbs all the educational value that might be contained in a picture. Often, he absorbs it unconsciously, but nevertheless it remains in his mind, being a vital part and parcel of the thing which it has given him pleasure to witness. The question naturally arises : What is taught by motion pictures ? Geography, history, literature, art, human nature, are only a few of the subjects that are imparted to the minds of audiences every day in the ordinary film drama. The reading of books develops in one who loves to read, a greater knowledge of the English language, of its idioms, proper phraseology, sentence construction, vocabulary and grammatical structure. A process of continued repetition goes on by which he becomes in time thoroughly familiar with good English and its usage. But what about the man or woman who doesn't enjoy reading, or the working man who doesn't have time to read during the day and is too tired to read at night ? He goes to a picture theater and there sees. a feature production and reads, during the course of its exhibition, a hundred or more printed titles, couched in the best of language and literary style, and evolved after days of constant study and work on the part of learned writers. Who can say a person does not get real literary benefit from these gems which are well remembered by the spectator because of the enjoyment which he has gained in reading them? The student of geography and history reads of the customs and manners of the people of other countries, ancient and modern, of their beliefs, their religious creeds, their mythical lore, their dress, methods of transportation, principal industries, their home life, their architecture, their traits of character, and numerous other facts. But the great masses of the people gain a rough smattering of knowledge of these things in their childhood, forming their own mental pictures and ideas from the reading of text books, all of which is sooner or later either forgotten or becomes a jumbled mass in their minds. But since the inception of motion pictures, it is not only the scholar who knows and is acquainted with these facts. The ordinary working man or woman, even the children, have unconsciously gained a broad working knowledge of a great many things which they would otherwise have known nothing about. Ask the average child what are the Bolsheviki ; what kind of uniforms are worn by French, Italian or German soldiers ; what sort of a looking man is Woodrow Wilson, Marshals Toff re and Foch, General Pershing or the Kaiser ; how do people dress in Mexico, in South Africa, Iceland or on an Arizona cattle ranch ; what kind of a place is the native quarter of Shanghai, China ; how do they serve tea in Japan, and an endless variety of similar and varied questions, and he will answer correctly about nine out of ten questions. Why? Because he has been studying his lessons well at school ? Perhaps he has, but it is a pretty safe bet that he has also been attending the neighborhood motion picture theater pretty regularly. One who has not spent some time within a large motion picture producing plant will not readily realize the vast educational source which motion pictures, as an industry, have opened up to the people of the world. Recently, at the Lasky studio in Hollywood, one of the largest and most representative motion picture studios, four different and widely separated sections of the globe were represented in one day by four settings in which four unit producing companies were each engaged in the production of a picture. The most elaborate of these settings was an Italian villa and gardens, which covered almost the entire surface of one of the big outdoor stages, and in which scenes were being taken for William DeMille's production of Leonard Merrick's story, "Conrad in Quest of His Youth." The architecture was of beautiful Italian style, the gardens were rich with flowers and shrubs native to Italy and beautified by gorgeous fountains, long promenades and other features. The combined efforts of many different kinds of artists and artisans had been spent on this one setting. In a corner of the same stage was a dance hall and barroom typical of the far Canadian northwest, with the inmates appropriately clothed and every detail of atmosphere typical to such a place. This was being used in George Melford's production for Paramount production of Sir Gilbert Parker's novel, "The Translation of a Savage," which bears the screen title, "Behold My Wife !" On an adjoining stage was a typical Greenwich Village party, Bohemian in every respect and reflecting that element of New York society in every detail. This was for scenes in Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle's starring vehicle, "The Life of the Party." On the exterior lot was a perfect replica of a street in the native quarter of Shanghai, China. Here, in one day, were four distinctive sections of the world and phases of human existence, perfectly depicted, and each a unit within itself. And the beauty of it all is that they were faultlessly correct and representative even to the smallest details. The spectators who will see those pictures will not be deceived or misled as to actual conditions and facts. There is at the Lasky studio, an institution known as the research department, whose special work it is to get facts and actual data on any clime, race, nation, structure, city, custom, characteristic or condition under the sun, ancient, mediaeval or modern. In this department are thousands of photographs, magazines, reference books, etc.. and when there is any question about any matter or technical detail, this department looks up the facts. The spectators of a motion picture get a visible picture instead of a mental picture, and this visible picture is true and accurate to the smallest detail. What could constitute a better or finer source of education? (Continued on page 56)