Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1920)

Five Years Ago Five years ago is only yesterday in almost any line of inventive, scientific or artistic endeavor that you may name. Yet five years ago in the film business — that date is almost prehistoric! Only aviation has kept pace with the giant strides of the Living Shadow across the Whitewashed Wall. Before us is a record of film events, just five years ago. Famous Players was celebrating its first anniversary. The first national advertising of motion pictures had just been made, and was regarded, generally, as a profligate adventure. Adolph Zukor astounded the trade by showing them that his concern had made no less than thirty features in twelve months. A serious discussion was under way as to whether five reels would not prove an unwieldly, expensive and impractical length for most photoplays. Film contracts with a number of rather minor stage stars were announced — general opinion: a triumph for the movie men, a sacrifice ot prestige and dignity for money, on the part of the footlight folks. A man named Griffith, in California, was obscurely engaged upon a picturization of a Thomas Dixon novel, "The Clansman." An outlaw concern, known as Keystone, was whaling away at brief comedies of which no one knew anything in particular except that the little films were good for a lot of laughs. So much for five years. Also before us is a standard magazine of exactly ten years ago. One of its principal articles deals, in good humored tolerance, with one of New York's curiosities, a "Kineto theatre" down somewhere among the lower orders, where poor and not too discriminating people found actual entertainment in fifteen-minute versions of classical plays "which come in a tin box," and for which "really good actors" are "said to have posed incognito during the early morning hours in Central Park." These pioneer pictures, when shown, were "accompanied by tragic lectures." Nowadays, we should doubtless consider the pictures far more tragic than the verbal offering. "Whatever the entertainment," concludes the essay of this intruder upon the pitiful amusements of the poor, "no greater price than five cents is ever charged." -^ NigKts With George, who is five years old, . ^r . lives with his parents in A Vampire. Richmond, Va. The afore said parents are ardent picture devotees; George, so far, doen't see much in the travelling views. He had much rather remain at home, playing with his blocks or sleeping the sleep of the very juvenile. But competent nurses seem not to be had, so the boy is dragged to the photoplay many a time and oft, always against his will. The other day a visitor, as ardent a fan as his mother, asked him as to his favorite star. "I like Theda Bara best," responded George. "Why?" His interrogator was somewhat astonished at this very early preference for" purple problems. "Because papa and mamma don't like her, and we stay home them nights!" T "The Great After the success of Broadway Success" fejf P^ "^^^"^ ^^"^ ■^ bast, was assured, Anthony Kelly observed one day in a facetious mood, that henceforth he proposed to write all his scenarios in the form of a play, and label the cover of the manuscript, "Produced successfully at the Steenth Street Theatre, New York." He said this line on any 'script would sell it immediately. At that time this was regarded merely as a bit of Irish wit. Now, however, it is reported, plays are actually being produced with little hope of success on the stage, merely to create an artificial value in the scenario market. The immortal story of Cinderella, produced in one form and another perhaps a score of times in a year, will be rejected, no matter how clever the variation, if submitted to a producer as an "original." But let it get itself into the electrics on Times Square and the film companies will be bidding into the fifty thousands for it. A play that has had a run of a quarter of a century like "In Old Kentucky" is worth this fancy price, of course, because it is so widely advertised, but when a show opens Monday night and goes to the warehouse the following Saturday, it is difficult to see how its record makes it important picture material. And the label "The Great Broadway Success" is being so overworked that it fools nobody any more. There are two reasons for this condition. First, too much scenario buying is done outside of the scenario departments. Producers pay men of talent large salaries to handle the scenario work, and then won't let them do it. It is hard to sell a literary goldbrick to a man in the writing business, and most of the fake play successes are wished on the scenario editors by those higher up. Which leads to the second reason — producers are success worshippers. It is a form of Manhattan myopia, the least indicattion of success dazzling the patient and befuddling his vision. He believes that one swallow makes a summer and that a Longacre premiere makes a success. It stands, to him, as a mark