Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1922)

Photoplay Magazine — Advertising Section ii i AND so after all, it is perhaps of no importance what the picture men of today may decide about the future of natural color. Of course the effort embodied in "The Glorious Adventure" as the first natural color drama acquires a certain orthodoxy from the name of J. Stuart Blackton, himself a picture pioneer from the earliest days of the screen. And the history of the Prizma concern, which made its process available to Blackton for this picture, runs back into the early roots of the motion picture. William Van Doren Kelley, the inventor of the Prizma processes, was a minor employe of the American Mutoscope Company, which, in after years, became successively the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company and later just "The Biograph Company," famous for the screen beginnings of Griffith, Sennett, Pickford, and others of that classic host. Mr. Kelley began his motion picture researches then, under the auspices of E. B. Koopman, the promoter of the Mutoscope concern, in the distant days of 1897, a full decade before the dawn of Griffith and the first inklings of modern screen drama. Meanwhile, we are not forgetting that there are besides Prizma, numerous other color processes still on the laboratory work benches. Something may come of one of them some day. Also picture history carries the record of the efforts of a projection color process, involving the use of special theater equipment, known as kinemacolor, which rose and fell with the showing of the Durbar picture years ago. Kinemacolor went down for a variety of reasons, none of which has the slightest application to the present status or prospect of natural color photography. Meanwhile Prizma, which has been on our screens with travel pictures for two years, comes with the first natural color feature drama, made by a new and better camera. What will the public say? Is it a novelty, or a milestone of progress? Questions and Answers ( Continued from page 90) Rosie, Tarrytown, N. Y. — The Gishes are not twins. Lillian is twenty-six, Dorothy twenty-four. Gish is their real name. Lillian isn't married; Dorothy is Mrs. James Rennie. The latest Gish picture is "Orphans of the Storm," a Griffith production. Lillian now has her own company, producing at the D. W. Griffith studios in Mamaroneck, and releasing through United Artists. Dorothy hasn't made any films recently. Rennie in "The Dust Flower" for Goldwyn. L. K., Bridgeport, Me. — You have, you write, wanted to become a moving picture actress for twenty years, which is your age, and you have convinced the family that you should become one. Now all you have to do is convince the casting directors. This is very simple. All you have to do to find out how simple it is is to try to convince one. But you should have entered your picture in the PHOTOPLAY-Goldwyn New Faces Contest. That was the greatest opportunity for all ambitious girls to see if they possessed screen qualifications. Sorry you missed it. The Bat. — Welcome, welcome, old friend! Draw up a chair before the fire(?) and light up. You wish this stormy night to talk over many things. Poetry and painting and the noble art of the motion picture. You wish to know where is Sidney Herbert now. He is in "Orphans of the Storm," as Robespierre. Helen Dunbar in "The Ghost Breaker." You are older, now, old friend; there are streaks of gray in your hair. And you are wiser, too. Instead of discoursing upon the virtues of the beach adornments, you are watching the acting of the maturer members of the profession. In closing, old friend, let us recall those ringing words uttered by Oscar Wilde, "The past is composed of things we ought not to have done; the present of things we should not do; but the future — that is the artist's hope." (By the way, old man, I ran in to see a new Sennett sonata the other evening; and there was a girl in it named Mildred June — and she was almost — not quite, mind you, but almost — as charming as our Phyllis. The name of the picture was "Gymnasium Jim." Don't forget, "Gymnasium Jim.") Fern, Cherokee, Iowa. — If you want to weigh the same as your favorite screen stars, you'll have to calculate quite a bit. Because Betty Blythe weighs 140 and Marguerite de la Motte weighs only 105. My solution would be to eat as much potatoes and pastry as you like for a while. Then begin your reduction exercises so you'll look like Marguerite. Of course you don't tell me how tall you are so it makes it rather difficult. Katherine MacDonald weighs 130; Elsie Ferguson, 135; and Pearl White, 120. Gerry. — Anna Nilsson is in this country now. She went abroad to appear in "Three Live Ghosts" and "The Man from Home," for Paramount. Miss Nilsson is not married, although she was once to Guy Coombs, who used to play with her in the old Kalem days. Frank Simpson. — You want a picture of Neal Hart in Photoplay. If I have anything to say you shall have a picture of Neal Hart in Photoplay. Unfortunately, I have very little to say. Drop in again, Frank Simpson, and ask me some more questions. Just Jane, Bradford, Mass. — Thanks— and lots of them. For your letter, first of all, the nicest I have read this month; for the clever card, which I shall place among my treasures; and finally for your extra-special commendation of me. Of course the last should really be first, as I am only human and would rather hear about myself than anybody else. So you think I look just like Blackie Daw. Ah — you should see me without the mask. If I ever do go up to the city of books and beans, I shall surely let you know. I appoint you Correspondent De Luxe, with special privileges of asking me extra questions — -which doesn't necessarily mean, however, that I'll answer them. V. E., Washington, D. C. — Art Acord seems to be a Lochinvar off, as well as on the screen. He has been married twice, once to Miss Edythe K. Sterling and now to a Pasadena, California, society girl. He was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 1890. His latest picture is "Winners of the West" — a serial. "In the Days of Buffalo Bill," acclaimed as the serial of serials and the thriller of thrillers, and which Art graces with his presence, won't be released for several months. Viola, Marshalltown, Iowa. — I am sorry that I have no record of the Madigans. It's a good old name but it has no representatives in the celluloid industry. As far as other branches of the theatrical professions are concerned, I don't know, as I am informed only in the films. (Did I hear any voices raised?) • M. C. — Wanda Hawley is Mrs. J. Burton Hawley in real life. She is no longer a Realart star, but a member of the Lasky company. She supported Dorothy Dalton in "The Film Stories! Can You Write Them? THE writing of stories for the screen is a branch of the Motion Picture Industry which holds forth unlimited opportunities to persons who are qualified for this work. There has always been an unlimited number of ambitious amateur writers who sought to enter this lucrative and peculiarly attractive field of endeavor, not because they were particularly qualified or properly prepared, but because they looked upon this work as an easy road to fame and fortune. It is useless for such persons to answer this announcement. But, to persons gifted with creative imagination who feel that, with proper training, they could WRITE for the screen, we offer every encouragement and an opportunity properly to prepare themselves for careers as writers of screen stories. Literary ability is not necessary. It is not difficult for imaginative persons to write stories in the simple synopsis form the producers demand. Newly trained photodramatists have written and conceived the plots that have been developed into the most successful photoplays. You may never have attempted to write a film story before. That does not matter. If you possess the desire to create, if you want to write stories, there may be a great future for you in this profession. Address a letter today to Mr. Charles Donald Fox, Dept. B, 2537 South State St., Chicago, Illinois, telling him something about yourself, your literary tastes, ambitions and reasons for thinking that you could achieve success as a writer of photoplays. If your letter indicates that you possess the necessary qualifications for this work you will immediately receive a beautifully illustrated book which cannot fail to stimulate your ambition and desire to perfect yourself in this art and which Mr. Fox sends to you absolutely free of cost or obligation upon your part. Write to Mr. Fox today! Do not delay! When you write to advertisers please mention PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE.