Pictures and the Picturegoer (April - September 1915)

VMiKK l*N Al'Kll, J t 60 PICTURES AND THE PICT.;:<ECOER The American Cinema THROUGH BRITISH EYES. timei t\ .mi i 1 1 when purchasing mj ticket al the i". i> i I Krai asked if | u,, u lil take a small boj in wh was waiting tor lomt 1\\(»l LD like to )*> paid for the number of times I have beeu inside bnglish cinema theatres The war, however, transferred mj activities to tin United States, where I have taken full advantage of the opportunity of making a first-hand investigation of its cinemas. bough 1 .1 m not the first to saj so, [can ai 1>>:is( present some original data to liear out mj assertion thai British cinema theatres are superior t" American. I have 1 n inside a good number in New V oil, and Brooklyn, and these m;iy beset forth as typical of the chain of twentj thousand extending1 for a distance of nearlj four thousand miles from Maine to California. i lie exteriors of the theatres are n<>t -,, pretentions as some of the modern balls in Britain, and when you get inside you notice the difference as well. The seats arc wooden tipnpa, the projection is sometimes indifferent, and the " orchestra is seldom more than a Military piano. Some theatres go one better and add a violin. What pleases me, however, is that the orchestra is not hidden from the audience by a high screen, as many I have come across in London. The exhibitors do not attempt to make yon believe that the) employ more musicians than there actually are. At one high-class show I have beeninau automatic piano is manipulated by one man. It not only plays all sorts of tunes to order it also produces effects. L favour the piano proper. The other is too much like a gramophone trying to improve on the human \ oice. What 1 fail to understand is why the theatres here should adhere t<> one price. There has been a lot of discussion anent raising the prices of admission, th< re heing two sets of shows, respectively live cents (2id.) and ten cents (od.). The suggested increase applies mostly to the nickeldromes.asthe tive-centtheatresaredubbed. They are. for the most part, of such small s> ating capacity that it is a wonder to me they pay at all. 1 think it would mean the rum of the industry to double the price at this time. Yet it strikes me that the halls here can learn much from the progressive British exhibitor who enlarges his theatre and fixes three admission prices. Hut here and there the shows over this side are solving the difficulty by asking twice as much for admission on Saturday and Sunday, when they put on a slightly longer and better programme. live reels are usually shown for five cents and seven for ten cents. The latter price houses go in for big features, and show the best and newest of the ordinary photo-plays. If the daily change of programme has had a curious effect on me, then it no doubt accounts for the enthusiasm displayed by the American picturegoer. When I was in England I never went to the picture-theatre more than four times a week at the most, but since I have been here it has mostly been six nights per week. The week just gone I broke the record, and went seven times in as many evenings. Where I reside in Brooklyn. America's fourth largest city, there are no less than a dozen cinemas within the radius of a mile, so then' are plenty for a fastidiouspersonlikemyselftochoosefrom. Instead of saying "I am going to the pictures/' Americans-use the word "mo " Cinema " is exclusively European. The\ hne a queer rule in and around New '-->iv which in that no child under the age of fourteen ma j be ads /ted to sj • movie theatre without being accompanied bj II • parent or guardian, This works hard on the exhibitors and children themselves, but the former know how to evade it The othor i hen purchasing n u oiild take a sina II g I Samaritan to come along, [could not. of course refuse, At some "i the cheaper shows thy hold what are i wn an "Premium Nights." At a stated hour an attendant comes around with a DO* o! tickets, lb' bands this t U of t ho children ui the fronl rows and a ticket is pioked out, Be calls out the number, and the person possessing the ticket p. it receives the prize, usually a mantelpiece statue, The art of bluffing is practised toai I theatre will frequently announce the personal appearance of >ome popular player in connection with a film being shown. Bui every time I have been there he or she i announced la being absent through " illness," or some other plausible cause. Just a tew days before showing " The Battle of Waterloo" the proprietor of a Brooklyn show addressed his patron and said that it was made last summer on the actual battlefield A you know, this picture was produced in 1913 ata village in Northamptonshire, and not in Belgium. I award the palm to America lor producing the besl photoplays, but Britain must have the credit for possessing the best theatres. EbKEST A. DeN< II. FAM1LIAK FILM FACES, No. The Detective: The False (Teeth) Clue.