Motion Picture News (Jan - Mar 1914)

22 THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS PHILLIPS SMALLEY TALKS "PICTURES" Director of Rex Brand on His First Trip East in Three Years Has Many Interesting Things to Tell of His Work with Mrs. Smalley in the Universal Studios at Hollywood, Cal. PHILLIPS SMALLEY, who has been making motion pictures for the last eight years, the last three years of which have been spent in directing Rex pictures, ever since that brand was started, made his first trip East during the week. Mr. Smalley, who was only in New York for a few days, is accounted one of the earnest students of the motion picture art and had several interesting things to say concerning cinematography, its progress, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, his wife, Lois Weber, and himself. "I have been making motion pictures about eight years and started with the old Gaumont talking pictures. After that Mrs. Smalley and I were members of the i 'Id Reliance Company, then known by the name of Kessell & Baumann. Others in the company were Arthur Johnson, Gertrude Robinson, James Kirkwood and Marion Leonard. All the members of that company are now recognized factors in the producing end of the motion picture business. It is about three and one-half years ago that Mrs. Smalley and myself first joined the old Rex Company, the active heads of which were Edward F. Porter, William II. Swanson and Joseph W. Engle. We have been making Rex pictures ever since. I want to give as much credit as possible for the pictures we make to Mrs. Smalley. She does at least half of the directing. If she is playing in the scene, 1 direct it; if I am playing in a scene, she directs it. If we both are playing in the scene, each rehearses for the other and then the scene is taken. 1 luring my present stay in the East she is going ahead producing pic PHILLIPS SMALLEY tures at the Universal studios at Hollywood, Cal. "These studios, by the way, are considered to be superior to any others that I know of. For instance, we have • an open-air stage four hundred feet long, with eight hundred feet of dress ing-rooms for the leading players and a property-room which must be as big as half a New York city block. After taking pictures in the open air, I would not go back to an indoor studio again if I could help it, except to get special effects with the lights. '"For some time past Mrs. Smalley and myself have been producing feature pictures, which have based their ideal upon acting, not spectacular effects. This sort of a picture, I believe, will continue in popularity. The public is bound to tire of spectacular effects. Pictures which contain human interest, often wrongly called heart interest, have a universal appeal to everybody. I feel that a picture which relies upon acting is an epitome of the highest form of the motion picture art. "Further, I want to emphasize the point that the players that produce the best results on the screen are the experienced motion picture actors and actresses. I think that to take from the ranks of the legitimate stage leading players for motion pictures is foolish. They are unfamiliar with the. technique of the pictures and ofttimes their faces offer nothing to the camera. To my mind, the wise producer will endeavor to get the best among the motion picture players if he wants to secure the best results. "Mrs. Smalley and I have in preparation for our next features a series of multiple reel pictures dealing with Christian Science. The first of these, The Leper's Coat,' has already been produced. A peculiar coincidence is that shortly after it was ready for exhibition the Universal Film Manufacturing Company received a request from the Christian Science Church for information about motion pictures. Both Mrs. Smalley and myself are Scientists, and we will endeavor to make this series of unusual value. I am very much pleased to be able to make this trip to New York and renew old acquaintances, but just the same 1 shall be glad to get back again to the coast. The Universal has a harmonious organization, under the leadership of Isadore Bernstein. Upon my return, Mrs. Smalley and I will attack our work with renewed vigor and we hope to produce sonic noteworthj pictures in the near future." SCENE FROM "THE LADY SENORITA" medy wilh Mabel TruneBe and William Wadsworth EQUIPMENT FURNISHED The Picture Theatre Equipment I opny, of 21 East Fourteenth street, New York City, has just furnished an I dison, Model B, machine and asbestos booth to the Gunnery School, \\ ashington, Conn