Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1923 - Feb 1924)

30 Motion Pictures of the Mighty -: Although the officials in charge tried to thwart him at every turn, the Fox camera man got a complete record of the excavation of King Tut's tomb. A Living Record of Our limes brains begin to dance with figures at the mere mention of motion pictures. The desire to commercialize everything filmable extends far beyond the domain of sport and commonplace news subjects — even to European royalty itself. On three different occasions within a year I have been approached by persons with undoubted credentials from a reigning queen whose income has been considerably curtailed as a result of the late war, and who apparently makes no secret of the fact that she is ready to place herself and the royal household at the disposal of the camera man for a fixed sum. Needless to say, her majesty has also arrived at an estimate of her photographic value that no producer has as yet found to be consistent with possible boxoffice receipts. Another thing (unknown, of course, in America) is the aversion of many public men in Europe to motion pictures. Why they object is a mystery, but no amount of influence can induce them to pose for the camera. M; Clemenceau, the Tiger of France, is one of them. Not so very long ago he was asked to unveil a statue of himself erected by popular subscription in SainteIlermine, a small French town where he spent his boyhood. A great crowd gathered and there was the usual battery of camera men on hand. M. Clemenceau shot a defiant glance at the latter and announced he would not mount to the speakers' platform until all the cameras had been removed. "I'm too old and ugly for that," was the Tiger's characteristic comment. During his visit to the United States, M. Clemenceau tolerated the camera men, but it was evident from his attitude toward them that he was ill at ease. Premier Poincare also dislikes the motion picture, and not without some reason. Soon after he became the ruling force in France he participated in a memorial service at one of the large war cemeteries. After the While schools are struggling to interest their pupils in great per= sonages of the past, the motion= picture camera man is bringing them into close touch with the men who are making history to= day. Through the magic of the camera they go to places where conferences of world importance are held, they see the men who are representing their country and others. Haven't you wondered how the camera men got all these pictures? This story will tell you. ceremony he and the American Ambassador, Mr. Myron T. Herrick, left the cemetery arm in arm. Some camera man caught them partly in the act of smiling. One of the extreme Socialist newspapers of Paris seized upon this to launch a bitter attack against the premier, reproducing the photograph showing him smiling as "proof" of M. Poincare's mock sincerity. The incident caused a sensation throughout France, and there was talk of suppressing the newspaper in question. The two most difficult persons in the world to film, are the Pope and the former Kaiser of Germany. After several visits to Rome, and careful planning for several months, I succeeded in obtaining the first motion pictures of his holiness to be shown in America. But no one, so far as I know, has ever been able to photograph the ex-kaiser for the movies, since he became an exile in Holland. The nearest any one has got to him was to make a picture of his back at the time of his wedding to the Princess Hermine. I assigned three camera men to the wedding, one of whom was stationed before the main entrance to the ex-kaiser's estate, another circled the grounds, while the third mounted his camera behind a chimney on the roof of a private house overlooking the gardens of Doorn-Haus. It was the fellow behind the chimney who secured the picture of the ex-kaiser's back, with the aid of a long-focus lens.^ A Dutch policeman discovered him a minute later and forced him to descend from the roof. Somebody did get a chance photograph of the ex-kaiser while at Amerongen, and a picture post card has been taken of him at Doom. But thus far he has escaped the movies.