Picture Show (Nov 1919-Apr 1920)

10 The Picture Show, January 'iAth, 1920. XICKERS from FILMLAND, NEWS, NOTES, AND OPINIONS BY FRED K. ADAMS. MEN BEHIND THE FILMS. BERNERD. Seeing Picture-Plays Backwards. WHEN I see people coming out of a picture theatre with impassive faces, and hear them say of the big [film, ' Oh, pretty good,' in a languid sort of way, I wonder how many have seen the picture backwards." So commented Henry King, the Jesse D. Hampton Company's producer. " Seeing a picture backwards," he explained, " means entering a theatre during the third part of its run, and starting there. Now this is unfair to the patron himself who wants to get the most enjoyment out of his drama, and is a rank injustice to the producer, who builds his play up witli the purpose of cumulative effect on the emotions. Much of this effect he hopes to get by withholding the course of events, and turning the plot so as to create pleasurable surprises. But how is he to accomplish this if patrons of the theatre walk in towards the end, and see his climax first ? A Reform Needed. WITH the end as his starting point, the playgoer knows so much when he eventually sees the beginning of the story that all the efforts of the author and director to surprise him and keep him alert with suspense are heavily handicapped. " In some of the theatres," he continues, " that permit people to flock in and out at any stage of the picture-play, the managers are very careful not to let people disturb the musicians during the overture. "But some of the managers are coming to see that it is to their own advantage to do all they can to discourage the practice of seeing the feature picture backwards. He finds that if he can start Jhem always at the first reel they get double tho enjoyment ; the course of the play brings them amusement and surprise, and they go out pleased, instead of indifferent folk who have been foiled iu their search for something good mainly because they are victims of a custom." Of course, there are many obstacles in the way of a reform in this matter, but exhibitors should certainly do all they can to arrange things so that it becomes the universal custom for patrons to begin a picture at the first reel. This plan would be far more satisfactory for all concerned. What is a Scenario Writer? THE Goldwyn Company have discovered that there is a big misnomer in the film industry ; it is the word " scenario." Accordine to the dictionary, a " scenario is " An outline or synopsis of a drama," and is pronounced she-na-re-o. Certainly the manuscript, " script," or whatever else it is called, from which the director pictures or interprets the thought which the writer gives him, is far from being a " scenario." It is not an outline, neither is it a synopsis. It is a detailed and analytical dissection of the subject, be it comedy or drama, and gives the whys and wherefores in some twenty-five to forty, and even fifty thousand words. Twenty-five thousand words is hardly a " synopsis." Yet authoritative sources say that a " scenario " »a a synopsis ! Dramatist Won't Do. JUST what, then, can the fellow who gives this elaborated mass of detail be cailed ? Dramatist ? No, for that particular word has too long been in association with the speaking stage, sometimes known as the " legitimate." Picture dramatist ? Possibly, but the words seem to be lacking in something. Photoplaywright ? No, for that implies that the picture is the writer's own conception, whereas in a majority of ea^es he is making the pictvire version of some one else's idea. Cannot someone, asks the Goldwyn writer, suggest a better designation than merely " scenario writer " 1 A Huge Film Studio. THE magnitude of the moving picture industry is amazingly illustrated in the Goldwyn Studio at Culver City, California. There are few people who realise the many elements that go into the making of pictures they see upon the screen for their amusement. The regular employees total seven hundred, with an excess daily average of three hundredThe original plant was built in 1915 at a cost of over £100,000, another hundred* thousand having since been spent in additions, improvements, and changes. There are two miles of cement walks and drives, with ten acres of lawns and flowers. Eleven permanent structures, costing £30,000, have been erected, making a total of thirty -five buildings. There are 100 dressing rooms, with two large spaces for extra*, and one huge " mob " room. There are 75 offices on the grounds, . with 22 busy departments, besides the numerous sub-departments and branches. JEFFREY HERE is a portrait of Mr. Jeffrey Bernerd, the managing director of the Stoll Film Company, who has decided to deal only in British films in future. " We want British sentiment, and British characteristics reproduced for us," he says. " We want natural films in which the actors are human, and not mere automatons." With the building of the new studio, Stoll's will be in a position to provide twenty-six All-British plays in the first year. JEFFREY BERNERD. MORE BRITISH FILM PROGRESS. — The Sword Dance, a scene from "The Harp King," the first all-Scottish film production. MISS NAN WILKIE. Leading lady, in British films. Some Interesting Figures. DURING the past year there were built Italian, Russian, Southern, Alaskan, Spanish and Western street settings at a cost of £25,000, and a hundred and ten temporary stage settings are built weekly. Company motor-cars make 2,000 miles average daily, exclusive of the artist's machines. 200,000 feet of film can be turned out in 24 hours. The big canteen accommodates 2,500 persons weekly. Five thousand local players are indexed in the casting office files for crowd parts. An average of 3,960 telephone calls are handled daily by two operators on 62 connections and eight outside trunk lines during eleven working hours. This is at the regular average estimate of six calls a minute, which means 360 per hour, i What they are Doing. Jack Pickford is to appear in an 0. Henry story called " Double-Dyed Deceiver." — ♦-» — ■ Anita Stewart has just completed her two months' rest, and is now in shape for the strenuous year of picture-making which is planned for her. — «~» — Percy Marmont lias been engaged as leading man to Alice Joyce in a number of production: — ♦+ — The United Artistes — the Big Four— are securing enormous bookings on Douglas Fairbanks' new picture, " When the Clouds Roll By." — — Dustin Farncm's next picture is "The Corsican Brothers." — ♦+ — Charlie Chaplin's latest film, " A Day's Pleasure," shows him as the father of " bouncing " twins. The Week's Best Films. THE following is a list of the best photo-plays which are being released during this week, together with the names of the star artistes : Gaumont " Beyond the Pale ' Rene Creste. II" ilker " The Grey Horizon " Sussue Hay.vkawa. If. and F. . . " Boston Blackie's Little Pal " Bert Lytell. Industrial ■ '" Making Ladies' Palmetto Hat* Walturdaw " Fettered '* Stock. Company. YUaaraph ... " The Lion and the Mouse " Alice Joyce and Anders Randolp. Western Import .'. .. "A Love Sublime" CabMEL Myers and Wilfred Llca*. Famous Latky '" The Poppy Girl's Husband " W. S. Hart. Western Import .. . . "His Fatal Move" Butcher (L JiO) .. .. " Good-night, Turk " Dot Farley and Charles Chink. ViUnraph ■ .. ' The Strength of Men" Edith Storey.