Picture Show (May-Oct 1920)

The Picture Show, June I9lh, 1920. ^iiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimimiiiiiiiiiiiim FREE JUMPER PATTERN This is the third of the " WOMAN'S WEEKLY" free paper patterns and, possibly, the best. Make sure you get it! Order "WOMAN'S WEEKLY" from your newsagent TO-DAY and tell him to keep a copy for you every week in future. VOU can make up the jumper * blouse in either or both of the two styles shown here. With paper patterns at their = present price this is an opportunity you can't afTora to miss. Dainty jumper blouses like these are an absolute necessity for the summer and you certainly won't find another pattern even half so simple and economical as the one you get in your copy of this week's issue of WEEKLY On Sale Everywhere TO-MORROW. = Acting for the Cinema* ALFRED BISHOP EXPLAINS HIS METHOD. ALFRED BISHOP. (r/toto: Claude Harris.) 1" caught" Mr. Alfred Bishop at the Royalty Theatre about five minutes before he took his cue,' and found him, appro-' priately enough, engaged in perusing! Albert Chevalier's: pamphlet, "Thej Theatre and the Cinema." ''Have you read it?" inquired Mr. Bishop, after his cordial greeting. " A most admirable little treatise." Confessing my ignorance. I took the proffered booklet and turned a few pages. One paragraph attracted my attention (the italics are mine) " There is a great similarity between the rise of the cinema and the music-hall. Each institution has derived much benefit from reconciliation with its parent, the theatre, and the mere fact that reconciliation involved competition has resulted in all-round improvement." I commented on this to Mr. Bishop. " I quite agree," he said. " The stage is undoubtedly the parent of the film, though, somehow, people seem lo lose sight of the fact. As Mr. Chevalier remarks further on, ' Dramatic pantomime had reached a very high plane of artistic excellence long before the cinema washeard of.' Witness ' L' Enfant Trodigue.1 " The Success of the Legitimate Actor. " \ /OU think tho stage and screen are J closely allied — that the one helps the other ? " " I think the drama helps the film, but I do not consider that the stage is under any obligation to the screen." " Then, in your opinion, a legitimate actor' stands a greater chance of success on the screen than a player whose experience has been gleaned solely in the studio I " Undoubtedly. In iact, I consider that o'l the screen successes hove been made by those who first were stage players." Mr. Bishop's film career includes such pictures as "The Brass Bottle" (for which company neither of us could recall), " The (luardsman " (this a British Actors' picture), and "His LaM Defence," a Vanity him, in which Denui*'Neilson-Terry is appearing. Knowledge of the Scenario. YOC have found no difficulties attached to film work ? " Mr. Bishop, sitting very upright and regarding me with round, bright eyes, answered decisively : " None whatever ! " " Somo legitimate actors do, you know," I put in hurriedly. " Or, rather, they find certain conditions of filmmaking irksome, even irrational ; the topsy-turvy method of scene-taking, for instance." " All, that is because they so rarely know what tho whole sconario is about ! " was Mn> surprising reply. " I mean, they so rarely, have the scenario given them to read straiehv through before taking up their roles, and t4wM . aro at a disadvantage. If 1 had my way, P ' should insist on every member of the cait having the scenario to read first, so that might enter thoroughly into the spirit aiid meaning of the photo-play, instead of hi to rely solely on the information of the direct^ concerning it prior to the shooting of a sees " And your method of acting for the cqM| do you find your technique requires adaptation ? " Mr. Bishop's eyes twinkled. , , "My method." he answered, ' is to ii-tj-fc • to all the director has to saw agree with him and then go my own way ! " May Hkrscbel Ci. kukI 2*M