Reel Life (1916-1917)

Metis Jx>n thG Studios P&mous otutPovS1 doy PovPell'Mutuat Productions A LIST of literary masterpieces has been secured as screen vehicles for Nance O’Neil and Marjorie Rambeau in the series of pictures they are making at the Powell-Mutual studios. To the literature of the screen will be added the classics of such writers as Ibsen, Charles Dickens, Gertrude Atherton, Algeron Boyesen and Frederick Arnold Kummer. “Mrs. Balfame,” the first vehicle chosen for Nance O’Neil, has been completed at the studios of the Frank Powell Producing Company. The production is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Gertrude Atherton. “Hedda Gabler,” on which Miss O’Neil is now working, is a picturization of the Ibsen play. “Hedda Gabler” was one of Miss O’Neil’s most famous roles on the speaking stage and a part she has played over seven hundred times. Her first ap¬ pearance in "Hedda Gabler” was in Australia. “Bleak House,” the third of Miss O’Neil’s productions, comes from the pen of Charles Dickens. “The Greater Woman,” chosen for Miss Rambeau’s first appearance on the screen, is a picturization of Algeron Boyesen’s play which was presented extensively on the stage in Europe. This production has also been completed at the Powell studios. “Motherhood,” the second production on which Miss Rambeau is now working, is a film version of the play by Frederick Arnold Kummer, author and playwright. “The Debt” will be the third offering fea¬ turing Miss Rambeau. This is a success from Europe. “The Second Wife” is an original story by Caroline I. Hibbard which was written especially for Miss Rambeau. Another of Isben’s plays will be given to the public in “The Doll’s House,” in which Miss Rambeau will portray the char¬ acter of Nora. This is lighter than most of Ibsen’s plays and for that reason proved more interesting to many theatre goers when shown on the stage. * * * * FRANK POWELL last week took the first scenes in the new studio at Col¬ lege Point, L. I., which in the future will house the activities of the Frank Powell Producing Corporation, the photo¬ play productions of which are released through the Mutual Film Corporation. This is the site known as “Donnolly’s Grove and Pavillions,” placed under a long-term lease, with the option of pur¬ chase, at the time of the formation of the Frank Powell Producing Corporation, of which John R. Freuler (president of the Mutual) is president, and Frank Powell, vice-president and director-general. The Powell studio is one of the largest and best equipped in the vicinity of New York. The main building has a working floor space of 16,000 square feet. This is surrounded by smaller buildings, in which are the printing and developing plants, projection room, carpenter shops, and the like. Every facility and aid that experience, efficiency and ingenuity can devise has been M. M. M. With Her Hair Done Up In “The Gentle Intruder,” the next Ameri¬ can-Mutual production starring Mary Miles Minter, this dainty star appears for the very first time on stage or screen with her hair done up. installed to aid in the production of the character of pictures with which Mr. Powell’s name is inseparably linked. * * * Frederick robinson, e. j. Flynn and L. A. Darling are recent addi¬ tions to the forces of the Monogram Film Company producing the “Adventures of Shorty” series featuring “Shorty” Hamilton for Mutual, and will direct their efforts toward adding to the artistic effect of the films. Mr. Robinson is an artist, illustrator and author of international fame. He is also famous as the creator and producer of such spectacles as “The Battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac,” “The Sinking of the Titanic” and “The War of the Worlds.” Mr. Flynn, recently assistant director and business manager with Mary Pickford, and before that time with D. W. Griffith and Jack O’Brien, will have charge of locations. Mr. Darling, who has joined the camera squad, has had a long experience in this line, having been with the Lasky, Selig, Universal and Kalem companies. * * * ONE of the largest and wealthiest audiences ever assembled in America witnessed a showing of “Miss Jackie of the Navy,” second of the Margarita Fischer series of Mutual Star Productions, at the famous Hotel del Coronado, Cal. Part of the film was “shot” at Coronado Beach and around the hotel, and after it had played to crowded houses at the Cabrillo Theatre, San Diego, the manage¬ ment of the Del Coronado asked that the picture be given a showing in the big auditorium of the hotel for its guests. The auditorium was packed with well known millionaires from both the east and west. A special request had been made that Miss Fischer be present but owing to a previous engagement she was unable to attend. At the end of the third reel it was rumored that Miss Fischer was not among those present and the audience be¬ gan to call loudly for the star. Manager Osgood saw that it would not do to dis¬ appoint them and quietly slipping out dashed to San Diego in his machine. Snatching Miss Fischer from the reception she was attending he hurried her to Coronado just in time to make a graceful little bow and a few remarks to the audience as the picture was finished. * * * HELEN HOLMES and J. P. McGowan will appear at the Pantages houses in their respective roles of Helen Daw¬ son and Jim Blake which they portrayed in “A Lass of the Lumberlands.” The Mutual-Signal fifteen chapter photo novel is being shown in a majority of the Pantages houses on the Pacific coast and Alex Pantages requested that Miss Holmes and Mr. McGowan make this personal ap¬ pearance in the theatres of San Francisco and Los Angeles. * * * A GLIMPSE into the Bohemian life of the artists of the Latin Quarter of Paris is given in “The Greater Woman,” the first of the Marjorie Ram¬ beau pictures to be distributed through Mutual. The scenes are taken in the rendezvous of the artists, a little cafe with sawdust covered floor and battered walls decorated by the hands of the habitues. Here the members of the colony gather each night for good fellowship and merry-making. REEL LIFE— Page Nine