Reel Life (1916-1917)

MUTUAL WEEKLY REEL LIFE TOURS AROUND WORLD See the world from an opera chair in these three Gaumont reels; news and travel. THE WEEKLY No. 116 HE announcement that the Czar of all the Russians abdicated to please -the Mutual Weekly would not be understood without ex¬ plaining that it was the time of his abdication which was the pleasing part of the imperial function. Just as Mutual Weekly No. 116 was being packed for shipment at the studios of the Gaumont Company word was re¬ ceived of the startling governmental change. Within five minutes an ex¬ cellent negative of the monarch had been taken from the vault and de¬ livered to the printing room while the title to accompany it was being set up and the card photographed. Important among the news events of current interest is the* return of James W. Gerard, ex-Ambassador to Germany, shown in this issue of the weekly. The Gerard party was photo¬ graphed at Havana, Cuba, upon the arrival of the Infanta Isabel, the Spanish steamship upon which the trip from Europe was made. It is inter¬ esting to note that the film was taken by special messenger from Havana to the Gaumont Studios at Flushing, N. Y., where The Mutual Weekly is pro¬ duced and edited, arriving before Mr. Gerard had reached Washington. The finish of the devious trip from Berlin is pictured by the Washington camera¬ man. Pictures from other lands in this issue show the Allies’ Medical Corps at work in East Africa where to the horrors of war are added the horrors of the jungle; official celebration of the birthday of King Alphonso of Spain ; Premier Lloyd George review¬ ing Welsh recruits; a section of the American Ambulance Corps leaving for the front; and typical battle pic¬ tures “somewhere in France.” The tornado which swept Indiana and Ohio gives to the screen pictures of the destructive force of the wind. The Pacific coast contributes pictures of the opening of the automobile rac¬ ing season, the winning of the onehundred mile race at Los Angeles by Earl Cooper; San Francisco has the first unit of the U. S. Auxiliary fleet, the “Great Northern,” to be con¬ verted into a cruiser in case of war; and San Diego shows the guard pro¬ tecting the wireless towers. One of Ruth St. Denis’ pupils dancing at “Denishawn” — Reel Life. No. 50. TOURS AROUND THE WORLD No. 23 NTIL the war started Paris was looked upon as the world’s metropolitan playground. It will regain that position when the war has ended, but until then Americans must content themselves with pictures of the city when its surface indica¬ tions were all of gaiety and good cheer. Gaumont’s “Tour Around the World” No. 23, released April 10 through Mutual, has a number of entertaining views of Paris. There is the dainty little Monceau Park, in the aristocratic section, once the property of King Louis Philippe. Then come the gardens of the Luxembourg, the Champs Elysees, and the Bois de Boulogne. Lisbon, capital of Portugal, lends it¬ self admirably to pictorial representa* tion. It is built in terraces on low hills, backed by the mountains of Cintra. The municipal palace and the beautiful Don Luiz garden are promi¬ nent among the scenes, as are the celebrated Avenida da Liberdade. REEL LIFE No. 50 HE beautiful manner in which young girls are developed into aesthetic dancers by Ruth St. Denis at her California home is por¬ trayed in “Reel Life” No. 50, issued by Gaumont "through Mutual, April 12. Their freedom of development as healthy young nymphs without the encumbering garb of the twentieth century is particularly appealing. The bacchanal on the beach at “Den¬ ishawn” is more wonderful than any stage picture, since it has the unrest¬ ing ocean for its background. “Wine Making in France” shows the gathering of the grapes by men and women, the emptying of the baskets into the vats of the wine press, the compression, the flowing of the pure juice into the fermenting vats, and the final storage. “A Flying Torpedo” is an animated drawing which shows just how a torpedo can be launched against a ship from an aeroplane. This is one of the series of animated pictures for which the Gaumont company is fam¬ ous, pictures of machines and pro¬ cesses that cannot be caught for the screen by the camera. “Indian Basketry” takes the spec¬ tator to the land of the Hopi Indians in the southwest. Here the natives of this tribe in Arizona and New Mexico are seen as they gather the reeds, as¬ sort them by colors and sizes, and start to weave their baskets. A number of handsome ceremonial baskets are pic¬ tured. What will cause a great deal of dis¬ cussion and be the source of a great deal of amusement patterned after the screen explanation is that section of this reel called “A Novel Home Enter¬ tainment.” It explains how to pass a pleasant hour making apt phrases by using a person’s initials as the initials of words descriptive of the person. The Illinois Congress of Mothers have endorsed all of the Gaumont onereel topicals as being ideal for the children’s program in that they enter¬ tain while they educate. They have found in their investigations that the children like them and ask for them. They also advocate their use in the public schools for entertainment and aids in geography lessons. REEL LIFE — Page Six