Screenland (Oct 1923-Mar 1924)

'—PHOTOPLAY Writing From John Emerson and Anita Loos, two of the world's most famous, most successful,, highest paid screen writers. They have written photoplays for Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Constance and Norma Talmadge, Madge Kennedy, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Lionel Barrymore, Blanche Sweet, Henry Walthall, Mae Marsh and other stars, and for Griffith, Ince, Sennett, Zukor, Paramount, Famous Players and other producers. Study Under Recognized Authorities Let these two masters of screen technique, continuity and satire — Emerson and Loos — give you a careful systematic training in writing and selling scenarios. Exactly the practical, comprehensive, thorough, teachable course in Photoplay Writing you have wanted — at moderate cost. Teaches you every angle — correction and criticism of your lessons as you proceed. Not merely some printed matter. Send Today for Free Book Millions paid yearly to screen writers. Big increasing demand for good screen stories. 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Very small charge fot lessons only. Four lessons will teach you several pieces. Over 100 000 successful players. We guarantee success or no charge. Complete outfit free. Write today. Dept. Ill No obligation, SUngertand School of Music, 1815 Orchard St.. Chicago. Ill, uperb » ■•-..»»., ....... olin. Banjo-Ukulele, Banjo Varied Film Fare ne of the most interesting problems, according to King Vidor, the director of Three Wise Fools and other screenplays, is that of making different pictures for the tastes of different people. He says that so long as every picture must be made to appeal to a sort of standardized mind producing is going to oe hampered. "When we buy shoes," says Mr. Vidor, "we make a selection from a wide assortment of styles and sizes. They have been made to intrigue an infinite variety of tastes. The same is true of furniture, of books and music, but when it comes to motion pictures there is little or no differentiation; they all appear to be fashioned from the same mold. "And they have to be, for they must appeal to the child of seven and the man of seventy, and also meet the inner need of those mentally seven and those mentally seventy. The rehairbreadth escapes, or startling acrobatic feats are injected into the plot for those who want this. Sob-melodrama tinges the emotional scenes. There is light, heavy or slapstick comedy for the frivolous and art for those who pretend to, or really do, understand it. How can anything but a hodgepodge of filmatic action be made when all these ingredients are necessary to make one picture a financial success? T, Can't Please Everybody 94 he thing which producers and directors are just beginning to realize is that there are publics for pictures just as there are classes of customers for articles sold in a department store. It is impossible to please all the people all of the time with the same article of goods. "Every now and again there have been a few courageous producers and directors who have ventured into the field of artistic studies, and they have perhaps invested a fortune to sutstantiate their belief that a public was eager for this type of photoplay. What has been the reception of their efforts? Paeans of praise from the critics and totally ignored by the class of people who profess their interest in such subjects. Consequently the picture :: doomed to a financial failure and is a discouraging lesson to those who would follow in the same footsteps. "However, the public cannot be wholly to blame for this condition. Many of the fine photoplays which emerge from the mass of present-day production are unheard of by the class of people who enjoy them. The reason is that the pictures are not advertised so as to catch their attention. The publications which find a place on their library tables do not discuss or review pictures except in an ironical or a comic manner. Take, for instance, The Dial, Independent, Century, Atlantic Monthly or any other of the serious magazines. The editors of these have not been educated to review and discuss worth-while pictures which would interest their class of readers. "As I see it, there is a feasible plan of changing this policy. It begins with the producers and directors. Photoplays looking life between the eyes, visionary, artistic tidbits, could be made for the mentally and esthetically mature, while those who take their entertainment in a lighter way may have their heart throbs and thrills served in a lavish melodrama. And for the children there would be delicately molded little fantasies of nature and history, and as often as possible substantial, good, clean comedy. Adequate Advertising This is just the first step, for obviously the whole structure of this policy would be warped if these pictures were not brought to the attention of the public most interested in them. They would necessarily have to be advertised definitely for the type of audience for which they were intended. Under that plan a picture could not be labeled 'for mature minds only' and then distributed indiscriminately. "The next step would be for theatres in all large cities to maintain a fixed policy in showing pictures of a certain type appealing only to a certain group. And they would buy their pictures according to the classification on the can, as a housewife buys soup. For instance, canned soup is labeled chicken, consomme, tomato or mulligatawney. In turn, the pictures would be known as fantasy, drama, melodrama, comedy and potpourri. And the public would be sure of the type of the picture according to the playhouse at which they shopped. "There is nothing radical about this. We have it already in our stage representations. The tired business man names on his fingers the theatres where he can see musical comedies or farces, while the adoring ingenue knows the lair of the matinee idol, and Theatre Guild productions supply the mental nurture for him."