Talking pictures : how they are made, how to appreciate them (c. 1937)

Social Influences crudity of eating with the knife or "sword-swallowing" in slang parlance, has practically disappeared during a period of time parallel to the greatest growth of the motion picture. Likewise the motion picture has eliminated the word "hick" from our vocabulary. Once that term was used in derision to denominate someone from the country wearing outmoded attire. Today newsreels and feature pictures make it possible for a sensitive country woman, living far from the railroad, to appear in a large city without the slightest fear that her clothes may seem out of place or peculiar. It is related that the Duke of Windsor, when Prince of Wales, left England on a fast steamer bound for Canada and his ranch near Calgary, Alberta. His journey included official welcoming stopovers at Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, and Winnipeg. He required a little more than four weeks to reach the remote prairie railroad station of High River. When he alighted from the train, his first glance fell upon a man wearing a suit almost the exact duplicate of one he had worn when photographed as he left London. Six men on the platform had little feathers in their hats, another style just started by him and chronicled in the newsreels. Annually some five millions of solid color shirts are sold in this country alone. In 191 5 solid color shirts were a drug on the markets. In the studios, however, such shirts were making their appearance because both camera lenses and camera film were far from their present perfection. The film of that time was not accurate in translating color values into black and white. [ 237 ]