Universal Weekly (1914-1915)

THE UNIVERSAL WEEKLY 7 Marble Palace in "The Beautiful Unknown" OVING picture patrons have been accustomed, for the last half-dozen years, to cheap, flimsy settings of canvas and painted cloth. Producers with no backing but the les. money they have made in running a piecounter or some other such commercial enterprise, have embarked in the moving picture business on a shoestring scale and exhibitors have been flooded with their cheaply made pictures, in which "doors" flap in the breeze and "walls" wrinkle like an inland lake with each passing zephyr. The Universal, from the beginning, however, has always insisted upon settings which, if not the real thing, must be constructed with greater solidity than the sets of the legitimate stage. As an instance of this policy the really remarkable palace scenes in "The Beautiful Unknown" may be cited with warranted pride. When the Victor producers found that the best New York technical directors and scene designers could not reproduce the sheen of marble, it was decided, • without further palaver, to procure the necessary stone for the erection of the palace -set. It was no easy matter to secure enough marble to build the set, but a hurry order was sent to the Monolith Works of Vermont for a carload lot. It was at first planned to rent the marble for use in the picture and terms were agreed upon. Later, however, it was found that the marble could bfc used in other projected pictures, the *cenarios of which were being written. In view of this the carload was purchased outright, and will be used in the near future, much as a toyland of building blocks, for the marble is of various shapes and designs and can be used to erect any number of buildings of various styles of architecture. The marble company furnished the Universal with blue prints illustrating how forty-eight different styles of buildings can be ^erected with the blocks of marble. And now the Victor company producers feel very much like the small boy who, on •Christmas Day, receives a set of stone building blocks with Palatial solid Carrara marble setting erected as background for three-reel Victor costume drama, in which the famous Russian dancer, Yona Landowska, enacts role of PrincessBallet Girl in filmy Grecian draperSunken gardens and fountains of marble specially erected for spec> tacular production of a bygone age Released Friday, January i. Produced by William J. Bauman. Enthralled by Her Seductive Dancing, the Young King Shields the Princess in His Mantle. diagrams for the construction of buildings in a hundred different styles of architecture. The erection of the marble set for "The Beautiful Unknown" required less than a week and none of the stones were cemented. Cranes were used in placing them in position and later in dismantling the set. Not a single marble slab was broken and all can be used in forthcoming Victor scenic productions. Yona Landowska, who enacts the leading role in "The Beautiful Unknown", is now appearing at the Forty fourth Street Theatre in "The Lilac Domino". She was born in St. Petersburg eighteen years ago. Later her parents placed her in a Paris convent. She studied dancing under Mme. Mariquita of the Paris Opera Comique and later under Mme. Chasles. She made her debut in "Orfeo" four years ago in Geneva, Switzerland. Then for two years she danced at the Lyric Theatre, Paris, and later at the Parisian Apollo Theatre. Upon the outbreak of war Mile. Landowska came to America. Here is the story of "The Beautiful Unknown", to which Mile. Landowska brings so much naivete, charm and, withal, so much of fire and fervor. In the little kingdom of Transylvania, the young Prince Ferdinand, heir to the throne, causes great uneasiness among his ministers because of wilfulness and lack of appreciation of his position. The Prime Minister and1 the Prince's mother, fearing that he will contin u e his wild pranks and evil habits, become very anxious to have him marry. Thinking to find a suitable mate for him, they invite the three daughters of the King of Bosnia to attend a grand1 ball' to be given in honor of the Prince. On the arrival of the many guests at the Royal Palace the young Prince Ferdinand is found to have wandered away to the opera house. The three princesses have journeyed many miles to attend the ball and to meet the young heir, thinking perhaps to win his regard. They are greatly disappointed that, after being introduced to them, he showed no interest whatsoever, and did' (Continued on. Page 28. >