Variety (November 1908)

10 VARIETY "TALKING PICTURES" IN NEW YORK. The first actual invasion of "talking" pictures in New York City occurred on Thanksgiving, when the new Camera- phone Theatre at 571 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, opened with the Cameraphone talking pictures. In addition to the films shown, there la singing and talking in connection with the subjects, which include well-known stage celebrities such as Alice Lloyd, James J. Morton and Eva Tanguay. The reproduction of the vaudeville acts of Miss Lloyd and Mr. Morton are being given this week. Monday the Brooklyn- Ites will see and hear Miss Tanguay. The Cameraphone people are reported aa having paid Miss Tanguay $2,500 to gp through her performance before the cam- era and phonograph, while Miss Lloyd received $1,500. The admission to the theatre is at the usual moving picture theatre scale. The Unique, on 14th Street, Now York, the model picture house of the country, also installed the Cameraphone pictures last Monday, when Miss Tanguay was shown. .Commencing Nov. 30, the repro- duction of the act now being given in vaudeville by Mabel Hite and Mike Don- lin will be shown. The various picture houses along 14th Street which have hotly contested the territory for patronage heretofore have clung closely to the "straight" brand of moving pictures. The nearest approach to a "talking" series was formerly the "worker of the effects" behind the sheet at the Manhattan. That the Unique has taken up the "talking" pictures of the Cameraphone may be considered to proclaim that the enterprise of that concern, which has brought the Broadway stage into a pic- ture machine, is recognised as the best drawing card a picture house has yet discovered. A valuable item in connection with the exhibition of the "talking" pictures of the Cameraphone concern is the billing of the artist's name. "Eva Tanguay" has been plastered all over the neighborhood this week, and has drawn more people to the Unique since Monday than that house ever held in a similar period. It seems the country outside of New York discovered this before the metrop- olis itself did. Reports from all over for a long time back have mentioned the Cameraphone and its success. Only this week it was reported that a theatrical manager had purchased a theatre purely through the assurance he felt of the suc- cess the Cameraphone pictures would bring to his new house. ■ORE WESTERN PLACES OPENING. Chicago, Nov. 25. The following new moving picture the- atreW'^'being opened Vthe west: San Diego,' 'CaJ. ( (Urban & Schwartz); Dickin- son, N. D., Unique; Owatonna, Minn. (D. E. Perrin); Chicago, 1427 Ogden Ave- nue (Stillwagon & Co.); St. Louis, 2917 Olive Street (C. H. Wittenberg); Sand- point, O. (Fred B. Walton); Hammond, Ind. (L. Polina); Grand Junction, Colo. (Grand Junction Amusement Co.); Fre- mont, Neb., Jewell Theatre; Chicago, 448 Fourth Street (C. Bush); Moreland, Ind. (Wm. K. Hoffman); Tulsa, Okla. (Mr. Stevens); Columbia, Mo. (Victor & Wil- son); El Reno, Okla. (Hstten A, Horner). MOVING PICTURE NEWS SWANSON'S EXPENSIVE HOUSE. Chicago, Nov. 25. Probably the finest and most elaborate theatre devoted to moving pictures is Swanson's Theatre, Cottage Grove Avenue and 30th Street, which opened last week. The house is new and up to date. It is the most attractive and invitingly fur- nished theatre of its kind in the west, costing over $50,000. It is owned by Wm. H. Swanson, the film renter of this city. COMEDY WORKING "EFFECTS." Sydney, Australia, Oct. 10. The individual responsible for the "ef- fects" at a picture show here evidently has a terrible thirst, or else he is afflicted with an impediment in his speech. Dogs bark three seconds after they have passed the screen,' while various cows are bailed up for milking purposes at a time they are supposed to be browsing in fer- tile paddocks. EXPECTS $50,000 HOUSE. Chicago, Nov. 25. Max Daniels is arranging to erect a vaudeville and moving picture theatre at Salt Lake City to cost $50,000. It will have a seating capacity of 1,100 and will be known as the Lyceum. PLACING THE PHONOGRAPH. The matter of placing the phonograph properly for use in "talking pictures" is giving the managers a good deal of trouble. In many cases it has been found necessary to place the instrument behind the sheet, but this is impossible where the projecting surface is of plaster or other solid material. At the Unique, New York this week, they have stretched a sheet across the front of the stage, but this is a most unsatisfactory arrangement, slight move- ments of the sir, draughts, etc., disturb- ing the surface and ruining the effects. If the curtain could be arranged to drop from above, it would be all right, but none of the picture houses have facility for hanging drops. The Unique curtain runs on overhead wires and has to be drawn aside when subjects other than "talking pictures" occupy the stage. This causes the wrinkles. It is the opinion of many that even the placing of the phonograph to one side concealed only by a parlor screen, is better, although that is at best most unsatisfactory. The Globe, a moving picture theatre at ,1 Canton, Mo*<Jhas been destroyed by fire. Lose covered bjr insurance. .<, At the Unique, New York, the manage- ment is starting a commendable move- ment. An illuminated sign at the side of the stage displays the names of the vari- ous acts as they appear. None of the moving picture places issue programs, and the public is never let into the secret of the act's names. The tinique is the first house that appears to have given this point any consideration. MOVING PICTURE REVIEWS "Mary Stuart." Manhattan. There's someone around the Pathe Dros.' factory who either drinks absinthe or eats Welch rarebits. The Pathe people turn out enough "floppers" to have one readily believe the whole crowd have the "dope" habit, for most of the Pathe pictures which "flop" have some unneces- sary intended-to-be gruesome finale. With "Mary, Queen of the Scots," however, the finish where Mary has her head chopped off by order of Queen Elizabeth becomes comedy through the axe plainly showing itself to be the crudest kind of a "prop." The entire picture is "propy" and "fakey." As a historical recital, it is without value, for one without knowledge of Mary's sad finish could not follow it. Alone the picture tells nothing. Where the absinthe worked in this instance was not in the finale so much as in the color- ing. So many colore in such a short time have probably never before been seen. The only dress which seemed lifelike in the mass of court costumes was Mary's, a dark brown, or it may have been a black, or perhaps it was just a hole in the film, painted over. If "Mary Stuart" isn't the poorest subject artistically ever turned out by Path£ f Pathe* ought to send the blue ribbon winner over as another un- announced comedy. Sime. "Do It Now." Manhattan. "Do It Now" is a Lubin series, very short—in fact, about the shortest reel ever witnessed, unless for some special reason the run was made so at the Manhattan last Monday. But the picture itself is sufficient reason why it should be brief. It tells of a man, seated in his office, un- der a sign reading "Do It Now" with the calendar displaying Friday, the 13th. Two or three people entering the office see the instructions hanging and proceed to gently strike the proprietor of the revolving chair. The office boy was ex- tremely polite. He was also realistic as though in fear of losing his job. Sime. "Our Own Little Flat." Manhattan. The best thing which could have oc- curred in "Our Own Little Flat," a Lubin series, was not shown. Something was thrown upon the sheet about the wife in a destitute family going upon the stage. A theatrical agent appeared, and the sheet proclaimed a great success for the young woman. She was even escorted into the street fn tlttf broad daylight "after the performance" with many servitors'.' and flowers, but what she did on the stage to gain so much attention no one knows. Even the people on the side street where her uncle lived, and from which house she, her husband and baby had been driven by a crusty old aunt, seemed surprised at her return in state (four-wheeled landau). The neighbors peeked out of the window while a crowd of idlers down near the cor- ner had evidently been told to remain where they were, for they only gaped. This scene was somewhat funny as often the thought strikes the spectator of what the public surrounding the photographers and actors in a picture must think of some of the wild pranks. The opening views are of the aunt's crustiness, and the fam- ily of three, with a maid, sent into the streets. They rent an apartment, secur- ing the furnishings upon the "installment plan." Business not being good with either the husband or the furniture dealer, the installment men descends upon the apartment, removing everything. The wife then utilizes barrels as "props" for furni- ture and also causes the maid to become an arm-chair, her arms extended with a shawl thrown over her head, a very old burlesque device for comedy. While the picture isn't commendable enough to rave over, it is not so bad. It is one of those which just about passes—and then you have to be in good spirits. Sime. "The Standard Bearer." Unique. A good military series is here pre- sented. Nearly all the views are pretty exteriors and the handling of massive battle effects is excellently managed. The color sergeant of a French regiment is seen bidding farewell to wife and baby on his departure for the front (the period being apparently that of the Franco- Prussian war). Various army maneuvers are displayed and then comes the big battle scene, a really admirable bit of stage management. The standard-bearer is wounded, but manages to conceal the regimental colors about his clothing as the enemy comes bursting through the smoke. He is removed to a field hospital dying and secures permission for his wife and baby to visit him there. To the wife he passes the ragged battle flag and she smuggles the the precious relic out of danger. The final scene shows the ragged remnants of the French regiment in camp. The wife of the color sergeant in widow's mourning comes to them and returns the tattered standard. Except that the action is interrupted too frequently with ines- sential scenes the story is unfolded quickly and the incidents hold attention. Ruih. "He Who Laughs Last Laughs Best." Chicago. The old adage is consistently brought out, and this picture should become popu- lar among exhibitors. A girl is in love with a young chap. He is opposed by her aunt. The girl meets her lover clandes- tinely. The aunt intercepts a note the girl has written him, making an appoint- ment to be married. The aunt, disguised as the girl, schemes to meet the' young fellow with the intention of marrying him herself. The girl, locked in her room, opens the window, discovering a tramp. She gives him a note to her lover which he takes in haste, apprising him of her aunt's strategy. The young man dresses up in the tramp's clothes, leaving the lat- ter in his own attire. He then releases the girl. The lovers hurry to the church in time to witness the marriage of the aunt and the tramp. The aunt is wild with rage at the trick, but the tramp is surprised when she refuses to release him. There are some absurd situations, all of the laugh-producing sort (Essanay Co.). Frank Weinberg.