Variety (May 1915)

IX F. P. STUDIO. Less than two blocks away great sticks of dy nam I to were booming away now and then where the Bubwuy workers on 7th avenue were blasting rock and stone to make way for their IrroslHtlblo subterranean march. Inside the KaraouH Players' studio at 213 West 26th street another army of workers were also making considerable noise, building new K. I', feature films. Outside the Famous Players' studio entrance Htood a yellow-bodied automobile. A chauf- feur in service livery sat reading. In small letters on the side were the Initial* "J. M..' It belonged to John Mason. The chauffeur said that Mr. Mason had Just Htarted that day (May 13) upon a new pic- ture for the F. P. He said Mason's picture work called him to tho studios between 9 ana !> :30 a. m. and that he stuck to his camera work until 4 or later. Mason, who Is playing in "The Song of Songs," doesn't have to Btlck long around tho theater and It's an easy trick for him to Jump into his machine and whisk down to the studio from 42d street. Once inside the dark hallway leading to the elevator one finds a young man In uniform that looks aa though he had copped Solly Lee'B old uniform. He reminded one a great deal of Solly before Solly became so popular in the old Hammersteln regime and took on extra avoirdupois. At the Famous Players are three men who are very much on the Job every day that the studio opens its doors. They are Adolph Zukor, Daniel Frohman and Ben 8rbuleberg. Zukor is all over the place at one time. One minute he's consulting a director or talking to the office attaches and the very next he's smilingly greeting some guest or applicant for a studio Job that has reached him tnrough some one who claimed to know Mr. Zukor pretty well. In a room off the main studio floor sat Mr. Frohman, rpcllnlng at ease in a chair, with a stout actor listening Intently to what he said. Publicist Schuleberg was at his roll-top desk, trying to do three things at once. Be- tween talking to visitors the "neutral press agent" was answering 'phone calls ana cnew- ing desperately at the end of an ominous look- ing cigar. Out In the studio, which had all doors close©. and signs posted "No admittance" were shouts of Bupers and a gun shot that reverberated throughout the whole building. Now and then the voice of Director Kerwood could be heard above the din. Throe companies under the supervision of the local diroctors who In turn are under Edwin S. Porter's direction. One company vacated the studio the other day to go to Cuba the John Barrymore photoplayers going south to get outdoor color for the camerlng of "The Dictator." Oscar Eagle went along to direct this feature. Sid Olcott, Jim Klrwood and Porter »r« at the local studio but none will have any night work at the works. Porter, so it's said, Is the first to use "night cameralng." The floor space of the F. P. Is 100x200 feet. Each week new additions are being made to the equipment. Ben Schuleberg Is willing to wager the F. P. has the best equipped studio in the east Porter is the man whose word carries the most weight in F. P. productions. Each Mon- day the F. P. heads meet at the studio and discuss future pieces and invariably book and play 'scripts are passed upon. Few outside scenario ideas are accepted by the board, as It Is well enough supplied with novel stories, and stage plays not to need any others at present. A reorganization of the scenario de- partment may occur within the near future and a scenario-chief installed. One thing is noteworthy about the studio. Nearly all the men who went there in April, 1012 are still In Its employ. This takes In Richard Murphy, scenic artist Frank Meyer, laboratory superintendent,' and Billy Mar- tlnelll and H. Lyman Broenlg, of the six camera experts. Each production turned out by the Famous, barring "The Eternal City," which of course was taken amid foreign surroundings, has been developed In tho 2flth Street plant. The F. P. has everything at its beck and call In the local studio to take and make, ready for the screen, any kind of a feature. However "exteriors" are a different matter and the F. P. believes in sending players and camera men to the Saraha desert or to Medicine Hat If "atmosphere" is necessary. THE IMPERIAL STUDIO. One of the most complete laboratories and studios within tho con (lues of Manhattan is that of the Imperial Motion Picture Co., which is managed and owned by John W. Mahan. The plant Is In EaBt 48th street near Second avenue. It occupies three floors of a building which also houses tho Lee Lasb Studio*. The second floor Is devoted to the studio proper. It has a stage 40 x 00, and last Sat- urday was used by the Titan Film Co., which Is producing a series a two-reel comedies written by Capt. T. Leslie Peacock. The pic- tures are being directed by Edward Warren. Robert Olsen is the camera man. In the com- pany playing toe leads are Fraunle Fraunholz and Margot Williams. The latter is also ap- pearing In "Experience." On this same floor are the property depart- ments, carpenter* shop, and 10 dressing rooms. There Is a mezzanine balcony half between the floor and the celling on which tho office and two large dressing rooms are situated. The rear portion of thin Rome floor is used as the drying room for tho completed film copies. The developln* nnd tinting depart- ments are on the lower floor, and the filmfl are sent to the drying and assembling rooms by means of electric dummies. The plant has a capacity sufficient to 'turn out 300,000 feet of film a week. The building FILM REVIEWS la entirely fireproof, the main walls being 28 THR SUM PRINCESS. Inches thick. The interior is fitted with a T . M "™ iSSLt iXllZ? ™5 Mm *w sprinkler system and all of the rooms are in T t iVmV^,J^}^^ t M^SSLJ^jS^^ r< U,ped with the latest Are prevention de- [UVrraS^Sr^lS^s tXS^^Z though at times It looked as though the ad- TUt7 UATU A tin tuc d a lie Justment of complications would be forced inc. IflU111 AIUI ItlC rUUnfi. to an Issue before the scheduled number of Edward Fletcher Stewart Baird r SS" , wew u . tll . lle *-. T ** o**tau lack of pos- Mr n«— «n fiM..,,i u AM i. n » "IblllUss contained In the scenario wars made Mr. Dawson Edward Mordant apparent when,the director took his principals Douglas Rhodes Bradley Barker away from the'story proper to send them on a Mr. Walton Arthur Donaldson Bight-seeing Jaunt through Washington, sur- Marion Walton Ad*i* R«r rounding the comedy atmosphere with a touch Marion Walton Adele Rey of tne trave iog specie of photography, a scheme Mrs. Walton Dora M. Adams that failed to help to any extent, although on Jeanette Graham Irene Howley the other hand It didn't seem to deteriorate ,.....«.•. D»r... ••••••—««• •"•"« 2%£S2£S?i£2£ilS*Er#Z Four reels of old fashioned melodrama are Governor of Morovenla (Turkey) (Harry the principal asset of the Famous Players Dunklnson). His daughters have reached the feature 'The Moth and the Flame" which has marriageable age, but the country's law tor- been released through the Paramount and is D j(j g y, e younger child to participate In the shown at the Broadway this week. The pic- matrimonial ceremony until her elder sister ture has been produced with Infinite care by has done so. The country's custom played Sidney Olcott and the cast which while it con- navoc wlth the children's prospects, the elder Ulna no big name from the legitimate la en- g j rl i^ng particularly slim, which wasn't tlrely adequate at all times for the require- considered stylish, since the young men pre- sents of the various roles. The photodrama ferred &* plump specie of womanhood. An is an adaptation of the play of the same Utle American millionaire (Francis X. Bushman), written by the late Clyde Fitch It con- avoiding legal service In his own country tains the old, old story of the maiden wronged happen* to meet the slim princess (Ruth and then scorned, y who appears at the op- stonehouse) and the stereotyped romantic love portune moment when her seducer Is about to affa | r u embodied Into the picture. The ensu- ma ?f y \ y . oung "d unsuspecting « lrl * n J ing events partially succeeds in keeping the Knni witf.nyMfnwiJJ? "ThTitA, KftS £ oupIe "P^ed. but eventually the inevitable happy wedding. However The Moth and The happens and the Count's worrleo era over Flame" as a picture has much that Is good Bushman gives a capable Mrtormici but hli and It will serve to entertain in a measure persistency In^onopoUYln* 2™£t5ght wm Director Olcott has made most effective use of ever no ticeable. Miss Stonehouse, m theslim mirrors in several scenes and hta party scene pr i nceB8 , wa . up t0 expectations; but hand™ Hit"}!?* milh^h.v^KT^rpnShpnli !SS **>*« ** Bushmans^mbUlous^ess, herrole point that might have been strengthened and belne of second*™ imiwirtMM lxr.nV^ that was in the cast. Stewart Baird as the SfiJ* ln a eharaJSr oS? dS ^ MB 7««!3w heavy Edward Fletcher, had some much on the 52?I wlS the™noortln« ^kt r un ,E,? P tS°iSS hero Douglas, played by Bradley Narker, both /orm. The pbKaohT wS excellan? to in appearance and acting ability, that one was "IJr but th« mSo! X«JE£ J£-J «f ♦£ almost sorry the latter got the girl in the CaD itol calls fS! mtlJf ? W »2Lwi 0W 2JJ«J2? long run, in spite of the fact that the story gjjijg A* 1 !? 'S " l H* .J?!°T£* ^""SSSi made it a necessity. There was one feature aita Prinoai." ™m •. SmSH' JSZ.7% JI? 6 of the accompanying music at the Broadway SieV Essa^l ESTumIXL "niS . t EJ£*, ny showing distinctly noticeable and that was ?Slacks thS Lin^i n?.«V ^hWJf-5!? aU8 J that each of the characters In the play had a «"g! ^JTtl^JS^t^i^S^S^ musical motif which was played for each J 0 ™* 7 'J. n £* "ig» ** e ™ ?f *iV2 .??kI!2?k' entrance. The old familiar ballad of the same be,n * wel1 Dr <>ugbt out, will carry it Uirough. title as the picture might have found a place wynn. In the musical accompaniment. It Is still «■■-..«.... 1 _ remembered by a great many people and to WINNING THE FUTURITY. say the least It would lend atmosphere After watchIng WaIter M|IIer> ^ , * TTO * Play the role of Walter Miller, the Jockey, in An/nil A U'C DCCtlDDCrTinil L 8 / e . ature .? Im of four D * rU one cannot help WUMAN S KtfcUKKLCIIUn. but think what a pity that pictures were not K.U.". *»•»•« B *» »«— wU h « b"-prta." V.S"u> JUdSi" iiSS Prince Dlmitri Nekludorf ...William J. Kelly was some dresser and his clothes In the plc- Blmonson Edward Jose {urea wnen be waa smart and dapper at the Countess Sophia Ivanovna. .Bertha Brundage %£j* Sen? .TwBfluS. KrtSFKS? Ivan Shonbock Arthur Hoops thing. Walter Miller didn't pay much attend Jacoby Stuart Holmes tion to the duddlng up thing and he went about Selenin J B Williams E . P ,cturo acting as though every step was so,enin J ' "' wu,iam " being coached as he went along. "Wlnnlna Prince Kerschagen Edgar Davenport the Futurity" Is claimed to be the work of Princess Kerschagen Ann Sutherland the Walter Miller Feature Film Co., and is Mlssle Frances Lorrlmore PA? 616 * 1 by tne 9^° Co - Miller, who haa Marietta .............. .C^ecina Sydney J* 611 ver 7 successful on the race track with Fox placed its" wwest famtuVTwIth Betty K5,"tB^i.S;*?!!",,^ •"** » b A U °' ~ in Nansen at the Hippodrome this week for its '"Jj Si J£ ll,e £ ♦t*?' 6, »* A8 * a " J Mri « M - initial showing. The picture Is In five reels, a ? d , n * n «nHiik5 «i -L m » atteP l ?°' fe Ve hor,e adapted from the novel of Leo Tolstoi "The Jf* \l* %** litl} he 8por i ey w en ln P»ct«"» the Reeurrection." The story holds but Its action J* 1 " 6 * £°; w 8 Vt nd " a . goo l 8how , of Betting tu surrounds circumstances that could just as well S?25i«?Sh- «il?.?, ,m * °^ act i ng and - •I eneral be left out of pictures altogether. Katusha JLy'ilS? S^.^"'?..'*^ 0 * * *""« of T»e«utj (Miss Nansen) comes to the home of Countess f?* JS^.L^hIl l l e 0,d DT .P ,ft y wbepe Sophia and the Prince Dlmitri Is smitten by "•. JJ"■'» f 5"? W8 Ki eVeiT ™ ov \ of "»• io^e^ her. He goes to her room and the inevitable J?? {J J e8 ^ J^BJ^ 1 ™ »"? h,s horse and later happens. The picture leaps some months. JjM h a e S^Jf}?^,™" 1 iB l**™}**' Miller She Is shown deserted with a babe ln hei bSSVhi? nmil. nl8hor8e drU f ge 2 b ? tte 0,d arms. The child dies. The mother goes tn. Th ldl D , s b 'ISJ■• «• '2 7 A!?lS^.J 116 f rack " way of the wicked, wandering from one place A, ne «£lf„ Fu ! u ™Z' wo , rtn $70 '? 0< i J to , u,a winner, to another. She is arrested for murdering L' SJ?".! SJ^^JL* t ,ace and Miller was ex- a man by poisoning and is brought to trial. Jf?!* h 0 ' id f .?« h 0 ™* owned by the father One of the jurymen Is the Prince who J'" 16 , fAfL 11 ® J ore8 - Aft f r . Miller exposes hie wronged her. He feels that he must do some- hi™ i.KSL™*! r . e,n8 , tated - bis enemy has thing for her but does not see his way clear. mhiJ #h?™ E k? take » n far J aw . ajr ,n an auto - She Is sentenced to Siberia, the picture story JjL"f n ™ P .'. hl ? » apt0r » and d, I e8 thl "ough a taking place in Russia. After sentence is SL aZ J» g m doo , r J^ ay ,nto a 8tre am of water which pronounced the Prince publisly says the girl f* 8 Mi m ?wf nd ,Jf eappea " at the tr , ack in time is not guilty, that he was tho cause of her J°. ' Id « the " nner ,- # ° n e fees ro 1 after roll fall and asks that the sentence be cancelled. °'i5Vi 8 J this picture. It is old fashioned This he Is informed cannot be done without "!, ^"S.Ji'L*? 8 , way . w . ,th , M,,,er d0,ng Bev " the order of the Czar. The woman goes to ?™ n phyB i cal ba o ttles w,tb hIs ene ™'es at dlf- Slberia and the man followfl. His servant ^™„ n <Ji ?-a ,. e ? art8 , w Fl excellently manages to get In with the prisoners by chang- ^ < m ,t ra I ^ and , we11 staged. Others skidded ing clothes with one. The commander of the alon ? "** a . D,g auto °" a ve ry wet pave- detachment of prisoners knowing what a life m 1 ? t n ,L,J2 ra " 1 t 1 , . ng ma *? " ,,Dg8 . " w,n n^K the the woman had led tried to make bargain «XXI w.w I m£? 7 e v be f \ In the "wctlons with her so that her life would not be un- ?£Z W a,tp r Miller , s ^st known. The cap- bearable. The servant sees these advances „°P. a were n 2f ™ T I explanatory and the lirst and for his master's Bake and for a personal p % r L°I , ! ,,. 8n ° u ' d > bave been devoted to grudge, he attacks the commander who is ?' eW fect ten Jng what big races Walter Miller Haved by his soldiers. The servant Is ordered J ad w " and ho T w h l became "^e world's fam- to be flogged, whioh is done with another " us jp cke ,f- I n the west and south where dose to come later. The woman hears there k fit. o are *?} runn,n «. this picture will Is to bo more harm done to the man who r 8 »" ke 0ree . k to the ave rage movie fans. It's tried to help her and she Informs the com- tI ?ri£ g merely see him win a film fu- mander ahe will do anything he wants. She lur '*y- Mark. goes to his house that night but is saved by tiii? •rattun«<i< ^... the man who had first wronged her and his ItlC TRUMPET CALL. servant who had Informed hlB master what London Mav i was on foot. There Is a fight In which the Another of the series of screen adaptations (onimander Is si** and the girl Jumps In front of well known melodramas by George R Sims of the Prince and Is also Bhot She dies ano nnd Robert Buchanan, has been produced by that Is her resurrection. J. Gordon Edwards the Neptune Film Co It is entitled ''Thl dlriM-ted the picture. He tried for Russian at- Trumpet Call." in three narti ■ AinJlZ moMphere but in a couple of instances It somewhat from the regulation' melodrama! missed. The interior setting of the Countess' turned out by this prollflc "air of wrltlJs 5? u n n° W iXi d Ji C,d ii , i , J °v raP T K he raSt ha w been . 1>0 ycar8 ngo - ,n that there Is no heaTy vi™a?n well selected. Miss Nansen has a number of but a conscienceless vlllalness. She marries ^T,?. r ir l T ,e V W nv Cb B ^ h n n ,* 1,e8 S° nv J, n ? ngly ; '' ,nd ru,np two different men both of whoS Si Jlffn J w°L ,y a the , Pr,nce handled well enlist, and although In the same regimen? his acting but his general appearance was not neither one knows the other's life story One Russian. Edward Jose with his very cxpres- takes to drink and the other bellevlJr thJ Blve face had a part that fitted him as did woman is dead; marries mln A r!?M u Stuart Holmes. "A Woman's Resurrection" born of the IScond marriage but wneutht will please those who like pictures with a man thinks he Is a bigamist and that Si theme such as this one. c h.ld is nsmeless. he separates from what 1. in reality his lawful wife, only to be reunited at the finish, with a dying confession of the vlllalness. Still it Is all effectively screened by that competent producer, Percy Nash, and while there is nothing especially original about the photography It Is uniformly excel- lent and therefore entitled to a word of praise. The camera was handled by a man named Rlocl. It seems to be pretty generally con- ceded that the operator is directly responsible in no smaa degree for the success of failure of a modern moving picture feature produc- tion, and that being the case, there is no valid reason why his name should not be mentioned in a review of the film. Jolo. PARAMOUNTTSFIRST YEAR. The latter part of this month the Paramount Pictures Corporation will celebrate its first birthday. A year in the picture business is likened unto ten in any other line. Consequently Para- mount, which has made rapid strides since its formation, has been celebrat- ing a birthday on the average of every three months, at which intervals the service brought some new departure into its business. With the formation of Paramount a year ago a number of ideas were brought into the feature film business theretofore never thought possible. Paramount started out immediately to secure the best theatres in the coun- try to show its productions. The con- tracting was done for no less than one month and all held a 30-day cancella- tion clause. The feature picture busi- ness was shown something new when this was put into effect. The expansion of Paramount after its formation was remarkable. The three feature picture concerns which furnished the program with its produc- tions noted conditions and immediately began to enlarge upon their produc- tions. The companies were Famous Players. Lasky and Bosworth. The Paramount in order that the film makers should not run ahead of it, started a world-wide advertising cam- paign that took in all of the leading publications and called for 24-sheet billboard advertising. A weekly pub- lication, "Paramount Progress," fol- lowing this plan, soon made its ap- pearance and a few months later the Paramount Magazine was brought out, both of which deal directly with the do- ings of the Paramount. The Paramount plan for grading its pictures was left to the exhibitors, each of whom sends in a report on each Paramount release shown. This is similar to the plan of resident man- agers in vaudeville, who send in week- ly reports of the acts on their bills. The reports of the Paramount exhib- itors are watched closely and accord- ing to them, the various pictures are graded. The newest departure by Paramount is the releasing of a weekly travel pic- ture of one reel. The company sent a number of camera men to take pic- tures in South America and the Islands in southern waters. The travel films are diversifying and fit nicely into any program. The summing up of the Paramount^ success was lately made public when it became known that its original manu- facturers had renewed their Paramount agreements for a term of 25 years, the first agreement having been for one year only, the manufacturers biding their time for a longer term to await the result of the experiment in "feature film service."