When the movies were young (1925)

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40 When the Movies were Young the rock would give way to a telegraph pole, and so on until half a dozen chases had been staged before the one "drop." Thus far advanced, artistically and otherwise, was the motion picture this spring of 1908 when "Lawrence" Griffith found himself astride a horse, taking the air in the wide stretches of Coytesville, New Jersey, and getting five dollars to boot. Also found himself so exhilarated, mentally and otherwise, that in the evening he turned author, not of poorly paid poems, but of the more profitable movies. Wrote a number which he sold for fifteen dollars each, a very decent price considering that this sort of authorship meant a spot-cash transaction. The first little cinema drama of which he was the author and which was immediately put into the works was "Old Isaacs, the Pawnbroker." Very bitter in feeling against the Amalgamated Association of Charities was this story of a kind-hearted Hebraic money-lender. On May 6th, with "Lawrence" Griffith the star, was released "The Music Master," but not David Belasco's. Then came "Ostler Joe" of Mrs. James Brown Potter fame, scenario-ized by Mr. Griffith. He also played the part of the priest in the scene where the child dies. In early July came "At The Crossroads of Life" and "The Stage Rustler." Biograph's sole advertising campaign at this time consisted of illustrated bulletins — single sheets six to ten inches, carrying a two by three inch "cut" from the film and descriptive matter averaging about three hundred and fifty words. They were gotten up in florid style by a doughty Irishman by the name of Lee Dougherty who was