Evening journal., 1902-10-13
SUCCESS OFTEN
DUE To CHANCE
How Sketches Are Repro
duced Upon Films for
Moving Pictures

line to n New orleans Times Democrat
reporter, SIS the Illusion they generally
produce as to the time they occupy
hhile on the screen. What is known
IS the standard exhibition film is so
lact long 1t is used almost entirely
.or comic scenes. trick pictures and
1thcr effects that are got up in the
ltudlos Of the experts who make them
u speciality. Every theater goer has
reen them, and ! win venture the as
rertion that the average man will de-
clare they take at least three or four
minutes in passing before the eye. AS
q matter Of fact the picture is on the
Bcreen less than one minute. You can
easily figure It out for yourself. The
ordinary 30 foot film OF ia, kind to
which refer is put through the repro
ducing machine at the rate of 1G pic
lures TO the second. Each picture is
three-fourths Of an inch broad. which
makes the 10 measure exactly one
foot, edge to edge; in other words. the
iilm travels a foot 4 second-50 feet, 90
seconds. What gives 1t the effect OF
taking up so much more time is the
immense lot of action that is usually
crowded into the brief period It is in
view. Until the moving picture was
Invented | don't think anybody had
the least idea how much could be done
in 80 seconds 1t seemed hardly time
enough TO turn around in. yet when
the experts began to study its possi-
bilities they found 1t was ample for
hundreds of little pictorial comedies
that have since delighted audiences all
over the world.
1T Is entirely n matter of rehearsal.
A subject is selected, generally calling
for from three to four people, and ev-
cry detail Of the business or action is
carefully worked out In advance. Sup
pose, for Illustration, that comic bur-
glary is the topic. The business, in
skeleton might run something like
this: Old gentleman doing In parlor;
enter burglar; old gentleman awakes;
burglar hides; enter policeman, search
es the room, collars old gent; they
fight and roll on the floor while bur-
glar suddenly emerges and leaps out
of the window. That doesn't sound
particularly side splitting, but In the
hands Of intelligent comedians it can
be made really very funy. The all es-
sentlal thing is to crowd it into 80 sec
onds, and TO that end each bit Of ac-
tion Is carefully timed and made to
fit into each other bit like so many
well geared cogwheels. The old gen.
tlemans startled yawn, the burglars
glance around the room and every
step. movement and gesture from be-
ginning to end Is calculated with the
utmost nicely, and at last after dozens
of rehearsals the act is attempted be-
fore the recording machine. If every
body is lucky, il goes through on sched-
ule time, but the slightest hitch is IA
tai, and If one occurs the film is spoil
ed, and they must try all over again.
No wonder it seems impossible to fu-
ture spectators that so much could
transpire in 80 seconds.
"But some Of the most telling effects
in composition pictures" continued the
operator, "have been the result of accL
dent and were entirely unpremeditat-
ed. That was the case with a film that
had a hand In preparing and that
afterward made a tremendous hit and
proved to be one of the best sellers
ever put on the market In getting
up the picture our principal purpose
was TO Introduce a large and very In
telllgent bulldog l owned at the time,
and we sketched out a simple little
scene in which tramp steals a pie
from a kitchen window, is pursued by
the dog and is last seen trying to scale
the back fence with the animal hang
Ing to his coattalls.
THE training of the dog was the
main trouble, but I finally taught him
to lay hold OF anything red, and we
sowed a big piece OF flannel as mark
TO the back of our tramp's coat. Red
photographs black, so it couldn't be
seen in the pictures. and after good
many rehcarsals the dog learned to
dash out at exactly the right moment
and nail the marauder, whose cue was
then to rush for the fence and consume
the remaining time in making an ap-
parently desperate effort to scramble
over the top. At last we got every
thing all ready. gave the word and
started the record machine to take the
picture.
Immediately the little comedy be
gan. The tramp appeared, looked
, around stealthily, saw the pie, hooked
It and was having a feast when out
sprang the bulldog and seized him by
the coattails. He thereupon sprinted
to the fence and was about TO carry out
the rest of the programme when, TO ouI
CONSERVATION, the boards gave way
!, and he came down bang on top of the
dog. The film had about ten seconds tC
run, and it was occupied in recording
: one of the liveliest scraps that eyel
happened. There was no hippodrom'
about it. Both parties were out FOL
blood. When the fence fell, the bull
dog had promptly transferred himself
from the tramp's coattail to the tramp
calf while that unfortunate persoI
snatched up broomstick and tried 4
pry him loose. They rolled over an'