The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-01-29
MILES OF MOVING PICTURES.

MILES OF MOVING PICTURES.
 Did you ever think how many, many feet of film pass through the machine that produce the moving pictures you see nowadays in the vaudeville houses? Of course, this depends en- ment, but usually about 1000 feet of film are used in every performances in the Orheus Theater. That's 14OO0 feet a week-two performances a day -or about 5OO,O00 feet of film in the season of thirty-six weeks. That's nearly 100 miles, says the Kansas City Star.
 This film costs or 12 cents a foot, an item of expense so large that the many sets of pictures are sent over the whole circuit of houses just as the actors and actorines, the dancers the comedians, and other entertainers are sent.
 There's an interesting story in the way these pictures are procured, espe- cially those that depict a chase after an escaping convict, the pictures you see while the orchestra plays the quick, exciting music and some one back of the stage is doing things that make 1t seem sure enough, when shots are heard -also back of the stage-and you see little puffs of smoke in the pictures while the con- vict gallops over hill and valley, splashes through streams, falls off bridges, climbs fences, and finally drops exhausted and is recaptured and led back to prison, head hung low, his face wearing a look of dejection. Life would never seem quite the same if Mike should change the chase music; it has become a part of the show business that people have a right to demand.
 The firms that produce moving pie lures have regularly organized thea trical companies. There are rehear- sals, just as in a theater; the men and women really speak the words of the play or scene, and when the perform ance is perfect the photographing ma chine takes the pictures. Where some
 
 the side of canyon a dummy figure is used and the section of film that would betray that fact is cut out One in a very great while these trick changes are awkwardly done, and then the audiences laugh. When a chase is to be photographed the men or women and the crowd-the dog actuallW go over the course that you in the picture.
 It is all arranged beforehand, so that the law-abiding inhabitants don't become nervous and interfere. Some times the arrangements are imperfect It was so one day recently, A New York company was making a series of chase pictures in which man was dressed in prison stripes and was try ing to escape. A policeman, who had not been notified, joined in and made things interesting with regulation police revolver. It was due to the pro verbal poor craftsmanship that the pictures were procured without the "convict" being killed.
 One of the peculiar features about moving pictures is that a blustery, windy day usually is selected for mak- ing the pictures. Trees may be seen waving, skirts f1uttering and hats roll ingdown the street. It's action they want, ard the wind produces it.
 In "The Escape from Sing Sing, " which is one of the popular chases produced by the moving picture ma chine, a number of the pictures were taken on the roofs in New York city. This is one of the most exciting chases. The criminal may be seen leaping from roof to roof while people lean from windows and shoot at the fleeing man. In getting the proper ef- feet the promoters were compelled to resort to many schemes. Revolving shots in the the downtown portion of New York would have caused no end of trouble. As a substitute the men in the windows who were supposed to ! do, the shooting threw handfuls of