Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1908-12-09
MYSEERYI Of MOVING PICTURES.

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Did ya0 ever come out of moving
picture STOW with the feeling that you
had been dreaming dreams?"
There is nothing that SO thoroughly
combines absolute mathematical exact
ness with fantastic unreality as the
modern entertainment known us a
moving picture show. There is moth
ing that requires more scientific and
artistic skill In the making or more
care and dexterity. in the reproducing
than the pictures shown by the kline
toscope, and there is nothing more
mystifying to- the beholder than these
same pictures, when they are thrown
on the screen in the theater. In the
same afternoon, perhaps, you will see
thrilling train robbery, a prize fight,
a dainty little domestic comedy, n
scene during trip of one of the pres
idential candidates, fairy tale of
your childhood, and some of the magi-
cal pictures In which stones roll rap
idly up hill, saws and hammers work
without human assistance, or skele-
ton gradually develops flesh and cloth
Ing. The commonplace is SO mixed
with the impossible that while you
are looking at the pictures you find
yourself believing it is all perfectly
real and natural, and 1t is only after
you have left the theater that YOU
realize 1t is a trick, an optical illu-
sion, and you wonder how 1t is done.
The effect upon your mind is much
like that produced by dream you
have had, only in the case of the cine
matograph you try to analyze the
process.
behind the Scenes.
But the process is unanalyzable, UNI
less you are permitted peep behind
the scenes of the business of film max
Ing. Once in the film makers studio,
however, you find the making of the
pictures far more interesting than the
pictures themselves. One moment. you
laugh at your own stupidity in not
guessing "how 1t worked" The next
you are lost in admiration of the clev-
erness of the film makers in being able
to arrange the natural ,fnd ordinary
means about them to produce such ex-
traordinary results. And you never
see moving picture afterwards with
out remembering how 1t, or one like 1t,
was made
Art, the drama, nature, mechanical
forces, all have part in the produc-
ton of the pictures that are repro.
duced all over the civilized world, for
the moving picture show has become
the most universal of all amusements.
Every manufacturer Of motion picture
hlms maintains large company of
actors, 4theater of his own with an
immense stage fitted with traps, tanks,
lift and other usual scenic accessories.
and larger corps of stage carpenters,
scene painters, scene shifters and
property men than Is thought neces.
sary In any Of the frst-elass theaters
In Europe or America. All sorts OF
ingenious methods of producing I'm.
usual effects, all the devices for Gre
atins realistic illusions known to the
stage and many that are Impossible on
the real stage, are employed. Every
Kind OF scenery and stage setting are
used. People Of all ages, sizes and CON
ditions, 1.-THE lame. the halt and the
Blind as well as the physically per-
feet, take part in the various scenes.
Sometimes the actors play their parts
on real stage, sometimes they act in
the fields or woods or even on the
streets Of a city, and sometimes they
go partly through a performance in
the midst of natural surroundings and
complete the play on the stag of a the.
alter, or vice versa. 1t all depends on
the subject of the picture and the way
the idea is worked out.
Dramatic ability of high order is
necessary in the actors who pose be.
fore the speeding kaleidoscope, for act
ing alone must tell the story of the
play they are presenting, and many of
the subjects are too artistic to admit
Of mere pantomime as an exposition
Of their meaning.
Trick Pictures from France.
The kaleidoscope is not a French in.
vention, but Its Development along ar.
tistic lines is due a1post entirely to
French ingenuity. II England, and in
America till quite recently, it was
used merely to record events as they
occurred, such as the unwilling of q
monument, the Inauguration of a pres.
ident Of the United States, boat
race, prize fight championships
baseball game, or great parade. Nc
attempt was made to create subjects
for the machine to photograph, and all
fanciful pictures, color pictures, OF
others that were out of the ordinary
were left for the French film makers
to produce, and the result has been
three distincttvely characteristic class.
es of motion pictures.
England produces the Current
events" films. She sends her kineto.
scope operators wherever great things
are happening. She had one in the
trenches at Casablanca, another in
Constantinople when the Sultan. pro
claimed the constitution, another in
Australia when the American fleet Wis.
tied that colony. When King Edward
opens an exposition the entire perform.
ance is recorded by the kaleidoscope,
AMI reproduced somewhere else later
America makes current events films,
but she also makes others. Film max.
ers in America maintain their own
theater and company of actors, and