Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-13
MOVING PICTURES
SHOW LOCAL SCENES
TAG DAY SUBJECT OF FILM AT
THE ORPHEUM
Los Angeles May Become Center ot
Picture Making Industry on
Account of Favorable
Conditions
Oh, wad some power tn giftle gle US,
loca Iisi

oh, wad some power th' giftle gle US,
To see oursels as ithers see us!
SO wrote Bobbie Burns some years
ago. Then, about the best one coulo
do to make the wish come true was
to look into a clear pool of water, OF
find mirror.
But a group of Los Angeles people
are this week accorded the most unique
and hitherto impossible privilege oi
seeing themselves as others see them
to the very life. And the experience
is not only novel, but a bit uncanny as
well.
How would you feel for instance, tC
see yourself, fully as large as life and
twice as natural, doing things Just as
you knew you had done them, Wher
you couldn't see yourself doing them
Which isn't so tangled statement as
it seems, when you unravel it.
The point is, that in Bobbie Burns
time there were no moving picture ma
chimes, and further, that up till now
the use of these machines was con-
fined largely to taking views of battle
ship fleets, flower paradises and the
like. Only recently has the idea beer
taken up of picturing in motion actual
events Just as they happen-the events
of everyday life, in the surroundings
which ordinarily hedge them about
And only this week has 1t been pos
sible for Los Angeles to behold in this
fashion a bit of its own actual life,
and for the participants therein to be-
hold themselves just as others saw
them when the pictures were taken
Yet that is what they may do If they
will but go to the Orpheum and see
the first of its locally taken moving
pictures which is on view now.
Picks Out Los Angeles
The Orpheum has shown moving pic
lures ever since there were such things.
They have ordinarily come from
abroad, where the best of them have
been made in the past. Many expert
ments were made with American pic
lures, but the faculty of taking them
had seemingly not been sufficiently de-
veloped. However, Martin Beck, the
czar of all the vaudevilles, decided last
fall that he had exhausted the old
world market; that it was time he had
something more up to date and of more
personal interest to his patrons, and
that he would cut loose from the pic
ture film trust and start a factory of
his own for views to be used only on
the Orpheum circuit. He sent man
named Anderson, thorough expert, to
Los Angeles, as being the best point
for picture taking, owing to atmospher-
ic conditions, worth and beauty of
scenery, and the like.N Mr.. Anderson
came here, organized his working
forces, mapped out the series of views
he wished, -" : then hired aegroup of
men and women to enact the scenes
which he wished to take with Los An
geles as background. And it is this
corps of performers, together with the
usual horde of innocent bystanders'
who figure in the Bobbie Burns act
now.
Anderson took miles of films here,
finding it ideal in every way for this
purpose. He invaded Pasadena, Santa
Catalina, Coronado and the orange
groves. He caught the Tournament of
Roses New Years day. and he got
views of the Christmas bathing at the
beaches. Besides, he secured many
comic views, with Los Angeles scenery
figuring therein. Is one of the latter
views that is now being shown at the
Orpheum-the first of the circuits own
productions and the first of the Los
Angeles series.
Three Hours of Tag Day
The view now presented is a sort of
take-off on the famous tag day" of
last June. Its scenes are laid in West
lake park, and in the immediate vicin-
ity of Seventh and Alvarado streets.
First is shown the little table, with the
women selling tags; then the purchas-
ing, the chasing of possible customers,
and, finally, the robbery of the booth
by a hobo, who, in order to escape,
fees through the park, leaps into a
rear yard, dons women's clothes from
line, and peddles the tags, even to
the original chasers. So eager is he
to sell them that he follows lineman
up a telephone pole; battle ensues,
and both tumble to the ground and
finish their fisticuffs.
OF course, the episode is made very
f my in itself, but the charm of the
pctures to local audiences is their real
ism. One can see the passing trolley
cars, almost recognizing their occu-
pants; can read the familiar signs, no.
tice the waving flowers In the park,
the famous avenue OF palms being
shown in full; also the lake and the
stone steps, the lawns and other de-
tails. All are marvelously clear, at
testing to the ease with which moving
pictures are taken here. And, best of
all, one can easily pick out the partici-
pants in the escapade, if one is ac-
ouainted with them. Many of them
were formerly actors, most of them be-
ing at one time connected with the
Gaiety company at the Grand. In
cluded in this crowd are Rose Pomme-
roy, Josephine Knoll, Marie Stuart,
Ethel Moultier, Bessie Ferris. May
Warren, the veteran, Count Alberti.
William Hughes, George Stanley, Will
liam Livingston and James Anderson.
In the picture an automobile figures;
but this was no hired affair, for it was
commandeered for the occasion-just
happened to be passing, and into it the
character plunged The occupants
entered into the spirit of the fun, and
are conspicuous in the pictures. The
same applies to the occupants of the
passing trolley cars. Many of these
latter, if they happen into the Orpheum
this week, will be greatly surprised to
see themselves immortalized in this
fashion.
Carroll county. Illinois, annual picnic at
xy.,,taa todav 3-13-1