The Washington herald., 1911-06-04

- all the developments IN the
modern amusement world the
growth Of the motion-picture
entertainment Is the most as
founding Ten years ago there was
scarcely a moving-picture house in the
country. The motion films We're seen
only at the tag end Of vaudeville per-
formances or in illustrated travel lee
lures. Now there are more than 5000
Of these little and 10 cent theaters
where the motion-picture drama and
spectacle are the principal attractions.
There are more than a dozen impor-
tant film manufacturers or studios
operating in New York and vicinity, and
many others OF equal prominence scat
tered throughout this country and Eu-
rope. Each of these establishments has
its permanently engaged company or
sterling actors and employs a large corps
of high-salaried stage managers, scene
painters. and mechanicians to assist in
putting on the pictorial dramas.
1t has become one of the most impor-
tant fields of operation in the theater
world, and, beyond doubt has come to
stay. Proper censorship must, and will.
be exercised to prevent the corrupting
influences on the youthful mind Of too
lurid 'bad-man" dramas or suggestive
farces, and when this censorship is firm
ly established the motion picture show
will be worthy of the respect and patron
age Of all
The New York Dramatic News pub
lished in its last issue an article by its
motion-picture expert that is sound in
fact and philosophy. In part it follows:
The moving picture is the novel in
action. 1t is cheaply made and cheaply
presented. and therefore is accessible to
thu people And they have found II. are
using it and enjoying 1t. and 1t is here to
stay. and it is to stay for good. 1t has
crudities which will be corrected. 1t is
given often in poorly ventilated halls,
which will be improved. Some of its
films are degrading in their suggestive
ness These will be eliminated Its faults
ter. more injurious in the one than the
other. because it ministers to people less
refined and more easily Influenced.
But its possibilities are infinitely great
er than those Of the drama, because it
reaches an infinitely larger class. and its
educational capabilities are vastly supe
ror. because it reaches those who. being
in a more plastic period, are more sus-
ceptible OF educational growth.
Laying aside the faults of the moving
pictures, which are epheneral and are
being remedied. the better class Of enter
tainments are simply wonderful. The
scenes presented are thrilling in their
action and in their sembIance of life The
street scenes are exact reproductions.
Patrons have actually seen themselves
in the streets of foreign cities, where
they nave been; il is almost impossible
to believe that the parade is not actual,
that the horses dashing toward the spec
tator are not real and in a second will
come dashing across the footlights into
the orchestra: and the acted dramas
which they portray are so true to life
that one forgets that the words are not
spoken.
I'm Carnot's funeral one could seem to
hear the beat of the muffied drum and
the tramp of the marchers. while in the
pictures OF English pageants, one could
see presented with historical accuracy
the costumes OF the past, the pomp and
ceremonial of the vanished days when
knighthood was in flower. Great battles
are reproduced, the sports Of nations,
their customs. dress. great Industries in
motion. the minutest movement of past
and contemporary life are brought be-
fore the observer with absolute fidelity,
and the worlds life from all its remote
parts is made to move IN panorama and
instructive vision before the spectator. 1t
is wonderful. salutary, educational: It
makes the stay-at-home, hampered by his
limitat tions, a tourist of the world, widens
his horizon, enlarges his vision, and
hangs in his minds gallery pictures Of
transcendent value. No greater boon.
in its possibilities for good. has come to
the common people. OF which the world
is full, than the moving pictures.
"Flippant wit sneers at II. but II has
not depth enough to see beyond the sur
face into the reality of good behind the
moving scenes. Theatergoers affect to
despise the humber dramas which they