The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-06-15
AS THE" MOVIES" MULTIPLY
THE DETACHMENT OF THE
'MElLtRDRAMMER' SPREADS
Pictured Stories of Crime Put
to Blush Old Blood-and-
Thunder Plays
CHILDREN SEE HORRORS
Youngsters Encouraged to Go
Because Parents Are Victims
of the Craze

paralytlc, capable only OF moving his
expressive eyes. and OF hearing all
that Is said. He is propped up on
pillows in an easy chair beside a
table, around which his wife Sand
little daughter hover.
Enter Beppo, the villain, Just out
o. prison, who places a photography
infernal-maehine on the table, tells
the little girl to play 1t to her heart
content, and then with fendish leer
bends over the helpless paralyti0-ahd
tells him what the box Is. He points
10 little table clock. with the hands
indicating quarter of and matters,
On the stroke Of 5 you die
Then he leaves, chuckling, and we
watch the hands OF the clock advance
slowly to the fatal hour.
Almost anyone will agree that the
old-time, blood-and.thunder melo-
drama never offered a more beautiful
~ conceived plot than this, which vs.
being taken as a sort of after-dinner
cordial by bankers, brokers, lawyers,
stenographers, clerks, male and fc-
male, and staid plain citizens OF the
substantial type who spend the
leisure remnant of their lunch hour
in a certain Woodward-aye. moving
picture palace.
or course the picture, entitled ION
the stroke OF fiye," ends properly.
The police censor3 would not allow
the paralytic TO be blown up. even
II the picture makers would
Our old friend the "chee-lld,' who
alone can communicate With 4r
father. by means OF alphabet blocks,
sees his frantic anxiety, and guided
by her fathers eyes, labor iously
spells out Throw box o.u-t"
Beppo, waiting eagerly al tho ase
OF cliff below the house, 10 hear the
explosion which will wipe cut his
enemy's whole family, Is just ruined
when the box. tossed out by Tonys
wife at one second to 8, explodes
right beside him.
1t Is the real old melodrama OF the
100000 show houses where the gal
lery gods used 10 shrek their wrath
at the villain, while the factory girls
and their shop-mate beauX in the par
quet exhibited their dispieasure in
storms OF Kisses. In this modern,
voiceless melodrama we miss The
sshrieks and groans, and The creepy
obligato OF the wavering violns as
the villain stalks his prey We miss
the lusty-lunged gallery god Prob
ably he misses his old diet, too.
But the old melodrama played TO
Hundreds. a regular clientele which
came week after week aid. was the
cause OF grave anxiety TO the substan-
ial citizenship. the pictured melo-
hrama plays TO hundreds If thou
sands, and numbers among its steady
patrons that staid and ultra respect
hble portion OF the population which
used to hold up its hands in horror
at the bare mention of the old wit
ney Grand
White-haired, sweetfaced grand
mothers take "the children and
watch with breathless excitement,
while the western sheriff and his
| kossee stalk the outlaw after 4 thrill.
tng, running fight on horseback.
The dastardly plotting OF the jealous
|killainlover who mutters Curses and
Toys with his Weapons, now forms the
kaily recreation OF thousands of moth
Ners and fathers who would have
rashed youngsters OF theirs for go
hing 10 a "meodrama"
They furnish the younger generation
many nickes, now. TO indulge in rapt
attention TO the doings OF the pic
tured handsome hero. scowling vii.
ain, and distracted, fair heroine
Society women seeking few min
utes Of recreation while shopping,
drop INTO nickleodeon seats beside
italian laborers also out for recrea-
zion. They see melodrama. They
like II. They so again. Perhaps they
take some friends or neighbors next
time.
Solid business and professional men
drop In at lunch time. Soon they
bind time 10 drop in during Office
hours and relax"
Dynamite and six-shooters make
good relaxation, apparently, for they
keep going.
Our old friend. the train robbery,
hot favorite In the old homes OF
melodrama. is a frequent theme in
the movies"
The struggle between the villain
and the hero on the brink of high
cliff is another. The Tilted lovers
terrible revenge is always present.
A beautiful instance OF that is show
inc here this week, in Woodward
ave nickleodeon. where the lover
plans TO remove his old love, his sue
cessful rival and a hotel full OF we'd
ding guests Just as the parson is say
ing them words at the stroke or
midnight
The villain. in dress suit, loads
the clock with dynamite. ana connects
IL with the electric system, TO go on
az midnight.
It's an awfully shiyery scene when
the villains beloved old mother walks
In at one minute 10 u ana causes MIN
10 tear his hair and then do Mara
thon toward the switch that turns on
all the lights and the current.
But, OF course. If some blunderlns
movie" proprietor should put up
big sign "Melodrama over MS door
way, his ultra respectable patronage
would cease at once.
Perhaps!