The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-03-09

cess and the newly constructed Trianon
are given exclusively to the pictures
Independents Well Represented
The Independent films are also well
represented on that block as Mr.. Aber-
nathy has two very fine theatres-Odeon
one and odeon two and MIR. ColIey has
the Vaudette. These independent thea
tres enjoy good patronage as the sinde-
pendents' output is becoming better and
better every day. Another independent
theatre. nearby is the Victoria of Mr.
Wall, which Is located ON Twentieth
street near Third avenue This house
has now Regular clientele and is be-
coming a profitable venture.
The licensed film or the "Trustv are
represented in two other theatres nearby
the Queen of Mr.. Regner and the Best
of Mr.. Lenhart. The Best also presents
tabloid musical comedies having a regu-
lar stock company for that purpose; the
Queen devotes itself mainly to r.towing
pictures and more of them than any
other moving picture house in Birming-
ham.
The one price of admittance to all the
cinematograph places of amusement III
Birmingham is cents, and there is no
dearth of nickels amongst the feminine
portion of the city's population for one
| can visit any of the downtown theatres
on any afternoon during the week and
find the eternal feminine represented in
young school girls, older girls. still older
girls, mothers, widows and grandmothers
| However, let us not be deluded that it
| is only the female of the species that
| visit the canned drama" If the busl-
| ness men of the downtown district were
| queried on the question they would in
| variably reply (nine out of ten) that their
relaxation from business worries during
! the day was to visit for half hour
| good picture show, and in Birmingham
| a bad picture show has yet to be dis
covered.
| In the evening the Morkingmen with
! their families come to town and for q
small nominal sum depending entirely on
! the size of the family and have the pleas
ure of witnessing dramas and comedies,
scenes in Europe and Asia and all parts
of the world.
All Classes Visit Them
| But, the moving picture patronage In
| the evening is not given over entirely
! to the working people. If 1t was Manager
| Douglass of the Jefferson and Manager
Semon of the Bijou wouldn't worry 50
much about meeting expenses at their
places of real theatrical amusement. No,
the fact is that even with "star" pro-
duction playing the Jefferson and good
attraction at the Biiou one invariably
finds squad of waiting automobiles in
front of the downtown picture theatres
and what the picture theatres does not
get the Orpheum and Majestic with their
small price vaudeville attract within
their portals.
To show the advance of the moving pic
ture on the public, 1t Is fact that no
less than 70 theatrical organizations We're
forced to close their season after single
week last November. Fully one-third of
fI.n,t ,t,.a. nFN Naxxy Vnrlr oil In xyn
verted to the camera man. 1.-THE Silent
Drama" does not require that the ghost
should perambuate and the theatrical
manager is beginning to realize that
full house several times daily at s or 10
cents is a whole lot better than an empty
house all day at 81 admittance. The man
ayers do not deny that the moving pic
ture Is the cause of the alarming -slumpjs
and are slowly but surely turning to the
cinematograph.
Actors and Actresses Profit
If the managers of the regular theatres
suffer from the popularity of moving pic
lures IT is certainty that the actors
and actresses do not. Ii is estimated
that at the present time there are over
1000 actors and actresses daily engaged in
posing for the camera throughout the
United States at wages on the average
higher than received for similar work
on the regular stage.
Moving pictures have come to stay;
they have caught the popular mind, the
educational mind and the thinking mind
Pastors in the churches where they once
denounced the films as iniquitous now are
installing machines in their churches 10
illustrate scenes described by the Bible
and the life of Christ.
The public schools are taking up
moving pictures to present to the chill
dren real geography lessons. The NOV
ing picture man goes everywhere
throughout the world. One day he Is
In Tibet. another in Tahiti. Every
where he snaps the scenes he visits
and the result of his labors can be
shown in a public school room with
a capable lecturer in way that VIII
teach more to the youthful MIND In
month than would be taught in year
bv the old fashioned method of mem-
crizing from books.
The business man is finding the
moving picture useful Scenes OF the way
successful businesses are carried out
can be shown to a mediocre working
force enabling them to see their ms
takes better than If they We're told.
The manufacturer also uses the camera
for the same purpose TO show his men
the way articles are manufactured in
a high grade manner. But nor only can
pictures of manufacturing and indus
trials be shown for the education OF
working men but they are edifying to
the public in general
Interested in Industrial Scenes
For instance. everyone is interested |
in the way straw hats are made in the |
philippines One naturally Graves to
witness the governmental pearl fishing
Industry in lower California on the |
Pacific. How many who do not live
in a city where steel is made know OF
the various processes it goes through |
before it. comes out as steel billet?
The camera has caught for posterity |
tbe steel making industry from the
Whining of the ore to the finished pro-
duct. Glass blowing is also an inter-
esting industry that comparatively |
-. -. .noa Mt of vet with the aid [