Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-01-22

leaped into immediate popularity. In
the midst of the Portuguese revolution
several sets were ordered from that
country, while in New Orleans, where
there is an anti-Uncle Toms club, an
exhibitor took set and wrote that
the entire week had been sold out at
80 cents a seat The Tale of Two
Cities" Jared as well in the general
market
Z After a short time as scenario writ
er in the eastern Vitagraph studio,
Mr.. Sturgeon directed Two Christmas
tides. as his premiere His friends
maintain stoutly that his earliest eff
forts are as peculiarly successful as
/ the big ones" he has put over while
managing and directing the western
Vitagraph. where such features as
How States Were Made brought him
/ greater recognition than ever in the
past
During orr conversation Mr.. Sur
geon constantly wandered back to the
subject of dictatorship. One of his
declarations was:
Il never have been able to put on
one of my own scenarios as | wrote it.
! always felt some weakness in logic,
some sense of lost continuity or a
weak note as | got along, which l did
not note when l wrote the story.
Il never accept or attempt a drama
which was not good abstract thought
or theme behind it, A story from
which the western may be stripped,
or the various situations eliminated
without impafring the central theme,
is the story worth while 1t is the
kind which builds up the regulations
of productions
do you always go into the work of
putting on picture with the feeling
of absolute oertainty?" asked the board
of inquiry.
Far from it, was the reply. BE
fore any picture gets we'll under way
there always is period when it looks
almost hopeless to me. This feeling
continues sometimes half way through
the production. bump against situa-
lions which something tells me are not
right | stop the work and go into
executive session with myself. Gen
orally ] begin again by going in and
\ acting the part. AS I proceed l find
myself carrying the story along with
proper logic. Paving found the solu-
tion to n!y' Gi.emma,--I proceed with
rehearsals.'
The conversation strayed to the
relative value of stars, near-stars and
amateurs. The peculiar Sturgeon had
some original IDEAS a.cng these lines
EIe continICt.
THE average actor who calls him.
self an actor in quotation marks, can
; do only what any intelligent person
can do off hand, frequently not that
I Surprisingly good results can be Sc
cured with intelligent, moldable anna
teurs. But the amateur who tries tc
act is terrible.
One kind of good actor is the
, one who reflects the initiative of his
director" said the man who also uses
his stenographer,. stray citizens, and
other novices in pretty strong parts
at times. However, one must give
due credit to the actor who has fine in
telligence He initiates for himself
and his work, which depends only in
small measure upon the director, is
valuable 1t is the right kind"
And you consider that you were
born with your talent for direction
Il inherited a reasonable supply Of
brains and learned to use them" he
replied very promptly. But you mus
remember that | was extremely fortu
nate in taking up my work with EN-
ployers who are artists at direction
Beth A. f. Smith and James Stuar
Blackstone of the Vitagraph, while en-
cheering he business organization
always have been active on the produc
ing end. In this | found an advantage
of greatest value