The Washington times., 1914-06-28
Paul McAIlister Started Life as
a Student. and Still Plans
to Make Germany Give Him
Degree.
Father Wanted to Make Him
Doctor, But Missed Mark,
and Son Coined Dramatic
Talent Into Gold.
By GARDNER MACK.

by GAhDNER mACk.
Instead Of striving TO leave good.
clear footprints on the sands Of
time. a majority Of the great and
near great of the present day and
generation keep in active service
by juXtaposinS themselves in the
immediate vicinity of 4 moving
picture camera-thc idea being
that the sands Of time give pos
terily nowhere nearly as accurate
an estimate OF values rs I foot or
Two Of properly sensitized ceIIuloid
film
II there was the crowding to get
IN focus in the old days. when only
the shifting sands Of time served
the purpose the object OF an all
wise providence is srottiug the
world with 50 many deserts is
moro essily understood
Or course. y'undcrstand. when
ever people Of this type Observe
the approach Of the camera man
they Immediately assume a get
INC -osh'nd-ne-Satan' expression.
and then SEQ 10 it that he d.cSn't
60 SO far behinc rs 20 put them
totally out of the picture.
Real Plays On Film Now
All this has been written as intro
ductory 10 the statement that the
Hllles OF hlm that have been wasted
IN recording the gyrations of peopIe
whose principle business in life was
Simply gyrating to get miles of film
MADE and with no other purpose-
lhese miles of film are being clipped
down in the annual averages until
me time Will soon approach when a
pICIure actually Will snow something
worth seeing. There has been a
sort OF feeling among the people who
make moving pictures that their
business was in the nature of an en-
ourance test between the operator of
the projecting machine and the audi
@ enof that saw the picture. If they
could make film so long that II
exhausted the operator turning the
crank to exhibit it-they would win
public esteem II didn't make any
difference what they showed SO long
as there was scenery and galloping
horses or automobiles tearing along
at full speed or crowds running m
several directions al one and the
same time. Length was the watch
word. and the fellow who turned out
the longest film was the boy who got
the money But this feeling is chang
ing. Today something more than
merely the number of reels is neces-
sary TO get the public into the
theater. Plays must be produced
now. Plays with real actors and
real actresses. And Furthermore
real plays. The best of the stage is
the motto now.
And that brings US to Paul Nc
Allister. about who the Washington
theatergoing public has asitsted it
self and with more or less treEnu-
lousness on several occasions in the
past. Paul MCAllister has made an
excursion into moving pictures and
has been the central figure of pro-
duction which the company produc-
ing il claims 10 Re a masterpiece
Close Personal Interest.
We heard of a lot Of actors who
had Become inoculeted with the
moving picture germ. but Paul Nc
Allister is the first in whom there
is that close personal interest which
Washington feels for people who
have attained position very near
and dear to its heart And II oc-
CURED to Felix and me that story
telling something Of Paul would
lead people TO think more kinoiN OF
the pictures-besides being more or
less Of a boast for PAU. VINO rs
likable sort OF chap. Inc Gsic -i..s iiis
into his life history also would gre
er idea as TO the exact state OF tliLu
a. sCtor must have who tries TO up
Ds,ying in Washington, into the
state Of mind OF a person VINO IS ~
the State Of New VOTE s,igo,,i,,.
rEg- entails more or less dHhcuL,E, ~
under ordinary circumstances Lhe
s1nrnach 20 IL did in this case But
- u-ss only the approach ne &C
-ysl work was easy. Because you
sas We learned before We gone
yery far that MCAllister Is ~ way OF
hsinr z philosopher-ln fact. ne as
p,res - The heavyweight champion
thin in philosophy in a manner
spIskinE. This being the case. We
argued he must al some uHle OF
other have taken up the suoject OF
-eIepathy. and II he Is as Sood al
-sIrrerHing as he IL al acting, all we
res5 5o is - get in touch with his
vie and. using her as TecelN IN :
station telepath few more or less
uertjnent queries TO the object OF our
search And he. as mater OF
course. would give Us all the lnlor-
nation We wanted. Weli-we did.
She did. He did. And here we are
NcAliister was aimed. as youth.
e. the direction OF the medical pro-
fesrior. But his father, who was a
good Brooklyn doctor. didn't nave
me proper range or something NHe
that. and the young man landed on
the stage He began life IN a most
original manner. He was born in
F-InkIvn We don't mean that this
is original There have been lot
o. people born in Brooklyn. The
reason why you never hear OF
Brooklyn person being killed By. an
sv-Cmob!le is that they have had
practice for many generations dods-
:rg baby carriages along the promi-
ren, thorouzhfares. and looking out
come. therefore. second nature 10
them. There is. therefore. nothing
Whatever the matter with the Brook
lyn birthrate.
Starts AS Student.
Fut II is an even bet YOU never
read many biograp phies in public
prints Of people born in Brooklyn,
for the reason that Brooklyn is a
plare nat you generally hear OF
New Workers going 10 when hey die
rarheT than corning from when they
are living. Even il a person does
I've across the bridge he invariably
tells you he comes from New York
However. Paul McAIlister came
from Brooklyn. He went TO school
in England and then 10 college in
New York He was A very studlOCs
Young person. too, specializing IA
Dhilosophy and sprintinE. II isn't
usual for sprinter to be a philoso-
pher II ordinarily takes up most ot
his time TO sprint And McAlister
he could sprint some when he was
YorLcTn2 AT II But he also kept