The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-07-24

supply to exhibitors and storerooms were con-
verted into theaters in all parts of the country.
In less than two years more than ten thousand
picture theaters were opened in the United
States. The number In New York city alone to-
tailed more than 1900 January 1, 1907, and In
Chicago there were 800 of a mushroom growth.
Many motion picture producing plants were es-
tablished in many cities, and the film supply
proved abundant for the rapidly increasing num-
Der of theaters. But there was no system to the
production, the making of prints, preparing ad-
v~ertising matter for exhibitors, or giving heed
to what is today considered the most important
phase of the business-that of arranging a we'll
balanced program.
Manufacturers saw the necessity of not only
making the subjects, but also maintaining their
own system of exchanges for the purpose Of safe
guarding their own interests by controlling the
films, and merged their interests In releasing
companies. Now there are no less than ten cor
p%orations composed of owners of producing COM
panies that have national releasing systems, with
exchanges in all principal cities. These are capt.
talized in the millions and one is reputed to have
made 1900 per cent profit, while on the other
hand others have operated continuously at a loss.
With the formation of big releasing CON-
panies and the general improvement Of conditions
of the industry, with regard to all phases, the
most important to the ten millions of people Of
the United States who daily witness the show
ing Of motion pictures is the great change for the
betterment Of production, and the realization by
the manufacturers of the possibilities OF photo
plays. ~
In the Standardization of the film the celluloid
strip was gradually reduced in size from one hav.
ing a picture two inches wide and one and one.
half inches deep, to uniform size of picture, three
fourths of an inch deep by one inch in width.
There are sixteen separate pictures to each lineal
foot of Aim, or 10000 to a reel OF 1000 feet,
which, when properly projected, is run or in
eighteen minutes. Few motion picture lovers
know that every minute approximately one thou.
sand seDarata Dicturas are nrOiectad on the
screen, each one separated from the adjoining
one by a black line Of the thickness of an aver
age calling card.
Still stranger, it may seem, is the fact that
about one-fourth Of the time the pictures are
hidden from view of the audience and the screen
is black. This is caused by a revolving fan wheel
or shutter passing in front OF the projecting lens
each time the film Is advanced from one picture
to another by the intermittent sprocket move
ment. A thousand feet of film which passes
through the projecting machine is stationary
threefourths of the eighteen minutes required
in projecting It, and in action but approximately
four and a half minutes. This prevents blurring
of the pictures and makes each individual picture
or frame sharp from point of focus. The pic
lures are m~agnihed from two to four hundred
times their actual size by the projection, accord
ing to the size of the screen, distance from the
lens and the lens itself.
The making of motion pictures is most interest
ing, and all studios are visited daily by hundreds.
At a few visitors are permitted, but at the ma
jority a mo Admittance' sign hangs over the
entrance and no amount of talk or money will
get the stranger past the gates. The studio in
reality consists OF an open-air platform. one in
closed entirely by glass. or a halllike building
with movable electric lights Of such candle power
as will make 1t light as day.
In all producing plants now the story for the
photoplay is first written. From this is prepared
the scenario, which briefly outlines every scene.
describes the settings and action OF the players,
When it is considered that each reel of pictures
requires from fifty to seventy-hve scenes, and
many of the photoplays of today consist Of as
many as FIVE, six and seven reels, while the
larger ones. such as "The Spoilers" consisted OF
nine reels, Les Miserables" eight. "Cabiria" of
twelve. and the largest photoplay yet made. THE