Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-21
"ALL-KD" PHOTOPLAY
COMPANIES GROWING
A Few Facts About the Com
pany Of Child Actors That
the Majestic Has Established.
BY THE PHoTop1.AY rn1ron

BY THE PHoToPLAY EDITOR
All-kid' companies are RAPIDLY becom.
ing the fashion In hlmdom Within the last
fortnight the EVENING LEpoER printo,i
the story Of the new company organized
along those lines with a famous yo,,no
dwarf at its head Now comes an in
terestlng communication on the same
lines from the Majestic Motion Picture
Company.
What Is serious work and an art 20
actors and actresses Is mere ohitrs riav
to children. '
This is the spirit in which m. s,,,,u
members OF the newly established No.
Jtsuce company of children, formed To
aet photoplays on child subjects for cbtiy
oren, take their work. Hence tho .ctIn-
OF the Majestic kids" before tho csy,,ors
l the Griffith coast establishment. The
hehance-Majestlc studios, makes entireiv
for naturalness. e'y
10 dump a priggish and selfish lttIs
10y INTO motorboat and send il ripping
sleight-of-hand feats with pnna's siiE
nat much to the detriment of the head
gear, all these are things that children
oehght to do and hence do well.
Ihe children In the company arc n
naryinB number. Each theme is a child
mood one-a childhood theme acted for
children by children. So special engage
Inents or the miniature stars are made
but there are also n number of stoclt
stars who are regularly ordained r,or,,.
Uers or the juvenile players. Already
t,hey have developed their respective fol
lowing over the country.
small Francis Carpenter. aged oi-
reaoy has his small boy admirers ,vbsr-
ever moving pictures are shown and
kropably If the truth Is to be told his
feminine ones, too. The same might be
said TOO, of Violent Radcliffe. the little
girl who oddly enough plays the villain
m all the kid comedies. Small Rettv
marsh, niece of Mae Marsh, and Of
oiliy years takes an occasional mart
george Stone. years old, is sometimes
reading man and sometimes villain. Chr
men De Rue is another little girl mem
per OF the company. Occasionally adults
appear with the small players.
The immediate directors of the Majestic
child players are the Brothers FrankiIn
SINCE the company was inaugurated they
nave become expert managers of chill
uren. There never are any rebellions in
the company. At first, before things we're
IN tull swing, there was a little friction.
put system of rewards in which dolls
% 10 anu HlarpleS Tor boys played
ences. '''
Ihe themes upon which the small play-
crs, their directors and camera men
work, deal with the ambitions of child
mood, and in some cases their realization.
Little Dicks First Case" shows a
boy who wanted to be detective. This
poy mad an advantage over most other
Doys' Ills father was n detective So Dick
learned to be detective, and, of course,
learned 1t all wrong.
lie did better, however, in his second
case, Dirty Face Dan" He really
caught the culprit and sentenced him to
nave his face washed. PIRATES Bold" in
troduced an element of playing which
pany.
very priggish little boy was sent TO
sea In motorboat. The swift pursuit
by another craft and the rides entailed
by the production greatly pleased the
children. In "The Ash Can" there are
many small villains. Every boy wants to
be william at least once in his life, and
the kid comedians are no exceptions.
so they enjoyed the filming of this pro-
duction. In THE Kid Magicians" there
is little boy of wealthy parents whose
best clothes are taken by a ragged urchin,
That is the poetic Justice of childhood.
Sleight of hand tricks also figure very
prominently. Every boy likes these, and
probably has practiced much before the
mirror.
In THE Runaways" a little boy rides
on railroad handcar and. wonder of
wonders, It is equipped with gasoline
engine, and still better, the race is against
a train. What healthy boy of G-year-old
George stones age wouldn't enjoy that?
George did.
And in "The Straw Man." the children
find a scarecrow that's alive in a field
More, It does dances for them! OF course
it's an escaped convict who is in hiding,
but that only makes II the more fun. And
the children, aided by grandfather with
a rifle. capture the convict finally-a
thing of which every boy has dreamed.
So the children of the Majestic COM
pany are enjoying their work hugely. and
at the same time they are giving almost
equal enjoyment to children all over the
country.