The Washington times., 1915-03-09
PHOTOPLAYS AND
PHOTOPLAYERS
By GARDNER MACK.
HoW Actors Work to
Prepare For The
Filming Of A
Big Play

criticism Of the lack of preparation
for their work that characterizes the
appearance of many of the actors
and actresses in screen dramas.
There have been frequent occasions
when good film stories were abso-
lutely spoiled by the lackadaisical
methods employed by the stars who
had the principal parts.
They gave the impression that they
wanted to get the thing over with In
the shortest possible time, and that
the play did not amount to anything
at all so long as the star appeared
on the screen a sufficient number of
times.
This system of doing things has
been undergoing change. with
producers like David w. Griffith.
Otis Turner. Hobart Bosworth, Bar
ry O'Neil, Robert Porter, ana others
continually impressinge on their
forces the necessity of acting the
story as the author intended 1t, and
the films turned out by these direc-
tors showing the result of such care
full study and method, there has been
a change coming over the other con-
Germs.
Some idea of the care Otis Turner
R1ves to his work is reflected in Her
bert Rawlinson's remarks on tne
way he has been compelled to work
in acting the character of Quest. the
scientific detective. in The Black
Box" the e. Phillips Oppenheim
serial that the Universal Company IS
shortly to begin in the leading mo
ton picture theaters as q film play
and which is to be published serially
In The Washington Times, beginning
" When % Mr.. Turner first told me
what he had in store for me: "Raw-
linson declares. ~ Immediately be
gan a systematic study or the pusi-
ness of detecting as taught by such
authorities as A. Conan Doyie' Ea-
rest of them, and then for the first
time in my life. began to realize
that there was a serious side OF the
profession that I had heretofore
overlooked. 1900. &c
"Of course. ! had read most t,,,d OF
those works before, out AZ tnat r, tniv
my attention had been given chielly
to the story part and until l began
studying them. had never really
believed that there was any science
attached to it.
"in fact, the matter Of deduction
had always struck me- me as sci.nt;fic raifei
Now that I have begun to delve,
however am more and more i'm
nressed with the clever way in Which
Mr.. Turner has established ms ny
Dotheses and made his deductions III
the problems with which ne mas coii-
fronted Sanford Quest
"Mr turner's original intention
was to tell it in either one big mul-
tipie-reel feature. or to break 1t INTO
two or three parts as Ar. Glbiyn dlu
with Francois Villon's' stories. But
when he tried it, he soon saw that
to attempt to crowd SO much mater-
story. The Universal therefore au-
thorized him to put it in serial form.
"He started and thus far he has
not made use of an impossible sltua-
tion, They are all plausible: they
are all interesting and they All nave
. decided bearing on the emo; ,ur,,
Moreover the parts are natural
ones and parts for which each mem
Der of the cast seems to be pecu-
liarly fitted.
II would like to go on record right
now as saying there are All sorts OF
thrills in this story. At least the
performance of some Of them have
sroused in me a feeling of-let us
say-something that was not Sc
curity. In installment four. some
siieht feeling Of excitement was
aroused in my chest when was
told to hang suspended from
thing-um-bob over a railroad track
and take chance on drPpplns
twenty-five feet to the top or traln
Of cars moving about eighteen or
twenty miles per-and that per does
not stand for perhaps. 1t means
ner hour. 1t was not a sure thing
That I would light on the car ac-
cording to schedule. And. II l
should be so fortunate. there was no
guarantees that l should stay on
after I got there. / stuck on all
right.
an excellent opportunity to reel my
heart creep slowly up ana looge
somewhere back of my Adams ap-
pie. There was a burning building
"On the ground around the puiid-
ing there were several thugs who
were intent upon preventing my
escape. There was only one way to
make it and that was to slide down
a rope. Fine. Down ! went from
the fourth floor That was not bad
for a starter, but about that time.
Mr.. Turner decided to inject real
thrill. So ne set fire to the rope up
above and told me to swing over and
catch a telephone cable. 1t didn't
look reasonable. but neither did the
Alternatives drop OF about two
the cable and went hand-over-hand
to the first pole.
"Then, in the twelfth chapter, in
making a getaway with Miss Little,
tho thugs take her over bridge in
an automobile with myself In hot
Dursuit on the hurricane deck of a