The Washington times., 1915-04-28
THE BEST
Photopldy Department in
WASHINGTON
Demand for Stars Is
Due to the UneOen
Character of the
Ordinary Film

The best evidence that the public Is
learning to discriminate in It's mo
ton picture entertainments Is the
dsnland that is being made by exhi-
bf,ors for pictures with star actors
and actresses in the leading roles. 1t
makes no difference to the exhibitor
whether the star gained reputation
on the stage or as a photoplayer.
1t is the star they demand.
In making this demand they are
only passing on the demands Of the
public. There seems to be some ques-
ton as to why this should be SO.
The generally clever motion picture
editor of The Dramatic Mirror Is
even at loss to account for 1t. He
writes:
1T Is peculiar. this craze for the
bright lunninary, either of the stage
or the screen. But that 1t is real
many Of the manufacturers have
found to their sorrow. These pro-
ducers have bent their energies to
making of productions that deserved
the adjective in every branch OF the
producing art, only to see these films
run up a total on the loss side Of the
ledger, while productions a great
deal inferior In quality, but boastlnS
the name of a nationally known star,
have brought the money rolling IN.
"Of course, the value Of the play
er's name lessons proportlonately In
the regular releases of shorter length
films. Standard productions, bal
anced in merit in Photography, story,
acting, and settings. are all that is
expected. But even here. She star
name. attached to q production that
measures up in all other Respects
has its value"
From our point Of view there
doesn't seem to be anything mys-
terious or hard to interpret about
the situation. The fact is that the
people are demanding pictures that
they know will be fairly we'll acted.
change man, in his anxiety to make
a good showing for his branch, will
shove off anything he can on the ex-
hibitor he holds under contract. That
used to be the situation more than
1t Is now. But the public still has
the idea.
The Vitagraph. the Reliance, the
Majestic, the Thanhouser, the Lubin,
the Essanay. the Selig, the Edison,
the Imp, the Victoria number Of the
better known companies, in fact.
have turned out some wonderful
pictures without stars. But they
have also turned out some pictures
that are not much better than third
rate. And until they are seen the
public has no way Of knowing
whether a picture is to be first or
third class-the brand tells them
only that It might be one or the
other.
On the other hand they know that
while King Baggot, Earle Williams,
Edith Storey. Gladys Hullette. War
rem Kerrig gan. Francis Bushman,
Clara Kimball Young, William Far
mum. and the rest Of the favorites
might appear in poor dramas occa-
sionally. they will generally be found
in something that suits their person.
ality and they will give a fairly good
Performance whether the play is
good or not.
In other words, they know about
the star, but they do not know about
the company. It would seem that
the thing for producers to DO Is to
make the standard Of their regular
production as high, or even higher
than the standard Of star produc-
ton OF course, they try to do this
we understand all that-and they
frequently do turn out some won
derful productions. But just as fire.
quently they don't and rather than
take a chance Of running into one Of
their films that don't, the public re-
serves its patronage for tho star
That, 1t seems to US, Is the complete
answer. G. M.