Omaha daily bee., 1915-06-25
The World Wide Mvie

i then piied, and then embraced, flights the
hearts and aches the eyes Of all mathis and all
races around the world
The movies" give well take, 70 they are
showing the tribes OF remote Landslide things
do and. in turn. repeat to eyes wit primal
is doing in his primal habitat. THE is no
village small In civilized countries but TIT it. at
least occasionally the moving pictures There IS
krsal in African wilds wgwam settlelent in
any other wilderness but that has the noving.
picture display his magic. For the Kids on
the OF Siberia and the dwelers fsornoo
alike the miracle OF Ihe-motion photography ~ been
materialzed. The untutored savage not oul
the movies but. bless you he acts in theH In
fact, the wild men OF Borneo took to acting h the
movies readily than enlightened Irish
peasnntry
The number OF moving -pcture exhibitions give all
around the earth would be impossible TO conjechre
They have them in the Danish settlements withinlhe
Arctic circle. Doubtless the sign in front OF he
"Bijou Dream Moving-Picture Igloo' In UperniN<
reads THE Night is isix Months Long--Enjoy it Y
Seeing the Smashing Sensational Fim-Feature SUD
cess Iemon-Bared Sal, the Scouts Bride" in Sixth
Sensational Rees-all Punch and Passionl"
In New York City alone thee 1900 NOV
ing-picture theaters 300 OF these large beauti-
full and up-to-date theaters. sixty OF them were
originally designed for legitimate stage production
Seventeen regular Broadway theaters. In which
the foremost stage stars have appeared and the
greatest dramatic OF our generation have
been enacted. Within the last three four months
six leading Broadway thesters have gone
to the movies" making than twenty first-cIass
theaters now showing motion photography between
Fourteenth street and Columbus Circle
This condition OF affairs Is not pertinent TO New
York alone. From Budapest to Kansas city the same
conditions obtain. The movies are marching
and taking the strongholds OF the drama.
There Is finer theater in Paris than the eau
mont built originally for great theatrical spectaces
but devoted TO the silent drama
Planned and built expressly and solely to show
moving pictures the Strand in New York City
IL commodious and costly than any other amuse-
mcn edfice in the metropolis with the possible
ton of the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. also, moving pictures
may be on Sunday nights.
Likewise in Berlin, in London, in every great city.
and in every town Of any size anywhere finer larger
and more costly theaters have been and are being
built expressly for moving pictures than could have
been conceived financed for dramatic purposes
And vet how short time ago the moving picture
was considered a cheap pastme for individuals easily
amused with Photographic pantomime. horseplay, and
meodram aticaily depicted shilling shockersl 1t
the creditabe production OF quo Vadis? four years
ago followed last year by DAnnunzo's cinemato
graphic masterpiece "Cabria.' and this year by 'Tha
Birth Of a Nation" that advanced the moving pic-
lures to the position they hold today.
So great and wonderful has been the growth of the
moving picture business that II had been said: "Any
thing s good enough for the movies Old stock
actors and directors and called from the
chanical OF the moving picture companies
took up the task OF writing for the moviRg-p
camera. Old plays, long played out. and old melo-
dramas long laughed at were ground over for the
film by the hundreds.
In fact, until very recently the writing of photo
PLAYS all over the world the hands of under
paid Incompetence called to the work by demand
for piotures-any kind OF pictures Here. then,
evolved that important functonary OF cinemsography
the director. Some of these notably. David
Griffith. Thomas Ince. Mack sennett Frank Powell.
Llosi Carleton, Howell Hansel, Colin Campbell.
George Baker, Edwin Porter. and Others developed
into masters of visualization.
The so-called technique of the photoplay' means
nothing but Authorizations and jargon The men OF
developed ina ginaton. whose foremost in
fiction writing, called upon to supply the
moving picture with stories for reel life from
real life, a convincing counterfeit presentment Of
the same. They do II by simply describing the char
acters, the plot and the action. Yet great as has
been the development OF the moving picture art In
America It has been greater in Italy As France led
all world in the development the automobile.
Italy with it's notable productions in
such as "Quo Vadis9" and "Cabrs," has led all the
world in spectacular moving picture artistry.
In Germany. too, there development of the
art that was putting American producers their
mettle The world war In Europe. however put an
this dangerous rivalry, II also caused
ton In the making OF great moving picture produc-
tons In Italy. But, as said, the movies" give and
take and take all the world II Italy
in splendid and spectacular moving picture produc.
tions. America has led the world In wholesome,
"heartnterest" dramas and joval, inoffensve
comedies
In the matter OF drama nothing taken abroad
could vie in popularity with American western en-
dian and Cowboy" picture dramas These were APP
precisted and called for not only In enlightened
Europe but in darkest Africa and the mystic orient
well
John Bunny and Flora Finch laughed and
with in every land beneath the The rough nd.
tumble ssr stick keystone comedies caused sides to
shake under the fur coverings OF Kamchatka herds
they caused the dress shirts OF the Partisan
flaneurs and London Johnnes to crumple from the
eachinnations of their wearers
The world war which has wrought such havoc In
lives and fortunes. has left the picture
dustry OF America unseathed. II was an axiom of
the motion picture producers United States that
this country paid the expenses but Europe paid the
profits
The has almost wholly stopped the expectation
OF American films TO the countries at conflict with
the exception OF England and here the demand has
been cut In half II only the great costly and
artistic foreign moving picture productions that had
sale OF Importance IN the United States The
continental idea OF humor and OF the love relation
hardly appeals American tastes and preiudces on
the other hand. has been stated, the American
moving picture dramas and comedies had a universal
appeal.
There IL doubt that the moving pictures had
their quickest development In America from the be-.
ginning. they will ultimately have their hiKhest
Like the telephone, the electric light and the phono>
graph the moving picture is Yankee notion and an