Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-21
BEST THOUGHT I'M AMERICA
DIGEST OF THE MAGAZINES

LII lIEAI[AE4A liz
ing picture The movies have broken
window into the blank wall Of nixfl1d
minds. They have spread n Thousand
worlds at the feet Of the simplest specta=
tor.
Stories of the adventures and hair
breadth escapes encountered in produe-
| ing many of the films are fully -
thrilling as the films themselves. Cieve-
land Moffett is writing series OF afti-
cles for the American Magazine (s1. de-
scribing such adventures. He quotes
story told by Carl Gregory. veteran
camera man Of the Thanhouser Com-
pany.
zone Of the first big motion picture
stunts I remember was when we sent
White steam automobile at full speed
over the steepest part of the Palisades
and let her smash down with a wicked
nobleman inside (played by dummyls
a scoundrel who had choked and beaten
his young and beautiful American wife
and had fiercely pursued her when she
was rescued by gallant American lover
In his automobile There were hve opera
tors with cameras waiting for the smash-
up, one man at the top of the Palisades
to get the car as she toppled over ths
precipice and four of us down at the
bottom on tho shore of the Hudson River,
with our machines pointed up at various
angles. When we heard the director
shout we began turning our machines,
and each one of us got a section of the
fall. We had filled up the steamers
tank with gasoline, In the hope that she
would explode In the air as she turned
over, and sure enough she did / got a
picture showing the automobile shooting
straight out from the rock wall, then n
clear somersault, then with q smash
of. black smoke, blowing herself into
thousand pieces. One of these, a heavy
chunk of steel, whizzed by my head and
buried itself in the ground. We gave the
wreck to a policeman, who sold 1t for
SI0''
THE HIGH COST OF BEAUTY
Musical comedy in the Broadway
sense is another comparatively modern
development. Judson Stuart discusses
the problem of pleasing "the tired busI-
ness man" from an interestingly TECH
nical and matter of-fact point of view
in the Theatre a..
Without any attempt to go into the
psychology of 1t all, the fact remains that
the so-called, much -malgned and over
worked tired business man" finds more
| pleasure and restfulness in looking at
| galaxy of really beautiful girls than he
does in watching the most intricate
| dance steps or listening to some tunefuI
| little song. 1t wasn't so many years ago
| that keen producer sat down and tried
to figure out why his show was not maxi
| ing the same brilliant success as that OF
a rival They were practically. the same,
a sort OF jolly musical comedy, with
| more melange than plot.
| Find out for me-" he said to his as
sistant. But. how?" hopelessly inquired
the young man.
''If people didn't know me so well ia
| do 1t myself and show you. The only
way to find out is to talk with the people
! Go over there and listen to them be-
! tween the acts. Go into the cafes and
| listen to them. Get into conversation
| with them, especially with the middle
aged, solid men. the men who can and
| do afford theatre tickets. Then come
| back here and do the same with our
patrons. There's some reason; we've got
| the best singers and the best dancers,
we've got more comedy and go and more
plot"
When the young man made his report
| he did so in few words. They've got
bunch of queens over there, while we've
got a bunch of frights." he said, But
about over there is the Food-lookers. All
they do here is to knock the chorus,
! But 1t is real music, every one has a
| good voice" "Aw, they don't even
mention the singing; they knock tile
chorus because it's bunch of frights.'
The producer had his show changed
| over little, changed the name, let ali
| the girls go. Every new girl he engaged
| was a beauty. 1t was not long before he
| was standing them up" every night
Tickets were selling eight weeks ahead
And from that time on the cost of stage
beauty began to soar. Other producers
saw a great light. If the patrons wanted
beauty they would get 1t. Ten years ago.
yes. even six years ago, a chorus of s5
girls would cost the producer about 5000
per week. Today a chorus of 35 girls will
deduct at least $1,000 from the weeks
profits. In other words. there is High
Cost OF Beauty and that cost is nearly
twice what 1t was a few years ago
There is quaint description of some
old-tlme favorites in Scribner's (5):
I recently discovered at the bottom OF
a box of old keepsakes, which had not
seen the light In many a year. a little
photograph showing four doll-like fig-
ures standing in row, two tiny men in
dress suits and two tiny ladies In low
necked satin gowns, holding elaborate
lace handkerchiefs in their inhnitesimal
white-gloved fingers. General Tom Thumb
and his wife, Commodore Mutt and Min
ME Warren! When had / thought OF
them and of the breathless delight of
those evenings? do not remenn-
ber much that they did. except that Gem
eral Tom Thumb sat astride chair and
winked his eye and said things that the
grown-up people laughed at. AIin-
ME Warren. with her bewitching dark
curls her exquisite features so perfect
in shape and delicate in color. her doll
like figure and her tiny hands and feet.
She always wore pink satin gown with
a beautiful spreading train that fell over
the sides of the little elevated board
walk on which they all promenaded down
the centre aisle during the intermission
while they sold their photographs. re-
member actually touching that simmer
ing train with my finger when she swept
by my seat at the end of the aisle.
Municipal Band Concert Tonight