The Washington times., 1915-07-08
THE BEST
Photopldy Department in
WASHINGTON
Authors Are Finding
=, Pictures an Ideal
Story Telling
Medium

The motion picture as q story
telling medium is beginning to at
tract the attention OF those authors
Of real stories who believe they
: have message for the public. They
see in the pictures O chanca to de-
liver that message to a much larger
audience. They see an opportunity
to make 1t known to people who
would not have the patience or the
time to get 1t in book form.
The result IS that distinguished
authors like Emerson Hough. who
Is writing The Broken Coin;'
Gouvernor Morris. the writer Of The
Goddess, and Roy McCardell. the
man who wrote the $4,000 prize
photoplay. THE Diamond From the
Sky" have prepared these stories
as they are being published every
week in The Times, and have su-
pervised the making of scenarios
from them so they can be put on
the rcreen.
On the screen the characters these
life and are made to go through
the actions that are provided for
them in. their novels. They are
made to live and move as the auth
ors intended they should, or rather
as people OF imagination understand
the authors intended they should
move. And just here comes the
great lesson for the authors as well
as the public. The authors can see
just what Impressions their word
descriptions make. and II the i'm
preston Is not what they intended
can change their descriptions to
the real ideas originally created in
their minds.
Meredith Nicholson. author OF
THE House Of a Thousand Can
dies" Is one of the authors who
sees a great future for men Of his
craft in the motion pictures. Mr..
Nicholson has written number OF
other stories and several other nov
els, but the one that has been men
toned Is the only one that has yet
been produced as photoplay, the
Selig company having made an ex-
cellent picture OF it.
The motion picture as story
telling medium Is perfectly amaZ-
ing" he commented after seeing his
own story in pictures.
Il was sceptical at first as to Its
permanence, but now realize that 1t
has come to stay. l look forward
to seeing the film a real force in our
social life-a means of teaching mil
lions with stories strongly presenting
the great questions that engage the
thought Of mankind.
"As far ahead as anv one can see
II Is destined to answer the demand
for popular amusements. bringing
the silent drama within the range Of
a vast public which never could
have been reached by the theater as
It had existed for centuries.
This being true 1t Is incumbent
upon all who are In any way con-
nected with film productions to give
rents Of thought among our people
and contribute better and nobler
dramas to the screen than we have
yet known. =
.t;Further. as a popular amusement,
I believe the public taste Will de-
snfand increasingly the best work Of
the American creative artist. We
Americans are losing something Of
our zcstful humor and the story
with a laugh evoked without buff
foonery or ough-and-tumble en-
counters, is a thing much to be de-
sired.
u was much impressed by my
recent visit to the Selig studios the
first l had ever seen. by the high
skill and genius required for max
ing productions. The Importance Of
the film as democratizing factor
in bringing the drama to our toiltng
millions who were never reached by
the old theater. seems to me the
most significant thing"