Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-09

that the home of our hero was In one Oh
the small towns outside New lOIh .,s ~
such as New Rochelle, White fla'''S u
Yonkers.
The boy in the story went to scnool at
some college In Connecticut ana our nero.ii1 a..i,9
lived in New York city. 1t was uii'iIu -
matter to place these characters 80 t@iat @
every ore seeing the picture would reaiiHs ,
where Il was located. We had to create the
right atmosphere of location.
Naturally once your characters are intro
duced and they have received the prope,
treatment to give them atmosphere, ana
your location has been thoroughly estao
| lished YOU are not going to have the OPP
portunity for so much heart interest as you
| did at first unless your story is decidedly
heart interest story.
rhe story Of little girl in the slums
who is continually doing good for others ana
| into whose life comes big dramatic mo-
| ment in which she unsel1shly sacrifices her.
self and her happiness to reap the reward
| when II is least expected. Is constant
appeal no matter in what form 1t appears.
| Here is part for comedy and pathos, with
a smile and tear to chase each other In
rapid succession.
The biggest grip on the heart strings OF
the audience Is always the tear that fol'
lows a laugh, and the audience will always
laugh at the smile that follows sadness.
They are hungry for the contrast and well
come. a chance to laugh.
Unfortunately stories of this description
are very rare. The subject has Its varia-
tions but always back of 1t lies the theme
of sacrifice. When we remove the element
Of childhood from IT, the theme rises to
more dramatic moments.
The grown person can take care of him
self, but the child is helpless 1t is only
when the child has grown old and becomes
helpless again that the same appeal can
be made. Rare indeed, is the heart interest
story in which neither children nor old
people figure.
The bigger things In life come when we
are mature and the sentiments expressed
in childhood, the heartaches the fears, the
hopes, unless deftly handled, do not ring
true. The element of helplessness is. lack
Ing. But we don't need to confine ourselves
to heart-lnterest stories. Heart interest
can be developed in all dramas and should
be, as we have pointed out, to give our
characters atmosphere,
There Is at least one producer who brings
child into all his plays, II such is pos
sible. He appreciates the tremendous ap-
peal of children to every ones sympathies
They never fail to make good, and their
presence in the cast gives the play SUBJ |
stance.
Personally. we think writing children into |
a play to obtain this appeal, when the chill |
dren are unnecessary to the story Is a |
confession of weakness in the story itself. |
In order to have a big play in every
sense of the word the story must be de-
reloped in a big way. The meeting of two
characters in your play is either important
or the scene is unnecessary If a man
Is to deliver note t. another man the
manual delivery of the note should be ac-
'ompaned by some action devised by the
ingenuity of the scenario writer to give the
scene character.
p,, dan,1 A.. \
dea that the minor incidents should ever
un away with the story. The ocean con-
aims a multitude of things, but we never
hink OF the ocean as weeds, or fish, or
unken ships The ocean is too big in itself
or another definition. Let your story be