The Washington times., 1916-03-02
Neither viii Glorious Climate OF
California Be Permitted to
Dry Clothing So Quickly.
OLD JUNGLE ovEHWoRKED
Necessary to Get New Scenery
for Plays and Players In Fu-
ture Pictures.

Motion picture scenes are to bor-
row no more furniture from each
other!
The beautiful lamp which decor
.teH the millionaire hero's home VIII
not shed light in the next scene on
the luxurious haunt OF the villain'
And the dectepid lion that ambles
through the jungle Is to have new
jungle to amble through for every
picture. II was found that the old
jungle that has faithfully served so
many hundreds OF tense melodramas
has been broken from overwork! The
tall reeds that were 30 gracefully
parted by the king Of the forest polk
Ing his head through them. have been
bent with too many such pokinss.
In other words the motion picture
directors are waking up to the fact
that the audiences like to see actors
timc after time. but they don't care
to see the same furniture in every
scene. Or to be so familiar with out
door settings as to select favorite
hooks.
Ed Curtis. whom washington re-
members as the director OF the Poll
and Columbia players at various
times, is one OF the persons responsi-
he for the change. Curtis has just
finished his first motion picture as
director for the Essanay company.
And one of the things he discovered
In the studio was the fact that the
library table In the heroine's home
and the one that held the cigarette
tray and whisky bottles in the vii
lain den, not only had a family re-
somblance but were the self same
table.
And Curtis found that II was COM
mon practice to- use things over and
over again in the various scenes of
the same picture-this despite the
fact that the homes OF the villain
and the heroine might be separated
not only by. blocks. but by contl-
nents. and that the action in them
frequently happens with but few
minutes Interval.
Thoughtful photoplay patrons
have been wondering for a long time
when It would occur to the directors
of pictures to correct these details.
They admit that they can stand for
some of the scenic displays. There
Is a certain high plateau in the VI
cinity OF Los Angeles approached. by
long gentle slope. The first time
the thnIn phSotopiay Sse .y.i Editor of The Times
somo time in 1853 In a picture that
was prodaced by David w. Griffith,
for the Biograph Company. with
Mary Pickfoed, Henry Walthall. and
Mack Sennet in the case. The pic
ture dealt with a tuberculosis theme
and was the first of the propaganda
photoplays produced.
That self-same plateau has figured
In probably five hundred or a thous-
and photoplays since then. II has
become the most familiar spot in
the world to the millions OF photo
play patrons. They recognize II at
once and street. II as an old friend.
And II has masqueraded-witho the
slightest attempt at disguise by an
angle of vlew-as Mt. Sinai the
Mount OF olives. a hill in SwitEer-
land. promontory In Virginia, an
any one Of dozen other things.
Likewise II will be noticed here
after that after most OF the COM
edy characters have fallen into the
water-whether II Ia a tub or the
ocean--they will not straightway ap-
pear In the next scene. a few seconds
later both by fllm and actual meas
urement of time. In garments thor
oughly dried. Thus will a new blow
California.
ed Curtis has started a crusade
and he intends to push II with vigor.
He states that there II enough
money wasted In making pictures to
give complete new set for every
film that's produced-with new furni-
scaS>s. And SO long as he continues