The Washington times., 1916-04-16

more OF the hardships-I was going to
be an author and iruw down royalties.
woke up in about five months.
The Hackett play failed. and have
over that / know a little bit more
about stage management now. you
know. Then short story writing was
not extra profitable. and l came back
10 New York from the country ana
found the moving picture Gamo grow
He began writing motion picture
scenarios then at IS and $40 apiece.
out enough Of them. There are limits;
however, to the physical capacity OF
even such plots as they used In these
days. and the young man added mo-
He went intc the company. studied
the game as II was then, raw that IL
might be made an art. and bided his
time until the chance came which was
mentioned at the beginning of this
story, whereupon another era iE pic
lures was entered upon.
Facts About the Film.
This row era was one OF discovery
and revelation rather than invention
although IT took the acme OF Inventive
genius to make the production possible
The employment Of the motion picture
as a means of reproducing history on
lifesize scale was inaugurated. The
drama of d nation. instead OF the drama
of merely one or two people. was in
corporated successfully in THE Birth
Of n Nation"
The book used as a basis was The
Clansman." b. the Rev. Thomas Dixon
All OF the scenes which had previously
been enacted only in the imagination
of the reader were materialized. Grit.
fifth delincated battle scenes, conducted
fWarr - kn ArAa In
the War Department at Washington
using artillery. cavalry. and infantry al
they were used In a real battle OF the
civil war.
His artillery duels were real artillery
duels. his cavalry charges were passec
BY the men who participated in such q
cnarge atty years before. He built ol
caused to be built no less than five com
n!ete Southern towns. faithful to tn,
last architectural detail. and he burnec
three OF them.
He massed and handled great mobs al
history said the real mobs acted. H'
reproduced ono theater exactly hfe-size
and delincated the great national trag
edy OF the assassination OF Preslden
Lincoln Just as history says II occur
red. He puilt the legislative hall OF {
Southern State. and with an actual still
photograph as model, brought back Il
life scenes In that chamber nifty year.
ago. Above all, throughout two houri
anu IOElJ NhC W
a love story.
How First Steps Were Made.
After Griffith had read the book
THE Clansman." and had decided Il
make the film, he took the the frs
steps toward the realization Of hi
dream
There were eight months of incuba
tion. First three men. and they wer'
professors of colleges, were asked I,
work out the correct historical data
| There were interviews with veterans o
| the civil war on most important points
recourse to maps and reports down a
! Washington. and, finally. a patien
! county by county tour of Louisiana
Mississippi, Alabama, and North Caro-
lima. until Piedmont was discovered.
, Then came the location of the battle
! fields, after which the veterans witt
| their maps went forth to lay out
! battlefield lust as 1t was at Peters
burg, aud Just as It was In part durini
the march of Shermans army from At
lanta to the sea. Where approved ter
ri.ory was found the experts went t
vor.. uron II.
II a road wound this way. II ther
| was a brook, or a river or a house, o
a harm, that road. brook, house. an,
bar were found or nut in. II tow