The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-05-24
IN STUDIO LAND
Facts and Fancies About the Folks
Who Make the Films

When one looks back and recalls the
it must be very young individual who
has not followed the course Of the thea
ter's newest art, the wondeIment OF it all
must strike the thinker That the progress
is nothing short of miraculous 1t was
only back in 1898 that the old Edison
kaleidoscope startled the world with its
pictured action This was an automatic
nickel in the slotbox device that Edison
first exhibited at the Worlds fair at
Chicago 1t had many complexities, but
| il served as a key to the future wonders
of the projecting screen machine The
Messrs Lumiere and Sons of Paris set
about to perfect device that would work,
| taking the kaleidoscope as basis upon
which to experiment.
| In the autumn of 1896 the Lumiere APP
paratus Was first exhibited in this eoun-
/ try, and the first place of amusement that
| housed it was the old Eden Musee in New
| York, which institution recently closed
its doors. 1t was called the Cinemato-
graph, from which name we now derive
/ the word cinema when referring to screen
products. When the cinematograph made
its initial bow to the public the latter
We're satisfied with the reproduction in ami
nation of scenes and incidents associated
with everyday life They were trivial
incidents unrehearsed, singuary void of
interest. There were the shoeblack at
Ework, the firing of big gun, athletes at
practice and SO on. Humor was confined
to Nanny washing her young hopeful,
which long proved favorite, and the
mischevous pranks of a youth with a
garden hose. Whereas these caused the
keenest of wonderment and interest for
long period, popular taste demanded
novelty. There came the whisperings
from some imaginative ones for picture
plays With the conditions of the art at
that time this seemed impossible. But
its workers did not mean to rest unpro
gressive Strange as it may seem now.
the difficulty lay in the question Of actors
the attitude of showmen protesting
against the incursion of anything "theat
: ricaf' into the field There was also
the problem of building studio Thomas
A. Edison was the first big man to make
] the first successful attempt at a studio in
this country. 1t was a flimsy structure
built upon a platform and mounted on a
pivot with a circular track for wheels
upon the outer edge to allow it to be 70
n tated with the sun Covered with blacl
r roofing paper it was colloquially dubbed
"a the BLACK Maria" Contrast this with
0I the enormous structures of the presen
"a day for indoor picture making and i
Is viii be a comparison in ratio with TIN
I5 advancement of the art In studios li1
this were the first episode films cameraed
" What a vogue they had. Theatres o
~ g4Cro lll-p yarif "a hi
Z mushrooms all over the country shown
b these five and l5-minute dramas" Blu
!, the incentive of big things led them t
advance, Certain New York makers G
films decided upon master stroke The
cherished the idea of preparing somethin
staggering in its sensationalism; the prC
duetion Of gigantic film upon some stril
= ing subject which would startle the worlC
'. incidentally, they succeeded beyond the
4 widest expectations The subject deci,
4 ed upon was the Passion Play But ii
4 obstacle was where to stage the play. I'll
roof of the Grand Central Palace was S
] lected, and there the production W;
l filmed 1t ran to three reels of thou
and feet each, the first three-reel pictul
to be produced i'll this country Some idt
of the tremendous sensation it Great,
= can be measured from the fact that
was first shown at the Eden Musee al
- ran there continuously for six month
st Copies of the film were printed and so
III broadcast throughout the country
= OF the subsequent big productions the
~ is little need to write, they being Of
recent date. But those who rememb
- having seen this production of the Pa
rs, sion Play if they will contrast this
ss- the latest spectacular productions of t
- modern producer cannot but marvel
81 the progressive achievements of the wor
ers in the field. When David Griffi
an. startled the country by the massivene
&c, of his Birth of a Nation it was felt tn
er- the supreme achievement had be,
snt reached But the high marks do not
main untouched very long in this wond'
nd full craft as productions like Civilizatio
ice Intolerance, Romano, and Hearts of t
World will prove. Truly motion pictuI
~ are wonderful industry. Where W
m, they end?
zen
-, Alice Brady, equally well known as
iirnss stage and screen actress, was MARI