Arizona republican., 1921-12-12

lights in~the moving picture industry. It seemed for a time as though wave of frenzied finance was sweep ing the industry, and producers seemed to have lost their reason. In mad delirium, they battled with each other for the services of a particular star. This was sweet and beautiful. to the ears of the star. and he sat back and smiled, as he dictated his terms to the producer. He stated his salary, and it often meant hundreds and thousands a week to his em- ployer-because the producer usually met his terms. That was a wonderful era, and it will occupy an important chapter in amusement and theatrical history, because it was the first time in the annals of his profession that the actor had ever been paid de- cent salary.
 After this came the third era. This era gave the director an opportunity to show his ability. His era is draw ing near it's close, and we must ad- init that his era has not been as i'm portant or as successful as the one which preceded it.
 During the actors era many new names were introduced to the screen names that will shine illustriously
 
 of some of these actors are ended it will be difficult to fill their places or forget the sweetness and charm they have added to the screen But, with a very few exceptions, the di- rector era has not been great suc- cess, and not more than half a dozen names will remain eminent in the years to come. One reason for this is: Too many have unconsciously sacrificed great careers because they were not content to devote all their efforts to directing. but were ambi- tious to become authors as well. No man can do two things and do them we'll. 4 director should not attempt to wtsite photoplays and an author sleild not seek to direct his pictures. The director has right to suggest, and the author is entitled to super wise and assist, but when either of them seeks to do the work of the other, the result is far from satis- factory.
 Too many times the director in the past has felt that he knew more about the story than the author. He con- sistently and consistently ignored the author, and permitted his egotism and vanity to massacre and mutilate perfectly good plots. There is no doubt about his having done good work, but he could have done better if he had worked more tremendously with the creator of the story. How ever, it is with pleasure that we re- cord the improvement of the director along this line, and of late he has been quite eager and willing to con- suit the author and get his ideas as to the working. out of the script, big sets and important situations.
 The era, which will be the last, and probably the most important of them all, is now on the screens horizon. and we are approaching it steadily, although somewhat slowly. It is going to be the era of the author-the age when he will come into his own. In the future, the story is going to be the thing. Everything else will be of lesser importance. It should have been so, from the very beginning, and would have been, had not the producer refused to admit the importance of the story. But he has found, to his regret many times. that the biggest star and the best director have not been able to make a sue cessful picture from a poor story.