The Washington times., 1921-02-19

-Amsteurs have practically no
chance TO get into the motion pic
yare business today" says Josste l.
Lasky, nrst vice presided. OF the
Famous Players-LAsny Corporation.
In the early stages Of the incus-
try's development. the producers
themselves inexp srieuo1d. picked up
such people as rhey couli md Tor
players and other departments Cf|
the Industry" he sKplsl1I
But as the industry began TO hnd
Its feet. experts ware developed and
technical and artistic specialists APP
peared.
Meanwhile tho stage was being
outdistanced and sctors who had
scorned the nlms flo5Aed TO the mo-
ton picture studios The mediocre
actor began TO disappear from the
screens of the best thoatars.
Paramount pictures were created
. great national si7ortislny cam
paign inAusursted and motion pic
lures were taken out Of the class of
toys and raised 10 An art.
Thus the Klondike days vanished,
and no more was IL possible to COM
mAnd a high salary for doing nothing
ard knowing less Many people
have not yet grasped this fact Every
studio 10 dsiuged with letters from
positions of importance carrying
good salaries Even great writer's
, were not above regarding the screen
Sas very easy market for INFERIOR
wares-up to a comparatively short
time ago. Then Paramount began
to prove. even to the most pre1udiced
that a picture had to be good TO be
a Paramount, and In order to be
good IL had to be written by some
one who had studied the technique
OF the pictures, as well as acted by
actors OF Intelligence and ability and
directed by directors with skill and
experience.
-Today the stan of the scenario
department., East and West, 10
largely made up of magazine writers,
novelist and journalists, while the
greatest authors are themselves not
backward about seriously studying In
the studios in prler to gain nrst
hand knowledge Of the new medium.
"Therefore those who, with no eN-
perience, write such letters as the
following, do not realize pictures have
outgrowp the toy stage: paramount
Artcraft,lDear Sir. Would you please
be so kind as to tell me, II you tnlhk
there would ever be chance for mo
to get into the movies%' or AS am
Q movie fan and have been thinking
q great deal about trying TO get In
the movies, I have decided that II
could get in I would do 1t now. Those
arc two samples Of many hundreds
not all from screen struck girls, but
from grown men. married women and
others-which arrive at the stuoio
daily. There is no hope for these
people. They have not the nrst re-
Quisites of acting.
81 have no wish to discourage real
- IN
ever humble, my idea is simply to
convey to the public that 1t is no
moro possible to get a job in the pic
lures by simply walking into the
studio and applying, without any ex-
perience or other justification, than
1T would be to apply at the stage
door of the theater.
some will say there is the extra
route Every studio has a waiting
nst of many hundreds who would be
extras. So the person in some far
away village who writes and con-
fidently expects to receive transpor-
tation by return mail and contract
as we'll, has no chance whatever.
The producers of good pictures
seek to amuse the world, to entertain
it The exhibitors of the country
are devoting every energy and their
knowledge of showmanship to the
same end. Ambitious folk who wish
to work in the pictures constitute
part of the great audiences OF the
screen. AS such they are among the
greatest supporters Of the Industry
and they can do more for their fav-
orite form of entertainment by de-
manding good pictures than by try
ing to get in them In the former ca
pacity they are a force for great
good in the film world"