Evening star., 1922-11-05

cent snow every Houi. M
couraged and made possible the enor-
nous development of later years.
Possibly you have heard the story >,
of Marcus Low "Td 'oH ne ZOE
the golden certainties of the cheap
ager with only shoestrtng as capi
tai; of how he was helped by DaVio
Warfield at the time of his numoie
beginning. and brought back 10 ms
benefactor a fortune in profits: oi
how he extended his operations until
he controlled large and expensive
theaters in every part of the Union,
owned a big vaudeville exchange ana
finally became an important producer
of pictures to supply the 200 or more
theaters controlled by him.
There Is no sense in sitting AROUND
and railing at the men who have
mads largt. morsy in hs pic W" LLne
and who now control production. The
field was open. Why accuse certain
important race of jumping up and
ture industry? The opportunities
We're in plain sight. spread out before
any man who was sufficiently aler!
and open-eyed to size them up ana
act accordingly.
Don't overlook a few important facts
You may still regard the average mo-
tion picture as a mass Of imperfections
and crudities, but isn't 1t true that the
producing companies have given every
dramatic star a chance to become
screen star? II the plays you see on the
screen are not to your liking, don't for
get that every famous storytelling au-
thor of the English-speaking world has
had the chance to prepare his own ma
terial for the screen and supervise the
production.
When you come to regard the topsy-
turvy conditions which, for a long time.
TEN a itad in Sf,,1 md oh
the freak developments OF the mushroom
growth In Hollywood or Culver City.
and then stand in front Of any moving
picture house and size up the patrons
as they file in, you will have more
charity for the men who are trying to
control the Niagara which yesterday
was rivulet
The stories of the picture world are
like pages from a book of fairy tales.
We scan the roster of powerful mag
mates" and world-famous stars and di--
rectors who take the weekly stipend
in $1,000 bills and We ask, who are
they and how did they get here?"
In days gone by We have heard un-
deSround rumors that Bill So-and-So,
who never was sure of holding down an
arto chief for the Mastodon Company
and riding in Rolls-Royce.
In pictureland there is no denying
that the nobodies Of yesterday are the
nabobs Of today. Cinderella and Monte
Cristo and Aladdin have been pushed
into the background.
When the profits of the fifth estate"
Went sailing into the millions and every
settlement in the world suddenly began
sending in frantic demands for "fillums.'
the important jobs multiplied and all
sorts OF people jumped in and tried to
fill them.
Directors with newly acquired tenn
peraments and Napoleonic manner
isms solemnly directed draw
ing room episodes. although not one
OF them had ever seen the inside of
home inhabited by specimens of the
smart set" Many a release from
an important producing center was
congested with text. which was low
grade sirup. blemished with errors
IN grammar. punctuation and SPELL
ing. Stars were made overnight. We
had society heroes" who never had
worn evening clothes before. landing
at the studio. and ladies of high de-
gree who did not know whether to
back into an evening gown or crawl
into 1t. Each picture factory was
working in day and night shifts.
turning out the reels as if they were
kitchen tables or bars of pig iron.
The producer hurried out and
bought the rights" for all of the
popular plays that had been done on
the speaking stage during the pre-
ceeding fifty years. and turned them
over to so-.called scenario writer's
and alleged directors, who "im-
proved them and mangled them
beyond recognition. When the author
viewed the mutilated remains of his
favorite child and let out a wall he
was told that there was. in the pic
ture treatment of a dramatic story, a
peculiar technique" which could be
comprehen.sd only by some one with
a grammar school education who
later had worked in a shoe store
Who is to blame because a large
majority OF the cinema dramas re-
leased up to daSs have failed to please
the gh-browp and the more exact
ing critics? No one in particular.
been invented and no one had a mo-
nopoly on the process. Everybody
tinkered with It. The dramatic stars
who tried to work in front of the
camera found themselves f1oundering.
The directors Of established repu-
'tation called In from the play
house seemed unable to forget the
proscenium arch and the limited num-
ber of sets and al. the other stereo-
typed forms of the spoken drama.
They could not learn the new trade
without unlearning the old, so they
threw up their hands. The play
wrights and fiction writers rather
lOlllly QeCllneQ TO STUDY the IrlCkS OF
writing for the screen. They were
willing to accept easy money for pic
ture rights. but they were not will
ing to undertake the drudgery of de-
scribing in detail every Photographic
shot" In a six-reel feature there
may be as many as 500 different
showings Of scenes and titles.
OF course, the output has been q
strange tumble of good. bad and
nightmarish; but, under all tho weird
circumstances and trying conditions,
how could 1t have been otherwise?
And don't forget that American
made pictures have been given the
preference in all the showshops of
the world. Don't forget that the pub
lie selected the stars, named the out
rageous salaries they were to receive
and designated the kind Of plays in
which they were to appear.
Everybody connected with moving
pictures has been playing a new
game. The whole industry has been
experimental-a huge gamble. The
profits in some cases have been enor-
nous and tho corresponding losses
have been terrific. During the hard
times of the past year Hollywood has
witnessed the survival of the fttest.
The producers who have lived
through the storm will continue to
dominate the moving picture markets
of the world.
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