Omaha daily bee., 1922-01-22
Picture Industry
wiz Celebrate
Tenth BirthdaV

IeVtH bLTLVu0U
The motion picture is going to
have birthday party. II will be lO
years cid in March. and for two
weeks. beginning March 5. all OF the
thca,ers throughout the country are
going TO unite in celebration OF the
10th anniversary OF the youngest OF
the arts.
OF course, motion pictures are
more than 10 years old. As a matter
CT fact, they are now nearly 20 years
old. But as dramatic entertainment
they actually had their artistic birth
10 years ago when Adolph Zukor
persuaded Sarah Bcrnhardt to star
in mul,iple-recl feature picture,
called Queen Elizabeth
At that time the motion picture
was fading novclty-a toy which
was beginning TO pail on the public's
taste.
Adolph Zukor, president OF Fa-
nous Playcrs-Lasky corporation,
had been an exhibitor of pictures; in
deed, he owned and operated chain
of theaters in New York city. A man
of vision, he saw that the motion
picture had great possibilities and
that unless something revolutionary
in the use OF the new art was intro
duced pictures would cease to attract
anybody. He begged the men who
were then producing pictures to make
bigger and better films; they laughed
at him, saying that the picture was
only an amusing toy and was good
enough as it was.
Pictures Were Dying.
But, as an exhibitor, Mr.. Zukor
knew better. He knew pictures
were in danger of dying from their
own mediocrity. Authors and actors
alike viewed the film with scorn. In
telligent, discriminating people con-
demned the "chasc lectures" the
two-reel thrillers, the custard-pie
masterpieces as vulgar, tawdry and
dull. And exhibitors were at the
mercy of the film manufacturers,
who had monopoly and refused tc'
raise the standard of their produc-
tions.
So Mr.. Zukor took the bull by the
horns and organized his own conf
pany. The first picture to be re-
leased was Queen Elizabeth" with
no less celebrity than Sarah Bern
hardt in the title role.
Going to California, Mr.. Lasky
and his associates made "The Squaw
Man." with Dustin Farnum in the
stellar role. Many interesting anec
dotes are told Of the difficulties of
financing and rehnancing which the
young men experienced before the
picture finally reached the market to
reap harvest almost undreamed of.
The Lasky studio was built around
the crude little building where The
Squaw Man" was filmed. The pres
cnt plant affords more than rs times
as much floor space, covering two
city blocks in Hollywood, while the
nearby Lasky ranch of 1900 acres
affords wide variety of scenery for
exterior backgrounds.
Today, Paramount pictures made
in the huge studios of the company
in New York, Los Angeles and Lon
don, are distributed through 80
branch offices in the United States,
six in Canada, nine in Great Britain,
two in France, one in Denmark, one
in Belgium, five in Australia, one in
New Zealand, one in Mexico, two in
Brazil and on contract to every other
country in the civilized world.
For March S, the opening of the
anniversary, Paramount announces
da, and date release OF some OF its
biggest productions. These include
Cecil B. DeMille's Fools Paradise"
Gloria Swanson in "Her Husbands
Trade Mark" Wallace Reid in "The
Worlds Champion" "The Dragons
Claw" and "The Mistress of the
World" George Fitzmaurice's pro-
duction, Forever adapted from
Peter Ibbetson," will also be avail
able at that time.
Gertrude Olmstead. the Elks'
beauty prize winner, who was given
a moving picture contract by Carl
Laemmle, has just completed her
first leading role. Miss Olmstcad
supports Herbert Rawlinson in his
current photoplay, The Scrappcr."
Edith Hallor, beautiful ZeigfeId
Follies girl, has been engaged to play
the feminine lead in Human
Hearts" now being directed by King
Baggot at Universal City. The
Broadway beauty will complete no.
table cast for this Forthcoming pic
ture version OF the late Hal Reid's
well-known mclodrama. 1T includes
House Peters, Russell Simpson,
George Hackathorne, Mary Philbin,
Snitz Edwards and Gertrude Clare.
Poor old Robinson Crusoe has
been lured into the movies at last.
Daniel DeFoe's hero has not as yet
been assigned to any star, but Uni
versal is willing to consider any stall
wart star for this role in forth
coming serial. a report states.
N.ss. D.A~.