Evening star., 1922-11-05
Before Condemning Motion
Pictures, Remember
BY GEORGE AIDE.

THE man or woman not interested
l in picture plays is abnormal. 1t
is the most fascinating form of en-
tertainment yet devised, and it is still
so new that it has not lost the charm
Of novelty.
A few years ago. before the pictures
came. Sardou. accepted as the great
est playwright of his time. said that
q play which was properly construct
cd could be understood by any per-
son in the audience who did not
understand one word of the dialogue
He meant that the secret of all drama
is action rather than talk.
The picture plays have shown US
the possibilities of revealing plots
and counterplots and intricate de-
velopments of story. with only an oc-
CasionaI use of text" or titles"
So when you and l sit down to talk
about the movies" remember tnat
we are considering something which
is new and unusual, which arrived
i'll a hurry, which developed in Such
a rush that Il lot of new conditions
were created, such as nineteen
year-old girl being paid SI1O.ooO
year for her services. 4 director ac-
customed to 5000 Il week receiving
S150,N00 n year, and person, who
would he the same as you or |. II
the pictures had never come. being
offered S1,n0o,o 600 a year just for the
use of his name and his comedy gifts.
While l am discussing the pictures
I shall not attempt to be funny
Somebody, somewhere. years ago,
called me 'humorist" and l have
not been able to live down the label
II l say that it looks like rain
strangers think that l am trying to
get a laugh. Goodness knows. lot
of the things You see in Hollywood
are funny enough, but the moving
picture industry itself is not sub
tect for joking. The screen drama
has become almost necessity instead
of luxury. In writing about 1t
shall try to be accurate rather than
frivolous.
All of us find fault with the pic
lures. We scoId them as We do our
relatives. because they are close to
us and we like them. Lately 1t has
become the fashion to condemn all
picture plays. This is wrong. The
plays released by the big releasing
companies of America average very
high as to merit. The American
camera men, directors and stars have
been about ten years ahead OF Eu-
rope all the time in discovering and
utilizing the tricks of the trade.
II you have travelled you know
that anywhere in the United States.
Canada. Europe, South America and
Australia fuur-fifthS of the pictures
being shown We're made in America.
Charley. Mary and Doug are as well
known i'll Paris or BuenoS Aires as
they are in Los Angeles. Why? Be
cause the American pictures. com
peting in the open, have captured the
markets of the world That is a big
fact too often overlooked.
1t was in 1896. 1 believe, that a
bunch of newspaper writers in Chi
cago went to the Schiller Theater for
a private showing of animated pic
lures which had been taken by
Lumiere's Cinematograph. We saw
street scenes in European cities. cav
airy in action and flowerdecked We
hicleS I'm parade. The pictures flick
cred and the photography was not
sharp and distinct, but the marvel of
moving pictures had been accom-
plished. and it had been accomplished d
and it had been brought to us by Il
European inventor. Edison came
along with his kaleidoscope about the
same time. but there can he no deny
ing that the old world had ut least
an even start with the United States
in the business of manufacturing
cinema films for exhibition purposes.
In 1898 | was at Lyon. France. on
a newspaper mission. / looked out of
the hotel window and saw across the
street a huge building owned by the
Lumiere company and devoted to the
manufacture of films. l am sure that
we had no such elaborate plant In
this country The building was not
Il Studio" 1t was film factory.
MI photography was being done in
the open.
What I am trying to convey is that
France got away in the lead in the
manufacture and sale Of moving pic
ture reels and hau every chance to
maintain that lead. IT had ut COM
ruand all kinds of Skilled labor at
low wages. 1t had within easy distance
of Lyon. which was cinema headquar-
tcrs, q vast amount of interesting ma
rtrial to be photographed, either as mere
pictorial specimens or to be used as
locations in the construction OF pic
ture plays The Latins Of southern
Europe are the greatest pantomimists
in the world. Both principals and Tex
numbers at low salaries. Lyon had.
within a tw-o-day ride, all the favor
able conditions of sunshine and summer
climate and foliage and seashore and
Snow-clad mountains and desert which
have been the assets of southern Call
fOrnia.
II is interesting to note that although
the producers of Europe have always
had close at hand. lot of natural ad-
vantages and great variety of histori-
cal and scenic backgrounds which have
been coveted by the American COM
TlllSe, lilt oulN Ttdt UppOSllIOH 10 t0e
Yankee made movies" has developed
in Germany since the world war. When
the pictures made in Germany began to
attract favorable attention the watch
full picture magnates of America at once
established offices in Berlin and began
annexing the valuable parts Of the Ger
man competition. 1t is reported that
the most popular stars and the most
successful directors of Germany have
been lured away from the deprecated
mark by the glitter of the full-sized
American dollar.
No matter what you think Of nov-
ing pictures in general. there can
he no denying that the much-abused
american promoter of the new in
dustry has kept ahead of his foreign
rivals.
Why has the United States for
many years been making moving pic
lures for the whole World? Because
the American producers were the first
10 sense the financial possibilities of
the picture play. They had the cour-
age and the vision needed to take an
interesting plaything and develop it
into gigantic scheme for provid-
ing cheap entertainment for every
body everywhere. While the Euro
pean cities were cautiously expert
Inenting with few picture palaces"
the American promoters of the new
development were converting every
r ID N