Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-08-11


shown or that much Of the old sort is not
being produced in the studios of the men
who have more or less monopolized the in
dustry. But the young men who are now
working as underlinGs for the big pro-
ducers. the actor managers who are tenta-
lively trying themselves out in screen adap.
tatlons Of their successful plays. and a whole
generation of young artists and young
writer's are bending their ambition toward
new type of movie that will take the bus-
ness out of the class of industries into that
of art.
THE whole school of acting. from the tears
L Of girl star in her teens to the painting
passion and facial distortion meant to reg.
lister avid desire Of the school Of the sleek
haired youths, would not be tolerated on
the first-cass legitimate stnge Of New
York success.
The theory that sine. you cannot talk
you must mouth. and, above all, pant and
roll the cye5alls in order to be understood
has about the same relation to the real art
''Oliver Twist"
Curiously enough. the persons who have
discovered this fact are not the present
popular movie screen actors. nor yet the
public. but the younger men who are work.
ing as managers for the producers and
new group of producers who are gradually
establishing themselves out in California
and elsewhere.
These men are experimenting on lighting.
on a whole new mechanics Of scenery, on the
subtle play Of muscles and shades of posture
and balance Of groupings that have until
now been far more the province Of the
sculptor or the portrait painter than that
Of the actor.
In fact, IL is to artists rather than to
theatrical men, actors or property experts
that the new school Of movies is turning
for help.
THE youngsters. male and female. who are
L the movie stars have at best made a
study Of gesture only from the theatrical
standpoint. Now. as matter Of fact, the
nrtist who studies the human body with
chiscl or brush in his harrl knows twenty
tricks Of gesture and good fifty in pose
80 the great generality of actors round
dozen.
That is because he knows the body from
the groundwork of anatomy and with the
memory Of all the classic poses from the
days Of the Greeks to those OF the fine. :an-
guosons ladies and supercillous gentlemen OF
tho eighteenth century. Added to this, hiS
own memory sketches of the shade of mean
ing on faces and in bodies from his student
days gives him very much more compre-
hensive knowledge Of what the body does
under the stress of human emotion than
can be translated into a picture by those
who are only learned In the arts Of the
theatre
ny h,n"'ns ., tsnne VI a'.ists " urponII
On PIc'ure e"h,p.''o,,s ior eIe's app.'tSn
''easel picture" and their pleasure in ex-
pertinent rather than in completed studies,
,,aa ,unhs iaI. mrM way vi Enht1nr 20
poses Ih p!asA ana "Li'e, U! ntni!ns. VI
grouping anu. aoove az. o. s;heo,lc yes
t"Te "etonIe o.'Itt lor ,ne!r ta'enls.
III tns oP'n'ol Vi tue sounse, nneI a!nons
NV i.ooIri;ns ;s cioMn' II was pam ;na. 'ns ~.
eAIerI "u,tra VI @ .ne ar,;s. "no pa.n.eu III
VINO scu!p,ured was coming INTO vogue anu
iIioir OF less Nhn!.ehs'hs .he iess i'asi
na,IEei less accurate .h ana more more, s'ereo'Sped
hle''1ous VI Tue 'nea.''ca' cf'"u.
>orYr, .Lo T., ~. .Io.,
a MI ilEN Shahse was IN tne photo,
ingeniously corrcct-th9t is: nfelike-scenes
can be mace on scale or one lnch TO
I"" .ese nsS tDTmS nI,r.0G anu eaStses se nmd
landscapes can De enlarged 10 Nte-sized
backgrounds into winch human nRures are
introduced nS some process OF douole pho-
t"srapnF. nv "'t"rH so tnroush AL their
only the necessary foreground furniture or
other scenery; the backgrounds are sup
piled from other sources and at other times.
OF course. for A. the freaks Of movie
stunts. the hnrbreadth escapes. the perilous
climbs. the falls, the dives, the jumps and
tHe coiliSAohs' a' "'ii 10 iot dA tlle AHn-
tastic illusions such as ghost walks and
levitations and spirit forms. each studio
yies with its neighbor in inventing new
mechanisms and Photographic short cuts So
that not only does the artist, but the scien.
tfc mechanician have an opportunity to
utilize his talents for q growing and for a
paying public through the agency of the
more progressive of the young producers.
II is game where immense sums of
money can get big effect on broad. gen
eral lines or where ingenuity and scientific
handling can get an ever better effect on a
trunr- to life basis
You can have the French Revolution
staged with thousands of particinants md
with guillotincs going full tilt and rides 70
rescue over and through the barriers nor
10 speak of the assault on the Bastlle and
the riot out at Versailles and az the cost
OF a million dollars, but it does not give
YOU any more the "feel' Of the French
I,evolution and what went before or ,rbo,