Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-18
THE MOVIE FANS LETTERBOX
By HENRY NJ. NEELY

"a. II. c." writes 81 asked Mr..
: Patterson. our Congressman. to look up
concerning having scenarios copy
sishted.
"Mr. Patterson most kindly inclosed
. copy of letter signed Thorvald Sol
Serg% Register of Copyrights.
while this letter states that scenarios
cannot be copyrighted, the last para
graph suggests U'll just copy it of for
'ona).;s So t,, =. oov Dr.c,ic,, les., od.
vantage can come from dcpositing and
registering a scenario for motion pic
ture that can be easily accomplished by
applying to the Bureau Of Registration
Of the American Authors League. whose
headQuarters are 22 East Seventeenth
street, New York. y. y. That bureau
will accept the. manuscript Of n photo
play sealed, and will. for n charge Of
Fifty cents (half the statutory copyright
feel, give a receipt for il. file il away
and put such marks upon il that if it
could be produced in court as evidence
IN behalf Of the author.
THAT would be just as good a> hav-
As It copyrighted, would it not:'
Il am very glad to get This informa-
tdon for the benefit of the amateur
scenario writer's. I've been after il
myself, but 1t has been slow in coming.
Yes, the method Of registration men
3deas. and is. so far as I have been
able to find out. about the only thing
that will do IT,
I'M. g. j." writes: "Having been
Z inflicted with all attack of that insid-
Sous disease, Limerick mania, ! bought
The EVENING LEDGER for number OF
continuous evenings, and once. during
IN idle moment, l read your column
ut amazed me. Disgusted. yet. to
EJeQt 1t dramatically, half reluctantly
j0fHwn. l read 1t on several other oc-
easions. I found myself possessed OF
diverse opinions. consider the whole
page cheap and entirely lacking merit
the letters you print arc the worst
examples of movie struck. illtcrate
young women-and yet your own re-
marks are astOnishingly penetrating
and show more than superficial appr"-
citation of the good things in pictures.
"Why. then. waste yourself on some
thing that will never. unless by 10.
mote chance, reach an element worth
while?
"You may have many answers to this
question. Perhaps you are a young
eltruist. II have decided that you must
be young.) Perhaps you are trying to
elevate the Beatrice Fairfax devo,ees,
Z who eagerly devour your column.
'.If so, try reading Shaw's Maj jor
Barbara and see whether you Still
think it worth while. Perhaps you are
possessed of a sense Of humor so scin-
Iillatlng that you find ample compensa-
cOn in the letters you receive. or
perhaps you are merely earning Nv
mg-a mundane but unnnsweraoIe re-
Z ply. That is unanswerable In its per
ttnency; II your merely earning liv'
Ing, until you arrive in some higher
capacity ] think you are taking great
chance Of undermining your talent by
sleeping It in such saccharlne sentimen
talism. knut fiamSun, you know. near
ly starved during his sojourn in this
country. but he never went in for cheap
snesthetic th'hss'
liked your remark about Miss
LeGaliiennes Interpretation OF Julie.
thought her acting almost better than
MIR. Schlldkraut :. mnstcrful though
his was. There was something about
the monotonous reiteration in her voice
that got under ones skin ! wonder
why It Is that American or English
Z playwrights can never get the dGpth OF
emotion thar European can Eugene
ONeiil, perhaps even he couidn
"f wonder how you liked The
: Golem.' 1t seemd 10 me extraordi. +.
narily fne-better than almost any
picture made in this country, outside Of
Griffith productions.
"Now that I've written this letter