Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-06-09
AUTHORS AND MOVIES ARE
TOLD OF BY HASKIN
Daily letter by Frederic j. Haskln

WASHINGTON, June AT some
time IN the future famous writers
may collect their completed works
IN round cans. Instead of being kept
on b~ookshelves with leather binding
they may be stored in freproof
vaults. Instead of being sold in so
many volumes their writings Will be
disposed of in so many reels.
A new art is in the making, say
some Of the more prominent authors
Of America. They predict that the
time is not far off when a great share
of the teaching in schools will be
done by meant of motion pictures
and some of the best stories Of the
future will be told through the cam
era lens on the silver screen.
Believing that this time is not far
off and that the best way to hasten
its arrival is 10 come to an under
standing with the motion picture
makers, the first step being to meet
them. the membership Of the Au-
thOrs' League of America is now
completing arrangements for the
first International Congress on Mo-
ton Picture Arts to be held at the
Naldorf-Astoria, New York, June Z
and 8.
out Of it they hope to evolve a
set OF principles that will aid writ
ers in studying the possibilities of
their new medium. Young authors
can then choose their careers-they
can decide whether they want to
study to write for films or for the
printed page, knowing that a career
in one will be as honorable as in the
other. And they will have some
principles, some precedents to guide
them.
The trend that the discussions will
take is already indicated by the re-
actions to a recent assertion by Allan
Dwan, famous film director, that the
low grade entertainment value Of
movies at present is due to the high
grade authors" What he meant was
that high grade authors wouldn't
study the ways of putting their sto-
ries into screen form. Some of the
best known writer's in America al G
now replying and Offering sugges-
tions for the deliberations of the
conference and opinion is rapidly
crystalizing.
Evolution As In Other Arts
John Luther Long, author of
Madam Butterfly" THE Dragon
Fly" Lady Betty Martingale," and
other dramatic successes puts the
thing sueeinctly when he says that
there is no doubt that the art OF
the moving picture is passing
through the same sort Of evolution
which all the other arts have ex-
perienced.
speech must have been a sorry
thing in the beginning" he says, lin
comparison with what it is now, and
we know from their remains what
writing and painting and sculpture
were. And there probably was no in
telligent reproachment between ere
ators of art and the sellers of IT,,
as the Authors League is now pro-
lposing, to hasten evolution. l doubt
very much whether the high grade
author, as Mr.. Dwan gracefully calls
us, is SO entirely responsible for the
low grade" pictures as Mr.. DWan
thinks. It is like saying, "Well,
why didn't you do as 1 told you?
1t may be that some of the above
said authors do not as yet quite think
what he tells us is best. Some of
US are from Missouri.
1T is true, however, that the n.
s.! author, who has made pictures
move for the mind. must learn TO
Hldht lleIl lllDNG 1OI the eye II III
would write for the screen. And
Mr.. Dwau tells us, perhaps a bit
too categorically, and not quite ex-
actly. he must write action and not
words. One car not write action,
and, Of course, Mr.. Dwan means that
we Of the g%arrulous typewriter must
instruct them of the pictures how
to produce upon the screen the ac-
ton we desire. Naturally this must
be done with the words he dislikes.
And, just there is the rub. How
much or how little shall the author
say? And, does the artist of the
screen respond as readily to the lure
! Of a theorem from Euclid as to a
few words of artistry or sentiment,
from the author-meant to inspire
him to see what the author has seen?
Or. does the continuity writer always
prefer his W inventions to those of
the best OF us? There seems to be
danger in this"
Films without Titles
Some of the authors who have
been invited to the Congress have
suggested the thought that the ideal
for pictures Of the future would be
films without titles. Some of the
picture directors and continuity
writer's who have been consulted
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