Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-24
Appealinx 10 the Emotions.

TT is to be expected that the older
inhabitants of Hollywood should
view the talking pictures with acute
disfavor. Their discontinue Is
comparable to that of the citizens
of Tulsa, Okla, If some inventor were
suddenly to discover substitute for oil.
Consider, for instance. continuity
writer who has been in the business
since the old Biograph days, and has
worked his way upward to $500
week job and attendant uxuries. He
has had q f1osSy office. with his name
in gold letters on the door, and red
headed stenographer to add to the In
terror decorations. He now finds that
because he doesn't know how to write
dialogue he must give UP his salary.
his hosSy ONCE and his Stenographer
to an obscure playwright from New
York.
The continuity writer has been identi-
fed with some of the most tremendous
box-offlce successes that the movies
have known. His successor, on the
other hand, has written two plays, one
of which ran for IL performances and
the other Of which persisted miserably
ip Providence. r. l., before it had ever
been permitted to see the light OF
Broadway.
y
with the present situation, and most
Of its citizens are sitting back, waiting
for the hour when the novelty will have
worn of and the public will demand
the restoration of silence on the screen.
RoyalistS in the Cromwellian period Of
English history waited no more i'm
patiently for the return of the exiled
StuartS.
The hostile attitude is unfortunate;
It Is tending to retard the progress Of
the talking pictures to an appreciable
extent. For almost all of the genuine
talent of the movie world Is concentrate
ed in Hollywood, and that talent Is as
badly needed in the talkies as it ever
was In the old-fashioned silent Aims.
Hollywood Sulks in its tents, and its
work Is carried on by inexperienced
laborers from the Broadway Theater.
who have never been any too good at
their own jobs.
There Is one resident of Hollywood
who, despite the fact that his own
well-earned livelihood is not imperiled
by the Noise Era, is particularly vocal
refer to Wexford Beaton, editor and
nal. the Film Spectator. Neither Mr..
Beaton nor his magazine is sufficient
ly we'll known outside the movie indus
try. but within that industry he Is
a commercially potent force. He is
intelligent, he Is courageous and, as
writer, he is remarkably skillful in
his choice and use of his weapons. He
is feared and admired by the subjects
Of his outspoken editorials.
Just at present, Mr.. Beaton Is virtu-
ally frothing at the mouth over the
talking pictures. He is uttering awful
warnings to the effect that, unless the
film magnates Immediately abandon
their insane attempt to give voice to
the shadows on the screen. they and
their industry will be visited with terri
BILE destruction.
Screen art" says Mr.. Beaton. "be-
came the worlds greatest entertainment
force solely because it complied with
natural law. It will maintain its place
only as long as that law Is not vio-
lated. The introduction of spoken
words is violent and deadly violation. IS
He tries, at great length, to tell us
what that natural law is. He points
out that man is the only animal that
talks, and that. as man Is not born
with the ability to make sense, verbally,
then speech is not natural faculty.
He shows that, under force of emo
tional stress, man is rendered inarticu-
late, and expresses his emotions in
terms Of action. I'VE dance when we're
happy. fight when we're mad, and run
when we're frightened"
Mr.. Beaton fails to add that when
man becomes emotionally excited he
gives vent to cheers, yells, shrieks or
! lmprecations.
If Mr.. Beaton should happen to ask
me-and he has not done so, to date
should voice the opinion that his
natural law" is the bunk.
y =
If Mr.. Beaton wants to present
an absolutely unanswerable argument
against the talkies he has only to say,
II don't like them" But he doesn't
say that. Indeed, he has previously
expressed the utmost faith in them
and the confidence that 1.-THE screen
art will rise to extraordinary heights
when all its characters talk"
His present antipathy Is based on a
sincere belief that talking pictures are
unnatural, and will, therefore, be re-
jected by the public. Screen dialogue
distracts from the aesthetic (sic) quail
ity Of the picture" he says. land when
you take away some of the picture s
aesthetic (another sicl appeal you are
taking away something that the viewer
thought he was buying when he paid
his money at the box Office"
Mr.. Beaton sums up his arguments
with the nat statement that "the silent
picture makes no appeal to an intellect,
great or small" whereas 20 dialogue