TItc Evening Ledger Amusement Section, 'Saturdau, December 18, 1915 THE PASSING SHOW lEueratig Hg HeJrger AMUSEMENT SECTION 9& 'A&drcse all communications to Dramatic Editor Evening Ledger, Independence Square, Philadelphia. THE AVERAGE NET PAID DAILY CIRCULATION OF THE EVENING LEDGER FOR NOVEMBER WAS 94.80L PHILADELPHIA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1915 T What's Wrong With the Movies? HIS department has had so much to say in praise of the photoplay art that W,r,T. cr,ticism' f very vigorous criticism, can hardly be construed as sl T,a VfttaCk "hiCh the movies navc had t0 withstand ever since their h, .1 W a back"flrc asainst that raging hate which is constantly SB V. AiC1US r ElIIy plots of so """V Photoplajs as witnesses w?- Zl , arU At the Drama Lcae-s d.scuss.on of the Drama is. the 1T . y' at P0lnt was instantly emphasized by the photoplaj -S tZ Z f maUer f faCt- ll doesn,t take their PPsiUon to demonstrate St or thTSovLT PreSCnt thC mSt neSleClCd " " M lhC m0it imPortant , "Successor to the Knickel Shocker" Torir,llr,frJChard Eatn' WhSe wwtlonally acute criUcism of the New Lrrar? 1 I T appearms "sularty the Amusement SecUon of the Evening SZtW ma; ca" hlra thc "" Winter of the Movies." if we l.Ue. art. Xa, , TS " t0 th OUth that now Person'fies itself in the screen ss IT" hC 1S "oU,,ne of the Kind He is P- one of the manv per son or s.lliIL m c'ther,unSatabfici or nauseated from the sex. shock, sensa AmenLn MaiL makCS the P'0tS f the movles toda'- In the current Sex, Shock and Sensation storv Lmf!ntCly n t61'"15 the dep,oraW ty of the average mov.c aLd outworn onlvhv6 frm th6 commonplaoe. the trivial, the sentimental tte rauU ol !l! P Tf'nE ,nt S6X and Eensation. The tm.al.ty appears Lp v I? v P y and laCk 0I on. But the sensationalism w"os coTLd isr.srr1 pandenns-No one bw t,,c man w , ,. Sensation Built on Censorship way L rmauerf " f Uas- And ce""'P - the wisest way as a matter of fact, sensationalism thrives on censorship Without it Wd rproLTnlTfT WiShCS f the P,ay- -J2S hS fact SaPt this sortf Sn-d " ?" T bUt he mUSt fece the "nden.able toh7Hml ! ?S dlSKUSts and " the long run. The public, ether espelfv the tn:;el ? thC hort-Bt0 never supported it or on" eMJfc the convention-bound average citizen who spends his time at the the n"' hWe'Cr- you "t up a tchdog of official moral.ty you cap.talize 22? m 22m is r "s Sttii -t2 in the censorship tt-,;, . "ow uiej nave an advertisine bureau Sensation Built on Stupidity new. They cant take the.r place bes.d the tLZLl Expert Testimony Lest this indictment of the atcrase scenar.o wr.ter sound l.ke mere abuse S?S SIT n' ed,tr 0f thC ,eadmE tde Journa1' te lastisate'VronrU5 yo01'? ta name-as. apparentlj. beins worth menul'mnc 7 "le auUlors apoiomyTouioorr-fr ana t1131 fainti- of the -eternal triangle.' w dlsmissel br.en as trite versions Plot'X'S'KnTCe0 Cf'C'SmS " 'A , -the plot is not ne.- "the storj- Is n cTacth SS? nhW ncR,islb,c place etc exaciij ncw y,,. pot a common. Up to the Producer The producer must stop squandering mnn,. . Honolu.u. He must realise wha'DatrLrXhrreSdhrw IT ot the producer in the future must be -better storied No .'...T atclni a company, or what perfect facihties a producer has ih ? X??" elements in the production of the KOod pictures of tl tl't,,in& The relative importance, a.e: the story, correct citing oL.f "J" f thC'r photography." casting, competent d.rectins and Where Are the Amateur Critics' This week a book department lakes the place of letters to the cd.tor This Is simply because there are no letters. Where am ihn , , lor' rl"s own ideas about the plaS and Photopla,. iher SerHS, r t!'C'r tial critic. The profess.onal reviewer on a newspaper X Z t S S a PtCn" cxpence of the theatre, and perhaps Z? 5 ZZ shouldn't the average man or woman try his hand nf tii lypTyrilcr- "" about the amusement he pays for The EWS.,hat C thInks to make itself the medium of sound amateu 0X11 IHi 1 1 BOARD of H l CENSORSHIP Sblil ' v I HiHnhrKrlTw A 3H HpaaaamMStEif MTPJtfe'! laBBHl4BH3BVaBW'BiBBBBBBHBV9iH0$l9' aVISananaK'Qf,iBBBHBBBBwMBviBB!c fBBaaSBTJaVaA' i faT IMKiM" Tr HawMaaiaaWaaaaaaaaaaW J HaViaBBBrakTt mi s CUT-BACKS Stage Technique Advances Tes, indeed. Actors used to stand three in a row racing the audience. Now thev stand three in a row with their back-? to it. Perhaps It's Economy The ultimate unrealitj of the theatre ma be accounted for by the fact that stage-people never finish their me. But, then, it's probably stage-wine. British Recipe for a Revue Some Greco-Freako dances. Some sere and jellow jokes. Some girls, some saucy glances. Some Uakst and Poiret cloaks; Some blonde and auburn tresses. Some imitation pearls. Some fleecj. film dresses, Another lot or girls. Some blotted orchestration. For horn and drum and gong. Some Chaplin imitation. A man, no voice, some song. A star, attendant beauticf. Some poster", perfect shocks, A skit on M p 's duties. More girls, more smiles, more rrocks. A minimum of reasons, A maximum or rot, A rcw more girls to season, A tin pinch of plot. A gag about the weather. Another girl or two Just mix them all together. And there ou hate Retue London Opinion. Prize Press Pearl The cnod old book tells a tale about what narDencd to i man who kpp his talrnt burled under a nankin The boy has the rieht idea There 1TO t a rrcat artist alUe ho dldn t hale lilgMiesimilnc and who didn't feel that he was lust full of talent From the Mutual. So Says the Press Agent A pun can bate the day for many a press agent The gentleman who "tratels anead or virtue" traveling chiefly into the censor's onice and from there to the courts supplies the following- The censor did not say that the pro duiers were making a virtue or neSEXity. Beau Broadwa. or ln. -rew York Morning Telegraph, wrote that "Virtue would get its own award in the Philadel phia courts " An admirer of the star of the film said it should Imc read, "Virtue Has Its Own Jlay Ward " Shakespeare was called to testiry be fore the courts because he wrote. "Dost thou think that because thou art irtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale'" The cakes and ale were deleted by the cen&or. No reward, by the wav, has been of fered for the identity of the oerpctrator Questions and Answers Actress Kdna Ma, foiniei comic opera sinsci. left the stage in 15u" to murj a New York multi-millionaire. She will ap pear in motion pictures through the Vitagraph Company but the monej which she will rrctive will go to the Bed Cross ami other rhanlits This is the lust time since h r marriage that she wilt be in the glare ot the limelight J. 1. i: -Joseph Ujron Totten is a leading man of the Essanay Company Jennie Sunday moving pictures are to he shown in Birmingham, Ala. The Cit Commission announced that they would not interfere If they were offered during certain hours. THE BOOKSHELF Hair a dozen jcars ago the stage it scir was scantilj represented on the pub lisher's lists. Now printed plajs and books or histrionic biographj are not only plentiful, the boom has reached the mowes Sucli prominent publishers as the Macmillan Compam and Heaist's In ternational Library Companj are bring ing out tolid, authorit.ithe books on tho writing and producing ot photoplays. Such tolumes will he reviewed Trom time to time in this column The Hearst people supply us with "Photoplaj Scenarios. How to Write and Sell Them," b Eusticc Hale Ball, author not only of an earlier volume on the technique or thc photoplaj, but or such successrul films as "The Tramc in Souls." Mr. Ball draws his information from ex perience as staff pla w right, scenario edi tor and producing director with the Re liance. Eclair, Majestic and other com panies. " Photopliy Scenarios" is thoroughly readable and gies eerj indication of trustworthiness Simplj atr3 dearly Mr. Ball explains the proper Torm that a scenario should nke. its divisions into the various sheet describing plot, scenes and actions He gives two sample sce narios, a comedv and a drami, written by himself, submitted to lilm companies and ultimately produced Other portions of the book take up more abstract matters, such as the liws of drama," "vitalizing the cast," "moral foundations," "the use or close-ups " There is plentiful advice for the begin ner as to record keeping ot scenarios sent out, methods of sale, the companies which ate buving scripts, technical terms and their uses, editorial rules and ten sorsh'p conditions Gro-e & Dunlap are publishing a pop-ular-rrice photoplay edition of vv II known booki which have been made into film plavs with manv or the illustra tions taken from the film These books make vc lient gifts for the photoplaj fan and ate on sale at all book stores The Hearst International I.ibrarj has recently pubh-hed in book form "The Goddess" bj Gouvcrncur Morris and Charles Goddard While it does not ad here stnctlv to the lilm version in vjlilch Anita Stewart and Earle Willi mis appear, it makes a readable addition to -he Isige number of books which have bttn baeil upon the photoplaj s THE ART OF SCREEN ACTING By ETHEL BARRYMORE 1 found that I nmt-t Irnrn a nctr ntoilc of riprrt.slort, nrqutrr n nr ft of tool. Mud & new art. On the Mace the to Ire In ncrompanieI by the proper Returrs iml fariil cxpreM-ions; one is often Inef fectlve without the other; each mtit unit Its complement. The movement and the Rrture thnt would be( nere it aided Ij the oIce, the perfect mean of cilircinn on the tagr, utll not do here. The,) must he different, thej hair to Iwar thc whole burden, inre the Toite is .tilled. It Is a err at (est of the actor. It compels a call upon resources that hare heretofore been In ubejance or but Mlght ljr drawn upon. One mumbles some linen to keep the lips moling, but the whole effect miifct come from the facial ex pression, the pose and the ceMures. iffifaT.ata ftfcyiPBgBjSSil " l!lffi'iifJiiSLJSiK3ir' '.'trt.VLVr-'ii''Jrg:iaa JjaL-yf" .i ijil i ftHSTtta
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers