Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 177, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1915 — Page 3

11,000.000 SEE THE "MOVIES" DAILY

By J.C. JESSEN

ass Correspondent of the Motion Picture New«s

Ba I -jr ITH one of every ten personß In % / the United States now daily atJ tending motion picture theaters, this form of entertainment can —W- T- ■ V truly be termed the universal j| amusement. The films constiJ tute the programs of more than I twenty thousand theaters in 1 this country attended by 11,000,- > 000 people daily, and this great ■ 1 - army' of pleasure-seekers does not represent any one, but every class of American citizens —old and young, rich and poor, the highbrows and the untutored. The gigantic amusement purveying organizations require the investment of more than a billion dollars in studios and factories in this country alone, and fully one-third of that amount is expended annually for the making of films. More than 65 per cent of the motion pictures of the world are produced in United States, and of these 80 per cent are made in and about Los Angeles, now known as the photoplay stage of the world.

But of matters connected with the motion picture industry none is more sensational than the fact that the present-day system of making, distributing and showing the films has been established and developed to a state of near perfection in a period of less than ten years. Up to 1905 the film entertainment was but a novelty, there were but a few places where subjects could be rented, and the number of theaters show-

Ing motion pictures exclusively could almost be counted on your fingers. Invention of motion pictures can partially be attributed to a California incident. Two race horse men argued as to whether a horse, while running had more than two feet on the ground at any tijne. To prove this, 24 threads were stretched across the track, and the end of each attached to a separate camera. A horse ran down the stretch breaking each thread separately and exposing 24 photographic plates. One of the men took copies of the photographs to Europe where they caused numerous experiments. Finally the task of making motion pictures was given up because no flexible substitute for glass could be found. Years later a New Jersey minister, trying to discover a way of making nonbreakable stereopticon slides for use in his Sunday school, made the discovery that celluloid was suitable. The substitute was immediately employed by a photograph supply manufacturer, which enabled Thomas Edison to perfect his kinetoscope, or peep-hole machine, flrßt shown at Columbian exposition, Chicago, in 1893. Forty feet of ribbon film, with continuity of action rolled past the lens in a hole in a cabinet with an intermittent movement that retained each picture before the peephole twice as long as it required to move the picture to this spot. Back of the film was an electric light, and directly in front of the lens a small hole through which the people could peep for the sum of five cents. The film had sprocket holes in the margin on one side and a corresponding sprocket was placed on the rollers. This device served as an idea for Robert W. Paul of London, the firm of Lumiere & Sons of Paris and a man named Grey of New York city. Simultaneously these men thought of attaching the film to a stereopticon lamp and projecting the picture on to a screen, and began working out machines which would do this properly. - The first projected motion picture In America was that of Grey’s eidoloscope in a basement storeroom in New York city in 1895. Paul perfected his projecting machine in March, 1896, and Lumiere in 1897. At a later date, William Kennedy Laury Dixon, formerly with Paul, now employed by Thomas Edison, perfected the Edison kinetoscope. This device was a combination of the “peep-hole” Invention, with sprockets on each side of the film introduced by Lumiere, a more accurate intermittent movement for the film carriage, and a powerful lamp perfected by Thomas Edison. Other machines appeared in America about the same time, but later patent rights were all merged with that of the Edison. The projection machines were crude and it has required much time and mechanical ingenuity to bring them to the state of perfection. With machines made, a still greater problem of securing new interesting subjects confronted the showmen who took up the novelty. There being no completed motion pictures for sale, it was necessary for each exhibitor to make all his own Subject*. No one thought of making pictures of plays. Instead, they caught finishes of races, scenes in prize fights, and topical events of a sensational nature. About this time a Kansas City operator of these machines, learning of the projecting machine, made plans for a concession at the Buffalo PanAmerican exposition, which consisted of a railway illusion made possible by rocking the coach while pictures were projected on a screen in one end of the car. Later this was exhibited throughout the country in a specially constructed railroad coach, and the name, “Hale’s Tour of the World,” became famous. The greatest step of the industry following the perfection of projectors, films and cameras was made simultaneously by Miles Brothers of New York and Eugene Kleine of Chicago. They established film markets or exchanges, where negatives were bought and prints sold or rented. This system served to solve the problem of distribution, by renting films to exhibitors, for this method is successfully used today throughout the world. , The exchange system assured a permanent film

supply to exhibitors and storerooms were converted into theaters in all parts of the country. In less than two years more than ten thousand picture theaters were opened in the United States. 'The number in New York city alone totaled more than 1,200 January 1, 1907, and in Chicago there were 800 of a mushroom growth. Many motiou picture producing plants were established in many cities, and the film supply proved abundant for the rapidly Increasing number of theaters. But there was no system to the production, the making of prints, preparing advertising matter for exhibitors, or giving heed to what is today considered the most important phase of the business—that of arranging a wellbalanced program. saw the necessity of not only making the subjects, but also maintaining their own system of exchanges for the purpose of safeguarding their own interests by controlling the films, and merged their interests in releasing companies. Now there are no less than ten corporations composed of owners of producing companies that have national releasing systems, with exchanges in all principal cities. These are capitalized in the millions and one is reputed to have made 1,600 per cent profit, while on the other hand others have operated continuously at a loss. With the formation of big releasing companies and the general improvement of conditions of the Industry, with regard to all phases, tho most important to the ten millions of people of the United States who daily witness the showing of motion pictures is the great change for the betterment of production, and the realization by the manufacturers of the possibilities of photoplays. In the standardization of the film the celluloid strip was gradually reduced in size from one having a picture two inches wide and one and onehalf inches deep, to uniform size of picture, threefourths of an inch deep by one inch in width. There are sixteen separate pictures to each lineal foot of film, or 16,000 to a reel of 1,000 feet, which, when properly projected, Is “run off” in eighteen minutes. Few motion picture lovers know that every minute approximately one thousand separate pictures are projected on the screen, each one separated from the adjoining one by a black line of the thickness of an average calling card. Still stranger, it may seem, is the fact that about one-fourth of the time the pictures are hidden .from view of the audience and the screen is black. This is caused by a revolving fan wheel or shutter passing in front of the projecting lens each time the film is advanced from one picture to another by the intermittent sprocket movement. A thousand feet of film which passes through the projecting machine is stationary three-fourths of the eighteen minutes required in projecting it, and in action but approximately four and a half minutes. This prevents blurring of the pictures and makes each individual picture or “frame” sharp from point of focus. The pictures are magnified from two to four hundred times their actual size by the projection, according to the size of the screen, distance from the lens and the lens Itself. The making of motion pictures is most interesting, and all studios are vißited dally by hundreds. At a few visitors are permitted, but at the majority a “No Admittance ’ sign hangs over the entrance and no amount of talk or money will get the stranger past the gates. The studio In reality consists of an open-air platform, one Inclosed entirely by glass, or a hall-like building with movable electric lights of such candle power as will make it light as day. In all producing plants now the story for the photoplay Is first written. From this is prepared the scenario, which briefly outlines every scene, describes the settings and action of the players. When it is considered that each reel of pictures requires from fifty to seventy-five scenes, and many of the photoplays of today consist of as many as five, six and seven reels, while the larger ones, such as “The Spoilers,” consisted ,of nine reels, “Les Miserables” eight. “Cabiria” of twelve and the largest photoplay yet mads, “The

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN* RENSSELAER, IND.

ings in ancient Syracuse were ®Obstructed,’ “The Rosary” an entire Irish village, wi dwellings, churches, public and business buildings of early nineteenth century type were built and for almost every play special buildings are erected. In some instances these have cost as much as $5,000. or more, and were used only In one or two hundred feet of film. The scenes of a photoplay are not taken in sequence, but according to convenience. At the studios from one to ten, or even fifteen, companies may be making scenes for different subjects all at one time, according to size of the stage and the size of settings in use. At the largest producing plant in the world, twenty to twenty-four companies of players are constantly at work. The raw film is made in strips four hundred feet in length, wound on spools. After being exposed they are sent to laboratories, where they are developed. The negative film is next threaded into a printing machine and an Linexposed positive film is placed next to it but on the opposite side from an electric lamp. This machine operates automatically and “prints” the positive from the negative at the rate of several thousand feet per hour. A motion picture studio is a veritable curiosity shop. In the wardrobe are to be found costumes of all ages and sizes, representing a great investment. The "property" room contains almost anything that can be thought of. The pay rolls of the manufacturing companies range from SI,OOO to $25,000 weekly where twenty or more companies are busy, the amounts varying according to number of producing companies, the class of professionals employed and quality of subjects made. In addition to this great expenditure totaling more than a quarter of a billion dollars a year for all companies in the United States, must be added cost of film, studio equipment and a hundred and one little Items of expense that come up in the making of every picture. This vast amount constitutes the lion’s share of production costs for motion pictures of the world, or 65 per cent. The Industry of the United States is centered at Los Angeles. Producers have found there are more sunshiny picture-making days in this vicinity than in any other part of the world, and. furthermore, any kind of scenery can be found within a radius of fifty miles of this southern California city. Mountains, sea, desert, tropical and frigid zones, metropolitan, village or country scenes are to be had by a short automobile ride. In addition to the pictures made at studios there are hundreds of camera men employed or working independently traveling In all parts of the world securing travelogues or scenic pictures, and topical scenes of Incidents that are used to make up what are termed “Weeklies.” It is estimated that there are more than one hundred now with the various armies of the nations at war in Europe and scarcely a week passes that some traveling film makers do not market pictures depicting life and conditions in some remote part of the globe. The principal educators of today have come to realize the • importance of the motion picture for use in schools and colleges, and the time is not far distant when a projecting machine will be an Important part of the equipment of our schools, the universities and many schools of the larger cities now having adopted this means of teaching. Motion pictures, fifteen years ago a novelty, ten years ago a feature added to vaudeville programs and termed “chasers" by the theater managers because they constituted the last number of the entertainment, usually causing people to leave, now serve as amusement to the greatest number of people. They have replaced, and the better subjects now command as high admission prices as comedy, drama and musical shows of the speaking stage in a majority of the best theaters of the large cities, and by their universal popularity have known as the Americas amusement

Birth of a Nation,” adapted from the historical novel, “The Clansman," of thirteen and one-half reels, one realizes the thousands of details that must be considered in writing the scenario, arrangement of sets or scenes, and in the making of the picture. Receiving the scenario, the director and players read the story and rehearsals of all scenes are held to give the players a keen insight into their respective parts. There are two kinds of scenes in all photoplays; one is termed “interiors,” comprising those that can be made at the studio and represent indoor scenes, and the other “exteriors.” those that represent ofit-of-door sittings. In practically all plays of present days the exteriors are made at rented homes, public buildings, beaches, in mountains, or at industrial plants, as the story may demand. When it is impossible to find such scenes as are needed they are designed and built to fit the requirements of the photoplay. In the case of filming “Damon and Pythias” amphitheaters and replicas of build-

THE KOSON MIRROR

Its Charm Brought Happiness to Lovers Who Had Parted. By THOMAB G. WILKES. (Copyright, 1915, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) Ruth Chishelm snuggled down in the depths of her most comfortable armchair and looked long at the photographs held in either hand. One pictured Arthur Merwin’s intellectual face, fair and light-eyed, with a heavy sweep of pale hair brushed back from his high forehead. The other showed Lynn Frary’s blunter features —dark, good looking, with keen brown eyes and heavy black brows. Arthur’s chin lost its strength by the merest fraction, Lynn’s was square and determined. The former had money and social position; the other was the American agent for a firm in Japan. Beyond his salary Lynn had few expectations. Lynn was thousands of miles away in Tokyp. Arthur was firmly established in his father’s business in New York. The night before Arthur had proposed to Ruth, and that very morning she had received Lynn’s letter declaring his love and asking for her answer. "Which?” she asked herself. Her heart answered, “Lynn.” Ambition suggested Arthur’s name. Ambition won. So a letter wended its way over land and sea to reach Lynn Frary in a fairylike bungalow in the suburbs of Tokyo. He was sitting on the veranda when Ruth’s letter was handed to him and he held it unopened in his hand for a long time, his dark eyes bent musingly on the ground. It was a thin letter —but why prolong the agony of suspense? He tore open the envelope and read the few lines of regret. “Engaged to Arthur Merwin!” Then the cryptomerias at the end of the garden became a dark blur before his eyes. He muttered at his own weakness and, cramming the letter into his pocket, called his ricksha boy and went down to the dull round of daily duties. * * '* * * * * Months passed and Lynn heard no further news of Ruth Chishelm until one day he received a bundle of New York newspapers and read that she was soon to be married to Arthur Merwin. He must pick out a wedding present for her —for the girl he loved whQ was going to be another man’s bride. Lynn drew a deep breath and squared his shoulders. Well, other men had been through the same bitter experience; he was game too. His quest led him to the shop of a Japanese friend, Sen Aru. Amid a chaos of ivories, bronzes, bits of cloisonne, and fine porcelains, Lynn was bewildered. “A wedding gift for a friend?” repeated Sen Aru, a noble-looking old man. Lynn winced. “Something very nice, Sen Am,” he said. “The very nicest thing you have in the shop.” The Japanese looked keenly at bis friend. “The very nicest thing I have in the shop would be this Koson mirror.” He brought forth from a sandalwood box a round hand mirror of highly polished steel set in a frame of carved ivory. Lynn uttered a gasp of admiration. “That’s quite the finest thing I've seen,” he muttered. “I must have it.” Sen Am nodded shrewdly. “Some time, if you will honor my humble shop and drink tea with me, I will tell you the history of that mirror.” “Thank you, I will. Now, if you will pack it carefully I'll get it down to Yokohama. A steamer sails tomorrow for San Francisco —it should reach New York by the 15th." “And the wedding day is?” questioned Sen Am. “March 25, I believe. Here, please put my card in with it. Here is the address to which it is to be sent.” “I will send it with immediate dispatch,” promised Sen Am. He watched Lynn leave the shop and he shook his head sadly. “Such a splendid young man —and grown so thin and worn with unhappiness. It must be this woman who has hurt his heart. Perhaps the mirror of Koson will cure the hurt, who knows? Only the gods can tell.” Several weeks later Lynn dropped into Sen Ara’s shop for the promised cup of tea and the story of the Koson mirror. Sen Am’s onyx eyes became points of glittering light as he poured the tea and served little rice cakes to his friend. The story of the Koson mirror was a short one. “Koson was a young man, a son of the Samurai; of noble birth, but quite poor in this world’s goods. He loved the daughter of a prince and, although there was no parental opposition to their marriage, the girl was ambitious and favored a man of great wealth; so, in spite of her love for the poor youth, she went about her preparations for her marriage to tbe ri<*h man. 'Koson wished to send her a wedding gift and, possessing this ancient mirror, he set about cleaning It to make it fit to ofTer to the bride. The mirror was dull and unpolished, and there were spots of rust upon iL But Koson worked night and day upon the mirror, rubbing and polishing it with the greatest labor and nicety,

all the while his heart wrung with anguish for his lost love. “So long did he labor over tbe mirror that it seemed he had Imparted some of bis own personality to tbe inanimate thing of steel and ivory. So often was his sad face bent over the mirror that it verily reflected his features. All this he did not know. “A few days before the wedding he sent his servant with the Koson mirror. The next day it was rumored that tbe bride refused to leave the mirror; she sat before it hour after hour, weeping and embracing it and bewailing her unhappy fate in marrying the rich lover. “Koson was skeptical, but his heart beat light for the girl he loved, and two days before the wedding she came to him weeping, and so they were married. It is said that the mirror of Koson still holds its charm to reconcile estranged lovers." Sen Aru smiled mystically. . Lynn looked sharply at the Japanese. “Is that why you recommended the mirror to me?” he asked quietly. “It makes a t.andsome wedding present,” reminded Sen Aru. “I hope you are pleased with it.” “It is very beautiful, but it would be awkward if it worked any magic in this case," laughed Lynn uncomfortably. “You see, the lady in the case loves her husband to be.” “Only the gods understand,” returned Sen Aru gravely. Lynn’s wedding gift reached Ruth Chishelm ten days before the date set for the wedding. She opened the soft wrappings of red tissue paper, her fingers trembling, for she knew that Lynn had sent her something from the Orient. At last she reached the inner box of fragrant sandalwood and the mirror of Koson lay before her in all ita beauty. She uttered a cry of delight and picked it up, gazing long at her reflection. Then, as if, indeed, tbe mirror were fulfilling the old tradition, Lynn Frary’s face seemed to blot out her own features. “What is the matter with me?" she cried sharply apd dropped it quickly. She picked up a strip of red paper covered with stiff handwriting. With slowly whitening cheeks she read Sen Aru’s polite letter, telling her the tradition of the Koson mirror, and regretting that his much-honored friend, Lynn Frary, appeared sick and ailing. And with many phrases and many subtle hints as to the ill health of his American friend, Sen Aru closed his cheering epistle to the bride. Ruth Chishelm, most unhappy of brides, dropped her bright head down on the mirror and sobbed. - ' 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lynn Frary, recovering from a real illness, sat in the veranda of bis bungalow and enjoyed the delicate scent of cherry blossoms from tbe lane beside the house. It was April and the air was soft and balmy. He was thinking of Arthur Merwin and his bride. Probably they were spending a honeymoon in Europe. He wondered if Ruth was happy. Merwin was Pta bad chap and he had heaps of money, and that seemed to count more than anything else nowar days. So absorbed was he in his bitter thoughts that he did not hear the patter of ricksha runners, and only the sound of Sen Aru’s wooden clogs aroused him. Lynn greeted his visitor cordially, but Sen Aru waved aside an invitar tion to enter. “You would remember the legend of Koson?” he asked politely. Lynn nodded impatiently. Sen Aru waved his hand toward the path. "It is true that legends repeat themselves. Behold, my friend.” He vanished down the side path, but Lynn didn’t notice his departure. He saw only Ruth Chishelm coming up the path toward him, with eager, outstretched hands. In the rear, talking in her voluble way with Lynn’s house servant, was Mrs. Chishelm. “Lynn,” cried Ruth, putting her hands in his, “I’ve found out my mistake in time. Is it too late for you to love me now?” “It would never be too late for that, sweetheart,” be said taking her into his arms. Sen Aru smiled at Lynn across the counter of his shop. “I wish to send a wedding gift to your bride, my friend,” he said, "but not a mirror—you need nothing to work magic now.” “You have given us the best gift in the world, Sen Aru,” declared Lynn. "You gave us to each other."

Coke Oven By-Products.

Benzol, toluol and other derivative* of coke oven by-products promise to be an important item with several Bteel companies. The Inland Steel company has contracts to supply benzol to leading powder concerns that assure steady sales over the next two years at a net profit exceeding $1,000.000 annually. The Dominion Steel company has begun the manufacture of toluol at Sydney, Nova Scotia, and will soon manufacture it at other plants. Lackawanna Steel is said to be contemplating entering the picrie acid field, ip which there are at present large profits.—Wall Street JournaL

Between Girls.

“How can you be engaged to a man sixty years old? He has, however# given you some magnificent presents.” "That’s the point A first love is romantic, but a. last love is very lavish.-