The Sunday Oregonian., November 01, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 6, Image 52

THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN'. -PORTLAND.- NOVEMBER 1, 1908.
MOVMC
MOWS
One year ago there were only three
moving picture shows in the city of
Portland. A recent investigation reveals
the interesting fact that there are now
IS places of thin form of amusement
scattered throughout the business district
of the city. Eleven of these are of the
6-eent variety, or Nickelodeon shows, the
remaining six charge 10 cents admission,
and are about the same show.
It's much like buying a bowl of soup
somewhere for 5 cents and then going
to a better Joint and planking down a
dime for the same sort of soup in a fan
cier bowl. Only these shows are not as
nourishing or helpful as soup.
Of these sixteen shows, some investi
gated facts may be of Interest. Any at
tempt to estimate the exact number of
Portlanders who are Instructed, amused,
disgusted and bored by means of moving
pictures during the course of a year
would seriously test the ability of a
mathematical wonder and I'm far from
- strong.
But the estimated number of people
who attend the two largest moving pic
ture shows in Portland averages be
tween 10.000 and 12.000 every week. The
others are in a like ratio, according to
their size, location and the quality of
tuff they present.
The largest rent paid by a moving
picture concern is $700 per month the
mallest rent Is 1175 monthly. Approxi
mately the rent Is 375 per month. In
addition to rent there Is the extra ex
pense of lights, heating, and the services
of employes.
In several of the moving-picture thea
ters the phonograph is used to emit
sounds that supply to the pictured
shadows a metal voice. This phase of the
how is most acceptable to the well
stimulated appetites of the greedy moving-picture
public. In other houses, vo
calists warble gayly and Irresponsibly
while the wonderfully and fearfully col
ored more slliles tell their story. There
are five "singists" In moving-picture
theaters here who are paid from J35 to
$35 weekly for perpetrating their songs.
Each show works what are termed three
shifts two r?gular men who attend to
running the moving-picture machines and
the third man who Is called a. "swing
man." (The term Isn't in Webster's Un
abridged, but n doubt It will find a place
there If moving pictures continue till the
next edition gets printed.)
The swing man, Mabel. Is the fellow
who works while the other regular chap
eats, or vs for a ride, or has his photo
taken. This swing man works for sev
eral houses at once, and Is, in short, a
general utility man. He swings in be
tween shifis, and works an hour or so in
each place. Therefore he Is called a
wing man. And for his swinging he gets
bout thirty big. fat dollars each week.
How would you like to be the swing
man?
The regular men at the machine aver
age from J5 to M a week. They've eot
writing for the Sunday papers skinned a
city block.
The Alms and song slides, every move
a picture. Herbert, are procured from
Fastern cities. New York. Chicago and
sleepy old Philadelphia ranking first. In
fact, in the latter city there are four dif
ferent manufacturers of films, and " In
New York the Industry has taken the
dignified form of a trust, and there ar
Si or ." agencies alone in this country.
Thee song slides are all hand colored,
nd most of them look like they were
colored after night by a near artist or
the correspondence method. The songs
are nearly all highly sentimental, and
we all sniffle and let the drops run off
our noses while we watch every move
ment of the immaculate young man who
its on a bank, regardless alike of his
rheumatics and his trousers and weeps
for Mary who is sleeping under a mul
berry tree In the valley. The average
rental of one of these monstrosities Is 75
cents fir a "set." A set Is the several
pictures and scenes depicted during one
on.
The moving-picture films are rented
through agencies, and the rental varies
according to the condition of the film
nd lis popularity. Most of the shows
run six films each week, and the aver
age rental Is .-. That is to say. when
a film comes fresh in its pristine glory
from the manufacturers it Is more ex
pensive than another film, cracked, im
perfect or stale to theater-goers. Some
hows change their programmes twice,
some three times each week; therefore,
with two films at each performance, the
average expense Is p) per week for the
use of films alone.
Add to this the rental of an electrio
piano or orchestrelle at about t'JO per
month, -the ticket-taker, whose salary Is
from f IS to Xii per week, the ticket-seller,
who averages from $S to 110 each week,
and you are beginning to have a faint
Idea, of the nun.ber of people who have
to patronize these shows to make them a
paying proposition. You'd be surprised
to know that women and children lead In
attendant, but it's a fact.
Prom present Indications we have every
reason to believe that the great mass of
the amusement-loving and greedy public
will never tire of gaxing on the manifold
and doubtful charms of the moving pic
ture. While true that the motion-picture ma
chine is distinctly a -modern innovation,
the- discovery upon which it is founded
dates back of the Christian era. An
Egyptian named Ptolcmus. an old chap
who was rich enough to afford dabbling
In literature and science, and who wrote
occasionally for the .Sunday papers, and
who no doubt would have had an IJt).
bestowed on him willy nllly If he had
lived now. as I say. Ftolemue discov
ered that the human eye possessed the
power of retaining an object or light
for some Indefinite time after said ob
ject or light had vanished from the ra
ni via of said eye. He proved this by a
practical demonstration. Tracing a line
of color (no. Kmma dear, this has noth
ing to do with the color line as drawn
In the South, tracing this line, presum
ably vivid, along the surface of a glased
object. Ptolemus was able to show that
ty revolving the object with great veloc
ity, the comparatively short line of color
appeared to extend completely around
the object. A lot of us clever folk Ijave
discovered this seemingly astounding
thing since, but Ptolemus beat us to It.
However, he didn't patent h!s discovery.
This was 1J0 B. C. It was far into the
elgnteenth century before anyone got up
sufficient ambition to peer ahead Into
the future and consider the millions of
people who would be peevishly clamor
ing for moving pictures. During this In
terval several enterprising Inventors de
vised parlor games and nice lady-like rx
Siibitlons and tests to show the duration
08. LOT OF
A LITTLE
of objective Impression upon the eye. but
If a photographic genius of the name of
Muybridge had not come through and
showed that he had the welfare of future
generations at heart, ten million people
would now be moving-pictureless.
Muybridge made the Initial motion pic
ture film by depicting the movements of
a racing horse. Having no camera that
would serve the purpose, Muybridge re
sorted to invention. He placed 24 cameras
side by side, parallel with a wall facing
the sun, at the border of the racing track.
Each camera was operated by electricity
and possessed a rapid snapshot shutter.
These shutters were kept open by means
of silk thread's which crosses the track
and were attached to the wall. As the
horse came running down the course, his
body broke each thread In succession, and
the shutters clicked In response. The pho
tographs, when developed, and placed side
by side on one strip, had the effect of
one continuous picture.
It was here that the motion picture In
dustry began. At first the experiments
were disheartening and highly unsatisfac
tory, owing to the fact that the photos
when enlarged lacked all detail and sharp
clean lines. However the appearance In
1SSS of the highly sensitized dry plate, re
lieved this difficulty, and motion pictures
were an actual fact.
Here a new phase of the question arose,
namely, the possibility of reproduction
in such a manner as to seem realistic to
an audience. For several years inventors
struggled with this difficulty and many
unsatisfactory apparatus were made;
but it was not until the early nineties (90)
that our own Tommie Edison completed
the work, and gave to the world his prac
tical invention, the ktnetoscope. Later
the still more successful cinematograph
took Its place.
Despite the fact that there was merit In
the new Invention and the manufacture
of motion pictures offered vast possibili
ties and returns for Its promoters, still
the Idea that these machines would ever
be mora than a sort of scientific toy, a
turn to hold the vacillating attention of
a fickle public did not seem to occur to
anyone.
It remained for a Frenchman, Antnlne
Lumlcre, to Inaugurate a series of public
exhibitions of motion pictures, and thee
soon attracted such universal attention
that within a short time the art was in
troduced to the American theatergoing
public the first exhibitions of the ma
chine taking place -in June. 1896. at
Keith's Union Square Theater, In New
York. In the 12 years that have elapsed
since then there have been marvelous im
provements and progress In the motion
picture industry, and the poorly construct
ed, slow-moving apparatus of a dozen
years ago have given -way to machines
almost perfect in mechanism.
The largest producers In the world are
Pathe' Freres, who maintain posing corps
of clever actors in all parts of the world,
and whose shops In Paris for the turning
out of trick and transformation films em
ploy thousands of expert workmen.
The rathe films are always absolutely
correot as regards local color, and their
trademark a flat silhouetted rooster of
the weather-vane variety always be
speaks for the film the same quality that
the word Sterling carries when stamped
on silver. Other producers of note are
Edison, Kalem, the Vltograph Company
nd the Blograph Company. Oftentimes
these firms spend thousands of dollars lit
making a single film, and circulate more
coin of the realm in staging their films
than most theatrical managers devote to
an entire production. It is interesting to
note here that many of the best pictures
were formerly procured right from the
drama or play as presented at the the
ater, until a recent Injunction against the
manufacturers of the films was brought
about by the playwright and the actors'
who presented the play, and has rendered
Impossible any further stealing on the
part of the film makers.
There are, according to statistics, 12.000
of these shows In the United States, and
the films that are run through these ma
chines during one day, would. If placed
In Juxtaposition (that's Just plain, every
day slde-by-lde) form a line 145.0W miles
In length, that's more than one-half the
MATERIAL FACTS, JOME
RFS4I3E , HUMANE HUMOR AND A PREACHMENT
4 . A fife iprat sv
distance to the moon. (This alleged dis
tance will be properly measured when
the aeroplanes get to doing good work.)
Thls mind ypu, is only for one day, and
if you were to multiply this distance by
the 365 days these shows are doing busi
ness, you could gain a snickering idea of
what the magnitude of the moving pic
ture Industry really is.
Very few people have any well-defined
Idea of what amount of work and time
and money is back of the spluttering film
that takes our shekels from us. In the
construction of a motion picture there is
much to be considered a-shie from the
technical side- of the art. Plays have to
be prepared In much the same manner
they are for a theater, with the exception
that all dialogue is omitted, and the
plot Is the chief point. (Yes. John Henry,
I agree with you, some of our modem
plays, as presented in Portland, could
well do away with their dialogue and pay
a little more attention to the plot.) After
the play has been accented. It Is the work
of the stage manager, or producer, to at
tend to the details. Scenery la designed
and -executed, "props" are secured, cos
tumes are planned and actors engaged.
Rehearsals are given in a lance, com
modious frame building usually erected
for this purpose alone, and when the
company la absolutely perfect In every
detail they give their production before
the artist with the camera. Play-wrlt-lng
for the moving-picture shows has be
come an art in itself, and there are any
number of writers who devote their time
and attention to this form of plays alone.
Exhibitors seek eagerly for spectacular
effects, arid enterprising producers natu
rally resort to clever devising of trick
films.
This is not suoh an easy feat as it ftp-
ILLUSTRATED SONGS ARK
pears to the layman, especially when It
is desired to obtain convincing pictures
of travels, tours in the ozone and un.ler
neath the briny deep, magicians, stunts,
and other purely imaginative and fan
tastic illusions that are produced at these
show.
When we see Uncle Rube knocked head
fo'niost'off the street-car that travels at
a rate that makes our rapid Jefferson-
THE FIRST "MOVING" PICTURE.
street cars look like a snail: when we see
the unfortunate tramp run over In 80 dif
ferent places: when we see the lovely
pale-face maiden dragged all over East
ern Oregon at the heels of a f-I-e-r-y
Injun pony; when we see battle, murder
and sudden death, to say nothing of the
equally improbable and sometimes im
proper visions of beautiful damsels
dressed ft la Anna Held or Mother
Eve. popping out of urns and other
respectable places, or when a face
appears on the curtain And Immediately
GAU5TIG CRITlCIJM,
proceeds to change every feature Into 57
different varieties of facial contortions,
it seemingly never occurs to us that
these and the hundred and one things
that make our eyes amazed and our
mouths stand open like cellar doors in St.
John as I say. it never occurs to us that
all these are the simplest kinds of tricks,
or effects, that are ofttimes obtained by
stopping the camera, and sometimes by
patching or cutting the films.
When poor, erring Maggie comes
INVARIABLE" PATHETIC.
home, clad appropriately In a near seal
skin saeque and French-heeled pumps, to
die in ten feet of snow at the olmrch
steps, who Is to tell us that the snow Is
only cotton or sawdust, and the swirling
flakes that sweep over her prostrate form
while the orchestrelle grinds ont Kliza-crossing-the-ice
music, is produced by
drafts of air from carefully arranged
electric fans?
And in that famous old favorite, wnere
Fearless Fido. the dachshund, discovers
the house on fire and every inmate
sleeping as peacefully as a councilman
when the flames and smoke pour out
from every crack and crevice, and we
watch Fido save the entire family, In
cluding the cook lady, the American flag
and a life-size, enlarged crayon portrait
of grandma who, oh who, is to tell us
that the great fire scene was produced
by means of chemicals, and that Fear
less Fido had been trained for weeks
past to do his little heroic stunt?
At this time, when so much good, bad
and indifferent has been spoken and
written concerning the Influence of
amusement, and the value to any com
munity of raising the standard of enter
tainment, it might be well to consider
what these moving pictures are doing for
their audiences, and especially for their
enormous and always Increasing audience
of children.
In the infant stage of the motion-picture
industry, to produce laughter seemed
to be the goal of each manufacturer;
the films were universally made with this
aim in view. The unlucky hero or hero
ine of the film happened to have as many
accidents of a mirtn-provoking nature
as the mind of the fertile photographer
could conceive.
Always there was a ducking scene. In
which everyone got wetted and we
laughed till our sides ached. And then
came the Interminable chase, always
along 17 miles of roughly wooded terri
tory, with endless rocks and pitfalls, and
every time any of the participants fell
down, how we cackled and guffawed.
In the last act, the victim always was
caught, and the curtain fell as the moD
danced about the luckless wight, beating
him with clubs and rails. Ho, how we
laughed, and spjnt our nickels night after
night to see this performance.
I
Gradually, however, the ' enterprising
manufacturers began to realize that the
art of motion pictures presented greater
possibilities than horseplay acts and
highly colored sentimental song slides.
From the inception of this idea both
American and foreign films have Im
proved to such an extent that we now
see films of high educational value, and
many of religious tendency. This Is not
to say that humor has taken a back
seat, only that It Is cleaner and more
genuinely good In quality a sort of ca
tering to an intelligent appreciation of
humorous situations, as it were. These
lessons that the motion pictures give
us are not easily forgotten. The heroes
and heroines of legendary romances, of
historical fact of whom we have known
a smattering, and of which some of us
probably have known nothing, have now
become intimate and real personages to
us through the Instrumentality of the
motion pictures. The nymphs, mermaids
and fairies who went away from cor
humdrum lives years ago. come back
once again through the medium of a film,
and all the wonderful things which we
half believe are produced In such a man
ner that we are convinced of their ex
lstence by their animated charm and
lifelike manner. '
As a power in politics, and especially
In the present campaign, the motion pic
tures are playing a prominent part. Sec
retary Taft was the first candidate to be
put on a film, and now we have yards
and yards of political photos. (One re
cently shown was of Bryan. In his home,
shaking hands with prospective voters,
bowing, smiling, at his desk, making a
speech, etc.. etc. I would suggest that
It would be an economic feature to pre
serve this film for the future Presidential
campaign when he runs again.)
Educational and philanthropic bodies
are using motion pictures In their
work. , Various settlement and charity
organizations are co-operating with
the motion picture Industry, with a
view toward educational quality and
elevation of Ideals. In many parts of
the world religious orders are taking
advantage of the method to bring be
fore the masses stories of the Bible.
What is more realistic than the Paths
film, the Passion Play? All of us know
something, or much, of the life of
Jesus. Possibly some of us have felt
that It might be true, .or It might not
be, that a Christ reigned at one time.
After we have seen this film Tva go
away forced to believe that he lived,
and walked on earth and died. Our
lukewarm faith becomes a certainty
and all because this strong dramatlo
appeal to the eye impresses Its truth
upon us.
In Just the 3ame manner we are Im
pressed when other historical facts ap
pear before us via the motion pictures,
whether it be "Alice In Wonderland" or
"Uncle Tom's Cabin." "Ben-Hur" or
"The Courtship of Miles Standlsh,"
Dumas' "Camille," Nort In "A Doll's
House" or "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cab
bage Patch." The reproduction of the
world's greatest drama, notatly the
Shakespearean plays, are attracting un
usual attention.
But after all has been said and done,
there is another, the harmful, side of
this form of amusement. So cheap a
form of entertainment and one so posi
tive of an enormous patronage is al
ways sure of commercial success,
thougli it cheats the true and rightful
demand of the dramatic appetite of the
public at the same time that it under
mines and tears down all principles
governing good dramatic entertain
ment. It may be necessary for the
blase andlndit'ferent adult to have his
Instincts and perceptions of drama bat
tered Into existence by means of this
cheap form of art, but It Is nothing
short of a ciime to undermine the fresh
and elemental Impulse of a. child by
feeding Its imagination with too much
moving pictures. A reverent, careful
training of a child's imagination, di
rected by love and forethought, by
means of tne drama as a symbol, will
Instill the most deep-rooted allegiance
to truth, loyalty and honor. On the
other hand, his Imagination will be
stultified and erroneously fed by vio
lent. Illogical and grewsome sequence
of antics tiiat bear no relation to life,
and are only invented to meet the limi
tations of the picture film and the
yawning pocket of the manufacturer.
.
The child who attends such shows regu
larly develops neurasthenia (if you don't
know what that is ask any physician It's
a diseased condition of the nervous sys
tem). Hysteria will develop (yes, Mrs.
Fool-mind, your little daughter or young
son can have mild hyslerics by an over
excitation or stimulation of this nervous
organization, just as probably you have
them when you see a mouse or drink too
much tea). A constant attendance at
these shows results in stultifying and stu
pefying a child's mind, his imagination is
easily betrayed and what, oh what, ye
sage ones. Is a child with no Imagination?
He Is devoid of the most potent help that
Mother Nature has bestowed upon him,
to put him in touch with us rather shall
we not say, to put us of a gray, and sor
did, dull, age in touch and keeping with
his beautiful, clean world of dreams and
fancies? If we vitiato his Imagination by
putting the wrong pictures before him,
how can we hope for his lite humanity
to bespeak our big humanity? How can
we hope to help or foster his Ideals If ws
prevent his being animated by an all-enfolding
spirit.
Do not let pass any opportunity pre
sented by a child's craving Instinct for
the dramatic, to mold and guide his flex
ible mind and heart. Take him to see ed
ucational pictures, let him view in pic
torial form things lie has heard of or
seen; but for goodness sake, and the
child's sake, cut out such travesties as
"The Burglar's Revenge," "The Utile
Match Girl Kidnapped," "Child Slaves in
the South." "Beheading In China," "A
Western Holdup," and all such gnilne
and undisputed rot.
The worst evil, however, of attending
moving picture shows, lies in the fact that
such undue excitation of nerves and eyes
tend to physical and mental Injury. We
adults sit in the darkened show place
with tense brows and Jixcd eyes, while
the film sputters its hurried course before
our bewildered and strained vision.
Our eyes smart and sting, frequently
are moist, and Just as our vision Is
dimmed and our eyes strained Just so, our
minds and Imaginations are confused and
rendered dull by a sequence of action ab
solutely improbable, and wholly Impos
sible, In real life. We leave the theater
with our eyes blinking, or half shut, rub
bing them or holding them at half-mant
against the sudden glare of electric light
that we face at the end of the act. For
hours afterward we experience a faint,
almost Imperceptible tightening of the
eyeballs, and the lids bat nervously. 91a
tlstics show that a very great part of the
eye troubles so much commented upon
among the children in our public schools
is due to constant attendance at moving
picture shows, the eyes being affected by
the flickering of the film.
StUl, after all this last harangue, do
you suppose there will be any material
decrease in the attendance of Portland's
moving picture shows? By the way, did
you ever notice that the pictures on the
film are the only known place In all the
wide world that ever rounds up themes,
rewards the virtuous, punishes the guilty,
and, oh marvels of marvels, always and
Invariably finds a policemen when he Is
needed. He is ever there, Johnny ijn the
spot Consistency, thou art a mule!