TEE SUNDAY OREGONIAX. PORTLAND. SEPTE3rBEIt 12. I9T5.
PLAN OF CENSORSHIP BY SCHOOL
BOARDS REFUTED IN TOWN OF ORIGIN
Tennessee Preacher Meets With Little Encouragement for Scheme1 in Connection With Municipal Theaters
Project Proposal Has Advantage of Forcing Standards Higher Than Natural Course of Development.
Normal School has arranged to Rive a
'Motion Pictures DeLuxe
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TENNLfeSEE preacher has hit -IS. 000 peopla and 3000 horses to enact
TV
ZJ upon a scheme -w hereby the people
.will see only pictures fit for their
morals. He advocates municipal thea
ters. Further, he suggests that the
educational departments or school
boards of the various cities be vested
vi'ith the powers of censorship.
JEecently this minister has been
preaching on' -The Church and Amuse
ments." sayinsr that motion pictures
and theaters have drifted into a state
of antagonism with the church. He
declares that the chief objection of
religious Institutions and sanctimonious
people to movies is their lack of artis
tic merit. And for all this, he says
"municipal theaters" and "school board
censors."
Many ministers have spoken on the
eame line. It seems out of place that a
modern pi eacher- would maintain that
the "objection he had was the lack of
artistic merit." A number of churches
are showing motion pictures along with
the regular service.
He apparently does not stop to think
of the high state of mechanical per
fection that has been reached by the
motion-picture industry. One is tempt
ed to ask just what places of amuse
ment he has been visiting to find so
Inartistic a line of pictures as he has
evidently been seeing.
While municipal motion-picture shows
have been tried in some places, there
are few records of their success. His
idea has the advantage if feasible
that of putting municipal theaters so
in the advance of the individual houses
that by the municipal monopoly they
will force the picture standards hig..r
than the natural course of development
and continued labors of those in the
work will raise them. Of the other
capricious siiKgestions in regard to cen
sorship the idea of a school board be
ins the critic of motion-picture artis
try prompts argument. Po far no city
has heeded his outburst seriously. His
own town has rejected it. The chances
are that successful municipal motion
picture theaters and school board cen
sorship will be distant realizations at
least.
In the Orpheum Travel Weekly the
first act of the show, which will open
the Orpheum this afternoon, a series of
colored moving pictures will be shown.
The first picture will be a movie of
the Sahara Iesert, which has a spot so
highly cultivated and which is suffi
ciently populated to be called a city.
This Is the Oasis of Gebes, in Tunis.
The homes of' the natives are built for
the most part of polished stone. The
second portion of the Orpheum Travel
Weekly will picture Kilauea, the great
volcano of Hawaii, and the closing fea
ture will be views of the principality
of Monaco.
CHEAT FILM PLAV CONTINUES
"Birth of a Nation' to Show at Hci-
Hg All W eek.
With the reproduction of Sherman's
march to the sea, the surrender of L,ee,
and the assassination of Lincpln, all in
vivid detail and realism, "The Birth of
a Nation," which is at the Hetlig for
another week, each afternoon and
night, attains what has heretofore been
held almost impossible in a moving
picture, or. for that matter," in any
way.
History of 30 and 60 years ago has
been brought up to date. The" living
present is transported back into the
historic past for three hours while one
is viewing the remarkable film.
Based on the powerfully interesting
novel, "The Clansman." the play is
doubly interesting, for it has welded
romance and history in a remarkably
striking way. There is a real love
story woven into It and the back
ground is war. The scope, howeyer, is
so gigantic as to be almost beyond
comprehension until it is witnessed.
The bigness of the play can be better
realized, however, when one considers
that it took eight months to e tRge.lt;
it, and cost 500.000.
It is said that of all the people who
have witnessed the film, scarcely any
one has dared to deny its historical
foundation and comparatively close ad
herence to fact and detail. The gen
eral impression is that "The Birth of a
Nation" gives the younger generation a
quicker and keener grap of the Civil
War period of this country and en
dows older heads with a better appre
ciation of the critical theme in Ameri
can history than any other agency.
That is, from the historical stand
point, it is said to have done better
work than all the school books printed
insofar as giving the younger genera
tion an idea of what the Civil War
period in the South actually was. It
may over-emphasize in places, but
this, it is explained, is for dramatic
effect.
But beyond this, which is an all-Important
asset to the picture and one
which has made it such a sensation, the
scientific achievement is not to be
minimized. It is the most spectacular
production ever staged or shown in
America, it is said. The photography
is said to be as nearly perfect as the
experts hope for. Nothing has ap
proached it heretofore in this particu
lar. The wide scope of the production may
be understood when it is realized that
the picture begins in the early slave
days when negroes were imported from
South Africa, and leads through Ameri
can history to and after the assassina
tion of Lincoln and the black days of
the reconstruction period.
The Civil War in its most picturesque
details is revealed, and also there are
some of its horrors depicted. The sur
render of Lee; Sherman's march to the
sea; Grant's wonderful marshaling of
forces; the assassination of Lincoln
and the activities of the Ku Klux Klan
are only a few of the vital scenes.
The characters are like life. Lin
coln's portrayal is marvelously" exact,
and John Wilkes Booth is characterized
in a way that leaves an indelible im
pression. Aside from the absorbing in
terest of the theme, the mammoth pro
portions of the picture make it a most
striking and memorable achievement in
the moving-picture evolution.
M'ME.
JOMBLLI RE-ENGAGED
IiTa Again Will Sing to Majestic
Audiences for One Week.
Ah!
he is back again-
Jomelli is back again.
Back to the Majestic Theater for
one week beginning this afternoon.
This wonderful singer, whose crystal
clear voice has been ringing in the
hearts of Portland men and women,
will be welcomed back for a short
week to fill the niche which has been
strangely empty since she left the
Majestic Theater a week ago. She
has truly become Portland's own
singer.
Her beautiful voice, full, powerful,
infinitely sweet, has been heralded, as
the favorite by local folk.
Madame Jomelli will appear in a
repertoire of new songs. Each day
she will sing different selections.
A prominent local man has said of
her: "I couldn't resist writing a little
note of appreciation to Madame Jomel
li. Her singing has thrilled me as
nothing has done since I was a small
boy. I cannot estimate the amount
of pleasure I have had Just listening to
her sing. I never miss an oppor
tunity to listen to her."
Hundreds of persons are saying the
same thing each day and demonstrat
ing their love for the dlva by crowd
ing to get a glimpse of Her or hear her
voice.
. This week's engagement will prove
an even greater attraction than before,
for shj has become known to a greater
number of persons by singing in a pic
ture theater, where the majority of
people can go.
. The picture, attraction will be a Fox
-feature, "The Song of Hate." adaDted
by Rex Ingram from Sardou's opera,
"La Tosca." Betty Nansen, the famous
Scandinavian actress; Dorothy Bernard,
a beautiful screen star; Claire Whitney
and Arthur Hoops will be seen in this
film.
The opera, it will be remembered, is
centered about a beautiful Italian girl
in love with sn artist, who, when she
is kept from seeing the .man she loves
by an official, shoots and kills the
wrong man.
The part of La Tosca 4s taken by
Miss .-arisen.
A one-reel comedy end the Hearst
Selig News Pictorial will conclude the
programme.
"N'EAL OF THE NAVY" COMING
Picturesque Photoplay Due at Globe
Tells Story of Adventure.
"Neal of the Navy" will have its ini
tial appearance in Portland Thursday
at the Globe Theater, Eleventh and
Washington streets. This picture is
said to be the greatest ever attempted
by the Pathe Company, which as a pro
ducer has done wonders in the photo
play line.
The first reel shows a real volcanic
eruption .the belchjng forth of smoke,
flame and lava, an entire mountain
moving before us and the great de
struction of a city miles away. The
populace flying to the sea and jump
ing In: great ships standing by picking
up the survivors; a sight ever to be re
membered and accurate to the smallest
detail.
The cinders from the volcano are
shown falling upon and setting iire to
a ship, which burns to the water's
edge. Woven throughout is a beau
tiful story of love- and adventure. The
story is written by William Hamilton
Osborne, famous as a short story writ
er. The picturization is in the hands of
the Pathe Balboa Company.
The director is one of the most ar
tistic men in the profession. Every
scene is beautiful, from a picture stand
point, and the photoplay is excellent
Beautiful Lillian Lorraine, noted as the
best-dressed woman in America, as well
as a Broadway star of great ability,
plays the leading role, while William
Courtleigh, Jr., hero of many Broad
way successes, plays Neal.
. The naval scenes are made under the
sanction of the Secretary of the Navy.
Many United States warships and com
panies of tars participate.
Split Reels
GLASGOW, Scotland, boasts the fin
est cinema theater in the world.
The entrance of this great "Pic
ture House." for that is its name, is a
spacious lobby, with a tiled floor and
walls and bowled ceiling of mosaic in
wonderful blues, pale yellows and
cream. But this is only the outer
lobby. The inner one has a pond where
goldfish play, while the other features
of the interior are similar to those of
the outer lobby.
Rare tapestries hang from the walls
and palms are used in decoration. From
it one goes into a grillroom, done in
dark wood and leather. Around the
lobby is a balcony in blue, where visit
ors find nooks and 'tables. One cannot
reach the beautiful theater proper
without first passing through either
the lobby and balcony or the grillroom.
George O. Nichols has started filming
"The Sculptor's Model,' an interesting
two-reel drama with a cast that in
cludes Vivian Reed, Joe King, Viola
Alnerti and Thomas Bates.
Another notable two-reeler, "A Sul
tana of the Desert." comes from the
pen of Miss Kathlyn Williams. In this
the author stars. The release will be
made during the first week of October.
Of interest to Oregon's educational
circles in the news that Jlonmoutb. State
series of motion picture entertainments
and will lead off with "Quo Vadis" and
11 other Kleine features.
A year ago -Manager Raymond, of
Boston, who owns a string of "Gordon
Photoplay Houses." made the statement
that in his theaters no pictures that be
had not seen and approved should be
shown. Recently Mr. Raymond decided
that during the past year he has passed
up a great number of really good
things because they were not in -keeping
with his personal likes and dislikes
and that no one individual is able to
tell the public what it will like and
what it should see.
Some ' exquisite ' dancing, combined
with unusually ideal. Arcadian settings,
good characterization and staging,, is
seen in the Mutual feature, "The House
of a Thousand Scandals." In thfs the
philanthropic efforts of a young mil
lionaire and the idealism of an expo
nent of Greek dancing and philosophy
form the nucleus of picturesque photo
drama. A private exhibition of this
feature was given Wednesday at the
Mutual Film Exchange on Oak street.
.
Jannet No, Irine Fenwick is not
Irish. She is English. And you do not
pronounce her name as it is spelled,
but leave out the "w"' and say "Irlne
Fenick." She dislikes the sound oi
"Fenwick."
Polly Pathe, who is making a tour
of the country with Mrs. Francis Fisher
Byers, is in private life Miss Grace
Wheeler Green," daughter of Mrs.
Franklin Green and -the noted archi
tect, the late Francis Green. Miss
Green is a society girl who made her
debut three years ago, and was popu
lar in Paris, London and Brussels. She
was educated in Brussels, where her
parents resided several seasons and
where she has the distinction of being
the only American girl invited to tht
royal box at the coronation of King
Albert. Mrs. Byers is well known as
the press representative for. Mrs. O. H
P. Belmont, Ellen Terry and other
notable women. The result of their
trip, it is estimated, will be 150,000
feet of real "America" film.
Among the recent film weddings is
recorded that or Chester Whitney and
Miss Virginia Philley, of Los Angeles.
Mr. Whitney is preparing the pictur
ization cf 'Ie Wolf Hopper's first pro
duction, "Don Quixote." Mrs. Whitney
was a society girl of Los Angeles and
an ardent film fan.
E. B Yes. Charlotte Walker is
married. Her husband is -Eugene
Walter, known as the author of "The
Easiest Way," "Paid in Full" and a
number of other plays. Miss Walker
has Just completed her second para
mount feature at the studios in Holly
wood and now with her husband Is at
their lodge in the Maine woods where
she will remain for some time resting
and enjoying life in the wilderness.
The reformation of Bryant Wash
burn, the Essanay actor, has been an
nounced. Heretofore Mr. Washburn
has been one of the cleverest of all the
unscrupulous villains in the screen
world. Now he is to be a hero. Mr.
Washburn,, although only 25 years of
age, has had a wide experience in dra
matic lines. Although he is now being
cast for leads only he never hesitates
to submerge his own individuality and
become a. character as he did in- the
role of the old man in the "Little De
ceiver." Alma Hanlon, who Is being featured
in "The Fixer," is the youngest daugh
ter of George Hanlon, of the Hanlon
Brothers, internationally known a
pantomimists, acrobats and comedians.
Miss Hanlon is a pretty blonde who
screens perfectly. She was formerly
leading woman -for Pathe. She is the
tenth generation f Hanlons to bo
connected with the theater and the
first to be identified with motion pic
tures. The Hanlons are said to be "old
as the English stage."
For nine generations every Hanlon
has devoted his life to some sort of
stage work and it is only fitting that the
young actresa should shine in the
Photo drama. Few film stars, boast a
like pedigree, for her ancestor, a Han
lon, was manager of Drury Lane when
Lord Byron was director. Another was
stage director for Edmund Kean. and
now managers are putting great hope
knd faith in the "daughter of the art."
. "Miss Sticky Moufe Kiss." the first
story from the pen of the humorist
and cartoonist, James Montgomery
Flagg, to be secured from the screen
Is now under production by the Vita
graph Company. It is being directed
by Sidney Drew and premises to be a
most unique affair.
J. W. Jemeson, representative of
George Kleine, was a Portland visitor
this week. Mr. Jameson epeaks op
timistically of a number of new Kleine
releases among which are "The Woman
Next Door," "The Money Master" and
"The Fixer."
Robert T. Haines will make his
photo irama debut with the Equitable
Motion Picture Corporation in "Human
PEOPLES
EATER
MARY
PIC
West Park at Alder
The Greatest Star of All
KFORD
Americas Film Favorite
In a Big Five-Part Paramount Feature
RALDA
Frances Hodgson Burnett's Great Human Drama
AMOUN
T TRAVELOGUE
Seeing South America
TODAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY
Cargoes" under the direction of Walter
McNamara.
Anna Little is a new member of the
American Stock Company, with whom
she will begin work at Santa Barbara
this week.-
Miss Little's principal successes have
been under the direction of Otis Turner.
It was in western roles, for which she
is the ideal type, that she won success
early in the game.
In Japan, if a bride dislikes taklns her
husband's name she may adopt him into hr
own family.
EATER
Washington at Park
STARTING TODAY -Kleine-Edison
Feature
THE SPENDTHRIFT
A strong six-part picture, founded on the play by
Porter Emerson Browne,
FEATURING CHARMING IRENE FENWICK
The Famous Kleine-Edison Studios Have Given
"The Spendthrift" a Magnificent Production.
MISS HARRIETT C. TRYON
Late Soloist With Campbell's American Band,
in
Any Weekday Matinee Seat.
The Entire Balcony at Mht
and a Sunday Matlneea.
SHOWS
DAILY
2:30
7:30
9 P. M.
Any Seat on t h e L
Moor at MRht or 01
day iUatlnces.
o w e r
Sun-
NEW PRICES IN EFFECT TODAY
Owing to Enormous Capacity
THE GREAT EASTERN MUSICAL SUCCESS
r7mm " -
POPULAR SONGS
THIS GREAT SHOW RUNS UNTIL
THURSDAY
- -
10c - 11 to 11 - 10c
I - J XJ '
As Played by the Frank Rich Company of 25 People, With
Special Scenery and Electrical Effects