VOL. XXXVIII.
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, 5EPTE3IBER 7, 1919.
NO. 3G.
FILMS INTRODUCE ATTRACTIVE OREGON TO THE WORLD
Graphic Picturization of Interesting Toil, Royal Scenery and Fascinating Outdoor Relaxations Arouses Envy of Less Fortunate Humans.
iv MyVT - Var rtrWn i W 1&cai
1"Bf- 7tV V- -ill &"5 :;v;fcl WCV
JKh:' A W I I y,'
IT j u . . , . ' - . It ; vf -v a fd l ' r '
, , J Hi Ml . ! . : '
i tg- oag,.,-. : ; - lii - . . ; - ; ; : h-j&mm. 1 1
the eye of the lena and
1 K'iiupra,r Van Scoy tn actios
3 Mos-beardrd oak on Drift
rrrrk on the Slleta river.
3 V. A. Vaa Scoy who haa taken
SMO.OOO fret of Oregon film.
4 Calf trljlcta born In heart of
Portland.
S Orrgon coaat line from Otter'
Rock near Newport.
Note The sections of film bor
dering this page are cut -from
scenes photographed in Oregon
by Mr. Van Scoy.
BY DEWITT HARRY.
TROUBADOURS of old used to tell
in sons and story of the wonders,
loves and Drave deeds of the
world. Since the beginning of time
people have always found leisure to
listen to any tale of tnterest. Means
of conveying the message have varied
from word of mouth, often found inac
curate, to printed word, and now the
tavored medium is by means of films.
Nearly every community has In Its
midst a historian preserving the
achievements of the present-day for the
benefit of posterity, a romancer writ
ing of loves and brave deeds on strips
cf celluloid, a naturalist or a simple
narrator recounting the wonders of the
region by photography. Under pres
ent conditions it is not necessary to go
personally to view the wonders of the
world; they are carried to moving pic
ture patrons at wilL
Growing comprehension of the gran
ieur and magnificence of America's
scenery Is being taught citizens of this
country since war has stopped foreign
touring; and, their appetites whetted
by glimpses of their own country, they
sre starting out to see for themselves
what it has to offer.
Films Introduce Oregon.
Tiirh of this popularity of
home
. -3 I n 1 , n
tours can be tracea aimosi unc-i.ij
films. In .comparison with pictures of
other parts of the world, it is needless
to say that Oregon attracts its share
cf attention. More and more are our
countrymen beginning to realize that
f ere Mes one of the real scenery treats
of the world. They have seen the
screen story of Oregon's wonders and
those who have come to see for them
selves have confirmed the tale told by
the camera.
Half a million feet of film haa been
sent out from Oregon during the past
12 years by cne man, W. A. Van Scoy
of Fortland. Mile after mile of graphic
story has been ground out of his cam
eras, and his stories of Oregon have
reached every cranny and corner of
the world. Not only has the magnifi
cence of our scenery been shown, but
our achievements, the oddities and un
usual thinirs, that exist and have hap
pened in this section, and news events.
You are liable to find him or some
other camera man, for there are others
at the same work, in the most unex
pected places, so don't be surprised.
How would you like to watch tem
peramental nature? Possibly It sounds
like an easy bit of play. It's Dot Sun.
Uses are glorious, but it is not often
that the average person will climb out
of a snug bed just to be certain that
the sun is on the job. Yet Van Scoy
knows, more about sunrises than any
other man in this state, for he has seen
more and has studied them. Most peo
ple will agree that it. would be pleas
anter to watch the sun rise from a
comfortable theater seat than to lose
any sleep seeing the actuality. .
Action Anienty In Hound a p.
There are many things happening In
Oregon that the rest of the. world is
Interested in. What seems so usual to
the person here is strange to the resi
dent of another part of the country.
At the Pendleton roundup next month
there will be a covey of cameramen
(.hotngraphing the . story. They will
work right out in the open corral
among the daring cowboys and outlaw
beasts. Last year one of the movie
men was run over by a stage and six
horses, but that Is only a part of the
game.
The story of Portland's Rose Festival
is sent out each year. Films of . the
river shipping, of the grain harvests,
of the fruits, of the forests, of the fish
ing, but mainly of the splendors of
the scenery, are sent out from here
almost daily. Just Imagine' how it
would feel to be a poor factory worker
or shop girl in some sultry eastern or
middle western city and at the movie
show after an exhausting day's work
to get a glimpse of the cool woods and
crystal streams of Oregon, with the
fortunate residents 'all enjoying them
selves.
It is just such scenes as this, attrac
uveiy pnotographed, that entice so
many visitors to Oregon. The workers
on nature scenery find that they can
not keep pace with the demand. Or
ders are pouring in for more and more
scenes from, our forests and play
grunds. .'Vacation reels, showing the
many pleasures that are to be had
while away from care in this section,
are continually in reguest. One recent
mm of this character described a fort-
nignt s trip to one of the nearby
beaches and the perfect time that two
young girls had there- just enjoying
nature. Seeing this, film will doubt
less arouse an intense desire in, the
minas of many patrons of the motion
picture houses to" experience similar
delights. ...
Scenic Beauty Unbelievable.
Faking nature is not necessary -in
taking Oregon scenery, for Jhe superb
views taken by expert camera men are
almost beyond belief when shown on
the screen, and it seems impossible that
they should exist outside of a fairyland.
One of the most notable exploits of
Van Scoy in Oregon has been the tak
ing of an epic poem. '"Come, Watch
With Me the Silent Night," wherein
different verses are selected from fa
mous authors and described by Oregon
scenery. Making this film was a work
of months and it was often necessary
to wait days at a time for the proper
climatic and light conditions. In mak
ing this film poem the creator was
forced to live in a specially constructed
camping automobile so that he could
get to the point where his scene was
spotted and then watt for the correct
effect. - The- film baa been completed in
. . . i 1
Its entirety and will be released next
month in the far east and should create
a furore, for it is exceptionally beauti
ful and novel. There is no limit to the
Lcreative ability of the master photog
rapher who studies nature and wishes
to show her humors through the medi
um of motion pictures. .
While the actual filming of many of
the scenes Is' fairly simple when the
correct conditions and location are ob
tained, there is a great deal of danger
connected with the work, and. seme
tiresome waiting for proper setting
and hard labor in getting to locations.
Van Scoy has climbed to the top of
Mt. Hood too many times to be enun er
ated, and the climb is no longer an in
centive in his case, but is a tiresome bit
of drudgery. Once Van Scoy was caught
on Larch mountain, before tho present
trail was constructed, in the middle of
the winter, without snowshoes. Food
ran out and they had to make their
way out through six feet of snow with
fifty-pound packs. The average time
was two hours per mile and it looked
as if they would, have to abandon the
camera to make their way out safely,
but they finally managed-to get clear
and saved the reel.'
Catering to the public demand, there
Is always an incentive, to get the un
usual. On one trip into the mountain
region on the Oregon-California border
Van Scoy located an unusual settlement
of real old forty-niners, with all the
equipment and surroundings natural to
these hardy pioneers. They, had sev
eral oddities in the nature of animals,
and their methods of getting in their
mail over the deep snow-drifted 'rails
was by a mule which wore snowshoes.
When any of them wished to go out and
l.eak a trail through the 'snaw, they
took' a trained horse along for the duty
and he would go ahead and pack down
the snow, and when he got tired would
put his front feet on the crust and sit
down in the hole he had trampled out
In the trail and rest. The snowshoe
mule sometimes dragged a sled, which
was fitted to be used on the steep
mountain slopes by having one runner
some eight inches higher than the
other. -
Right in the center of Portland, on
Fremont street, at one time Van Scoy
took several hundred feet of an extraor
dinary natural film, when a cow gave
birth to triplets. The three calves lived
and were great pets for the children of
the family and the story of their birth
and existence was related to thousands
far from Oregon through the films.
When Simon Benson presented Wau-
keena falls and park to the state as caught by
eye
0. HENRY'S SKETCH INCREASES IN INTEREST AS
BIRTHDAY OF LOVED AUTHOR DRAWS NEAR
Hitherto Unpublished Story Is Taken From The Rolling Stone" and Is Creation of Imagination of Most Famous
of Short-Story Writers, Whose Tales Thrill and Hold.
J ' ' '
Thursday of - thlea week, September 11,
1919, marks the 67th anniversary of the
birth of O. Henry (William Sydney Porter),
for the author was .born September 11, 1862,
at Greensboro. North Carolina. Thoie . fa
miliar with the facta of his life will re
member that i during his stay In Texas be
published. In ' Austin . and San Antonio, a
weekly newspaper,.- called "The Rolling
Stone." from ADrlU 188-1. to probably April,
1S95. The circulation never went beyond
1000 copies. Once when the editor suffered
n attack of the meailei, the paper , sus
pended publication. When Harry Peyton
Stager, O.- Henry's literary executor, went to
Austin searching for copies of this paper,
be found that one former friend had saved
ia different fuues. but besides these he
found only five issues from- other sources.
These papers contained cartoons on politics
and many clever little sketches.
. Th ' followln selection appeared In a
of -Th Rnlllnz Stone." dated Saturday,
September 22. 1SU4. O. Henry s own n
riled in 1S9T. three years later, so tne piece
does not refer to her, but is purely a creation.
f hi. imxrinatlnn. .However. It Is toucmng
In the extreme; reminding one of the death
of Virginia Clemm. where her husband. Ed
gar Allen Poe. sat at her bedside, unable to
give her the comforts of life, where her
chief warmth was derived irom xae i.s
colled on her bosom. This may. Indeea. nave
been O. Henry's Inspiration, ai any m.
there Is here a blending of humor and
pathos that showed the master hand even
at this early day. . ;
rjOPY" yelled tne smau ooj
me UUUI. 1 " " " J
0n the bed began to move her
fingers aimlessly upon the worn coun
terpane. Her eyes were " bright with
fever; her face, .once beautiful, was
thin and pain-drawn, lane was aying,
but neither she nor the man who held
her hand and wrote on a paper tablet
knew that the end-was so near.
Three paragraphs were lacking to fill
the column of humorous matter , that
the foreman had sent' for. The small
pay it brought, them' barely, furnished
shelter and food. Medicine was lacking,
but the need for that was nearly over.
The woman's-mind was -wandering;
she spoke quickly and unceasingly, and
the man bit his pencil and stared at the
pad of paper, holding her slim, hot
hand.
"Oh, Jack,' Jack! Papa says no; 1
cannot go with you. Not love you.
Jack, do you want to break my heart?
Oh. look, look! The fields are like
heaven, so filled with flowers. Why
have you no ice? I had ice when
was at home. Can't you give me just
a little piece? My throat is burning.
The humorist .wrote: "When a man
puts a piece of ice down a girl's back
at a picnic does he give her the cold
shoulder?"
The woman feverishly put back the
loose masses of brown hair from her
burning face. "
"Jack, Jack, I don't want to die
Who is' that climbing in the window?
Oh, it's only Jack; and here is Jack
holding my hand, ,. too. How; funny!
We are going to the river tonight.
The quiet, broad,- dark, whispering
river. Hold my hand tight. Jack; I can
feel the water coming in. It is so cold!
How queer it seems to be dead. dead,
dead, and see the trees above you."
The humorist wrote: "On the dead
square a cemetery lot-"
"Copy, sir!" yelled the boy .again.
"Forms locked in half an hour."
The man bit his pencil into splinters.
The hand he held- was growing cooler;
surely her fever must be leaving.. She
was singing now. a little old crooning
song she might have learned at her
mother's knee;, and her fingers had
ceased moving.
They told me," she said,-weakly and
sadly, "that hardships and suffering
would come upon me for disobeying my
parents and marrying Jack. Oh, dear,
my head aches so I can't think. No. no,
the' white dress with the lace sleeves,
hot that black, dreadful thing! Sail
ing, sailing, sailing! Where does this
mark on your brow? Come, sister, let's
make some daisy chains, and then
hurry home. There is a great, black,
horrible cloud above us. I'll be better
in the morning, Jack, If you'll hold my
hand tight. Jack, I feel as light as a
feather I'm just floating, floating,
right into the cloud, and can't feel your
hand.- Oh, I see her now; and there is
the old love and tenderness on her
face. I must go to her. Jack. Mother!
Mother!"
The man' wrote quickly: ,
. "A woman generally likes her hus
band's mother-in-law the best of all of
his relatives."
Then he sprang to the door, dashed
the column of copy into the boy's hand
and moved swiftly to the bed.
He nut his - arm softly - under the
brown head that had suffered so much
but it turned heavily aside.
' The fever was gone. " The humorist
was alone. '
A Negro Soldier's Prayer.
. People's Magazine.
One of the most important points in
the training of a soldier is the handling
and proper care of his rifle, and next
to keeping the weapon clean comes the
"trigger squeeze." That means a slow
steady pressure on the trigger Instead
of pulling it when firing.
Recently a "negro soldier, who had
managed to collect enough drink to
make him funny,' was riding in a street
car. He was not objectionable and con
ducted himself in a manner that indi
cated he intended to mind his own busi
ness. . But he was talking to himself.
"Ah likes dis soldier life. Yassuh, Ah
sure does," he muttered. - "Ah's tryin' to
be a good soldier, and ebery night Ah
gets down on mah knees and Ah prays
jes' like dls Ah . prays Oh, good
river go? You are not Jack;, you are1 Lord doan you-all let me forget dat
too cold an4-stern.-What is -that-re4-trigger squeeze.
part cf .the: Columbia highway, for
which, he worked so hard, the film was
sent round the world. At the opening
of the highway, when a number of the
pioneers of the region gathered there
and viewed its wonders and saw the
contrast between the. old-time "bay
burning" locomotive that used to run
on the O. R. & N. and the present type
the tale was spread broadcast by the
movies. -
. News Features Are Made. .
At the declaration of war a number
of interesting stories of the patriotic
activities of Portland were released and
sent out. Jefferson High school stu
dents enrolled and drilling on the Bos
Ion, infantry and' artillery regiments
machine gun companies and hospital
and relief units as well as the womtsn's
work at home were described to the
world by sections of film taken here.
Coast scenery along the Oregon sea
shore is very attractive. Tillamook
Head and lighthouse are extremely dif.
ficult subjects to capture on film, but
Van Scoy did it from a frail boat and
tne rum was a splendid success. One
of the reproductions on this page was
made from a scene photographed near
Newport at Otter rock, and the hoary
mossy old tree is on Drift creek on
the Siletz river in the Siletz Indian
reservation.
A large part of the success of any
film lies in the skill with which
the subject matter is assembled and
the language in which the titles are
couched. This work Van Scoy does for
himself and most of his releases are
offered in their entirety. The work is
all paid for on a footage basis, and if
the film does not please and is not suit
able it is a dead loss, so it can readily
be perceived that it is not a game for
an amateur' to meddle with. The main
nemand seems to be for cohesive
stories, the day of' the isolated incident
gathered with 'a selection of others and
used In a long string with no cohesive
connection seems past. Motion picture
patrons prefer the developed story, such
as a complete travel tale, or an entire
vacation, or of the . whole length of
some scenic road or similar film. . ,
' Orearon Films Are Staple.
At the opening Jof the . Cejilo canal
several thousand feet of negative was
exposed, and later when Sam' Hill-had
a party of congressmen' vlsitinir at
Maryhill more work was -made in this
locality. Many parts of the Oregon
country have been photographed and
rephotographed until they are almost
stock films, and some producing com
panies carry a selection to choose from
under varied climatic conditions.
The story of. salmon fishing is al
ways an astounding revelation to resi
dents of other sections. From the prop
agation to. the catch in wheels and
nets it Is a continual thrill to those
living far from the scene. It gives
them a feeling of romance and in
terest as soon as they begin to open
one of the cans and enhances the flavor
of the dish when served.
Lumbering in all its many phases.
the sea of trees and mountain slopes
covered with timber, the logging in the
woods, the mills, the shipping, the rafts
and the final finished product are all
shown to the world at large. Apprecia
tion of the magnitude of the resources
of the Pacific northwest is being grad
ually disseminated.
One of the most difficult men to
photograph when here was General
Goethals. The builder of the Panama
canal made a trip on the Columbia
highway and when he arrived at Cas
cade Locks and stepped on the masonry
to inspect the project he refused to
face the battery of cameramen, throw
ing his coat over his eyes and grimac
ing to avoid recognition. Several of
the operators dismounted their came
ras, so did Van Scoy, but he set hlf
up on one of the parapets and tried
for a few feet of film, with poor suc
cess. Then Van Scoy moved his came
ra and went up the highway to where
the party were to lunch - and set up
in the brush, camouflaging his ma
chine, and obtained some intimate re
sults unaware to the subjects. . .
William Howard Taft was a genial
willing subject when he visited Port
land and posed at will for the cameras.
When he took the trip up the high
way one of the committee complained
that he did n.t look right at Mult
nomah falls, said he was too serious.
Result, Taft lifted his head, gave vent
to a typical full-faced wholesome
laugh, and inquired if that was better.
Madame Schumann-Heink, Marie Dress
ier, Chief-Forester Graves and many
other notables have been pleased to .
have their photographs taken among
the grandeur of Oregon's scenery.
Much useful propaganda work has
been accomplished through the medium
of the motion picture. During the
spruce campaign thero was a great
deal of difficulty found in reconcil
ing the men employed in the woods to
their lot, most of them ached for ac
tion at the front and many could not
understand how they were doing their
bit by handling trees. Came the came
ra men and demonstrated the useful
ness and vital need of the products
of their labor by showing the progress
of the spruce from the logging camps,
through mills and woods to the final
place in the fighting planes and then
the work of the aviators at the front
Bolshevism was routed by this means
and the men's lot made more accept
able when they comprehended the ob
ject of their labors,
i
America Knvlea Oregon.
Through the camera the United
States is forming the acquaintance of
Oregon. The lens of the camera can
not lie, and when people see with their
own eyes the tale of Oregon's magnifi
cence they succumb to the lure of
the state and if possible determine to
visit it some day and experience the
pleasure of viewing it all personally.
Vistas of cool dim woods, the
splendor of mountain scenery, sub
lime coast views, the activity of the
life, varied resources, hospitable in
habitants, business opportunities, and
the myriad attractions of our state are
becoming known in almost every
household in the land, and right today
we are reaping the benefits from the
telling of the real story of Oregon
through films by such authors as Van
Scoy.