THE ORECiOX STATESMAN: SATURDAY. JAM ART 10, 1920.
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HERBBFLT
COREY
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Bxr
Herbert
Corey
Noted War Correspondent Switches
From French. Front to Movie Front
How Filmland Taught him to Pet
A Million Dollars Corey Reveals
JHowMuchRealMcm
.Tin's Is to be an article about the
motion-picture industry in the United
Mates.
There 1 The text ha been read. The
target, so' to speak, has been pinned
on the wall. A park; has been pro
vided in which 1 can mobilize my
ideas, because I know that only by an
effort can' I keep my mind on the
real subject of this writing. The mo
ment the .pressure is relaxed. I shall
begin to talk about money. And I shall
deal in enormous figures. Ten hours
after I began the work of inquiry;!
had a stub of soft pencil and was
writing huge sums on the tablecloth-
There is an intoxication, a glamour,
a sort of necromancy about the bus
ness. A million becomes domesticated.
and your can pet it. Smaller sumsare
kept in the barn. , "
The money Is" real, too. Or most
of the money is'reaL Only the coin
, dtttons ieem( absurd and romantic. I
you can imagine ' a gigantic Monte
Carlo in which all the. players are
constantly winning, and, in which, by
' iome upheaval of natural law. the
house is winning too; you can get an
idea of the motion-picture business as
1 it seems ' to one who looks on from
Jthe outside. Perhaps the gambling
simile. is not a good. one. Think, then,
of a farmer whose' crops grow pas
, cionatety through sun and frost and
rain and dry weather, and are always
sold for increasing prices. Think of
a perpetual bull market Think !lof
mines from which fDu take the raw
pold with a spoon. Thinlc of buc!iefs
full of diamonds , - J
Before I ret r down to the real tell
ing of this story, it may be welljj to
offer presumitive evidence that I jam
lane. ..heri the reader reads that four
.'-persons in the moving-picture business
are each beitw paid salanes 'approxi
mating one and one-quarter million
dollars y that actresses unknown to the
stage spend U,uuu tor dresses in a
season ; that an attractive title has been
thought worth Jj.OOO; that one of the
great stars thinks flO.ttHJ a fair price
for an idea around which he can build
comedy ; that a chain of theatres
was recently capitalized at $15,000.000 J
Well, the reader is apt to suspect
that there is something wrong some
where. But these things, and more,
are true. The explanation is that
there .are 14,000 moving-picture thea
tres in the United States. Really, there
are about 17,000 according to fairly
reliable estimates, but many of these
are "store shows" which can hardly be
classed as theatres. It is a conserva
tive estimate to say that the film thea
tres will average 700 seats each, and
one of the most unexcitable distrib
utors told me that each theatre will
be filled twice a day for 225 days in
the year.
Very well, then. Fourteen thousand
theatres of 700; seats filled twice daily
for 325 days gives a total of 6.370,-
000,000 . paid admissions - annually.
Every ticket of admission was sold for
ten cents. If only ten cents were paid
the canals would have fooled the
grandfather of all the gondoliers ex
cept that it happened to be winter
time, and the night beore the picture
was to have been taken, the canals
were frozen over. Companies were
carted all over the country. Expen
sive properties were purchased. One
man bought the entire contents of a
bankrupt restaurant, from fish studies
to tapestries.
If the original idea proved worth
less, the directors were given ccrte
blanche to keep mulling away before
the camera until some marketable
thing was produced. Sometimes the
result bore not the slightest resem
blance to the raw material furnished
the master of ceremonies.
One hear the most astonndin?
things and discovers that they are true.
A pretty girl worked on a Los An
geles "lot" for ten dollars a day as an
extra woman. A studio needed a wo
man to do a particular bit, and found
for each -seat, the total would be the4that she filmed welL So it was decided
impressive sum of $637,000,000.
Such figures explain film prosperity.
More people go to see motion-pictures
than are interested in any other form
of sport or amusement. Think of it!
Baseball, tennis, gol f, catboating. all
dwindle into insignificance when com
pared to 6.000,000.000 paid admissions.
No wonder that ten film theatres are
being built for one of the other sort.
and that they are usually handsomer
and more commodious, rive hundred
thousand persons are emploved direct
ly or indirectly in the motion-picture
industry, rifty thousand; work on the
Western Coast in the production end
alone. One million dollars is spent
weekly in productions. But the totals
of today are infantile compared to
what the motion-picture met believe
will be the sum tomorrow.
A few years ago the film sought
chiefly to register motion. 'Then it
responded to the urge for magnifi
cence. A gaping public became ac
quainted with huge temples and pre
historic cities of plaster. ;
So great was the return from a gen
uinely successful production when the
foreign rentals Were included, thai the
directors lost all caution. Money was
expended in the most reckless fashion.
One producer had canals' du? near New
lone lor filming a Venetian scene,
i Th; ! idea was an excellent one, and
to make her a star. Her contract
called for $150 weeklv for the first six
months, rising to $500 at the end, of
the second year. After the second
picture she demanded $500 at once
and $1,000 weekly at the year's end.
A "type hired a taxicab to hurry him
to the lot on which a picture was being
- - " . :.j s a s i
m
"shbt," Ordinarily r-pes ride on street t
cars, for the best of them are rarely
paid more than fifteen dollars a day.
The United States senatorial type can
bo had in Quantities at ten dollars for
the day's work. But this type was I fSs
late and feared to lose tns job. A rf ' ' tt2V
ra w iinir -n im trmr wnmw mm b r i iip iiimii . -hj- c a . a a . j t
"You're just the type I want!" he
shouted. Tome witn met
EventuallT the chauffeur consented
to run his cab back to the garage and
walk on in a scene as a type of some
thing or other, lie was not a bit flus
tered about it. It had been carefully
explained to him that he need neither.
think nor act The director does all
that for the movie people. He tells
each when to enter, what to do, how
to do it and where. In order that the
characters should not forget his in
structions he repeats them through a
megaphone daring the progress of a
scene.
The chauffeur filmed well There
fore he is now being paid $400 weekly,
though his heart is said to be with his
taxicab. A bartender made a few dol
lars one day shaking up cocktails be
fore the camera. His features came
out with cameo clearness, and he fol-
FUms mast be historically cor
rect 5,000 for this Vikincr
ship used only- 3 minutes
lowed the director's orders with the
careful obedience of a good child. That
made him a film actor. Now he can
depend on an income of $15,000 a year.
A freckle-faced kid appeared in one
picture recently in a type part. He
was supposed to be just a kid just
hanging around. But he was self
possessed, engaging, impudent, and
had a really extraordinary equipment
of freckles. His weekly salary is now
about equivalent to the monthly sum
paid his father as cashier of a small
town bank.
These salaries are paid because they
are subject to the operation of the
Herbert Corey after a long and popular career at a newspaper feature writer became one of the
most brilliant correspondents of the war. Upon his return to America he looked around for a big story
to write and found motion pictures, which overnight had changed from a show business into a great
manufacturing industry. As a result of a long and careful investigation of the movies Mr. Corey dis
covered that the men of whom the public rarely hears the directors were the men who make or mar
the pictures; that the stars wnose names are on everybody's lips were mosffof them but puppets and
that the directors pulled the strings.
- And there being not more than ten high class directors in America, it throws a light upon why so
many movies are mediocre. Among the best are Allan Dwan and D. W. Griffith. Dwan is of the new
school; Griffith of the old. Dwan went t the studios with a University degree and a specialized train
ing in literature. Griffith knocked about as a second rate actor drifted into the movies in their pioneer,
days and mastered the art; as did Dwan. Both have produced stupendous successes. Today there is
p race between them for mastery. Who will win? the university man cr the ex-actor?
In studio-land Dwan is known as the king of "action" directors. Before he had his own producing
company when the movie magnates wanted galloping stories produced, they sent for Dwan. He is the
Richard Harding Davis, the Harold MacGrath, the George Barr McCutcheon, the J?ck London, of the
screen. "Action!" bawled Dwan one day last spring when he was filming "Soldiers of Fortune,"
and six hundred charging horsemen thundered down a hill at him six hundred riders at $ia a day,
$7,200 for one scene. In his investigation Herbert Corey found a score of such incidents where the
"sky was the limit" to get jest one scene right.
? f'.,,. ...-, . ,
mJi-ommA lT "
faction directors.
Allan Dwanjdna cf action directors.
or derma a batch or bandits Shot' w.
camera. Would you die for 7 a day y
inexorable law of supply and demand.
One would think that the woods would
be full of actors who can act r"r
fectly well before a camera. But the
effort of the performer is far from
being purely mechanical a mere re
action to megaihoned demands. If
he is called upon to register grief or
love or happiness, he mut register ex
actly, or the screen knows him no
more.
Up to this time, net a great deal of
attention has been paid to the rights
of the author. It is true that large
sums have been paid for the picture
rights to well-known plays and stories.
but the money was really paid for the
advertising the properties had received.
The picture people for the most part
had a singular indifference to the feel
ings of an author. Time after
time an author parted with the picture
rights in all good humor, only to
learn that an autocratic director dif
fered with him as to the manner in
which the stry should be treated. All
directors believe firmlv in the' virtues
of a happy ending. It is thought to
have a most benevolent effect upon
the box-office.
As one result pf the managerial at
titude, some authors preferred to fore
go the money to V gained by selling
screen riehts. Others sold the rights
and carefnllv avoided seemnr the pic
tured results. They knew their uly
heroine in a story in which the whole
point was that the heroine was ugly
would swish through in a Paquin
gown, and languidly lift a perfect arra
against a background of velvet to call
attention to a claisic profile. Alo.
authors were not always treated with
loving care by the producers. There
is an historic instance of one author
who wound up $40,000 out of pocket.
He .does not know precisely how.
r.ut the combination of big stars was
followed by a combination of little
stars, and so producers were set a
tjiinking. It was ob.ious that authors
could not combine of themselves first
because authrr conkl neer agree, and
secondly because there is no form of
organization ccpious enough to take
in.rll who write for the pictures. But
producers might combine groups of
authors. That has been done.
The important fact underlying this
grou4nj of authors is that the pro
ducers have come to the ' conclusion
that the story is as important, almost,
as the -star. In this, they are follow
ing the example of the legitimate sage.
Not many years ago emphasis was
placed upon the name of the star in
theatrical advertiir.g. Today far more
is placed unn the excellence of the
story. One of the mwt successful of
the picture majmae holds that the
star is becoming increasingly unim
"No. more the genial popping of
this "champagne cork."
,-' "Just so. But wa can still have
the melodious detonation of (he ex
ploding, automobile tire.--Cleveland
Leader. a,
"MY HONOLULU GIRL"
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III
the bettermen of the. organization
i during the coming year adopted.
Following the business meeting a
banquet was held at the Gail hotel
at which the city council and several
business men were invited. After the
dinner the assembly was favored with
addresses by members of the council
and the department.
Later in the evening the depart
ment and the guests enjoyed the ho?
pitality of J. C. I glow, manager of
the Majestic theatre, at a show given
in their honor.
SMILING
BILL PARSONS
In
THEY'RE OFF
A' Fun Trip Through
Coney Island
NOW SHOWING
You May Find
It In Stocking
Cincinnati authority says your
troublesome corns just
loosen and fall off
THRIFT PROGRAM
IS WORKED OUT
Committees Plan Details of
Various Days of Week of
Jan. 17 to 24
Some of the Genuine Native .Hawaiian with the Musieal Corned v.
My Honolulu Oirl," (Jraml Opera House, Monday, January I'Zt
YE LIBERTY
When Norman Friedenwald con
ceived the idea of the great jnusical
comedy success, "My Honolulu
Girl," "which comes to the Grand
Opera bouse. Monday, January 12.
he vowed he would have the pretti
est, most nimble and graceful and
the "peppiest" chorus in the-United
States, and Bt age experts concede
that he has won.
The chorus with "My Honolulu
Girl" is known from coast to coast
and from Canada to Mexico and
some of them are drawing salaries
equal to those paid stars several
ALWAYS
COOD
MOST
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Vauc38v511B
Nl". , -..-:-.: '.:'--: lit 'i?.:-:.t
TIMES
GREAT
T0DAY-i-T0M0RR0W
jj V. THEATO
BIG NEW
SHOW SUNDAY
Details for fourf of the featured
days of thrift week which is to be
held in Salem January 17 to 24, were
worked out at meetings of four com
mittees in the Commercial club
rooms yesterday. The plans are
practically complete for Bank day.
January 17; Own Your Own Home
day. January 20; Home Industry day
January 22. and Pay Your Bills day
January 24.
The directors of the Business mens
leaeue who comoose the Pay Your
I Bills day committee are headed by
WilliamVGahlsdorf as chairman. Jack
Walker is chairman of the home In
dustries day committee, S. B. Elliott
of the bank day committee and John
H. Scott of the committee on Own
Your Own Home day
the silent hours of the night, the
penalty of death is beinc carried
into effect in several dark novks in
this city.
The manner In which Mr. Rat and
"The Pupil." by Welgle. under tho
direction of Mrs. M. C. Flndley. Har
old Humbert will teach "Youth and
the Cliurch School" from his manu
script, now beinr published. "Ad-
others of his ilk will be sent Into the j ministration of the Sunday School
irom "organization and Administra
tion, of the Church School.' by Wal
ter S. Athern. will be taught by John
W. Todd.
Sore corns, bard corns, soft corns
or corns between the toes just loosen
in their sockets and fall off the next
day if you will apply directly upon
the corn a few drops of a drug called
freezone, says a Cincinnati authority. of tne chairmen of the several com
you merely put a drop or two ormlttees and jamM Klvln. T. E. Mc
thls freezone on the tender, touchy lrmiiP nd J F. Hutchason. The
great beyond Is strictly humane. In
truth, the deed Is done by self elec
trocution. The fatal device Is the tunning In
vention of a Salem man. His nam
is W. A. Colgar. The machine I
simple yet efficient. 4
A wire attached to the electric
light wire, carries the current to a
metal plate, located beside a ' gar
bage barrel or hidden at any other
point frequented by rodents.
When Mr. Rat or Mr. Moure steps
onto this mysterious metallic ma
chine be receives an electric shock
that finishes him instantly. One of
the"ke patent devices sent' nine rat
to their death In one night In a lo
cal business room.
Mr. Colgar says that his machine
will electrocute more riles in a min
ute than can be disposed of In any
other way. When the unsanitary
riy's besmirched feet touch the elec
trically charged plate he receives the
full force of the current. Death fol
lows with out the twitch of a muscle'.
Mr. coigar is preparing to ooen a
A
starts Sunday
IN
"THE MAN
BENEATH"
lue Bmr.-i tumiuH.n, "'" factory In thl city to supvly the ac
tive demand for his ingenious rodent
seasons ago. These glrla are pos
sessed of remarkable voices and they
have been schooled In danclnz by
Signor Arcallt. an Italian dancer of
note. In the interpolation of Hawai
ian music, the native dances have
been taught by "Babe" Lopez, who
heads the Hawaiian dancers Mr
Friedenwald recently imported.
The scenes in "My Honolulu
Girl" are laid in Honolulu and in
Hilo- where the famous volcano KU
auea is ever rumbling, ready to belch
forth death-dealing lava and rushing
fire. In order that the scenic vest
ure be absolutely correct, Mr. Fried
enwald sent artists to the islands to
study' the riowers. the foliage, the
valleys, the natives and the moun
tains. It was a case of going after
local color and the various scenes
presented in the show clearlv dem
onstrate the sagacity of the producer
.Yon Can't Foo the Motheis.
No one remedy would stand as a ead
for so many years as has Foley's Hon
ey and Tar If it could not be depend
ed upotf to relieve coughs, colds and
croup. It heals and soothes, eases
hoarseness, stops that coughing that
strains the whole bodv and break
colds and coughs. Children like it.
Contains no opiates. J. C. Perry.
corn today and Instantly, the corn
stops hurting, then tomorrow some
time you may find the old tortuous
pest somewhere In your stocking.
naving iauen on entirety wunoui a
particle of soreness, pain or irrita
tion. The skin surrounding will be
as healthy, pink and smooth as the .
palm of your hand .
A quarter ounce of freezone is suf
ficient to rid one's feet of every corn
and callus, and any druggist wifl
charge but a few cents for it. It is !
a compound made of ether. ,
thrift program is being fostered by
the Y.M.C.A. throughout the United
States.
Mrs. Nancy Amanda Norton,
,86, Passes Away at Turner
MICE WILL DIE
BY ELECTRICITY
Salem Man Has Ingenious De
vice to Eliminate House
hold Pests
Mrs. Nancv Amanda N.jilrn died! Ssaiem is to become a rat.ess.
yesterday afternoon at he home o'jmouseless and flyless city.
her daughter. Mrs. Anna M. Husbey Sentence of death has been passed
electrocutor. Orders from other cit
ies have already been received.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
WORK TO STARTii
YE LIBERTY
Enrollment Cards Are Distrib- H
uted for Training Classes
in Salem
Enrollment of students who are to
take the course of 10 week in Sun
day school training at the Salem pub
lic library beginning January 19.
has begun. Cards carrying lists of
at Turner. The body is at the Kig-n all the sleek, prowling rodents. ' the Ftudies that will be taken up aee
Clyde Gibbs Elected Head
of Dallas Fire Department
DALLAS. Or.. Jan. 8. (Special to
The Statesman The Dallas fire de
partment at Us annual meeting Tues
day night elected the following offi
cers to Berve for the ensuing year:
President, Clyde tijbbs; secretary.
uscar tins; treasurer. Fred B. West.
don company and will be em Sun-1 The house fly. that contamlnator or
day to Woodlands. Calif., for burial ; human food, must also suffer the
the was 86 years old n1 la surived i same penalty. From this unwritten
by two daughters, Mrs. Husbey. -n't j order there is no appeal.
Mrs. F. A. Campbell of Herkeley-! The grim work will be done by
Calif. electrocution. In fact, even now In
PURLOINING OF PANTS TROVES CHILLY ERROR
OWNER MAKES WEARER REMOVE STOLEN GARMENT
GRAND OPERA HOUSE
MONDAY
JANUARY
y 12
J Supremely Satisfying
WASHINGTON SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE INVOLVED
A certain Washington junior high
school student it's a boy of course
wished most ardently Thursday
that he was like the fortunate Brian
O'Lynn of the old song who when
"he had no pants for to wear, he
got a sheep skin and he made him
a pair."
A week ago a fellow student was
in the Y.M.C.A. gymnasium clad In
B I Many important -matters relative to J his athletic "clothing and had left his
i the work of the department were tak- other clothes, a part of which was a
icu ?v uu ujscussea ana pians xoripalr o I army breeches, In the dress-
ing room. He came out of the gym
and the breeches were gone. He
"laid for the guy who got them."
Thursday be found him In the yard
of the Washington junior high school
Without further ado the real own
er of the breeches compelled the
wearer of them to hand them over.
After proper persuasion the wearer
did so and was left by the owner to
find haven, or at least another pair
of pants, as best he might.
And It was a cold day, too.
-,'. . '
being distributed in the schools and
at other places ali over the county.
Persons who wish to take the course
or to learn more about it may do so
by conferring with Mrs. F. A. Elliott. i
470 North Church street, or by tele-j
phoning her. Her number if 1505.
One change that has been made is,
inn Mrs. 3i. c Kind ley will take the
work tuat formerly was taken by W.
D. Walters. Studies will take place
every Monday night over e. period of
10 weeks. The programs will be dif
ferent each time, and at the first
assemble T. E. McCroskey, manager
of the Salem Commercial cinb. will
demonstrate "chalk talk."
The schedule as arranged follows:
tn the first period, from 7:30 to
8:15 p. m. "Teaching the Value of
the Old Testament." by Harold Hum
bert will be taught by Mr. Humbert.
"The Life of Christ." by Barclay,
will be taught by Mrs. C. A. Parks
and "The Principles of , Teaching,"
will be taught from "Learning and
reachlng."Snyder and White, by
Professor J. T. Matthews. .
The second neriod 8t1S tn n
m.. wiil be devoted to stndv of "The I
.Religion Nurture ot Children," fromC
few ilrnlYiU
Mr
Onsmn
'1: (ftim
0
- PRICES $1.30 to sOe
risM tax Hftm on Kale Satur
day at Opera House Drag Store
3