American Cinematographer - December 16, 1920 - 1
LOYALTY -.- PROGRESS _.- ART
-'-trf~~~~~~~~
THE MEN WHO MAKE MOTION PICTURES
VOL. I.
1"0. 4
AT THE THEATERS THIS
WEEK
Alhambra-"The
Brute Master,"
Hobart Bosworth.
Photographed
by H. O. Taylor.
Califomia-s-" A Voice lt1 the
Dark." directed by Frank Lloyd.
Photographed
by J. C. Jennings,
member of A. S. C.
Clune's
Broadway-"Half
An
Hour," Dorothy Dalton.
Photographed by Philip Hatkin.
Garrick-"The
Life
of
the
Party," Roscoe Arbuckle.
Photographed by Karl 81'O\;v11,member of
A. S. C.
Grauman's - "Silk
Hosiery."
Photographed
by George Barnes,
member of A. S. C.
Grauman's Rialto-c-vlIeliotrooe."
Photographed by Hal Rosson.
Hippodrome-"1\1oon
Madness,"
Edith Storey.
I'botogr aphed by
Felix Schoedsack.
.Kinema-"The
County Fair," direeted
by
"Maurice
Tourneur.
Charles Van Anger and Rene Guissa-t.m-erubers of A. S. C.
l\filler's-"Godlcss
l\1en," directed by Reginald Barker.
Photographed by Percy Hilhurn.
Mission-c-v'I'he Mark of Zarro,"
Douglas Fairbanks.
I'hctographed
by VVm. M. l\1cGann and Harry
Thorpe, members of A. S. D.
Philharmonic - "Vlay
DO\\'n
East," directed by D. W. Griffith.
Photographed by G. W. Bitzer.
Superba - "Risky
Business."
Photographed by Milton Moore.
Symphony - "The
Scuttler's,"
Wm. Farnum.
Photographed
by
John Boyle.
Tally's
Broadway-"The
Saphead."
Buster
Keaton.
Photographed by Harold Windstrom.
FINE WORK
Since "Twin Beds" in the original
play was one of the 1110stsuccessful
farces ever written. it seemed logical to lose 110 qualitv or flavor when
the story was made over for the
screen. This was rather a revolutionary treatment. since there seems
to be 'a general idea among picture
producers that in order to make an
acceptable screen version of an established stage success, the latter
must be twisted and bent until the
beholder scarcely recognizes the
original from whence the film transcription has been taken.
In the screen production
of
"Twin Beds," whic1~ comes to the
Kincma Saturday. there was no
need to alter the original intent of
the authors.
The story tells itself
in the action, as all good plays ought
to do. Al] that was necessarv was
to picture the events of this risque.
delicious and wholesome comedy in
the order and sequence of their presentation on the stage, and the
screen would reveal the very essence of the original with all the advantage that the screen has over the
stage in the elements of action,
movement, Auidity of plot and quick
activity.
This deltghtful Dla y was photographed bv Ross C. Fisher. He is
now finishing the last DeHaven
story. "The Girl in the T::Ixi." the
first filmed in the Chaplin Stl1dio.
LOS ANGELES. CALIFORNIA,
DECEMBER 16. 1920
The Cameraman As He Is
By FRED. W. JACKMAN
Chief Cameraman for Mack Sennett Productions
What is a cameraman and how
does he function in motion pictures?
Is he a personification of
the algebraic quantity that is unknown. or is he a cinematographer
in flesh and blood and really
human?
To judge by his frequent rcprcsentation in ~he "spoken drama" a
cameraman IS a cross between a
stevedore and a stew-bum-a
belated exhibition of a Caveman's disposition in the form of an uncouth
vulgarian. Thus he has been exhibited on the stage threateninc the
lives of still more stupid heroines
and silly heroes, and thus also he
has been revealed in certain widelv
read articles on the activities of motion picture folk.
Of course the public mind is
abused by such representations-c-or
rather by such misrepresentations,
because the public never sees the
cameraman.
He is as invisible as
the scene shifter in a Shakespearean
drama-and
more important.
The
ulavers, the producers, the directors
and the exploiters of pictures come
before the people and are known by
all: the cameraman is unseen, uuheard-s-and unsung! He is the victim of a fictitious infamy manufactured by fictitionists whose desire
for "copy material" exceeds their
zeal for truth.
The actor. moreover, plays the
part assigned him; the script allows
him but limited latitude of personal
judgment.
He must represent himself to be the kind of a creature the
author of the story has assigned
him the job of portraying.
The director consults the same sources.
and is the intermediate agent between the actor and the author-it
is the cameraman who gives the
product to the public! He is to the
picture patron what the director is
to the author-s-the mouthpiece, the
interpreter and the spokesman.
How little is known of the earnera man !
Yet he is the key-player in the
drama of the screen. It is he who
puts the completed work upon the
screen, who adjusts the "tempo" of
the action to suit the spirit and significance of the scene, who determines the "tone" of the picture so
that it shall harmonize with the
story and not contradict its impressions; it is the cameraman who is
relied upon in a pinch to deceive
the beholders regarding such vital
statistics as the age of the heroine
and the wrinkles of the hero, and
who handles the most complicated
mechanism known to art, to the end
that its registrations be at once
natural and artificial, true and ideal~
ized, rea·l and glorified.
Can it be that such a man is cor~
rectly represented in (for example)
Raymond Hitchcock's musical me~
lange "Bitchy Coo"? Is he real I)!
rednosed.
whisky~soaked,
vilely
dressed, and of German characteris~
tics at their worst? Or, is he like
the cameraman in Hob "'Nagner's
Saturday Evening Post stor-ies-c-an
ex-chauffeur
of dubious ability,
who, because he couldn't serve society acceptably as a chauffeur, considered himself qualified to become
a cameraman, and did?
The writer has no intention of
standing aloof and throwing posies
at his own profession; he does, with
all the emphasis at his command,
insist that caricatures of the profession be accepted as caricatures
and not as portraits, and that the
dignity that attaches to an honorable, difficult service be attributed
to his employment which is more
like an art than a job .
The successful cameraman of today must be a highly trained specialist, a photographer plus. Personally, I do not know a single cameraman occupying a position of importance in any studio that has not
spent much midnight oil and mental
energy to achieve his position. In
the activities of Mack Sennett,
whose position in the world of motion photography is sufficiently established to warrant my pride in
being connected with his studios,
the cameraman is a functionary of
genuine importance, standing as the
eye of the boss and recording everything for his supervision, constantly
alert to the fact that he is specializing in comedy and boisterous farce,
and operating accordingly-for
the
cameraman's sensitiveness to tempo
will often be the. measure of the
success of his picture.
In this connection, I take opportunity to say that the American Society
of
Cinematographers
IS
worthy the notice and respect of
the artistic world, and is doing
JT1l1chto elevate the public's estimation of the value and importance of
their duties.
This it is doing in
spite of an organization
with a
L nion charter, which seeks to 'estimate the art of the cameraman at
the level of unskilled labor and
thus to place a standard wage as the
measure of individual effort.
It is the policy of the American
Society of Cinematographers to educate the public in the opinion that
a wide range of difference exists in
the results of cameramen. There is
the beginner, the tyro, the student,
the expert, and the indifferent operator, who finds his level-e-m the
Union l Tt is no more possible to
regulate the value of cameramen
than it is to appraise the works of
wr-iters, artists, sculptors or muSICIans.
The American Society of Cinematographers is urging its members
to achieve artistry; their salaries
will then take care of themselves,
for, though the public is but hazily
informed on their functions, the
producer certainly knows and properly appraises the value of expert
service in an art as difficult, perplexing and interesting as the Art
of the Cameraman.
TEN CENTS A COPY
CAMERAMEN TO DANCE
AT AMBASSADOR
\Nhat promises to be the most
auspicious social event of the 1920··
1921 motion picture colony of Los
Angeles and Southern California, is
the annual grand ball of the American Society of Cinematographers,
announced to be held in the magnificent ball room of the new Ambassador Hotel on the evening of J anuary 22nd.
Mr. Arthur Edescn of the camera
society is chairman of the ball cornmittee. He reports that a number
of beautiful specialties and innovations will be featured on this occasion, attractions that will prove of
special interest to members of the
profession and to the hundreds of
guests of the evening.
Officers and members of the Cincmatographic Society will endeavor
to make this an eventful grand ball
that will carry with it memories at
delights long to be remembered. An
unique scheme of decorations is being planned and judging from the
requests for tickets all the leaders
of the motion picture profession expect to be present to give their favorite cinematographers
an ovation
equal to their prestige.
Messrs. Charles Rasher, Reggie
Lyons, Freel Jackman, ]. D. Jennings, Guy Wilky, \iVilliam C. Foster, Robert Newhard,
Frank B.
Good, R. B.. Kur rle, H. Lyman
Broening, Homer Scott, and T. G.
Gaudio, are the active members as~
sisting Mr. Edeson, in handling the
preliminary details.
FINE PHOTOGRAPHY
The pictur iaation of Yankee farm
li fe in "The Country Fair" is cleverly done, and thanks must be given
to Maurice Tourneur for a chance
to wander afar from the conventionalpaths of the overemphasized.
emotional sex plays that are the
vogue with so many producers. The
scenes at the fair lend snap and energy to this drama of bucolic simplicity and send the onlooker home
with a clean taste in his mouth. As
is always the case in a Tourneur
production, much attention is given
to the photography, which is the
work of Charles Van' Anger and
Rene Cuissart.
TO RAISE INITIATION
For some time the Board of Governors have considered the advisability of raising the Initiation Fee
in the AlVIERICAK SOCIETY OF
CINEMA TOGJ;
American Cinematographer - December 16, 1920
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 16, 1920
American Cinematographer - December 16, 1920 - 1
American Cinematographer - December 16, 1920 - 2
American Cinematographer - December 16, 1920 - 3
American Cinematographer - December 16, 1920 - 4
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