American Cinematographer - April 1, 1921 - 1

THE MEN WHO MAKE MOTION PICTURES

Copyrighted, 1921, by the AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS.
VOL, 2.

NO.7

LOS ANGELES,

CALIFORNIA,

APRIL 1, 1921

At the Theatres

Continuous Movement

WEE]i OF' MAHGR 28

ALHAMBRA
"Unseen
Forces."
Photographed
by
David Abel. member of A. S.
C.
AMBASSADOR - "Scrambled
Wives."
Photographed
by
Wm. McCoy and Ray June,
CALIFORNIA - "The Tale of
Two Worlds," Photographed
by Norbert Brodin, member
of A. S, C.
CLUNE'S BROADWAY-"The
Snob," Photographed by Alfred Gilks,
GARRICK -"Kismet,"
Photographed by Tony Gaudio and
J. A, Dubray, members of A.
S. C. and Glen MacWilliams.
GRAUMAN'S-"The
Love Special,"
Photographed by C,
Edgar Schoenbaum, member
of A, S. C,
GRAUMAN'S RIALTO-"Forbidden Fruit." Photographed
by Alvin Wyckoff, member of
A.

S, C.

HIPPODROME Monday"The Plunger."
Photographed by Charles Gilson.
Wednesday -"The
Man Who
Dared,"
Photographed
by
Clyde DeVinna. '"
Hollywood - Monday 28-31 "Passion."

KINEMA -"The Kid," Photographed by R. H. Totheroh,
member of A. S. C.
MILLER'S-"The
Nut," Photographed by Harry
Thorpe
and Wm. M. McGann, members of A. S, C,
MISSION - "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,"
Photographed
by John F.
Seitz, member of A. S, C,
NEW APOLLO - Monday"Love Honor and Behave."
Photog-raphed by Fred W.
Jackman and J. R. Lockwood,
members of A. S, C.
Tuesday and Wednesday "Curtain,"
Photographed by
Joe Brotherton.
Thursday and F rid a y "Peaceful
Valley."
Photographed by Chester Lyons,
member of A, S. C.
SUPERBA -"All
Dolled Up,"
Photographed by Alfred Gosden.
TALLY'S -" A Message From
Mars." Photographed by Arthur Martinelli.
WINDSOR- Monday - "Twin
Beds," Photographed by Ross
F,isher member of A, S. C.
,
If'S"
Tuesday-"The
n error ex
Photographed by Tony Gaudio, member of A. S. C.
Wednesday and Thursday"Dangerous Business." Photographed by Oliver Marsh.

TEN CENTS A COpy

by H. Il)'man Broentng
Mr. Broe n lng, secretary
of the A -. S.
C., has been in the motion
picture
Industry
for ten years.
For six years he
had full charge
of the camera
department
of The
Famous
Players
Fi trn
Company
in New Yor-Ic City..
He .has
p ho togr-ap hed such stars
as Mary PICJ"'ford,
House
Peters,
H.
B.
w arn er.
Bertha
Kalish,
Mat-gue rite Clarl ..., John
Barrymore,
Billie
Burke,
Norma
Talmao see and Vl.a.rion Davies.
"Ma.n, Woman~ 1olarria:. e" with
Dorothy
Phillips
will soon be exhibited.
He has photographed
about twenty
of the latest
pictures
with
Allan
Dwan
tor t.h e Mayflower Company.

"Forbidden Fruit"

it appeals to both sexes, The
settings show the master comFanlons Pla,yen'l-lms}{)C Release,
mand of the director; especially
Grauman's Rtalto 'I'heatre,
note-worthy is the Cinderella
Los Angeles, Oaltfor-nta.
Ballroom episode, unusual in its
"Forbidden Fruit," the latest aquatic splendor- it evidences
C. B. DeMille picture has been great technical skill.
given very lavish production,
The small cast was well choswith the usual spicy touch char- en and thoroughly
capable,
acteristic of this producer, The though the leading lady was not
story is hardly up to the stand- as attractive as the sub-titles
ard of his previous delightful
led one to believe.
In some
offerings. With the present agi- scenes her face make-up was a
tation for more stringent cen- bit dark.
sorship regulations, it is doubtThe photographic
work of
ful whether a picture of this Alvin Wyckoff was decidedly
kind is commendable.
There high-class and very good judgare sensational bits, robbery, a ment was exercised in the lightbit of strangulation
by the ing and vignetting. The closebrute husband, and finally a Ups lacked relief and seemed
cold-blooded murder.
It is flat, but this seems to be the
strictly in the "for adults only" Lasky custom lately.
class.
The subtitles were well edited
The direction is at all times but horribly muddled by an
excellent and never fails to hold abundance
of
ginger-bread
the spectators' interest,
The scroll work, with disconcerting
continuity
is smoothly con- dabs of color-just
a trifle overstructed, and there has been done.
much attention, given to gowns
From a box-office standpoint
-the
well-gowned woman is this picture should be highly
one of the DeMille attributessuccessful.

Report of the Meeting
of the Affilated Picture
Interests, Held Mar. 19

At this meeting of the Affiliated Picture Interests held at the
Athletic Club Saturday evening,
Mr. Rosen was present as the
representative of the A, s. C, In
this meeting a nominating committee was appointed and took
immediate action by naming a
list of forty-three nominees for
the Board of Directors.
Thursday evening, March 31,
a mass meeti ng of all members
of this organization will be held,
and at that time a permanent
Board of Directors numbering
Mr. G. L. Barrows, president
twenty-five will be elected from
of the Sagamore Chemical Com- the proposed list.
pany, Inc" 120-122 West 31st
Reports were made by differstreet, New York City, desl,':es ent committees, and a resolution
to' announce to the laboratories prepared that the Affiliated Picin the Motion Picture Industry,
ture Interests go on record as
that they are now able to supply being opposed to the entrance of
the "Agfa" Products, which Clara Hamon to the screen by
were formerly handled by the the help of any recognized producing company.
Berlin Aniline Works.

Second Annual Ball
On April 29 Los Angeles Local No. 33, 1. A. T.S, E. will
give its Second Annual Ball at
the Goldberg Bosley Academy,
16th Street and Flower. Perry
Players will furnish the music
and every effort is being made
for a successful dance. Mr. R.
Hostetter, of the Cinema Studio
Supply Co, is the newly elected
president of this organization.
Remember the date, April 29,

Churches Like Rogers
Reports to the Goldwyn office
show that there is a great demand on the part of churches
for pictures starring Will Rogers. Rogers' pictures are always
clean and wholesome. Nearly all
of his starring vehicles have
been in great demand for church
showings, but "J es' Call Me
Jim" has been the most popular.
A Blue Glass is no relation to
a Blue Law!

"Necessity, the Mother of Invention," is an old proverb that
may be applied to a great many
of our modern inventions and
labor-saving devices.
In the year of nineteen hundred and nine, during the reign
supreme of the Motion Picture
Patents Company, the independent moving picture manufacturers were in somewhat of a
quandary as to their future existance .
The Patents Company owned
and controlled about every conceivable invention and idea appertaining to the motion-picture
camera and projecting apparatus. These patents were "leased" to a certain group of men,
very limited in number, whose
duty it was to supply the errti re
industry with films, under the
title of "Licensed Manufacturers,"
Independent makers were prohibited by the patent law, from
photographing pictures. At that
time every camera was In some
manner, an infringement.
The
intermittent
movement
(the
period of rest while the picture
is made) was the chief point
held by the Patents Company.
The
courts
were
always
crowded with suits for infringement. Cameramen were daily
persecuted by detectives and
spies.
coerced.
bnbed
and
threatened with the wholesale
handing
out of injunctions.
Some firms used as many as
seven or eight different makes of
cameras upon one single reel of
pictures, in order to complicate
court proceedings,
While these precarious times
were the order of the day, an
heretofore unknown came to the
rescue.
"Mother
Necessity"
stepped to the front. A man by
the name of Bianci, then associated with the Columbia Phonograph Company, had be~n experimenting
on a continuous
movement. This proved to be a
very ingenious idea and a salvation to the independent producers.
Bianci's dream and sole endeavor was to completely do
away with intermittent
movement in every phase of picture
making. The camera, perforating machine,. printer and even
the projector were devised without the customary stop and start
movement, His claim besides
being non-infringing, was based
upon the fact that the intermittent movement caused undue VIbration, and a terrible strain upon the film and perforations, to
(Continued

on Pa.g-e Three)

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 1, 1921