Evening Star Newspaper, January 16, 1921, Page 55

. AMUSEMENTS THE SUNDAY 'STAR" JANUARY 16, 1921—PART '3 AMUSEMENTS the P) LAY 'P.'mzoxs of the leading houses devoted to the exclusive presenta- tion of the photoplay will find delectable entertainment in the offerings of the week. While the more familiar of the, big pic- tures, at least by hearsay, are “Midsummer Madness” and “The Charm School,” both of which have figured largely in the reviews of the metrepolitan press, Washington, it is believed, will be treated to a rare surprise in the foreign film, “Passion,” which is announced for showing at one of the theaters. This picture was shown to an invited audience of newspaper men recently, and the consensus of opinion seemed to be that it is one of the greatest, if not the greatest product of film drama, ever seen in Washington. This applies not only to the man- ner in which it is enacted by a mammoth cast, to its marvelous settings and its photography, but especially to the manner in which its theme, a delicate one in ‘the matter of indivigual morals, is handled throughout. Civic turbulence, such as characterized the early stages of the French revolution, probably has not been heretofore pictured as in this produc- tion. It is not a picture for children, but rather for riper minds with some knowledge of history and of the disastrous results brought about by profligacy and extravagance, which led to the betterment of the world. There is no doubt that it is real drama presented in the most realistic manner, under the direction of a mind of artistic culture and quality. . * k¥ Ok AN event worthy of notice is the inauguration, at one of the leading legitimate theaters, of Saturday morning exhibitions of pictures for children, under the guidance and direction of certain woman educators who modestly conceal their identity in the public announcements. It is a proper concession to the right of the child to be entertained and an antidote to the present tendency to permit children to share entertain- ment which, in many instances, is doubtful even for their parents. This movement does not grow out of a desire to regulate public morals, and its gpirit is not akin to blue lawry, but is rather a sincere and com- mendable effort to preserve the innocence of the child while affording him a due amount of delightful entertainment; not to lead, but to keep him in paths that are natural and pleasant to him and absolutely free from the unwholesome. The movement, it has been explained, .is edu- ugig:al, and probably will prove as much so to some parents as to the en. * %k ¥ X the man of ordinary caliber gets rich he celebrates by becom- ing extravagant that he may feast the world on his opulence, and, if he doesn’t “go broke,” as the sporting gentlemen say, he ultimately sinks back into a grouchy state of satiety and occasionally relieves his pent-up feelings by “cussin’ the world.” The motion picture industry, with pro- digious leaps, has jumped from the poverty of the shack and into the luxury of royal riches. It has startled the world with its wealth, its dis- play of fashions and its treasure of feminine beauty, regardless of other accomplishments. But now it has awakened, sadder, perhaps, but un- questionably wiser. It is taking the great authors into partnership, and feels it needs great authors, believing that they, more quickly than those of less prominence and experience, after learning the technique of picture drama, can be relied upon to express it in its most effective, its most convincing form. The trend is a wise one, and ultimately it will lead to a broadening of the disposition toward the author of lesser note. Much consideration has been shown the “great” author and some to the author not quite so great. There has been a disposition to slight the rising young author. Who knows? Perhaps in humbler ranks will rise the savior of the films. The screen needs new stories, new themes; it is hungering for something original. If it cannot be found in the halls of the great, why not look for it among those less famous? An observant director has suggested that the missing genius may be found in the newspaper world. And wh¥ not? Who can boast of wider experience or a better knowledge of humanity as a whole than the.reporter who has scoured the slums, the highways and the byways of life. Some of them have written splendid picture stories for the news columns. They un- cfmesnonably have the material. Why not encourage them to utilize it or the screen? * * ¥ % Photoplaywrights’ League of America, a national association of free-lance scenario writers, which is said to stand in the same rela- tion to the photoplay that the Authors’ League bears to the novelist and playwright, was recently organized, with executive headquarters in Los Angeles, to act as a_medium between its members and the sixty or more film studios on the Pacific coast and to see that the “outside” writer gets a “look in.” This is_to be accomplished by having a corps of scenario experts to read, revibe and submit free-lance material to the producers. It will have a legal staff to protect its members against plagiarism. ‘Wycliffe A. Hill, former staff writer with the Universal Company, a news- paper man and magazine writer, is its president. Prominent picture pro- ducers are said to be encouraging the enterprise. * k X ¥ I‘I‘ is said that in Los Angeles, which boasfs of being “the film capital of the world,” acre after acre is covered with obsolete motion picture sets that have been used in one or two pictures and then wrecked for si in lumber at a_very small return in comparison with their origi- nal cost. An interesting genius for figures estimated that more than 000,000 is tied up in now worthless sets in one studio district alone. With this as a forceful lesson, Oliver Morosco has erected a counterpart of the New York Greenwich Villege on a tract covering twenty acres of land, as a part of the Morosco studio. Each street of the village will be a reproduction of some part of Europe’s famous capitals, with shops, restaurants and architecture in replica of the originals. Mr. Morosco has two extpen draftsmen now in Europe, with an architect, preparing the plans for these streets and structures, which are to be real, not imitative sets, for future photoplay productions. “We can erect 2 rev- enue-producing village,” he says, “for the cost of a few sets.” * * % % TSURU AOKI, Mrs. Sessue Hayakawa, is taking no chances. She pre- fers supporting her husband in his picture work to i star in other film productions. ¥ APReapnEiane * % ¥ o R‘ “Motion Picture Producers’ ‘Credo’ 4 Read declares: “I believe that the producer and the exhibitor ar joint guardians of the greatest medium known to the world for influe:u!:; the thought of the people—the motion _picture. I believe that this guar- dianship should be held as an expression of a national confidence, and that we be able to give a worthy account always of that trust reposed in us. I believe that everything in human nature that is smcere and worthy merits our most earnest efforts of portrayal. I believe that since the world is our stage we should be unhampere. by narrow prejudices.” are other “I believes,” but these are thé most vital. * ¥ % % * ’ ™ for the coming year J. Parker T the first public showing of Vitagraph's production, “Black Beauty,” A at the Hotel Astor, New York, with Jean Paige, the star, and Lill?’a’n and George Randolph Chester, who edited the film, in attendance, prac- tically every motion picture magazine published in the vicinity of New York was represented, and staff members of many magazines whose in- terest in the ordinary motion picture is_but slight, well known writers, a-g,ors, ifi:?t‘;"n' a:;‘d man;:’ ld(:l,ltlfied wi‘d:'hlnumue work, were present. lack is the wonderful story of the i e = el ;.y horse. It was a seansation & A TMOSPHERE” was * % % % produced for Alice Joyce’s latest pi A Lord “'3 Master,” in which she ap, :rsnu an Ind?mr‘l‘fll:; taking several “shots” of typically raral Indiana scenery in southern In- diana and shipping them to the Vitagraph laboratory in Brooklyn, where :lt':t’g Wwere incorporated. Miss Joyce did not have to visit “her home MARSHALL * NEILAN will_give a reproduction of “Custer’s Last Fight” in his new production, “Bob Hampton of Placer.” Over 2,000|his soldiers and Indians took part in the mimic battle, and were phot graphed from a “blimp,” which was wi o Lo Eraphe e R R wig-wagged from one part to another * % ¥ % OIS WEBER, the famous woman producer and scre il:thdenl?:d : nesv: ‘;‘::l: in Loui;{ Calhern, who has ke;npl:‘;‘ihn:nlel::: rosco Stoc! m . i i i = B ot pzxznc“-e is said to look and to live the part Last Is First. "THE BATT” represents a unique ex- periment in movie making. The ending of the picture is shown on the screen first, followed by the thrilling story that leads up to this cl ‘This is & method of nory-t.mn“n:a:rx: ried out on the s for anachronism and fault of every kind,” says Hugh Ford, a noted director, “and that is why experts gsements ) WALLACE, 1D Palace Photoplays This Week i&—-—-—_—-_- RurE i YBRIEN Lors Mfi?on Columbia STONEHOGSE Crandalls. E“‘;g{‘,‘,?d Hameron Garden 5'Cene' Qom Megréggcl)%gaw CONSTANCE BINNEY - Rislto Down Fast” will be seen at Polis Theater, beginning Sunday, January 30. The ice-breaks and snowstorm scenes are really secondary to the vital story and theme, which Mr. Griffith has ex- panded and elaborated in bringing this great stage success to the screen in supplemented by Liszt's “Rhapsody No. 6,” and a ozymbalom solo by Mr. Zsiga. “The Bait.” “The Bait.* an adaptation of Sidney Toler’s play, “The Tiger Lady,” which Filmograms PALACE—“The Charm School.” RIALTO—"“Something Different.” GARDEN— GARRICK— COLUMBIA—“Midsummer Madness.” At Photoplay Theaters All This Week. METROPOLITAN—“Passion.” Opens this afternoon. Opens this afternoon. Opens this afternoo Opens this afternoon. ‘The Bait.” Opens this afternoon. ‘The Unpardonable Sin.” Opens this afternoon. LEADER—“The County Fair.” Opens this afternoon. exposures, a record number for any picture, are said to have been made in “A Message From Mars,” Bert Lytell’s picture by Maxwell Karger for Metro. The peculiar character of the story made them necessary. The camera work on “Temple Dusk,” adapted from Calvin John- ston’s magazine story, has been com- pleted and the picture is being cut and titled in New York preparatory to being released next month. THE Dial Film Company’has started filming Irving Bacheller's “The Light in the Clearing,” the first of the Bacheller novels to be screened. It is expected to be a superior pic- ture to “Earthbound,” by Director General Hunter. Lois Weber, the woman producer, does not believe in building expensive sets. With a woman's instinct, when she needs a mansion, a public build- ing or a humble home for her pic- ture, she carries her “tools” cast, cameramen, etc., to the scene needed, greater force than its authors ever had a successful Broadway run_will be ed it might be made to ap; shown by Paramount Pictures at Moore's Garden Theater the first four | days of this week beginning today. Hope Hampton_ the Texas beauty who sprang almost overnight to fame in the fiim world, is pictured in the leading role. “The Bait” begins with a thrill, a shooting affray in the dark that starts the mystery ball rolling, and keeps up a breath-taking pace right up to the final close-up. Along with the spirited action an appealing ‘romance is de- veloped. A thumb-nail sketch of the Snowballing her director, Robert Vig- nola, one week and pelting him with cocoanuts the next, is the rapid change in outdoor sports enjoyed by Seena Owen, who has the title role in the Cosmopolitan production, “The Woman God Changed.” The company recently left New York for Florida and the Ba- hama Islands, where many scenes will be “shot.” n. Jackson Rose, a Metro camerama “Passion.” “Passion,” a mammoth photodrama, intimately depicting the romance of the little French milliner whom the world remembers as the Comtesse Du Barry, and declared by some who have seen it to be the greatest film play ever presented in America, will be shown at Crandall's Metropolitan Theater this afternoon at 3 o'clock, with Pola Negri pictured in the stel- lar role. It is a nine-reel spectacle- drama, both in conception and in ex- ecution, of mammoth proportions and overpoweringly impressive in its climax. It is a complete two-hour entertainment, and it will be accom- panied by a specially assembled or- chestra of thirty-five players. A spe- cial score arranged for this exclusive showing has been in rehearsal for almost two weeks. The story of the picture is that of the life of Jeanne Macie Vaubernier, afterward known as Mme. the Count- ess Du Barry, virtual ruler of France during the reign of Louis XV. From the early scenes of her life in the little millinery establishment in Paris to the final cataclysmic episodes wherein the smoldering fury of the maddened French people bursts forth into revolution, “Passion” follows a course that compounds interest, mul- tiplies suspense, epitomizes romance and finally achieves the grandeur of genuine epic drama. Pola Negri, with a brilliant supporting cast and en- semble of 5,000 people, unfold the colossal drama. So great has been the expense in- curred in_securing this production for first Washington presentations in the Metropolitan, instead of in a house usually playing attractions at the $2 scale of prices, that it has been found necessary, for this en- gagement only, to announce a slight increase in issfons. At the daily matinees Llln?;tl wll‘ll bemfilso cents; Sundays and nights, all seaf cen ‘war l:x. always included. These ad- missions are less than half those charged in other cities where ‘“Pas- sion” has been shown. The engagement of *“Passion™ is for one weel e doors will be opened to the public today at 2 been both stage and screen the story of a New York soclal favorite. whose very popularity In her search for new ex- ‘something dif- ts a former school friend in South America, and not only does she find what she ‘went after bores her. periences, a fresh thrill, ferent,” in short, she but a little more besides, soon in the very exciting healthy revolution, is captu: love with the comedy, “Something Different.” Constance Binney will be the picture star today at Moore's Rialto Theater in society clothes and “Something Differ- ent, her latest Realart picture, adapt from the novel, “Calderon’s Prisoner,” b; Alice Duer Miller, whose “Come Out of the Kitchen” and “Charm School” have general and, crowds more exciting moments in a day than the average girl experiences in a lifetime, Sewell Ford's lastest “Torchy” “Torchy Mixes In.” and latest Fox News also will be shown to makes her picture and returns to her studio. Her friends, and she has many with rare homes and their ac- cessories, are always very obliging. Three big Paramount January re- leases will be shown in Washington this week, “Midsummer Madnes: “The Charm School” and “The Bail it is said, has invented an apparatu: Wwhose application permits film to be printed and exposed to sunlight five minutes after exposure in the camera. plot shows the heroine as a pretty shop girl, who is “framed” by a master- crook, so she will come under his power. Then, when he has won hér gratitude by a ‘seemingly kind act, he tries to use her as a pawn in a game t blackmail young millionaire. - Washivgen will be Featurch 1 the RIST- in ar- e ke ot & “apotiess youh ” and his | Maurice Tourneur’s production :of scandalbus quest of a bad repitation be- | Sidney Toler’s play, “The Tiger Lady, cause his sweetheart demanded a real |featuring Hope Hampton. he-man who wasn't too good to be true. T hite' Th aramount alled| William Allen White's famous novel “an A",‘;‘fi‘:::; e t s called| o) merican life, “A Certain Rich Short estral num-|Man.” is being flmed at the Hampton beshort) Gubjects and orchestral DUI-|jiudios with one of the largest star casts ever assembled.” The roster of “The Unpardonable Sin.” the players who appear does not in- icate much stellar dust, although it Theatergoers, including those whose interest has centered in the so-called shows @ lot of sterling histrionic]ohvious reason ability. Paris.” Miss Walton has just finishc. “legitimate” branch of amusements, as well as out-and-out moving plc- = . D. W. Griffith’s producti wWay = s Carl Gantvoort, the light opera s production of “Way “Rich Girl, Poor Girl ture devotees, will find a lot of fa- baritone, one of ‘the latest recruits | e — = . the movies, is the hero in “There e Vorites in_ the cast of “The Unpar | donable Sin,” which is being pre- ‘H. J. Reynolds, president of the Rengo Film Company, which recently com- pleted “Lavender and Old Lace” will visit twenty-seven of the principal cities of the United States, directing in per- son the work of exploiting the pic- ture. He feels that “Lavender and Olv' Lace” will be one of the outstandin: successes of 1921. The world is familiar with tempera- mental prima donnas and the like, but word comes that Tabby, a cat, who is an important factor in a scene in Alice Lake’s picture, “The Woman Who Went Away,” held up the pro- duction a half day because she would not go to sleep when it was neces- sary she do so. hits. It is heiress and A remarkable similarity in beauty an: dramatic ability between the late Oliv Madame Nazimova's next produc- tion for Metro will be “Camille,” in- stead of “Aphrodite,” as originally announced. “Aphrodite” has been postponed until warm weather for for she is midst of a red_falls in in brief, such gallant, whimsical, captivating cl as the unfortunate little girl who died and the FIRST TIMES IN WASHINGTON o'clock. “Midsummer Madness.” An epic romance—a story that has al- ready enchanted Broadway for five weeks—is_~Midsummer Madness,” the William C. De Mille production for Paramount, based on Cosmo Hamilton’s story, “His Friend and His Wife,” and featuring Jack Holt, Lois Wilson, Lila Lee and Conrad Nigel, which will be offered at Loew's Columbia Theater to- day at 3 o’clock and all this week. “Midsummer Madness” is a dynamic yet delicate story of a quadrangie—two women and two men. It reveals the dangerous consequences when a hus- band turns his interest to commerce and 2 wife makes sentiment her god. Hamil- ton, in this story, used two young mar- red couples who were good friends, as ters. One of the wives bored her husband with an unwarranted dis- play of affection. His desire for new romantic flelds turned his attention to the wife of his friend, who was being neglected. A serious escapade follows. It is here that De Mille departs from the conventional and reveals the esca- pade as an object lesson in the proper division of interest in the matrimonial relation. “Don’t Tickle,” the first offering here of a new series of comedies, {n which Clyde Cook is starred; the Selznick news pictures, a scenic production and an greh estral program are other attrac- ns. “The Charm School.” Wallace Reld reappears as the screen 00L,” Paramount's quisite film production of the play by Alice Duer Miller. Tom Geraghty adapted the Miller play to cinema form u‘I.l'ld James Cruze directed the produc- jon. In “The Charm School” Mr. Reld is seen as a young automobile salesman ‘who inherits a girls’ fashionable school. school » which_instantly be- comes popular. ‘The gradual develop- ment of this scholastlo idea is marked f | throughout with high comedy of a de- d. Ehan was doing the *The Quarry” a Bertillon expert from the New York police department came to the studio to supervise the “We_ can’t do anything by guess- :: cannot hopeotg got. ‘with slightest fense . f complaints he concluded. “there gextain stage traditions which, I e licious richness, but,without warning of any one of the fair young students, who sweeps the principal off his feet and into matrimony. The Sunshine comedy “Hold Me Tight”; the newest animated adventure of Mutt and Jeff; the Literary Digest's “*Topical ; the Iatest Pathe News pictures and orchestral pumbers gom- Dlete the program. ‘Was a King in Egyp (Continued on Fourth Page L u E‘ ’ i PAL fl E More than three hundred double ODAY AND ALL WEEK: SUPER- LOEW’S COLUMBIA 5 ELEVENTH BEGINNING TODAY AT 3 P. M. LI-=———‘—I IDSUMMER ADNESS”-— WITH JACK HOLT, LOIS WILSON LILA LEE AND CONEAD NiGEL The soft-scented night, 6 liquid moon ond Ber wirm fragrance caxght him in their spell. Mtwmmmlwuw Bomor and in the irresistidle surge of their emotions? Bec this epio romance that fascinated Broodeway €nd will sweecp You out on & tide of romance. HE CHARM SCHOOL” A —BY ALICE DUER MILLER— EXTRA ADDED ATTRACTIONS. SUNSHINE COMEDY—*“HOLD ME TIGHT” OVERTURE, THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER, Strauss MUTT AND JEFF CARTOON—PATHE NEWS VIEWS —“TOPICAL TIPS"— 7 > ADDED CLYDE COOK COMEDY—“DONT TICKLE”