,,the ,,art ,,of ,,the ,,moving ,,picture ,by ,,vachel ,,lindsay ,intended1 ,first of ,all1 for the ,new ,art ,museums ,springing ,up ,all over the ,country4 ,but the ,book ,is for ,our ,universities and ,institutions of ,learning4 ,it ,contains an ,appeal to ,our ,whole ,critical and ,literary ,world1 and to ,our ,creators of ,sculpture1 ,architecture1 ,painting1 and the ,american ,cities ,they ,are ,building4 ,being the #aibb ,revision of the ,book ,first ,issued in #aiae1 and ,beginning ,with an ,ample ,discourse on the ,great ,new ,prospects of #aibb ,hail1 all ye gods in the house of the soul1 who weigh ,heaven and ,earth in a balance1 and who give celestial food4 ,from the book of the scribe ,ani1 translated from the original ,egyptian hieroglyphics by ,professor ,e4,a4 ,wallis ,budge ,dedicated ,,to ,,george ,,mather ,,richards ,,in ,,memory ,,of ,,the ,,art ,,student ,,days ,,we ,,spent ,,together ,,when ,,the ,,metropolitan ,,museum ,,was ,,our ,,picture-,,drama ,,contents ,a ,,word ,,from ,,the ,,director ,,of ,,the ,,denver ,,art ,,association ,,book ,i ,,the ,,general ,,photoplay ,,situation ,,in ,,america1 ,,january #a1 #aibb1 ,,especially ,,as ,,viewed ,,from ,,the ,,heights ,,of ,,the ,,civic ,,centre ,,at ,,denver1 ,,colorado1 ,,and ,,the ,,denver ,,art ,,museum1 ,,which ,,is ,,to ,,be ,a ,,leading ,,feature ,,of ,,this ,,civic ,,centre ,,book ,,ii ,,the ,,outline ,,which ,,has ,,been ,,accepted ,,as ,,the ,,basis ,,of ,,photoplay ,,criticism ,,in ,,america1 ,,both ,,in ,,the ,,studios ,,of ,,the ,,los ,,angeles ,,region1 ,,and ,,all ,,the ,,serious ,,criticism ,,which ,,has ,,appeared ,,in ,,the ,,daily ,,press ,,and ,,the ,,magazines ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,point ,,of ,,view ,,ii4 ,,the ,,photoplay ,,of ,,action ,,iii4 ,,the ,,intimate ,,photoplay ,,iv4 ,,the ,,motion ,,picture ,,of ,,fairy ,,splendor ,v4 ,,the ,,picture ,,of ,,crowd ,,splendor ,,vi4 ,,the ,,picture ,,of ,,patriotic ,,splendor ,,vii4 ,,the ,,picture ,,of ,,religious ,,splendor ,,viii4 ,,sculpture-,,in-,,motion ,,ix4 ,,painting-,,in-,,motion ,x4 ,,furniture1 ,,trappings1 ,,and ,,inventions ,,in ,,motion ,,xi4 ,,architecture-,,in-,,motion ,,xii4 ,,thirty ,,differences ,,between ,,the ,,photoplays ,,and ,,the ,,stage ,,xiii4 ,,hieroglyphics ,,book ,,iii ,,more ,,personal ,,speculations ,,and ,,afterthoughts ,,not ,,brought ,,forward ,,so ,,dogmatically ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,orchestra1 ,,conversation1 ,,and ,,the ,,censorship ,,xv4 ,,the ,,substitute ,,for ,,the ,,saloon ,,xvi4 ,,california ,,and ,,america ,,xvii4 ,,progress ,,and ,,endowment ,,xviii4 ,,architects ,,as ,,crusaders ,,xix4 ,,on ,,coming ,,forth ,,by ,,day ,,xx4 ,,the ,,prophet-,,wizard ,,xxi4 ,,the ,,acceptable ,,year ,,of ,,the ,,lord ,a ,,word ,,from ,,the ,,director ,,of ,,the ,,denver ,,art ,,association ,the ,art of the ,moving ,picture1 as it appeared six years ago1 possessed among many elements of beauty at least one peculiarity4 ,it viewed art as a reality1 and one of our most familiar and popular realities as an art4 ,this should have made the book either a revelation or utter ,greek to most of us1 and those who read it probably dropped it easily into one or the other of the two categories4 ,for myself1 long a propagandist for its doctrines in another but related field1 the book came as a great solace4 ,in it ,i found1 not an appeal to have the art museum used--which would have been an old though welcome story--not this1 but much to my surprise1 the art museum actually at work1 one of the very wheels on which our culture rolled forward upon its hopeful way4 ,i saw among other museums the one whose destinies ,i was tenderly guiding1 playing in ,lindsay's book the part that is played by the classic myths in ,milton1 or by the dictionary in the writings of the rest of us4 ,for once the museum and its contents appeared1 not as a lovely curiosity1 but as one of the basic1 and in a sense humble necessities of life4 ,to paraphrase the author's own text1 the art museum1 like the furniture in a good movie1 was actually in motion--a character in the play4 ,on this point of view as on a pivot turns the whole book4 ,in ,the ,art of the ,moving ,picture the nature and domain of a new ,muse is defined4 ,she is the first legitimate addition to the family since classic times4 ,and as it required trained painters of pictures like ,fulton and ,morse to visualize the possibility of the steamboat and the telegraph1 so the bold seer who perceived the true nature of this new star in our nightly heavens1 it should here be recorded1 acquired much of the vision of his seeing eye through an early training in art4 ,vachel ,lindsay 7as he himself proudly asserts7 was a student at the ,institute in ,chicago for four years1 spent one more at the ,league and at ,chase's in ,new ,york1 and for four more haunted the ,metropolitan ,museum1 lecturing to his fellows on every art there shown from the ,egyptian to that of ,arthur ,b4 ,davies4 ,only such a background as this could have evolved the conception of ,architecture1 sculpture1 and painting in motion and given authenticity to its presentation4 ,the validity of ,lindsay's analysis is attested by ,freeburg's helpful characterization1 ,composition in fluid forms1 which it seems to have suggested4 ,to ,lindsay's category one would be tempted to add1 pattern in motion1 applying it to such a film as the ,caligari which he and ,i have seen together and discussed during these past few days4 ,pattern in this connection would imply an emphasis on the intrinsic suggestion of the spot and shape apart from their immediate relation to the appearance of natural objects4 ,but this is a digression4 ,it simply serves to show the breadth and adaptability of ,lindsay's method4 ,the book was written for a visual-minded public and for those who would be its leaders4 ,a long1 long line of picture-readers trailing from the dawn of history1 stimulated all the masterpieces of pictorial art from ,altamira to ,michelangelo4 ,for less than five centuries now ,gutenberg has had them scurrying to learn their ,a1 ,b1 ,c's1 but they are drifting back to their old ways again1 and nightly are forming themselves in cues at the doorways of the ,isis1 the ,tivoli1 and the ,riviera1 the while it is sadly noted that 'the pictures' are driving literature off the parlor table4 ,with the creative implications of this new pictorial art1 with the whole visual-minded race clamoring for more1 what may we not dream in the way of a new renaissance8 ,how are we to step in to the possession of such a destiny8 ,are the institutions with a purely literary theory of life going to meet the need8 ,are the art schools and the art museums making themselves ready to assimilate a new art form8 ,or what is the type of institution that will ultimately take the position of leadership in culture through this new universal instrument8 ,what possibilities lie in this art1 once it is understood and developed1 to plant new conceptions of civic and national idealism8 ,how far may it go in cultivating concerted emotion in the now ungoverned crowd8 ,such questions as these can be answered only by minds with the imagination to see art as a reality2 with faith to visualize for the little mid-western home town a new and living ,pallas ,athena2 with courage to raze the very houses of the city to make new and greater forums and civic centres4 ,for ourselves in ,denver1 we shall try to do justice to the new ,muse4 ,in the museum which we build we shall provide a shrine for her4 ,we shall first endeavor by those simple means which lie to our hands1 to know the areas of charm and imagination which remain as yet an untilled field of her domain4 ,plowing is a simple art1 but it requires much sweat4 ,this at least we know--to the expenditure we cheerfully consent4 ,so much for the beginning4 ,it would be boastful to describe plans to keep pace with the enlarging of the motion picture field before a real beginning is made4 ,but with youth in its favor1 the ,denver ,art ,museum hopes yet to see this art set in its rightful place with painting1 sculpture1 architecture1 and the handicrafts--hopes yet to be an instrument in the great work of making this art real as those others are being even now made real1 to the expanding vision of an eager people4 ,,george ,,william ,,eggers ,director ,the ,denver ,art ,association ,,denver1 ,,colorado1 ,new ,year's ,day1 #aibb4 ,,book ,i--,,the ,,general ,,photoplay ,,situation ,,in ,,america1 ,,january #a1 #aibb ,especially as ,viewed from the ,heights of the ,civic ,centre at ,denver1 ,colorado1 and the ,denver ,art ,museum1 ,which ,is to ,be a ,leading ,feature of ,this ,civic ,centre ,in the second chapter of book two1 on page #h1 the theoretical outline begins1 with a discussion of the ,photoplay of ,action4 ,i put there on record the first crude commercial films that in any way establish the principle4 ,there can never be but one first of anything1 and if the negatives of these films survive the shrinking and the warping that comes with time1 they will still be1 in a certain sense1 classic1 and ten years hence or two years hence will still be better remembered than any films of the current releases1 which come on like newspapers1 and as ,george ,ade says3--,nothing is so dead as yesterday's newspaper4 ,but the first newspapers1 and the first imprints of ,addison's ,spectator1 and the first ,almanacs of ,benjamin ,franklin1 and the first broadside ballads and the like1 are ever collected and remembered4 ,and the lists of films given in books two and three of this work are the only critical and carefully sorted lists of the early motion pictures that ,i happen to know anything about4 ,i hope to be corrected if ,i am too boastful1 but ,i boast that my lists must be referred to by all those who desire to study these experiments in their beginnings4 ,so ,i let them remain1 as still vivid in the memory of all true lovers of the photoplay who have watched its growth1 fascinated from the first4 ,but ,i would add to the list of ,action ,films of chapter two the recent popular example1 ,douglas ,fairbanks in ,the ,three ,musketeers4 ,that is perhaps the most literal ,chase-,picture that was ever really successful in the commercial world4 ,the story is cut to one episode4 ,the whole task of the four famous swordsmen of ,dumas is to get the ,queen's token that is in the hands of ,buckingham in ,england1 and return with it to ,paris in time for the great ball4 ,it is one long race with the ,cardinal's guards who are at last left behind4 ,it is the same plot as ,reynard the ,fox1 ,john ,masefield's poem--,reynard successfully eluding the huntsmen and the dogs4 ,if that poem is ever put on in an ,art ,museum film1 it will have to be staged like one of ,a,esop's ,fables1 with a man acting the ,fox1 for the children's delight4 ,and ,i earnestly urge all who would understand the deeper significance of the chase-picture or the ,action ,picture to give more thought to ,masefield's poem than to ,fairbanks' marvellous acting in the school of the younger ,salvini4 ,the ,mood of the intimate photoplay1 chapter three1 still remains indicated in the current films by the acting of ,lillian ,gish and ,mary ,pickford1 when they are not roused up by their directors to turn handsprings to keep the people staring4 ,mary ,pickford in particular has been stimulated to be over-athletic1 and in all her career she has been given just one chance to be her more delicate self1 and that was in the almost forgotten film3--,a ,romance of the ,redwoods4 ,this is one of the serious commercial attempts that should be revived and studied1 in spite of its crudities of plot1 by our ,art ,museums4 ,there is something of the grandeur of the redwoods in it1 in contrast to the sustained ,botticelli grace of ,our ,mary4 ,i am the one poet who has a right to claim for his muses ,blanche ,sweet1 ,mary ,pickford1 and ,mae ,marsh4 ,i am the one poet who wrote them songs when they were ,biograph heroines1 before their names were put on the screen1 or the name of their director4 ,woman's clubs are always asking me for bits of delicious gossip about myself to fill up literary essays4 ,now there's a bit4 ,there are two things to be said for those poems4 ,first1 they were heartfelt4 ,second1 any one could improve on them4 ,in the fourth chapter of book two ,i discourse elaborately and formally on ,the ,motion ,picture of ,fairy ,splendor4 ,and to this carefully balanced technical discourse ,i would add the informal word1 this ,new ,year's ,day1 that this type is best illustrated by such fairy-tales as have been most ingratiatingly retold in the books of ,padraic ,colum1 and dazzlingly illustrated by ,willy ,pogany4 ,the ,colum-,pogany ,school of ,thought is one which the commercial producers have not yet condescended to illustrate in celluloid1 and it remains a special province for the ,art ,museum ,film4 ,fairy-tales need not be more than one-tenth of a reel long4 ,some of the best fairy-tales in the whole history of man can be told in a breath4 ,and the best motion picture story for fifty years may turn out to be a reel ten minutes long4 ,do not let the length of the commercial film tyrannize over your mind1 ,o young art museum photoplay director4 ,remember the brevity of ,lincoln's ,gettysburg address4444 ,and so my commentary1 ,new ,year's ,day1 #aibb1 proceeds1 using for points of more and more extensive departure the refrains and old catch-phrases of books two and three4 ,chapter ,v--,the ,picture of ,crowd ,splendor1 being the type illustrated by ,griffith's ,intolerance4 ,chapter ,,vi--,the ,picture of ,patriotic ,splendor1 which was illustrated by all the ,war ,films1 the one most recently approved and accepted by the public being ,the ,four ,horsemen of the ,apocalypse4 ,chapter ,,vii--,the ,picture of ,religious ,splendor1 which has no examples1 that remain in the memory with any sharpness in #aibb1 except ,the ,faith ,healer1 founded on the play by ,william ,vaughn ,moody1 the poet1 with much of the directing and scenario by ,mrs4 ,william ,vaughn ,moody1 and a more talked-of commercial film1 ,the ,miracle ,man4 ,but not until the religious film is taken out of the commercial field1 and allowed to develop unhampered under the ,church and the ,art ,museum1 will the splendid religious and ritualistic opportunity be realized4 ,chapter ,,viii--,sculpture-in-,motion1 being a continuation of the argument of chapter two4 ,the ,photoplay of ,action4 ,like the ,action ,film1 this aspect of composition is much better understood by the commercial people than some other sides of the art4 ,some of the best of the ,william ,s4 ,hart productions show appreciation of this quality by the director1 the photographer1 and the public4 ,not only is the man but the horse allowed to be moving bronze1 and not mere cowboy pasteboard4 ,many of the pictures of ,charles ,ray make the hero quite a bronze-looking sculpturesque person1 despite his yokel raiment4 ,chapter ,,ix--,painting-in-,motion1 being a continuation on a higher terrace of chapter three1 ,the ,intimate ,photoplay4 ,charlie ,chaplin has intimate and painter's qualities in his acting1 and he makes himself into a painting or an etching in the midst of furious slapstick4 ,but he has been in no films that were themselves paintings4 ,the argument of this chapter has been carried much further in ,freeburg's book1 ,the ,art of ,photoplay ,making4 ,chapter ,x--,furniture1 ,trappings1 and ,inventions in ,motion1 being a continuation of the chapter on ,fairy ,splendor4 ,in this field we find one of the worst failures of the commercial films1 and their utterly unimaginative corporation promoters4 ,again ,i must refer them to such fairy books as those of ,padraic ,colum1 where neither sword nor wing nor boat is found to move1 except for a fairy reason4 ,i have just returned this very afternoon from a special showing of the famous imported film1 ,the ,cabinet of ,dr4 ,caligari4 ,some of the earnest spirits of the ,denver ,art ,association1 finding it was in storage in the town1 had it privately brought forth to study it with reference to its bearing on their new policies4 ,what influence it will have in that most vital group1 time will show4 ,meanwhile it is a marvellous illustration of the meaning of this chapter and the chapter on ,fairy ,splendor1 though it is a diabolical not a beneficent vitality that is given to inanimate things4 ,the furniture1 trappings1 and inventions are in motion to express the haunted mind1 as in ,griffith's ,avenging ,conscience1 described pages #aba through #acb4 ,the two should be shown together in the same afternoon1 in the ,art ,museum study rooms4 ,caligari is undoubtedly the most important imported film since that work of ,d',annunzio1 ,cabiria1 described pages #ee through #eg4 ,but it is the opposite type of film4 ,cabiria is all out-doors and splendor on the ,mediterranean scale4 ,in general1 imported films do not concern ,americans1 for we have now a vast range of technique4 ,all we lack is the sense to use it4 ,the cabinet of ,caligari is indeed a cabinet1 and the feeling of being in a cell1 and smothered by all the oppressions of a weary mind1 does not desert the spectator for a minute4 ,the play is more important1 technically1 than in its subject-matter and mood4 ,it proves in a hundred new ways the resources of the film in making all the inanimate things which1 on the spoken stage1 cannot act at all1 the leading actors in the films4 ,but they need not necessarily act to a diabolical end4 ,an angel could have as well been brought from the cabinet as a murderous somnambulist1 and every act of his could have been a work of beneficence and health and healing4 ,i could not help but think that the ancient miracle play of the resurrection of ,osiris could have been acted out with similar simple means1 with a mummy case and great sarcophagus4 ,the wings of ,isis and ,nephthys could have been spread over the sky instead of the oppressive walls of the crooked city4 ,lights instead of shadows could have been made actors and real hieroglyphic inscriptions instead of scrawls4 ,as it was1 the alleged insane man was more sensible than most motion picture directors1 for his scenery acted with him1 and not according to accident or silly formula4 ,i make these points as an antidote to the general description of this production by those who praise it4 ,they speak of the scenery as grotesque1 strained1 and experimental1 and the plot as sinister4 ,but this does not get to the root of the matter4 ,there is rather the implication in most of the criticisms and praises that the scenery is abstract4 ,quite the contrary is the case4 ,indoors looks like indoors4 ,streets are always streets1 roofs are always roofs4 ,the actors do not move about in a kind of crazy geometry as ,i was led to believe4 ,the scenery is oppressive1 but sane1 and the obsession is for the most part expressed in the acting and plot4 ,the fair looks like a fair and the library looks like a library4 ,there is nothing experimental about any of the setting1 nothing unconsidered or strained or over-considered4 ,it seems experimental because it is thrown into contrast with extreme commercial formulas in the regular line of the movie trade4 ,but compare ,the ,cabinet of ,dr4 ,caligari with a book of ,rackham or ,du ,lac or ,duerer1 or ,rembrandt's etchings1 and ,dr4 ,caligari is more realistic4 ,and ,eggers insists the whole film is replete with suggestions of the work of ,pieter ,breughel1 the painter4 ,hundreds of indoor stories will be along such lines1 once the merely commercial motive is eliminated1 and the artist is set free4 ,this film is an extraordinary variation of the intimate1 as expounded in chapter three4 ,it is drawing-in-motion1 instead of painting-in-motion4 ,because it was drawing instead of painting1 literary-minded people stepped to the hasty conclusion it was experimental4 ,half-tone effects are1 for the most part1 eliminated4 ,line is dominant everywhere4 ,it is the opposite of vast conceptions like ,theodora--which are architecture-in-motion4 ,all the architecture of the ,caligari film seems pasteboard4 ,the whole thing happens in a cabinet4 ,it is the most overwhelming contrast to ,griffith's ,intolerance that could be in any way imagined4 ,it contains1 one may say1 all the effects left out of ,intolerance4 ,the word cabinet is a quadruple pun4 ,not only does it mean a mystery box and a box holding a somnambulist1 but a kind of treasury of tiny twisted thoughts4 ,there is not one line or conception in it on the grand scale1 or even the grandiose4 ,it is a devil's toy-house4 ,one feels like a mouse in a mouse-trap so small one cannot turn around4 ,in ,intolerance1 ,griffith hurls nation at nation1 race at race1 century against century1 and his camera is not only a telescope across the plains of ,babylon1 but across the ages4 ,griffith is1 in ,intolerance1 the ungrammatical ,byron of the films1 but certainly as magnificent as ,byron1 and since he is the first of his kind ,i1 for one1 am willing to name him with ,marlowe4 ,but for technical study for ,art ,schools1 ,the ,cabinet of ,dr4 ,caligari is more profitable4 ,it shows how masterpieces can be made1 with the second-hand furniture of any attic4 ,but ,i hope fairy-tales1 not diabolical stories1 will come from these attics4 ,fairy-tales are inherent in the genius of the motion picture and are a thousand times hinted at in the commercial films1 though the commercial films are not willing to stop to tell them4 ,lillian ,gish could be given wings and a wand if she only had directors and scenario writers who believed in fairies4 ,and the same can most heartily be said of ,mae ,marsh4 ,chapter ,,xi--,architecture-in-,motion1 being a continuation of the argument about the ,splendor ,pictures1 in chapters five1 six1 and seven4 ,this is an element constantly re-illustrated in a magnificent but fragmentary way by the ,news ,films4 ,any picture of a seagull flying so close to the camera that it becomes as large as a flying machine1 or any flying machine made by man and photographed in epic flight captures the eye because it is architecture and in motion1 motion which is the mysterious fourth dimension of its grace and glory4 ,so likewise1 and in kind1 any picture of a tossing ship4 ,the most superb example of architecture-in-motion in the commercial history of the films is the march of the moving war-towers against the walls of ,babylon in ,griffith's ,intolerance4 ,but ,griffith is the only person so far who has known how to put a fighting soul into a moving tower4 ,the only real war that has occurred in the films with the world's greatest war going on outside was ,griffith's ,war ,against ,babylon4 ,the rest was news4 ,chapter ,,xii--,thirty ,differences between the ,photoplays and the ,stage4 ,the argument of the whole of the #aiae edition has been accepted by the studios1 the motion picture magazines1 and the daily motion picture columns throughout the land4 ,i have read hundreds of editorials and magazines1 and scarcely one that differed from it in theory4 ,most of them read like paraphrases of this work4 ,and of all arguments made1 the one in this chapter is the one oftenest accepted in its entirety4 ,the people who dominate the films are obviously those who grew up with them from the very beginning1 and the merely stage actors who rushed in with the highest tide of prosperity now have to take second rank if they remain in the films4 ,but most of these have gone back to the stage by this time1 with their managers as well1 and certainly this chapter is abundantly proved out4 ,chapter ,,xiii--,hieroglyphics4 ,one of the implications of this chapter and the one preceding is that the fewer words printed on the screen the better1 and that the ideal film has no words printed on it at all1 but is one unbroken sheet of photography4 ,this is admitted in theory in all the studios now1 though the only film of the kind ever produced of general popular success was ,the ,old ,swimmin' ,hole1 acted by ,charles ,ray4 ,if ,i remember1 there was not one word on the screen1 after the cast of characters was given4 ,the whole story was clearly and beautifully told by ,photoplay ,hieroglyphics4 ,for this feature alone1 despite many defects of the film1 it should be studied in every art school in ,america4 ,meanwhile ,title writing remains a commercial necessity4 ,in this field there is but one person who has won distinction--,anita ,loos4 ,she is one of the four or five important and thoroughly artistic brains in the photoplay game4 ,among them is the distinguished ,john ,emerson4 ,in combination with ,john ,emerson1 director1 producer1 etc41 she has done so many other things well1 her talents as a title writer are incidental1 but certainly to be mentioned in this place4 ,the outline we are discussing continues through ,book ,,iii--,more ,personal ,speculations and ,afterthoughts ,not ,brought ,forward so ,dogmatically4 ,chapter ,,xiv--,the ,orchestra1 ,conversation1 and the ,censorship4 ,in this chapter1 on page #ahi1 ,i suggest suppressing the orchestra entirely and encouraging the audience to talk about the film4 ,no photoplay people have risen to contradict this theory1 but it is a chapter that once caused me great embarrassment4 ,with ,christopher ,morley1 the well-known author of ,shandygaff and other temperance literature1 ,i was trying to prove out this chapter4 ,as soon as the orchestra stopped1 while the show rolled on in glory1 ,i talked about the main points in this book1 illustrating it by the film before us4 ,almost everything that happened was a happy illustration of my ideas4 ,but there were two shop girls in front of us awfully in love with a certain second-rate actor who insisted on kissing the heroine every so often1 and with her apparent approval4 ,every time we talked about that those shop girls glared at us as though we were robbing them of their time and money4 ,finally one of them dragged the other out into the aisle1 and dashed out of the house with her dear chum1 saying1 so all could hear3 ,well1 come on1 ,terasa1 we might as well go1 if these two talking pests are going to keep this up behind us4 ,the poor girl's voice trembled4 ,she was in tears4 ,she was gone before we could apologize or offer flowers4 ,so ,i say in applying this chapter1 in our present stage of civilization1 sit on the front seat1 where no one can hear your whisperings but ,mary ,pickford on the screen4 ,she is but a shadow there1 and will not mind4 ,chapter ,,xv--,the ,substitute for the ,saloon4 ,i leave this argument as a monument1 just as it was written1 in #aiad and '#ae4 ,it indicates a certain power of forecasting on the part of the writer4 ,we drys have certainly won a great victory4 ,some of the photoplay people agree with this temperance sermon1 and some of them do not4 ,the wets make one mistake above all4 ,they do not realize that the drys can still keep on voting dry1 with intense conviction1 and great battle cries1 and still have a sense of humor4 ,chapter ,,xvi--,california and ,america4 ,this chapter was quoted and paraphrased almost bodily as the preface to my volume of verses1 ,the ,golden ,whales of ,california4 ,i ,know ,all ,this ,when ,gipsy ,fiddles ,cry1 a song of some length recently published in the ,new ,republic and the ,london ,nation1 further expresses the sentiment of this chapter in what ,i hope is a fraternal way1 and ,i hope suggests the day when ,california will have power over ,india1 ,asia1 and all the world1 and plant giant redwood trees of the spirit the world around4 ,chapter ,,xvii--,progress and ,endowment4 ,i allow this discourse1 also1 to stand as written in #aiad and '#ae4 ,it shows the condition just before the war1 better than any new words of mine could do it4 ,the main change now is the growing hope of a backing1 not only from ,universities1 but great ,art ,museums4 ,chapter ,,xviii--,architects as ,crusaders4 ,the sermon in this chapter has been carried out on a limited scale1 and as a result of the suggestion1 or from pure ,american instinct1 we now have handsome gasoline filling stations from one end of ,america to the other1 and really gorgeous ,ford garages4 ,our ,union depots and our magazine stands in the leading hotels1 and our big ,soda fountains are more and more attractive all the time4 ,having recited of late about twice around the ,united ,states and1 continuing the pilgrimage1 ,i can testify that they are all alike from ,new ,york to ,san ,francisco4 ,one has to ask the hotel clerk to find out whether it is ,new ,york or ----4 ,and the motion picture discipline of the ,american eye has had a deal to do with this increasing tendency to news-stand and architectural standardization and architectural thinking1 such as it is4 ,but ,i meant this suggestion to go further1 and to be taken in a higher sense1 so ,i ask these people to read this chapter again4 ,i have carried out the idea1 in a parable1 perhaps more clearly in ,the ,golden ,book of ,springfield1 when ,i speak of the ,world's ,fair of the ,university of ,springfield1 to be built one hundred years hence4 ,and ,i would recommend to those who have already taken seriously chapter eighteen1 to reread it in two towns1 amply worth the car fare it costs to go to both of them4 ,first1 ,santa ,fe1 ,new ,mexico1 at the end of the ,santa ,fe ,trail1 the oldest city in the ,united ,states1 the richest in living traditions1 and with the oldest and the newest architecture in the ,united ,states2 not a stone or a stick of it standardized1 a city with a soul1 ,jerusalem and ,mecca and ,benares and ,thebes for any artist or any poet of ,america's future1 or any one who would dream of great cities born of great architectural photoplays1 or great photoplays born of great cities4 ,and the other city1 symbolized by ,the ,golden ,rain ,tree in ,the ,golden ,book of ,springfield1 is ,new ,harmony1 ,indiana4 ,that was the ,greenwich ,village of ,america more than one hundred years ago1 when it was yet in the heart of the wilderness1 millions of miles from the sea4 ,it has a tradition already as dusty and wonderful as ,abydos and ,gem ,aten4 ,and every stone is still eloquent of individualism1 and standardization has not yet set its foot there4 ,is it not possible for the architects to brood in such places and then say to one another3--,build from your hearts buildings and films which shall be your individual ,hieroglyphics1 each according to his own loves and fancies8 ,chapter ,,xix--,on ,coming ,forth by ,day4 ,this is the second ,egyptian chapter4 ,it has its direct relation to the ,hieroglyphic chapter1 page #aga4 ,i note that ,i say here it costs a dime to go to the show4 ,well1 now it costs around thirty cents to go to a good show in a respectable suburb1 sometimes fifty cents4 ,but we will let that dime remain there1 as a matter of historic interest1 and pass on1 to higher themes4 ,certainly the ,hieroglyphic chapter is in words of one syllable and any kindergarten teacher can understand it4 ,chapter nineteen adds a bit to the idea4 ,i do not know how warranted ,i am in displaying ,egyptian learning4 ,newspaper reporters never tire of getting me to talk about hieroglyphics in their relation to the photoplays1 and always give me respectful headlines on the theme4 ,i can only say that up to this hour1 every time ,i have toured art museums1 ,i have begun with the ,egyptian exhibit1 and if my patient guest was willing1 lectured on every period on to the present time1 giving a little time to the principal exhibits in each room1 but ,i have always found myself returning to ,egypt as a standard4 ,it seems my natural classic land of art4 ,so when ,i took up hieroglyphics more seriously last summer1 ,i found them extraordinarily easy as though ,i were looking at a movie in a book4 ,i think ,egyptian picture-writing came easy because ,i have analyzed so many hundreds of photoplay films1 merely for recreation1 and the same style of composition is in both4 ,any child who reads one can read the other4 ,but of course the literal translation must be there at hand to correct all wrong guesses4 ,i figure that in just one thousand years ,i can read hieroglyphics without a pony4 ,but meanwhile1 ,i tour museums and ,i ride ,pharaoh's horse1 and suggest to all photoplay enthusiasts they do the same4 ,i recommend these two books most heartily3 ,elementary ,egyptian ,grammar1 by ,margaret ,a4 ,murray1 ,london1 ,bernard ,quaritch1 #aa ,grafton ,street1 ,bond ,street1 ,w41 and the three volumes of the ,book of the ,dead1 which are1 indeed1 the ,papyrus of ,ani1 referred to in this chapter1 pages #bee-beh4 ,it is edited1 translated1 and reproduced in fac-simile by the keeper of the ,egyptian and ,assyrian ,antiquities in the ,british ,museum1 ,professor ,e4,a4 ,wallis ,budge2 published by ,g4,p4 ,putnam's ,sons1 ,new ,york1 and ,philip ,lee ,warner1 ,london4 ,this book is certainly the greatest motion picture ,i ever attended4 ,i have gone through it several times1 and it is the only book one can read twelve hours at a stretch1 on the ,pullman1 when he is making thirty-six hour and forty-eight hour jumps from town to town4 ,american civilization grows more hieroglyphic every day4 ,the cartoons of ,darling1 the advertisements in the back of the magazines and on the bill-boards and in the street-cars1 the acres of photographs in the ,sunday newspapers1 make us into a hieroglyphic civilization far nearer to ,egypt than to ,england4 ,let us then accept for our classic land1 for our standard of form1 the country naturally our own4 ,hieroglyphics are so much nearer to the ,american mood than the rest of the ,egyptian legacy1 that ,americans seldom get as far as the ,hieroglyphics to discover how congenial they are4 ,seeing the mummies1 good ,americans flee4 ,but there is not a man in ,america writing advertisements or making cartoons or films but would find delightful the standard books of ,hieroglyphics sent out by the ,british ,museum1 once he gave them a chance4 ,they represent that very aspect of visual life which ,europe understands so little in ,america1 and which has been expanding so enormously even the last year4 ,hallowe'en1 for instance1 lasts a whole week now1 with mummers on the streets every night1 ,october #be-ca4 ,chapter ,,xx--,the ,prophet-,wizard4 ,who do we mean by ,the ,prophet-,wizard8 ,we mean not only artists1 such as are named in this chapter1 but dreamers and workers like ,johnny ,appleseed1 or ,abraham ,lincoln4 ,the best account of ,johnny ,appleseed is in ,harper's ,monthly for ,november1 #ahga4 ,people do not know ,abraham ,lincoln till they have visited the grave of ,anne ,rutledge1 at ,petersburg1 ,illinois1 then ,new ,old ,salem a mile away4 ,new ,old ,salem is a prophet's hill1 on the edge of the ,sangamon1 with lovely woods all around4 ,here a brooding soul could be born1 and here the dreamer ,abraham ,lincoln spent his real youth4 ,i do not call him a dreamer in a cheap and sentimental effort to describe a man of aspiration4 ,lincoln told and interpreted his visions like ,joseph and ,daniel in the ,old ,testament1 revealing them to the members of his cabinet1 in great trials of the ,civil ,war4 ,people who do not see visions and dream dreams in the good ,old ,testament sense have no right to leadership in ,america4 ,i would prefer photoplays filled with such visions and oracles to the state papers written by practical men4 ,as it is1 we are ruled indirectly by photoplays owned and controlled by men who should be in the shoe-string and hook-and-eye trade4 ,apparently their digestions are good1 they are in excellent health1 and they keep out of jail4 ,chapter ,,xxi--,the ,acceptable ,year of the ,lord4 ,if ,i may be pardoned for referring again to the same book1 ,i assumed1 in ,the ,golden ,book of ,springfield1 ,illinois1 that the ,acceptable ,year of the ,lord would come for my city beginning ,november #a1 #bjah1 and that up to that time1 amid much of joy1 there would also be much of thwarting and tribulation4 ,but in the beginning of that mystic ,november1 the ,soul of ,my ,city1 named ,avanel1 would become as much a part of the city as ,pallas ,athena was ,athens1 and indeed ,i wrote into the book much of the spirit of the photoplay outlined1 pages #adg through #aej4 ,but in ,the ,golden ,book ,i changed the lady the city worshipped from a golden image into a living1 breathing young girl1 descendant of that great ,american1 ,daniel ,boone1 and her name1 obviously1 ,avanel ,boone4 ,with her tribe she incarnates all the mystic ideals of the ,boones of ,kentucky4 ,all this but a prelude to saying that ,i have just passed through the city of ,santa ,fe1 ,new ,mexico4 ,it is a ,santa ,fe full of the glory of the ,new ,architecture of which ,i have spoken1 and the issuing of a book of cowboy songs collected1 and many of them written1 by ,n4 ,howard ,thorp1 a citizen of ,santa ,fe1 and thrilling with the issuing of a book of poems about the ,glory of ,new ,mexico4 ,this book is called ,red ,earth4 ,it is by ,alice ,corbin ,henderson4 ,and ,santa ,fe is full of the glory of a magnificent ,state ,capitol that is an art gallery of the whole southwest1 and the glories of the studio of ,william ,penhallow ,henderson1 who has painted our ,new ,arabia more splendidly than it was ever painted before1 with the real character thereof1 and no theatricals4 ,this is just the kind of a town ,i hoped for when ,i wrote my first draft of ,the ,art of the ,moving ,picture4 ,here now is literature and art4 ,when they become one art as of old in ,egypt1 we will have ,new ,mexico ,hieroglyphics from the ,hendersons and their kind1 and their surrounding ,indian pupils1 a basis for the ,american ,motion ,picture more acceptable1 and more patriotic1 and more organic for us than the ,egyptian4 ,and ,i come the same month to ,denver1 and find a ,new ,art ,museum projected1 which ,i hope has much indeed to do with the ,acceptable ,year of the ,lord1 when films as vital as the ,santa ,fe songs and pictures and architecture can be made1 and in common spirit with them1 in this ,new ,arabia4 ,george ,w4 ,eggers1 the director of the newly projected ,denver ,art ,museum1 assures me that a photoplay policy can be formulated1 amid the problems of such an all around undertaking as building a great ,art ,museum in ,denver4 ,he expects to give the photoplay the attention a new art deserves1 especially when it affects almost every person in the whole country4 ,so ,i prophesy ,denver to be the ,museum and ,art-school capital of ,new ,arabia1 as ,santa ,fe is the artistic1 architectural1 and song capital at this hour4 ,and ,i hope it may become the motion picture capital of ,america from the standpoint of pure art1 not manufacture4 ,what do ,i mean by ,new ,arabia8 ,when ,i was in ,london in the fall of #aibj the editor of ,the ,landmark1 the organ of ,the ,english ,speaking ,union1 asked me to draw my map of the ,united ,states4 ,i marked out the various regions under various names4 ,for instance ,i called the coast states1 ,washington1 ,oregon1 and ,california1 ,new ,italy4 ,the reasons may be found in the chapter in this book on ,california4 ,then ,i named the states just west of the ,middle ,west1 and east of ,new ,italy1 ,new ,arabia4 ,these states are ,new ,mexico1 ,arizona1 ,utah1 ,colorado1 ,wyoming1 ,idaho1 and ,montana4 ,these are the states which carry the ,rocky ,mountains north toward the ,aurora ,borealis1 and south toward the tropics4 ,here individualism1 ,andrew ,jacksonism1 will forever prevail1 and ,american standardization can never prevail4 ,in cabins that cannot be reached by automobile and deserts that cannot be crossed by boulevards1 the ,john the ,baptists1 the hermits and the prophets can strengthen their souls4 ,here are lonely places as sweet for the spirit as was little old ,new ,salem1 ,illinois1 one hundred years ago1 or the wilderness in which walked ,johnny ,appleseed4 ,now it is the independence of ,spirit of this ,new ,arabia that ,i hope the ,denver ,art ,museum can interpret in its photoplay films1 and send them on circuits to the ,art ,museums springing up all over ,america1 where sculpture1 architecture1 and painting are now constantly sent on circuit4 ,let that already established convention--the circuit-exhibition--be applied to this new art4 ,and after ,denver has shown the way1 ,i devoutly hope that ,great ,city of ,los ,angeles may follow her example4 ,consider1 ,o ,great ,city of ,los ,angeles1 now almost the equal of ,new ,york in power and splendor1 consider what it would do for the souls of all your film artists if you projected just such a museum as ,denver is now projecting4 ,your fate is coming toward you4 ,denver is halfway between ,chicago1 with the greatest art institute in the country1 and ,los ,angeles1 the natural capital of the photoplay4 ,the art museums of ,america should rule the universities1 and the photoplay studios as well4 ,in the art museums should be set the final standards of civic life1 rather than in any musty libraries or routine classrooms4 ,and the great weapon of the art museums of all the land should be the hieroglyphic of the future1 the truly artistic photoplay4 ,and now for book two1 at length4 ,it is a detailed analysis of the films1 first proclaimed in #aiae1 and never challenged or overthrown1 and1 for the most part1 accepted intact by the photoplay people1 and the critics and the theorists1 as well4 ,,book ,,ii--,,the ,,unchallenged ,,outline ,,of ,,photoplay ,,critical ,,method ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,point ,,of ,,view ,while there is a great deal of literary reference in all the following argument1 ,i realize1 looking back over many attempts to paraphrase it for various audiences1 that its appeal is to those who spend the best part of their student life in classifying1 and judging1 and producing works of sculpture1 painting1 and architecture4 ,i find the eyes of all others wandering when ,i make talks upon the plastic artist's point of view4 ,this book tries to find that fourth dimension of architecture1 painting1 and sculpture1 which is the human soul in action1 that arrow with wings which is the flash of fire from the film1 or the heart of man1 or ,pygmalion's image1 when it becomes a woman4 ,the #aiae edition was used by ,victor ,o4 ,freeburg as one of the text-books in the ,columbia ,university ,school of ,journalism1 in his classes in photoplay writing4 ,i was invited several times to address those classes on my yearly visits to ,new ,york4 ,i have addressed many other academic classes1 the invitation being based on this book4 ,now ,i realize that those who approach the theory from the general ,university standpoint1 or from the history of the drama1 had best begin with ,freeburg's book1 for he is not only learned in both matters1 but presents the special analogies with skill4 ,freeburg has an excellent education in the history of music1 and some of the happiest passages in his work relate the photoplay to the musical theory of the world1 as my book relates it to the general ,art ,museum point of view of the world4 ,emphatically1 my book belongs in the ,art ,institutes as a beginning1 or in such religious and civic bodies as think architecturally4 ,from there it must work its way out4 ,of course those bodies touch on a thousand others4 ,the work is being used as one basis of the campaign for the ,new ,denver ,art ,museum1 and ,i like to tell the story of how ,george ,w4 ,eggers of ,denver first began to apply the book when the ,director of the ,art ,institute1 ,chicago1 that it may not seem to the merely ,university type of mind a work of lost abstractions4 ,one of the most gratifying recognitions ,i ever received was the invitation to talk on the films in ,fullerton ,hall1 ,chicago ,art ,institute4 ,then there came invitations to speak at ,chicago ,university1 and before the ,fortnightly ,club1 ,chicago1 all around #aiaf-ag4 ,one difficulty was getting the film to prove my case from out the commercial whirl4 ,i talked at these three and other places1 but hardly knew how to go about crossing the commercial bridge4 ,at last1 with the cooperation of ,director ,eggers1 we staged1 in the sacred precincts of ,fullerton ,hall1 ,mae ,marsh in ,the ,wild ,girl of the ,sierras4 ,the film was in battered condition1 and was turned so fast ,i could not talk with it satisfactorily and fulfil the well-known principles of chapter fourteen4 ,but at least ,i had converted one ,art ,institute ,director to the idea that an ex-student of the ,institute could not only write a book about painting-in-motion1 but the painting could be shown in an ,art ,museum as promise of greater things in this world4 ,it took a deal of will and breaking of precedent1 on the part of all concerned1 to show this film1 ,the ,wild ,girl of the ,sierras1 and ,i retired from the field a long time4 ,but now this same ,eggers is starting1 in ,denver1 an ,art ,museum from its very foundations1 but on the same constructive scale4 ,so this enterprise1 in my fond and fatuous fancy1 is associated with the sweet ,mae ,marsh as ,the ,wild ,girl of the ,sierras--one of the loveliest bits of poetry ever put into screen or fable4 ,for about one year1 off and on1 ,i had the honor to be the photoplay critic of ,the ,new ,republic1 this invitation also based on the first edition of this book4 ,looking back upon that experience ,i am delighted to affirm that not only ,the ,new ,republic constituency but the world of the college and the university where ,i moved at that time1 while at loss for a policy1 were not only willing but eager to take the films with seriousness4 ,but when ,i was through with all these dashes into the field1 and went back to reciting verses again1 no one had given me any light as to who should make the disinterested1 non-commercial film for these immediate times1 the film that would class1 in our civilization1 with ,the ,new ,republic or ,the ,atlantic ,monthly or the poems of ,edwin ,arlington ,robinson4 ,that is1 the production not for the trade1 but for the soul4 ,anita ,loos1 that good crusader1 came out several years ago with the flaming announcement that there was now hope1 since a school of films had been heavily endowed for the ,university of ,rochester4 ,the school was to be largely devoted to producing music for the photoplay1 in defiance of chapter fourteen4 ,but incidentally there were to be motion pictures made to fit good music4 ,neither music nor films have as yet shaken the world4 ,i liked this ,rochester idea4 ,i felt that once it was started the films would take their proper place and dominate the project1 disinterested non-commercial films to be classed with the dramas so well stimulated by the great drama department under ,professor ,baker of ,harvard4 ,as ,i look back over this history ,i see that the printed page had counted too much1 and the real forces of the visible arts in ,america had not been definitely enlisted4 ,they should take the lead4 ,i would suggest as the three people to interview first on building any ,art ,museum ,photoplay project3 ,victor ,freeburg1 with his long experience of teaching the subject in ,columbia1 and ,john ,emerson and ,anita ,loos1 who are as brainy as people dare to be and still remain in the department store film business4 ,no three people would more welcome opportunities to outline the idealistic possibilities of this future art4 ,and a well-known ,american painter was talking to me of a midnight scolding ,charlie ,chaplin gave to some ,los ,angeles producer1 in a little restaurant1 preaching the really beautiful film1 and denouncing commerce like a member of ,coxey's illustrious army4 ,and ,i have heard rumors from all sides that ,charlie ,chaplin has a soul4 ,he is the comedian most often proclaimed an artist by the fastidious1 and most often forgiven for his slapstick4 ,he is praised for a kind of ,o4 ,henry double meaning to his antics4 ,he is said to be like one of ,o4 ,henry's misquotations of the classics4 ,he looks to me like that artist ,edgar ,poe1 if ,poe had been obliged to make millions laugh4 ,i do not like ,chaplin's work1 but ,i have to admit the good intentions and the enviable laurels4 ,let all the ,art ,museums invite him in1 as tentative adviser1 if not a chastened performer4 ,let him be given as good a chance as ,mae ,marsh was given by ,eggers in ,fullerton ,hall4 ,only let him come in person1 not in film1 till we hear him speak1 and consider his suggestions1 and make sure he has eaten of the mystic ,amaranth ,apples of ,johnny ,appleseed4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,photoplay ,,of ,,action ,let us assume1 friendly reader1 that it is eight o'clock in the evening when you make yourself comfortable in your den1 to peruse this chapter4 ,i want to tell you about the ,action ,film1 the simplest1 the type most often seen4 ,in the mind of the habitue of the cheaper theatre it is the only sort in existence4 ,it dominates the slums1 is announced there by red and green posters of the melodrama sort1 and retains its original elements1 more deftly handled1 in places more expensive4 ,the story goes at the highest possible speed to be still credible4 ,when it is a poor thing1 which is the case too often1 the ,st4 ,vitus dance destroys the pleasure-value4 ,the rhythmic quality of the picture-motions is twitched to death4 ,in the bad photoplay even the picture of an express train more than exaggerates itself4 ,yet when the photoplay chooses to behave it can reproduce a race far more joyously than the stage4 ,on that fact is based the opportunity of this form4 ,many ,action ,pictures are indoors1 but the abstract theory of the ,action ,film is based on the out-of-door chase4 ,you remember the first one you saw where the policeman pursues the comical tramp over hill and dale and across the town lots4 ,you remember that other where the cowboy follows the horse thief across the desert1 spies him at last and chases him faster1 faster1 faster1 and faster1 and finally catches him4 ,if the film was made in the days before the ,national ,board of ,censorship1 it ends with the cowboy cheerfully hanging the villain2 all details given to the last kick of the deceased4 ,one of the best ,action ,pictures is an old ,griffith ,biograph1 recently reissued1 the story entitled ,man's ,genesis4 ,in the time when cave-men-gorillas had no weapons1 ,weak-,hands 7impersonated by ,robert ,harron7 invents the stone club4 ,he vanquishes his gorilla-like rival1 ,brute-,force 7impersonated by ,wilfred ,lucas74 ,strange but credible manners and customs of the cave-men are detailed4 ,they live in picturesque caves4 ,their half-monkey gestures are wonderful to see4 ,but these things are beheld on the fly4 ,it is the chronicle of a race between the brain of ,weak-,hands and the body of the other1 symbolized by the chasing of poor ,weak-,hands in and out among the rocks until the climax4 ,brain desperately triumphs4 ,weak-,hands slays ,brute-,force with the startling invention4 ,he wins back his stolen bride1 ,lily-,white 7impersonated by ,mae ,marsh74 ,it is a ,griffith masterpiece1 and every actor does sound work4 ,the audience1 mechanical ,americans1 fond of crawling on their stomachs to tinker their automobiles1 are eager over the evolution of the first weapon from a stick to a hammer4 ,they are as full of curiosity as they could well be over the history of ,langley or the ,wright brothers4 ,the dire perils of the motion pictures provoke the ingenuity of the audience1 not their passionate sympathy4 ,when1 in the minds of the deluded producers1 the beholders should be weeping or sighing with desire1 they are prophesying the next step to one another in worldly ,george ,ade slang4 ,this is illustrated in another good ,action ,photoplay3 the dramatization of ,the ,spoilers4 ,the original novel was written by ,rex ,beach4 ,the gallant ,william ,farnum as ,glenister dominates the play4 ,he has excellent support4 ,their team-work makes them worthy of chronicle3 ,thomas ,santschi as ,mc,namara1 ,kathlyn ,williams as ,cherry ,malotte1 ,bessie ,eyton as ,helen ,chester1 ,frank ,clark as ,dextry1 ,wheeler ,oakman as ,bronco ,kid1 and ,jack ,mc,donald as ,slapjack4 ,there are1 in ,the ,spoilers1 inspiriting ocean scenes and mountain views4 ,there are interesting sketches of mining-camp manners and customs4 ,there is a well-acted love-interest in it1 and the element of the comradeship of loyal pals4 ,but the chase rushes past these things to the climax1 as in a policeman picture it whirls past blossoming gardens and front lawns till the tramp is arrested4 ,the difficulties are commented on by the people in the audience as rah-rah boys on the side lines comment on hurdles cleared or knocked over by the men running in college field-day4 ,the sudden cut-backs into side branches of the story are but hurdles also1 not plot complications in the stage sense4 ,this is as it should be4 ,the pursuit progresses without ,st4 ,vitus dance or hysteria to the end of the film4 ,there the spoilers are discomfited1 the gold mine is recaptured1 the incidental girls are won1 in a flash1 by the rightful owners4 ,these shows work like the express elevators in the ,metropolitan ,tower4 ,the ideal is the maximum of speed in descending or ascending1 not to be jolted into insensibility4 ,there are two girl parts as beautifully thought out as the parts of ladies in love can be expected to be in ,action ,films4 ,but in the end the love is not much more romantic in the eye of the spectator than it would be to behold a man on a motorcycle with the girl of his choice riding on the same machine behind him4 ,and the highest type of ,action ,picture romance is not attained by having ,juliet triumph over the motorcycle handicap4 ,it is not achieved by weaving in a ,sherlock ,holmes plot4 ,action ,picture romance comes when each hurdle is a tableau1 when there is indeed an art-gallery-beauty in each one of these swift glimpses3 when it is a race1 but with a proper and golden-linked grace from action to action1 and the goal is the most beautiful glimpse in the whole reel4 ,in the ,action ,picture there is no adequate means for the development of any full grown personal passion4 ,the distinguished character-study that makes genuine the personal emotions in the legitimate drama1 has no chance4 ,people are but types1 swiftly moved chessmen4 ,more elaborate discourse on this subject may be found in chapter twelve on the differences between the films and the stage4 ,but here1 briefly3 the ,action ,pictures are falsely advertised as having heart-interest1 or abounding in tragedy4 ,but though the actors glower and wrestle and even if they are the most skilful lambasters in the profession1 the audience gossips and chews gum4 ,why does the audience keep coming to this type of photoplay if neither lust1 love1 hate1 nor hunger is adequately conveyed8 ,simply because such spectacles gratify the incipient or rampant speed-mania in every ,american4 ,to make the elevator go faster than the one in the ,metropolitan ,tower is to destroy even this emotion4 ,to elaborate unduly any of the agonies or seductions in the hope of arousing lust1 love1 hate1 or hunger1 is to produce on the screen a series of misplaced figures of the order ,frankenstein4 ,how often we have been horrified by these galvanized and ogling corpses4 ,these are the things that cause the outcry for more censors4 ,it is not that our moral codes are insulted1 but what is far worse1 our nervous systems are temporarily racked to pieces4 ,these wriggling half-dead men1 these over-bloody burglars1 are public nuisances1 no worse and no better than dead cats being hurled about by street urchins4 ,the cry for more censors is but the cry for the man with the broom4 ,sometimes it is a matter as simple as when a child is scratching with a pin on a slate4 ,while one would not have the child locked up by the chief of police1 after five minutes of it almost every one wants to smack him till his little jaws ache4 ,it is the very cold-bloodedness of the proceeding that ruins our kindness of heart4 ,and the best ,action ,film is impersonal and unsympathetic even if it has no scratching pins4 ,because it is cold-blooded it must take extra pains to be tactful4 ,cold-blooded means that the hero as we see him on the screen is a variety of amiable or violent ghost4 ,nothing makes his lack of human charm plainer than when we as audience enter the theatre at the middle of what purports to be the most passionate of scenes when the goal of the chase is unknown to us and the alleged situation appeals on its magnetic merits4 ,here is neither the psychic telepathy of ,forbes ,robertson's ,caesar1 nor the fire-breath of ,e4,h4 ,sothern's ,don ,quixote4 ,the audience is not worked up into the deadly still mob-unity of the speaking theatre4 ,we late comers wait for the whole reel to start over and the goal to be indicated in the preliminary1 before we can get the least bit wrought up4 ,the prize may be a lady's heart1 the restoration of a lost reputation1 or the ownership of the patent for a churn4 ,in the more effective ,action ,plays it is often what would be secondary on the stage1 the recovery of a certain glove1 spade1 bull-calf1 or rock-quarry4 ,and to begin1 we are shown a clean-cut picture of said glove1 spade1 bull-calf1 or rock-quarry4 ,then when these disappear from ownership or sight1 the suspense continues till they are again visible on the screen in the hands of the rightful owner4 ,in brief1 the actors hurry through what would be tremendous passions on the stage to recover something that can be really photographed4 ,for instance1 there came to our town long ago a film of a fight between ,federals and ,confederates1 with the loss of many lives1 all for the recapture of a steam-engine that took on more personality in the end than private or general on either side1 alive or dead4 ,it was based on the history of the very engine photographed1 or else that engine was given in replica4 ,the old locomotive was full of character and humor amidst the tragedy1 leaking steam at every orifice4 ,the original is in one of the ,southern ,civil ,war museums4 ,this engine in its capacity as a principal actor is going to be referred to more than several times in this work4 ,the highest type of ,action ,picture gives us neither the quality of ,macbeth or ,henry ,fifth1 the ,comedy of ,errors1 or the ,taming of the ,shrew4 ,it gives us rather that fine and special quality that was in the ink-bottle of ,robert ,louis ,stevenson1 that brought about the limitations and the nobility of the stories of ,kidnapped1 ,treasure ,island1 and the ,new ,arabian ,nights4 ,this discussion will be resumed on another plane in the eighth chapter3 ,sculpture-in-,motion4 ,having read thus far1 why not close the book and go round the corner to a photoplay theatre8 ,give the preference to the cheapest one4 ,the ,action ,picture will be inevitable4 ,since this chapter was written1 ,charlie ,chaplin and ,douglas ,fairbanks have given complete department store examples of the method1 especially ,chaplin in the brilliantly constructed ,shoulder ,arms1 and ,fairbanks in his one great piece of acting1 in ,the ,three ,musketeers4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,intimate ,,photoplay ,let us take for our platform this sentence3 ,,the ,,motion ,,picture ,,art ,,is ,a ,,great ,,high ,,art1 ,,not ,a ,,process ,,of ,,commercial ,,manufacture4 ,the people ,i hope to convince of this are 7#a7 ,the great art museums of ,america1 including the people who support them in any way1 the people who give the current exhibitions there or attend them1 the art school students in the corridors below coming on in the same field2 7#b7 the departments of ,english1 of the history of the drama1 of the practice of the drama1 and the history and practice of art in that amazingly long list of our colleges and universities--to be found1 for instance1 in the ,world ,almanac2 7#c7 the critical and literary world generally4 ,somewhere in this enormous field1 piled with endowments mountain high1 it should be possible to establish the theory and practice of the photoplay as a fine art4 ,readers who do not care for the history of any art1 readers who have neither curiosity nor aspiration in regard to any of the ten or eleven muses who now dance around ,apollo1 such shabby readers had best lay the book down now4 ,shabby readers do not like great issues4 ,my poor little sermon is concerned with a great issue1 the clearing of the way for a critical standard1 whereby the ultimate photoplay may be judged4 ,i cannot teach office-boys ways to make quick money in the movies4 ,that seems to be the delicately implied purpose of the mass of books on the photoplay subject4 ,they are1 indeed1 a sickening array4 ,freeburg's book is one of the noble exceptions4 ,and ,i have paid tribute elsewhere to ,john ,emerson and ,anita ,loos4 ,they have written a crusading book1 and many crusading articles4 ,after five years of exceedingly lonely art study1 in which ,i had always specialized in museum exhibits1 prowling around like a lost dog1 ,i began to intensify my museum study1 and at the same time shout about what ,i was discovering4 ,from nineteen hundred and five on ,i did orate my opinions to a group of advanced students4 ,we assembled weekly for several winters in the ,metropolitan ,museum1 ,new ,york1 for the discussion of the masterpieces in historic order1 from ,egypt to ,america4 ,from that standpoint1 the work least often found1 hardest to make1 least popular in the street1 may be in the end the one most treasured in a world-museum as a counsellor and stimulus of mankind4 ,throughout this book ,i try to bring to bear the same simple standards of form1 composition1 mood1 and motive that we used in finding the fundamental exhibits2 the standards which are taken for granted in art histories and schools1 radical or conservative1 anywhere4 ,again we assume it is eight o'clock in the evening1 friend reader1 when the chapter begins4 ,just as the ,action ,picture has its photographic basis or fundamental metaphor in the long chase down the highway1 so the ,intimate ,film has its photographic basis in the fact that any photoplay interior has a very small ground plan1 and the cosiest of enclosing walls4 ,many a worth-while scene is acted out in a space no bigger than that which is occupied by an office boy's stool and hat4 ,if there is a table in this room1 it is often so near it is half out of the picture or perhaps it is against the front line of the triangular ground-plan4 ,only the top of the table is seen1 and nothing close up to us is pictured below that4 ,we in the audience are privileged characters4 ,generally attending the show in bunches of two or three1 we are members of the household on the screen4 ,sometimes we are sitting on the near side of the family board4 ,or we are gossiping whispering neighbors1 of the shoemaker1 we will say1 with our noses pressed against the pane of a metaphoric window4 ,take for contrast the old-fashioned stage production showing the room and work table of a shoemaker4 ,as it were the whole side of the house has been removed4 ,the shop is as big as a banquet hall4 ,there is something essentially false in what we see1 no matter how the stage manager fills in with old boxes1 broken chairs1 and the like4 ,but the photoplay interior is the size such a work-room should be4 ,and there the awl and pegs and bits of leather1 speaking the silent language of picture writing1 can be clearly shown4 ,they are sometimes like the engine in chapter two1 the principal actors4 ,though the ,intimate-and-friendly ,photoplay may be carried out of doors to the row of loafers in front of the country store1 or the gossiping streets of the village1 it takes its origin and theory from the snugness of the interior4 ,the restless reader replies that he has seen photoplays that showed ballrooms that were grandiose1 not the least cosy4 ,these are to be classed as out-of-door scenery so far as theory goes1 and are to be discussed under the head of ,splendor ,pictures4 ,masses of human beings pour by like waves1 the personalities of none made plain4 ,the only definite people are the hero and heroine in the foreground1 and maybe one other4 ,though these three be in ball-costume1 the little triangle they occupy next to the camera is in sort an interior1 while the impersonal guests behind them conform to the pageant principles of out-of-doors1 and the dancers are to the main actor as is the wind-shaken forest to the charcoal-burner1 or the bending grain to the reaper4 ,the ,intimate ,motion ,picture is the world's new medium for studying1 not the great passions1 such as black hate1 transcendent love1 devouring ambition1 but rather the half relaxed or gently restrained moods of human creatures4 ,it gives also our idiosyncrasies4 ,it is gossip in extremis4 ,it is apt to chronicle our petty little skirmishes1 rather than our feuds4 ,in it ,colin ,clout and his comrades return4 ,the ,intimate ,photoplay should not crowd its characters4 ,it should not choke itself trying to dramatize the whole big bloody plot of ,lorna ,doone1 or any other novel with a dozen leading people4 ,yet some gentle episode from the ,john ,ridd farm1 some half-chapter when ,lorna and the ,doones are almost forgotten1 would be fitting4 ,let the duck-yard be parading its best1 and ,annie among the milk-pails1 her work for the evening well nigh done4 ,the ,vicar of ,wakefield has his place in this form4 ,the ,intimate-and-friendly ,motion ,picture might very well give humorous moments in the lives of the great1 ,king ,alfred burning the cakes1 and other legendary incidents of him4 ,plato's writings give us glimpses of ,socrates1 in between the long dialogues4 ,and there are intimate scraps in ,plutarch4 ,prospective author-producer1 do you remember ,landor's ,imaginary ,conversations1 and ,lang's ,letters to ,dead ,authors8 ,can you not attain to that informal understanding in pictorial delineations of such people8 ,the photoplay has been unjust to itself in comedies4 ,the late ,john ,bunny's important place in my memory comes from the first picture in which ,i saw him4 ,it is a story of high life below stairs4 ,the hero is the butler at a governor's reception4 ,john ,bunny's work as this man is a delightful piece of acting4 ,the servants are growing tipsier downstairs1 but the more afraid of the chief functionary every time he appears1 frozen into sobriety by his glance4 ,at the last moment this god of the basement catches them at their worst and gives them a condescending but forgiving smile4 ,the lid comes off completely4 ,he himself has been imbibing4 ,his surviving dignity in waiting on the governor's guests is worthy of the stage of ,goldsmith and ,sheridan4 ,this film should be reissued in time as a ,bunny memorial4 ,so far as my experience has gone1 the best of the comedians is ,sidney ,drew4 ,he could shine in the atmosphere of ,pride and ,prejudice or ,cranford4 ,but the best things ,i have seen of his are far from such4 ,i beg the pardon of ,miss ,jane ,austen and ,mrs4 ,gaskell while ,i mention ,who's ,who in ,hogg's ,hollow1 and ,a ,regiment of ,two4 ,over these ,i rejoiced like a yokel with a pocketful of butterscotch and peanuts4 ,the opportunities to laugh on a higher plane than this1 to laugh like ,olympians1 are seldom given us in this world4 ,the most successful motion picture drama of the intimate type ever placed before mine eyes was ,enoch ,arden1 produced by ,cabanne4 ,lillian ,gish takes the part of ,annie1 ,alfred ,paget impersonates ,enoch ,arden1 and ,wallace ,reid takes the part of ,philip ,ray4 ,the play is in four reels of twenty minutes each4 ,it should have been made into three reels by shortening every scene just a bit4 ,otherwise it is satisfying1 and ,i and my friends have watched it through many times as it has returned to ,springfield4 ,the mood of the original poem is approximated4 ,the story is told with fireside friendliness4 ,the pale ,lillian ,gish surrounded by happy children gives us many a genre painting on the theme of domesticity4 ,it is a photographic rendering in many ways as fastidious as ,tennyson's versification4 ,the scenes on the desert island are some of them commonplace4 ,the shipwreck and the like remind one of other photoplays1 but the rest of the production has a mood of its own4 ,seen several months ago it fills my eye-imagination and eye-memory more than that particular piece of ,tennyson's fills word-imagination and word-memory4 ,perhaps this is because it is pleasing to me as a theorist4 ,it is a sound example of the type of film to which this chapter is devoted4 ,if you cannot get your local manager to bring ,enoch ,arden1 reread that poem of ,tennyson's and translate it in your own mind's eye into a gallery of six hundred delicately toned photographs hung in logical order1 most of them cosy interior scenes1 some of the faces five feet from chin to forehead in the more personal episodes1 yet exquisitely fair4 ,fill in the out-of-door scenes and general gatherings with the appointments of an idyllic ,english fisher-village1 and you will get an approximate conception of what we mean by the ,intimate-and-friendly ,motion ,picture1 or the ,intimate ,picture1 as ,i generally call it1 for convenience4 ,it is a quality1 not a defect1 of all photoplays that human beings tend to become dolls and mechanisms1 and dolls and mechanisms tend to become human4 ,but the haughty1 who scorn the moving pictures1 cannot rid themselves of the feeling that they are being seduced into going into some sort of a ,punch-and-,judy show4 ,and they think that of course one should not take seriously anything so cheap in price and so appealing to the cross-roads taste4 ,but it is very well to begin in the ,punch-and-,judy-show state of mind1 and reconcile ourselves to it1 and then like good democrats await discoveries4 ,punch and ,judy is the simplest form of marionette performance1 and the marionette has a place in every street in history just as the dolls' house has its corner in every palace and cottage4 ,the ,french in particular have had their great periods of puppet shows2 and the ,italian tradition survived in ,america's ,little ,italy1 in ,new ,york for many a day2 and ,i will mention in passing that one of ,pavlowa's unforgettable dance dramas is ,the ,fairy ,doll4 ,prospective author-producer1 why not spend a deal of energy on the photoplay successors of the puppet-plays8 ,we have the queen of the marionettes already1 without the play4 ,one description of the ,intimate-and-friendly ,comedy would be the ,mary ,pickford kind of a story4 ,none has as yet appeared4 ,but we know the ,mary ,pickford mood4 ,when it is gentlest1 most roguish1 most exalted1 it is a prophecy of what this type should be1 not only in the actress1 but in the scenario and setting4 ,mary ,pickford can be a doll1 a village belle1 or a church angel4 ,her powers as a doll are hinted at in the title of the production3 ,such a ,little ,queen4 ,i remember her when she was a village belle in that film that came out before producers or actors were known by name4 ,it was sugar-sweet4 ,it was called3 ,what the ,daisy ,said4 ,if these productions had conformed to their titles sincerely1 with the highest photoplay art we would have had two more examples for this chapter4 ,why do the people love ,mary8 ,not on account of the ,daniel ,frohman style of handling her appearances4 ,he presents her to us in what are almost the old-fashioned stage terms3 the productions energetic and full of painstaking detail but dominated by a dream that is a theatrical hybrid4 ,it is neither good moving picture nor good stage play4 ,yet ,mary could be cast as a cloudy ,olympian or a church angel if her managers wanted her to be such4 ,she herself was transfigured in the ,dawn of ,tomorrow1 but the film-version of that play was merely a well mounted melodrama4 ,why do the people love ,mary8 ,because of a certain aspect of her face in her highest mood4 ,botticelli painted her portrait many centuries ago when by some necromancy she appeared to him in this phase of herself4 ,there is in the ,chicago ,art ,institute at the top of the stairs on the north wall a noble copy of a fresco by that painter1 the copy by ,mrs4 ,mac,monnies4 ,it is very near the ,winged ,victory of ,samothrace4 ,in the picture the muses sit enthroned4 ,the loveliest of them all is a startling replica of ,mary4 ,the people are hungry for this fine and spiritual thing that ,botticelli painted in the faces of his muses and heavenly creatures4 ,because the mob catch the very glimpse of it in ,mary's face1 they follow her night after night in the films4 ,they are never quite satisfied with the plays1 because the managers are not artists enough to know they should sometimes put her into sacred pictures and not have her always the village hoyden1 in plays not even hoydenish4 ,but perhaps in this argument ,i have but betrayed myself as ,mary's infatuated partisan4 ,so let there be recorded here the name of another actress who is always in the intimate-and-friendly mood and adapted to close-up interiors1 ,marguerite ,clark4 ,she is endowed by nature to act1 in the same film1 the eight-year-old village pet1 the irrepressible sixteen-year-old1 and finally the shining bride of twenty4 ,but no production in which she acts that has happened to come under my eye has done justice to these possibilities4 ,the transitions from one of these stages to the other are not marked by the producer with sufficient delicate graduation1 emphasis1 and contrast4 ,her plots have been but sugared nonsense1 or swashbuckling ups and downs4 ,she shines in a bevy of girls4 ,she has sometimes been given the bevy4 ,but it is easier to find performers who fit this chapter1 than to find films4 ,having read so far1 it is probably not quite nine o'clock in the evening4 ,go around the corner to the nearest theatre4 ,you will not be apt to find a pure example of the ,intimate-and-friendly ,moving ,picture1 but some one or two scenes will make plain the intent of the phrase4 ,imagine the most winsome tableau that passes before you1 extended logically through one or three reels1 with no melodramatic interruptions or awful smashes4 ,for a further discussion of these smashes1 and other items in this chapter1 read the ninth chapter1 entitled ,painting-in-,motion4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,motion ,,picture ,,of ,,fairy ,,splendor ,again1 kind reader1 let us assume it is eight o'clock in the evening1 for purposes of future climax which you no doubt anticipate4 ,just as the ,action ,motion ,picture has its photographic basis in the race down the high-road1 just as the ,intimate ,motion ,picture has its photographic basis in the close-up interior scene1 so the ,photoplay of ,splendor1 in its four forms1 is based on the fact that the kinetoscope can take in the most varied of out-of-door landscapes4 ,it can reproduce fairy dells4 ,it can give every ripple of the lily-pond4 ,it can show us cathedrals within and without4 ,it can take in the panorama of cyclopaean cloud1 bending forest1 storm-hung mountain4 ,in like manner it can put on the screen great impersonal mobs of men4 ,it can give us tremendous armies1 moving as oceans move4 ,the pictures of ,fairy ,splendor1 ,crowd ,splendor1 ,patriotic ,splendor1 and ,religious ,splendor are but the embodiments of these backgrounds4 ,and a photographic corollary quite useful in these four forms is that the camera has a kind of ,hallowe'en witch-power4 ,this power is the subject of this chapter4 ,the world-old legends and revelations of men in connection with the lovely out of doors1 or lonely shrines1 or derived from inspired crusading humanity moving in masses1 can now be fitly retold4 ,also the fairy wand can do its work1 the little dryad can come from the tree4 ,and the spirits that guard the ,republic can be seen walking on the clouds above the harvest-fields4 ,but we are concerned with the humblest voodooism at present4 ,perhaps the world's oldest motion picture plot is a tale in ,mother ,goose4 ,it ends somewhat in this fashion3-- ,the old lady said to the cat3-- ,cat1 cat1 kill rat4 ,rat will not gnaw rope1 ,rope will not hang butcher1 ,butcher will not kill ox1 ,ox will not drink water1 ,water will not quench fire1 ,fire will not burn stick1 ,stick will not beat dog1 ,dog will not bite pig1 ,pig will not jump over the stile1 ,and ,i cannot get home to-night4 ,by some means the present writer does not remember1 the cat was persuaded to approach the rat4 ,the rest was like a tale of ,european diplomacy3-- ,the rat began to gnaw the rope1 ,the rope began to hang the butcher1 ,the butcher began to kill the ox1 ,the ox began to drink the water1 ,the water began to quench the fire1 ,the fire began to burn the stick1 ,the stick began to beat the dog1 ,the dog began to bite the pig1 ,the frightened little pig jumped over the stile1 ,and the old lady was able to get home that night4 ,put yourself back to the state of mind in which you enjoyed this bit of verse4 ,though the photoplay fairy-tale may rise to exquisite heights1 it begins with pictures akin to this rhyme4 ,mankind in his childhood has always wanted his furniture to do such things4 ,arthur names his blade ,excalibur4 ,it becomes a person4 ,the man in the ,arabian tale speaks to the magic carpet4 ,it carries him whithersoever he desires4 ,this yearning for personality in furniture begins to be crudely worked upon in the so-called trick-scenes4 ,the typical commercialized comedy of this sort is ,moving ,day4 ,lyman ,h4 ,howe1 among many excellent reels of a different kind1 has films allied to ,moving ,day4 ,but let us examine at this point1 as even more typical1 an old ,pathe ,film from ,france4 ,the representatives of the moving-firm are sent for4 ,they appear in the middle of the room with an astonishing jump4 ,they are told that this household desires to have its goods and hearthstone gods transplanted two streets east4 ,the agents salute4 ,they disappear4 ,yet their wireless orders are obeyed with a military crispness4 ,the books and newspapers climb out of the window4 ,they go soberly down the street4 ,in their wake are the dishes from the table4 ,then the more delicate porcelains climb down the shelves and follow4 ,then follow the hobble-de-hoy kitchen dishes1 then the chairs1 then the clothing1 and the carpets from over the house4 ,the most joyous and curious spectacle is to behold the shoes walking down the boulevard1 from father's large boots to those of the youngest child4 ,they form a complete satire of the family1 yet have a masterful air of their own1 as though they were the most important part of a human being4 ,the new apartment is shown4 ,everything enters in procession4 ,in contrast to the general certainty of the rest1 one or two pieces of furniture grow confused trying to find their places4 ,a plate1 in leaping upon a high shelf1 misses and falls broken4 ,the broom and dustpan sweep up the pieces1 and consign them to the dustbin4 ,then the human family comes in1 delighted to find everything in order4 ,the moving agents appear and salute4 ,they are paid their fee4 ,they salute again and disappear with another gigantic leap4 ,the ability to do this kind of a thing is fundamental in the destinies of the art4 ,yet this resource is neglected because its special province is not understood4 ,people do not like to be tricked1 the manager says4 ,certainly they become tired of mere contraptions4 ,but they never grow weary of imagination4 ,there is possible many a highly imaginative fairy-tale on this basis if we revert to the sound principles of the story of the old lady and the pig4 ,moving ,day is at present too crassly material4 ,it has not the touch of the creative imagination4 ,we are overwhelmed with a whole van of furniture4 ,now the mechanical or non-human object1 beginning with the engine in the second chapter1 is apt to be the hero in most any sort of photoplay while the producer remains utterly unconscious of the fact4 ,why not face this idiosyncrasy of the camera and make the non-human object the hero indeed8 ,not by filling the story with ropes1 buckets1 fire-brands1 and sticks1 but by having these four unique4 ,make the fire the loveliest of torches1 the water the most graceful of springs4 ,let the rope be the humorist4 ,let the stick be the outstanding hero1 the ,d',artagnan of the group1 full of queer gestures and hoppings about4 ,let him be both polite and obdurate4 ,finally let him beat the dog most heroically4 99 99 99 99 99 ,then1 after the purely trick-picture is disciplined till it has fewer tricks1 and those more human and yet more fanciful1 the producer can move on up into the higher realms of the fairy-tale1 carrying with him this riper workmanship4 ,mabel ,taliaferro's ,cinderella1 seen long ago1 is the best film fairy-tale the present writer remembers4 ,it has more of the fireside wonder-spirit and ,hallowe'en-witch-spirit than the ,cinderella of ,mary ,pickford4 ,there is a ,japanese actor1 ,sessue ,hayakawa1 who takes the leading part with ,blanche ,sweet in ,the ,clew1 and is the hero in the film version of ,the ,typhoon4 ,he looks like all the actors in the old ,japanese prints4 ,he has a general dramatic equipment which enables him to force through the stubborn screen such stagy plays as these1 that are more worth while in the speaking theatre4 ,but he has that atmosphere of pictorial romance which would make him a valuable man for the retelling of the old ,japanese legends of ,kwannon and other tales that are rich1 unused moving picture material1 tales such as have been hinted at in the gleaming ,english of ,lafcadio ,hearn4 ,the ,japanese genius is eminently pictorial4 ,rightly viewed1 every ,japanese screen or bit of lacquer is from the ,ancient ,asia ,columbus set sail to find4 ,it would be a noble thing if ,american experts in the ,japanese principles of decoration1 of the school of ,arthur ,w4 ,dow1 should tell stories of old ,japan with the assistance of such men as ,sessue ,hayakawa4 ,such things go further than peace treaties4 ,dooming a talent like that of ,mr4 ,hayakawa to the task of interpreting the ,japanese spy does not conduce to accord with ,japan1 however the technique may move us to admiration4 ,let such of us as are at peace get together1 and tell the tales of our happy childhood to one another4 ,this chapter is ended4 ,you will of course expect to be exhorted to visit some photoplay emporium4 ,but you need not look for fairy-tales4 ,they are much harder to find than they should be4 ,but you can observe even in the advertisements and cartoons the technical elements of the story of the old lady and the pig4 ,and you can note several other things that show how much more quickly than on the stage the borderline of ,all ,saints' ,day and ,hallowe'en can be crossed4 ,note how easily memories are called up1 and appear in the midst of the room4 ,in any plays whatever1 you will find these apparitions and recollections4 ,the dullest hero is given glorious visualizing power4 ,note the fadeaway at the beginning and the end of the reel1 whereby all things emerge from the twilight and sink back into the twilight at last4 ,these are some of the indestructible least common denominators of folk stories old and new4 ,when skilfully used1 they can all exercise a power over the audience1 such as the crystal has over the crystal-gazer4 ,but this discussion will be resumed1 on another plane1 in the tenth chapter3 ,furniture1 ,trappings1 and ,inventions in ,motion4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,picture ,,of ,,crowd ,,splendor ,henceforth the reader will use his discretion as to when he will read the chapter and when he will go to the picture show to verify it4 ,the shoddiest silent drama may contain noble views of the sea4 ,this part is almost sure to be good4 ,it is a fundamental resource4 ,a special development of this aptitude in the hands of an expert gives the sea of humanity1 not metaphorically but literally3 the whirling of dancers in ballrooms1 handkerchief-waving masses of people in balconies1 hat-waving political ratification meetings1 ragged glowering strikers1 and gossiping1 dickering people in the marketplace4 ,only ,griffith and his close disciples can do these as well as almost any manager can reproduce the ocean4 ,yet the sea of humanity is dramatically blood-brother to the ,pacific1 ,atlantic1 or ,mediterranean4 ,it takes this new invention1 the kinetoscope1 to bring us these panoramic drama-elements4 ,by the law of compensation1 while the motion picture is shallow in showing private passion1 it is powerful in conveying the passions of masses of men4 ,bernard ,shaw1 in a recent number of the ,metropolitan1 answered several questions in regard to the photoplay4 ,here are two bits from his discourse3-- ,strike the dialogue from ,moliere's ,tartuffe1 and what audience would bear its mere stage-business8 ,imagine the scene in which ,iago poisons ,othello's mind against ,desdemona1 conveyed in dumb show4 ,what becomes of the difference between ,shakespeare and ,sheridan ,knowles in the film8 ,or between ,shakespeare's ,lear and any one else's ,lear8 ,no1 it seems to me that all the interest lies in the new opening for the mass of dramatic talent formerly disabled by incidental deficiencies of one sort or another that do not matter in the picture-theatre4444 ,failures of the spoken drama may become the stars of the picture palace4 ,and there are the authors with imagination1 visualization and first-rate verbal gifts who can write novels and epics1 but cannot for the life of them write plays4 ,well1 the film lends itself admirably to the succession of events proper to narrative and epic1 but physically impracticable on the stage4 ,paradise ,lost would make a far better film than ,ibsen's ,john ,gabriel ,borkman1 though ,borkman is a dramatic masterpiece1 and ,milton could not write an effective play4 ,note in especial what ,shaw says about narrative1 epic1 and ,paradise ,lost4 ,he has in mind1 no doubt1 the pouring hosts of demons and angels4 ,this is one kind of a ,crowd ,picture4 ,there is another sort to be seen where ,george ,beban impersonates ,the ,italian in a film of that title1 by ,thomas ,h4 ,ince and ,g4 ,gardener ,sullivan4 ,the first part1 taken ostensibly in ,venice1 delineates the festival spirit of the people on the bridges and in gondolas4 ,it gives out the atmosphere of town-crowd happiness4 ,then comes the vineyard1 the crowd sentiment of a merry grape-harvest1 then the massed emotion of many people embarking on an ,atlantic liner telling good-by to their kindred on the piers1 then the drama of arrival in ,new ,york4 ,the wonder of the steerage people pouring down their proper gangway is contrasted with the conventional at-home-ness of the first-class passengers above4 ,then we behold the seething human cauldron of the ,east ,side1 then the jolly little wedding-dance1 then the life of the ,east ,side1 from the policeman to the peanut-man1 and including the bar tender1 for the crowd is treated on two separate occasions4 ,it is hot weather4 ,the mobs of children follow the ice-wagon for chips of ice4 ,they besiege the fountain-end of the street-sprinkling wagon quite closely1 rejoicing to have their clothes soaked4 ,they gather round the fire-plug that is turned on for their benefit1 and again become wet as drowned rats4 ,passing through these crowds are ,george ,beban and ,clara ,williams as ,the ,italian and his sweetheart4 ,they owe the force of their acting to the fact that they express each mass of humanity in turn4 ,their child is born4 ,it does not flourish4 ,it represents in an acuter way another phase of the same child-struggle with the heat that the gamins indicate in their pursuit of the water-cart4 ,then a deeper matter4 ,the hero represents in a fashion the adventures of the whole ,italian race coming to ,america3 its natural southern gayety set in contrast to the drab ,east ,side4 ,the gondolier becomes boot-black4 ,the grape-gathering peasant girl becomes the suffering slum mother4 ,they are not specialized characters like ,pendennis or ,becky ,sharp in the ,novels of ,thackeray4 ,omitting the last episode1 the entrance into the house of ,corrigan1 ,the ,italian is a strong piece of work4 ,another kind of ,crowd ,picture is ,the ,battle1 an old ,griffith ,biograph1 first issued in #aiaa1 before ,griffith's name or that of any actor in films was advertised4 ,blanche ,sweet is the leading lady1 and ,charles ,h4 ,west the leading man4 ,the psychology of a bevy of village lovers is conveyed in a lively sweet-hearting dance4 ,then the boy and his comrades go forth to war4 ,the lines pass between hand-waving crowds of friends from the entire neighborhood4 ,these friends give the sense of patriotism in mass4 ,then as the consequence of this feeling1 as the special agents to express it1 the soldiers are in battle4 ,by the fortunes of war the onset is unexpectedly near to the house where once was the dance4 ,the boy is at first a coward4 ,he enters the old familiar door4 ,he appeals to the girl to hide him1 and for the time breaks her heart4 ,he goes forth a fugitive not only from battle1 but from her terrible girlish anger4 ,but later he rallies4 ,he brings a train of powder wagons through fires built in his path by the enemy's scouts4 ,he loses every one of his men1 and all but the last wagon1 which he drives himself4 ,his return with that ammunition saves the hard-fought day4 ,and through all this1 glimpses of the battle are given with a splendor that only ,griffith has attained4 ,blanche ,sweet stands as the representative of the bevy of girls in the house of the dance1 and the whole body social of the village4 ,how the costumes flash and the handkerchiefs wave around her6 ,in the battle the hero represents the cowardice that all the men are resisting within themselves4 ,when he returns1 he is the incarnation of the hardihood they have all hoped to display4 ,only the girl knows he was first a failure4 ,the wounded general honors him as the hero above all4 ,now she is radiant1 she cannot help but be triumphant1 though the side of the house is blown out by a shell and the dying are everywhere4 ,this one-reel work of art has been reissued of late by the ,biograph ,company4 ,it should be kept in the libraries of the ,universities as a standard4 ,one-reel films are unfortunate in this sense that in order to see a favorite the student must wait through five other reels of a mixed programme that usually is bad4 ,that is the reason one-reel masterpieces seldom appear now4 ,the producer in a mood to make a special effort wants to feel that he has the entire evening1 and that nothing before or after is going to be a bore or destroy the impression4 ,so at present the painstaking films are apt to be five or six reels of twenty minutes each4 ,these have the advantage that if they please at all1 one can see them again at once without sitting through irrelevant slapstick work put there to fill out the time4 ,but now1 having the whole evening to work in1 the producer takes too much time for his good ideas4 ,i shall reiterate throughout this work the necessity for restraint4 ,a one hour programme is long enough for any one4 ,if the observer is pleased1 he will sit it through again and take another hour4 ,there is not a good film in the world but is the better for being seen in immediate succession to itself4 ,six-reel programmes are a weariness to the flesh4 ,the best of the old one-reel ,biographs of ,griffith contained more in twenty minutes than these ambitious incontinent six-reel displays give us in two hours4 ,it would pay a manager to hang out a sign3 ,this show is only twenty minutes long1 but it is ,griffith's great film ',the ,battle4' ,but ,i am digressing4 ,to continue the contrast between private passion in the theatre and crowd-passion in the photoplay1 let us turn to ,shaw again4 ,consider his illustration of ,iago1 ,othello1 and ,lear4 ,these parts1 as he implies1 would fall flat in motion pictures4 ,the minor situations of dramatic intensity might in many cases be built up4 ,the crisis would inevitably fail4 ,iago and ,othello and ,lear1 whatever their offices in their governments1 are essentially private persons1 individuals in extremis4 ,if you go to a motion picture and feel yourself suddenly gripped by the highest dramatic tension1 as on the old stage1 and reflect afterward that it was a fight between only two or three men in a room otherwise empty1 stop to analyze what they stood for4 ,they were probably representatives of groups or races that had been pursuing each other earlier in the film4 ,otherwise the conflict1 however violent1 appealed mainly to the sense of speed4 ,so1 in ,the ,birth of a ,nation1 which could better be called ,the ,overthrow of ,negro ,rule1 the ,ku ,klux ,klan dashes down the road as powerfully as ,niagara pours over the cliff4 ,finally the white girl ,elsie ,stoneman 7impersonated by ,lillian ,gish7 is rescued by the ,ku ,klux ,klan from the mulatto politician1 ,silas ,lynch 7impersonated by ,george ,seigmann74 ,the lady is brought forward as a typical helpless white maiden4 ,the white leader1 ,col4 ,ben ,cameron 7impersonated by ,henry ,b4 ,walthall71 enters not as an individual1 but as representing the whole ,anglo-,saxon ,niagara4 ,he has the mask of the ,ku ,klux ,klan on his face till the crisis has passed4 ,the wrath of the ,southerner against the blacks and their ,northern organizers has been piled up through many previous scenes4 ,as a result this rescue is a real climax1 something the photoplays that trace strictly personal hatreds cannot achieve4 ,the ,birth of a ,nation is a ,crowd ,picture in a triple sense4 ,on the films1 as in the audience1 it turns the crowd into a mob that is either for or against the ,reverend ,thomas ,dixon's poisonous hatred of the negro4 ,griffith is a chameleon in interpreting his authors4 ,wherever the scenario shows traces of ,the ,clansman1 the original book1 by ,thomas ,dixon1 it is bad4 ,wherever it is unadulterated ,griffith1 which is half the time1 it is good4 ,the ,reverend ,thomas ,dixon is a rather stagy ,simon ,legree3 in his avowed views a deal like the gentleman with the spiritual hydrophobia in the latter end of ,uncle ,tom's ,cabin4 ,unconsciously ,mr4 ,dixon has done his best to prove that ,legree was not a fictitious character4 99 99 99 99 99 ,joel ,chandler ,harris1 ,harry ,stillwell ,edwards1 ,george ,w4 ,cable1 ,thomas ,nelson ,page1 ,james ,lane ,allen1 and ,mark ,twain are ,southern men in ,mr4 ,griffith's class4 ,i recommend their works to him as a better basis for future ,southern scenarios4 ,the ,birth of a ,nation has been very properly denounced for its ,simon ,legree qualities by ,francis ,hackett1 ,jane ,addams1 and others4 ,but it is still true that it is a wonder in its ,griffith sections4 ,in its handling of masses of men it further illustrates the principles that made notable the old one-reel ,battle film described in the beginning of this chapter4 ,the ,battle in the end is greater1 because of its self-possession and concentration3 all packed into twenty minutes4 ,when1 in ,the ,birth of a ,nation1 ,lincoln 7impersonated by ,joseph ,henabery7 goes down before the assassin1 it is a master-scene4 ,he falls as the representative of the government and a thousand high and noble crowd aspirations4 ,the mimic audience in the restored ,ford's ,theatre rises in panic4 ,this crowd is interpreted in especial for us by the two young people in the seats nearest1 and the freezing horror of the treason sweeps from the ,ford's ,theatre audience to the real audience beyond them4 ,the real crowd touched with terror beholds its natural face in the glass4 ,later come the pictures of the rioting negroes in the streets of the ,southern town1 mobs splendidly handled1 tossing wildly and rhythmically like the sea4 ,then is delineated the rise of the ,ku ,klux ,klan1 of which we have already spoken4 ,for comment on the musical accompaniment to ,the ,birth of a ,nation1 read the fourteenth chapter entitled ,the ,orchestra1 ,conversation and the ,censorship4 ,in the future development of motion pictures mob-movements of anger and joy will go through fanatical and provincial whirlwinds into great national movements of anger and joy4 ,a book by ,gerald ,stanley ,lee that has a score of future scenarios in it1 a book that might well be dipped into by the reader before he goes to such a play as ,the ,italian or ,the ,battle1 is the work which bears the title of this chapter3 ,crowds4 ,mr4 ,lee is far from infallible in his remedies for factory and industrial relations4 ,but in sensitiveness to the flowing street of humanity he is indeed a man4 ,listen to the names of some of the divisions of his book3 ,crowds and ,machines2 ,letting the ,crowds be ,good2 ,letting the ,crowds be ,beautiful2 ,crowds and ,heroes2 ,where are we ,going8 ,the ,crowd ,scare2 ,the ,strike1 an ,invention for making ,crowds ,think2 ,the ,crowd's ,imagination about ,people2 ,speaking as ,one of the ,crowd2 ,touching the ,imagination of ,crowds4 ,films in the spirit of these titles would help to make world-voters of us all4 ,the ,world ,state is indeed far away4 ,but as we peer into the ,mirror ,screen some of us dare to look forward to the time when the pouring streets of men will become sacred in each other's eyes1 in pictures and in fact4 ,a further discussion of this theme on other planes will be found in the eleventh chapter1 entitled ,architecture-in-,motion1 and the fifteenth chapter1 entitled ,the ,substitute for the ,saloon4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,patriotic ,,splendor ,the ,patriotic ,picture need not necessarily be in terms of splendor4 ,it generally is4 ,beginning the chronicle is one that waves no banners4 ,the ,typhoon1 a film produced by ,thomas ,h4 ,ince1 is a story of the ,japanese love of ,nippon in which a very little of the landscape of the nation is shown1 and that in the beginning4 ,the hero 7acted by ,sessue ,hayakawa71 living in the heart of ,paris1 represents the far-off ,empire4 ,he is making a secret military report4 ,he is a responsible member of a colony of ,japanese gentlemen4 ,the bevy of them appear before or after his every important action4 ,he still represents this crowd when alone4 ,the unfortunate ,parisian heroine1 unable to fathom the mystery of the fanatical hearts of the colony1 ventures to think that her love for the ,japanese hero and his equally great devotion to her is the important human relation on the horizon4 ,she flouts his obscure work1 pits her charms against it4 ,in the end there is a quarrel4 ,the irresistible meets the immovable1 and in madness or half by accident1 he kills the girl4 ,the youth is protected by the colony1 for he alone can make the report4 ,he is the machine-like representative of the ,japanese patriotic formula1 till the document is complete4 ,a new arrival in the colony1 who obviously cannot write the book1 confesses the murder and is executed4 ,the other high fanatic dies soon after1 of a broken heart1 with the completed manuscript volume in his hand4 ,the one impression of the play is that ,japanese patriotism is a peculiar and fearful thing4 ,the particular quality of the private romance is but vaguely given1 for such things in their rise and culmination can only be traced by the novelist1 or by the gentle alternations of silence and speech on the speaking stage1 aided by the hot blood of players actually before us4 ,here1 as in most photoplays1 the attempted lover-conversations in pantomime are but indifferent things4 ,the details of the hero's last quarrel with the heroine and the precise thoughts that went with it are muffled by the inability to speak4 ,the power of the play is in the adequate style the man represents the colony4 ,sessue ,hayakawa should give us ,japanese tales more adapted to the films4 ,we should have stories of ,iyeyasu and ,hideyoshi1 written from the ground up for the photoplay theatre4 ,we should have the story of the ,forty-seven ,ronin1 not a ,japanese stage version1 but a work from the source-material4 ,we should have legends of the various clans1 picturizations of the code of the ,samurai4 ,the ,typhoon is largely indoors4 ,but the ,patriotic ,motion ,picture is generally a landscape4 ,this is for deeper reasons than that it requires large fields in which to manoeuvre armies4 ,flags are shown for other causes than that they are the nominal signs of a love of the native land4 ,in a comedy of the history of a newspaper1 the very columns of the publication are actors1 and may be photographed oftener than the human hero4 ,and in the higher realms this same tendency gives particular power to the panorama and trappings4 ,it makes the natural and artificial magnificence more than a narrative1 more than a color-scheme1 something other than a drama4 ,in a photoplay by a master1 when the ,american flag is shown1 the thirteen stripes are columns of history and the stars are headlines4 ,the woods and the templed hills are their printing press1 almost in a literal sense4 ,going back to the illustration of the engine1 in chapter two1 the non-human thing is a personality1 even if it is not beautiful4 ,when it takes on the ritual of decorative design1 this new vitality is made seductive1 and when it is an object of nature1 this seductive ritual becomes a new pantheism4 ,the armies upon the mountains they are defending are rooted in the soil like trees4 ,they resist invasion with the same elementary stubbornness with which the oak resists the storm or the cliff resists the wave4 99 99 99 99 99 ,let the reader consider ,antony and ,cleopatra1 the ,cines film4 ,it was brought to ,america from ,italy by ,george ,klein4 ,this and several ambitious spectacles like it are direct violations of the foregoing principles4 ,true1 it glorifies ,rome4 ,it is equivalent to waving the ,italian above the ,egyptian flag1 quite slowly for two hours4 ,from the stage standpoint1 the magnificence is thoroughgoing4 ,viewed as a circus1 the acting is elephantine in its grandeur4 ,all that is needed is pink lemonade sold in the audience4 ,the famous ,cabiria1 a tale of war between ,rome and ,carthage1 by ,d',annunzio1 is a prime example of a success1 where ,antony and ,cleopatra and many ,european films founded upon the classics have been failures4 ,with obvious defects as a producer1 ,d',annunzio appreciates spectacular symbolism4 ,he has an instinct for the strange and the beautifully infernal1 as they are related to decorative design4 ,therefore he is able to show us ,carthage indeed4 ,he has an ,italian patriotism that amounts to frenzy4 ,so ,rome emerges body and soul from the past1 in this spectacle4 ,he gives us the cruelty of ,baal1 the intrepidity of the ,roman legions4 ,everything ,punic or ,italian in the middle distance or massed background speaks of the very genius of the people concerned and actively generates their kind of lightning4 ,the principals do not carry out the momentum of this immense resource4 ,the half a score of leading characters1 with the costumes1 gestures1 and aspects of gods1 are after all works of the taxidermist4 ,they are stuffed gods4 ,they conduct a silly nickelodeon romance while ,carthage rolls on toward her doom4 ,they are like sparrows fighting for grain on the edge of the battle4 ,the doings of his principals are sufficiently evident to be grasped with a word or two of printed insert on the films4 ,but he sentimentalizes about them4 ,he adds side-elaborations of the plot that would require much time to make clear1 and a hard working novelist to make interesting4 ,we are sentenced to stop and gaze long upon this array of printing in the darkness1 just at the moment the tenth wave of glory seems ready to sweep in4 ,but one hundred words cannot be a photoplay climax4 ,the climax must be in a tableau that is to the eye as the rising sun itself1 that follows the thousand flags of the dawn4 ,in the ,new ,york performance1 and presumably in other large cities1 there was also an orchestra4 ,behold then1 one layer of great photoplay1 one layer of bad melodrama1 one layer of explanation1 and a final cement of music4 ,it is as though in an art museum there should be a man at the door selling would-be masterly short-stories about the paintings1 and a man with a violin playing the catalogue4 ,but for further discourse on the orchestra read the fourteenth chapter4 ,i left ,cabiria with mixed emotions4 ,and ,i had to forget the distressful eye-strain4 ,few eyes submit without destruction to three hours of film4 ,but the mistakes of ,cabiria are those of the pioneer work of genius4 ,it has in it twenty great productions4 ,it abounds in suggestions4 ,once the classic rules of this art-unit are established1 men with equal genius with ,d',annunzio and no more devotion1 will give us the world's masterpieces4 ,as it is1 the background and mass-movements must stand as monumental achievements in vital patriotic splendor4 ,d',annunzio is ,griffith's most inspired rival in these things4 ,he lacks ,griffith's knowledge of what is photoplay and what is not4 ,he lacks ,griffith's simplicity of hurdle-race plot4 ,he lacks his avalanche-like action4 ,the ,italian needs the ,american's health and clean winds4 ,he needs his foregrounds1 leading actors1 and types of plot4 ,but the ,american has never gone as deep as the ,italian into landscapes that are their own tragedians1 and into ,satanic and celestial ceremonials4 ,judith of ,bethulia and ,the ,battle ,hymn of the ,republic have impressed me as the two most significant photoplays ,i have ever encountered4 ,they may be classed with equal justice as religious or patriotic productions4 ,but for reasons which will appear1 ,the ,battle ,hymn of the ,republic will be classed as a film of devotion and ,judith as a patriotic one4 ,the latter was produced by ,d4,w4 ,griffith1 and released by the ,biograph ,company in #aiad4 ,the original stage drama was once played by the famous ,boston actress1 ,nance ,o',neil4 ,it is the work of ,thomas ,bailey ,aldrich4 ,the motion picture scenario1 when ,griffith had done with it1 had no especial ,aldrich flavor1 though it contained several of the characters and events as ,aldrich conceived them4 ,it was principally the old apocryphal story plus the genius of ,griffith and that inner circle of players whom he has endowed with much of his point of view4 ,this is his cast of characters3-- ,judith ,blanche ,sweet ,holofernes ,henry ,walthall ,his servant ,j4,j4 ,lance ,captain of the ,guards ,h4 ,hyde ,judith's maid ,miss ,bruce ,general of the ,jews ,c4,h4 ,mailes ,priests ,messrs4 ,oppleman and ,lestina ,nathan ,robert ,harron ,naomi ,mae ,marsh ,keeper of the slaves for ,holofernes ,alfred ,paget ,the ,jewish mother ,lillian ,gish ,the ,biograph ,company advertises the production with the following ,barnum and ,bailey enumeration3 ,in four parts4 ,produced in ,california4 ,most expensive ,biograph ever produced4 ,more than one thousand people and about three hundred horsemen4 ,the following were built expressly for the production3 a replica of the ancient city of ,bethulia2 the mammoth wall that protected ,bethulia2 a faithful reproduction of the ancient army camps1 embodying all their barbaric splendor and dances2 chariots1 battering rams1 scaling ladders1 archer towers1 and other special war paraphernalia of the period4 ,the following spectacular effects3 the storming of the walls of the city of ,bethulia2 the hand-to-hand conflicts2 the death-defying chariot charges at break-neck speed2 the rearing and plunging horses infuriated by the din of battle2 the wonderful camp of the terrible ,holofernes1 equipped with rugs brought from the far ,east2 the dancing girls in their exhibition of the exquisite and peculiar dances of the period2 the routing of the command of the terrible ,holofernes1 and the destruction of the camp by fire4 ,and overshadowing all1 the heroism of the beautiful ,judith4 ,this advertisement should be compared with the notice of ,your ,girl and ,mine transcribed in the seventeenth chapter4 ,but there is another point of view by which this ,judith of ,bethulia production may be approached1 however striking the advertising notice4 ,there are four sorts of scenes alternated3 7#a7 the particular history of ,judith2 7#b7 the gentle courtship of ,nathan and ,naomi1 types of the inhabitants of ,bethulia2 7#c7 pictures of the streets1 with the population flowing like a sluggish river2 7#d7 scenes of raid1 camp1 and battle1 interpolated between these1 tying the whole together4 ,the real plot is the balanced alternation of all the elements4 ,so many minutes of one1 then so many minutes of another4 ,as was proper1 very little of the tale was thrown on the screen in reading matter1 and no climax was ever a printed word1 but always an enthralling tableau4 ,the particular history of ,judith begins with the picture of her as the devout widow4 ,she is austerely garbed1 at prayer for her city1 in her own quiet house4 ,then later she is shown decked for the eyes of man in the camp of ,holofernes1 where all is ,assyrian glory4 ,judith struggles between her unexpected love for the dynamic general and the resolve to destroy him that brought her there4 ,in either type of scene1 the first gray and silver1 the other painted with ,paul ,veronese splendor1 ,judith moves with a delicate deliberation4 ,over her face the emotions play like winds on a meadow lake4 ,holofernes is the composite picture of all the ,biblical heathen chieftains4 ,his every action breathes power4 ,he is an ,assyrian bull1 a winged lion1 and a god at the same time1 and divine honors are paid to him every moment4 ,nathan and ,naomi are two ,arcadian lovers4 ,in their shy meetings they express the life of the normal ,bethulia4 ,they are seen among the reapers outside the city or at the well near the wall1 or on the streets of the ancient town4 ,they are generally doing the things the crowd behind them is doing1 meanwhile evolving their own little heart affair4 ,finally when the ,assyrian comes down like a wolf on the fold1 the gentle ,naomi becomes a prisoner in ,holofernes' camp4 ,she is in the foreground1 a representative of the crowd of prisoners4 ,nathan is photographed on the wall as the particular defender of the town in whom we are most interested4 ,the pictures of the crowd's normal activities avoid jerkiness and haste4 ,they do not abound in the boresome self-conscious quietude that some producers have substituted for the usual twitching4 ,each actor in the assemblies has a refreshing equipment in gentle gesticulation2 for the manners and customs of ,bethulia must needs be different from those of ,america4 ,though the population moves together as a river1 each citizen is quite preoccupied4 ,to the furthest corner of the picture1 they are egotistical as human beings4 ,the elder goes by1 in theological conversation with his friend4 ,he thinks his theology is important4 ,the mother goes by1 all absorbed in her child4 ,to her it is the only child in the world4 ,alternated with these scenes is the terrible rush of the ,assyrian army1 on to exploration1 battle1 and glory4 ,the speed of their setting out becomes actual1 because it is contrasted with the deliberation of the ,jewish town4 ,at length the ,assyrians are along those hills and valleys and below the wall of defence4 ,the population is on top of the battlements1 beating them back the more desperately because they are separated from the water-supply1 the wells in the fields where once the lovers met4 ,in a lull in the siege1 by a connivance of the elders1 ,judith is let out of a little door in the wall4 ,and while the fortune of her people is most desperate she is shown in the quiet shelter of the tent of ,holofernes4 ,sinuous in grace1 tranced1 passionately in love1 she has forgotten her peculiar task4 ,she is in a sense ,bethulia itself1 the race of ,israel made over into a woman1 while ,holofernes is the embodiment of the besieging army4 ,though in a quiet tent1 and on the terms of love1 it is the essential warfare of the hot ,assyrian blood and the pure and peculiar ,jewish thoroughbredness4 ,blanche ,sweet as ,judith is indeed dignified and ensnaring1 the more so because in her abandoned quarter of an hour the ,jewish sanctity does not leave her4 ,and her aged woman attendant1 coming in and out1 sentinel and conscience1 with austere face and lifted finger1 symbolizes the fire of ,israel that shall yet awaken within her4 ,when her love for her city and ,god finally becomes paramount1 she shakes off the spell of the divine honors which she has followed all the camp in according to that living heathen deity ,holofernes1 and by the very transfiguration of her figure and countenance we know that the deliverance of ,israel is at hand4 ,she beheads the dark ,assyrian4 ,soon she is back in the city1 by way of the little gate by which she emerged4 ,the elders receive her and her bloody trophy4 ,the people who have been dying of thirst arise in a final whirlwind of courage4 ,bereft of their military genius1 the ,assyrians flee from the burning camp4 ,naomi is delivered by her lover ,nathan4 ,this act is taken by the audience as a type of the setting free of all the captives4 ,then we have the final return of the citizens to their town4 ,as for ,judith1 hers is no crass triumph4 ,she is shown in her gray and silvery room in her former widow's dress1 but not the same woman4 ,there is thwarted love in her face4 ,the sword of sorrow is there4 ,but there is also the prayer of thanksgiving4 ,she goes forth4 ,she is hailed as her city's deliverer4 ,she stands among the nobles like a holy candle4 ,providing the picture may be preserved in its original delicacy1 it has every chance to retain a place in the affections of the wise1 if a humble pioneer of criticism may speak his honest mind4 ,though in this story the archaic flavor is well-preserved1 the way the producer has pictured the population at peace1 in battle1 in despair1 in victory gives me hope that he or men like unto him will illustrate the ,american patriotic crowd-prophecies4 ,we must have ,whitmanesque scenarios1 based on moods akin to that of the poem ,by ,blue ,ontario's ,shore4 ,the possibility of showing the entire ,american population its own face in the ,mirror ,screen has at last come4 ,whitman brought the idea of democracy to our sophisticated literati1 but did not persuade the democracy itself to read his democratic poems4 ,sooner or later the kinetoscope will do what he could not1 bring the nobler side of the equality idea to the people who are so crassly equal4 ,the photoplay penetrates in our land to the haunts of the wildest or the dullest4 ,the isolated prospector rides twenty miles to see the same film that is displayed on ,broadway4 ,there is not a civilized or half-civilized land but may read the ,whitmanesque message in time1 if once it is put on the films with power4 ,photoplay theatres are set up in ports where sailors revel1 in heathen towns where gentlemen adventurers are willing to make one last throw with fate4 ,on the other hand1 as a recorder ,whitman approaches the wildest1 rawest ,american material and conquers it1 at the same time keeping his nerves in the state in which ,swinburne wrote ,only the ,song of ,secret ,bird1 or ,lanier composed ,the ,ballad of ,trees and ,the ,master4 ,j4,w4 ,alexander's portrait of ,whitman in the ,metropolitan ,museum1 ,new ,york1 is not too sophisticated4 ,the out-of-door profoundness of this poet is far richer than one will realize unless he has just returned from some cross-country adventure afoot4 ,then if one reads breathlessly by the page and the score of pages1 there is a glory transcendent4 ,for films of ,american patriotism to parallel the splendors of ,cabiria and ,judith of ,bethulia1 and to excel them1 let us have ,whitmanesque scenarios based on moods like that of ,by ,blue ,ontario's ,shore1 ,the ,salute au ,monde1 and ,the ,passage to ,india4 ,then the people's message will reach the people at last4 ,the average ,crowd ,picture will cling close to the streets that are1 and the usual ,patriotic ,picture will but remind us of nationality as it is at present conceived and aflame1 and the ,religious ,picture will for the most part be close to the standard orthodoxies4 ,the final forms of these merge into each other1 though they approach the heights by different avenues4 ,we ,americans should look for the great photoplay of to-morrow1 that will mark a decade or a century1 that prophesies of the flags made one1 the crowds in brotherhood4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,religious ,,splendor ,as far as the photoplay is concerned1 religious emotion is a form of crowd-emotion4 ,in the most conventional and rigid church sense this phase can be conveyed more adequately by the motion picture than by the stage4 ,there is little1 of course1 for the anti-ritualist in the art-world anywhere4 ,the thing that makes cathedrals real shrines in the eye of the reverent traveller makes them1 with their religious processions and the like1 impressive in splendor-films4 ,for instance1 ,i have long remembered the essentials of the film1 ,the ,death of ,thomas ,becket4 ,it may not compare in technique with some of our present moving picture achievements1 but the idea must have been particularly adapted to the film medium4 ,the story has stayed in my mind with great persistence1 not only as a narrative1 but as the first hint to me that orthodox religious feeling has here an undeveloped field4 ,green tells the story in this way1 in his ,history of the ,english ,people3-- ,four knights of the ,king's court1 stirred to outrage by a passionate outburst of their master's wrath1 crossed the sea and on the twenty-ninth of ,december forced their way into the ,archbishop's palace4 ,after a stormy parley with him in his chamber they withdrew to arm4 ,thomas was hurried by his clerks into the cathedral1 but as he reached the steps leading from the transept into the choir his pursuers burst in from the cloisters4 ',where1' cried ,reginald ,fitzurse1 'is the traitor1 ,thomas ,becket8' ',here am ,i1 no traitor1 but a priest of ,god1' he replied4 ,and again descending the steps he placed himself with his back against a pillar and fronted his foes4444 ,the brutal murder was received with a thrill of horror throughout ,christendom4 ,miracles were wrought at the martyr's tomb1 etc4444 ,it is one of the few deaths in moving pictures that have given me the sense that ,i was watching a tragedy4 ,most of them affect one1 if they have any effect1 like exhibits in an art gallery1 as does ,josef ,israels' oil painting1 ,alone in the ,world4 ,we admire the technique1 and as for emotion1 we feel the picturesqueness only4 ,but here the church procession1 the robes1 the candles1 the vaulting overhead1 the whole visualized cathedral mood has the power over the reverent eye it has in life1 and a touch more4 ,it is not a private citizen who is struck down4 ,such a taking off would have been but nominally impressive1 no matter how well acted4 ,private deaths in the films1 to put it another way1 are but narrative statements4 ,it is not easy to convey their spiritual significance4 ,take1 for instance1 the death of ,john ,goderic1 in the film version of ,gilbert ,parker's ,the ,seats of the ,mighty4 ,the major leaves this world in the first third of the story4 ,the photoplay use of his death is1 that he may whisper in the ear of ,robert ,moray to keep certain letters of ,la ,pompadour well hidden4 ,the fact that it is the desire of a dying man gives sharpness to his request4 ,later in the story ,moray is hard-pressed by the villain for those same papers4 ,then the scene of the death is flashed for an instant on the screen1 representing the hero's memory of the event4 ,it is as though he should recollect and renew a solemn oath4 ,the documents are more important than ,john ,goderic4 ,his departure is but one of their attributes4 ,so it is in any film4 ,there is no emotional stimulation in the final departure of a non-public character to bring tears1 such tears as have been provoked by the novel or the stage over the death of ,sidney ,carton or ,faust's ,marguerite or the like4 ,all this1 to make sharper the fact that the murder of ,becket the archbishop is a climax4 ,the great ,church and hierarchy are profaned4 ,the audience feels the same thrill of horror that went through ,christendom4 ,we understand why miracles were wrought at the martyr's tomb4 ,in the motion pictures the entrance of a child into the world is a mere family episode1 not a climax1 when it is the history of private people4 ,for instance1 several little strangers come into the story of ,enoch ,arden4 ,they add beauty1 and are links in the chain of events4 ,still they are only one of many elements of idyllic charm in the village of ,annie4 ,something that in real life is less valuable than a child is the goal of each tiny tableau1 some coming or departure or the like that affects the total plot4 ,but let us imagine a production that would chronicle the promise to ,abraham1 and the vision that came with it4 ,let the film show the final gift of ,isaac to the aged ,sarah1 even the boy who is the beginning of a race that shall be as the stars of heaven and the sands of the sea for multitude4 ,this could be made a pageant of power and glory4 ,the crowd-emotions1 patriotic fires1 and religious exaltations on which it turns could be given in noble procession and the tiny fellow on the pillow made the mystic centre of the whole4 ,the story of the coming of ,samuel1 the dedicated little prophet1 might be told on similar terms4 ,the real death in the photoplay is the ritualistic death1 the real birth is the ritualistic birth1 and the cathedral mood of the motion picture which goes with these and is close to these in many of its phases1 is an inexhaustible resource4 ,the film corporations fear religious questions1 lest offence be given to this sect or that4 ,so let such denominations as are in the habit of cooperating1 themselves take over this medium1 not gingerly1 but whole-heartedly1 as in mediaeval time the hierarchy strengthened its hold on the people with the marvels of ,romanesque and ,gothic architecture4 ,this matter is further discussed in the seventeenth chapter1 entitled ,progress and ,endowment4 ,but there is a field wherein the commercial man will not be accused of heresy or sacrilege1 which builds on ritualistic birth and death and elements akin thereto4 ,this the established producer may enter without fear4 ,which brings us to ,the ,battle ,hymn of the ,republic1 issued by the ,american ,vitagraph ,company in #aiaa4 ,this film should be studied in the ,high ,schools and ,universities till the canons of art for which it stands are established in ,america4 ,the director was ,larry ,trimble4 ,all honor to him4 ,the patriotism of ,the ,battle ,hymn of the ,republic1 if taken literally1 deals with certain aspects of the ,civil ,war4 ,but the picture is transfigured by so marked a devotion1 that it is the main illustration in this work of the religious photoplay4 ,the beginning shows ,president ,lincoln in the ,white ,house brooding over the lack of response to his last call for troops4 7,he is impersonated by ,ralph ,ince47 ,he and ,julia ,ward ,howe are looking out of the window on a recruiting headquarters that is not busy4 7,mrs4 ,howe is impersonated by ,julia ,s4 ,gordon47 ,another scene shows an old mother in the ,west refusing to let her son enlist4 7,this woman is impersonated by ,mrs4 ,maurice47 ,the father has died in the war4 ,the sword hangs on the wall4 ,later ,julia ,ward ,howe is shown in her room asleep at midnight1 then rising in a trance and writing the ,battle ,hymn at a table by the bed4 ,the pictures that might possibly have passed before her mind during the trance are thrown upon the screen4 ,the phrases they illustrate are not in the final order of the poem1 but in the possible sequence in which they went on the paper in the first sketch4 ,the dream panorama is not a literal discussion of abolitionism or states' rights4 ,it illustrates rather the ,hebraic exultation applied to all lands and times4 ,mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the ,lord2 a gracious picture of the nativity4 7,edith ,storey impersonates ,mary the ,virgin47 ,i have seen him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps and ,they have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps--for these are given symbolic pageants of the ,holy ,sepulchre crusaders4 ,then there is a visible parable1 showing a marketplace in some wicked capital1 neither ,babylon1 ,tyre1 nor ,nineveh1 but all of them in essential character4 ,first come spectacles of rejoicing1 cruelty1 and waste4 ,then from ,heaven descend flood and fire1 brimstone and lightning4 ,it is like the judgment of the ,cities of the ,plain4 ,just before the overthrow1 the line is projected upon the screen3 ,he hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword4 ,then the heavenly host becomes gradually visible upon the air1 marching toward the audience1 almost crossing the footlights1 and blowing their solemn trumpets4 ,with this picture the line is given us to read3 ,our ,god is marching on4 ,this host appears in the photoplay as often as the refrain sweeps into the poem4 ,the celestial company1 its imperceptible emergence1 its spiritual power when in the ascendant1 is a thing never to be forgotten1 a tableau that proves the motion picture a great religious instrument4 ,then comes a procession indeed4 ,it is as though the audience were standing at the side of the throne at ,doomsday looking down the hill of ,zion toward the little earth4 ,there is a line of those who are to be judged1 leaders from the beginning of history1 barbarians with their crude weapons1 classic characters1 ,caesar and his rivals for fame2 mediaeval figures including ,dante meditating2 later figures1 ,richelieu1 ,napoleon4 ,many people march toward the strange glorifying eye of the camera1 growing larger than men1 filling the entire field of vision1 disappearing when they are almost upon us4 ,the audience weighs the worth of their work to the world as the men themselves with downcast eyes seem to be doing also4 ,the most thrilling figure is ,tolstoi in his peasant smock1 coming after the bitter egotists and conquerors4 7,the impersonation is by ,edward ,thomas47 ,i shall never forget that presence marching up to the throne invisible with bowed head4 ,this procession is to illustrate the line3 ,he is sifting out the hearts of men before his ,judgment ,seat4 ,later ,lincoln is pictured on the steps of the ,white ,house4 ,it is a quaint tableau1 in the spirit of the old-fashioned ,rogers group4 ,yet it is masterful for all that4 ,lincoln is taking the chains from a cowering slave4 ,this tableau is to illustrate the line3 ,let the hero born of woman crush the serpent with his heel4 ,now it is the end of the series of visions4 ,it is morning in ,mrs4 ,howe's room4 ,she rises4 ,she is filled with wonder to find the poem on her table4 ,written to the rousing glory-tune of ,john ,brown's ,body the song goes over the ,north like wildfire4 ,the far-off home of the widow is shown4 ,she and the boy read the famous chant in the morning news column4 ,she takes the old sword from the wall4 ,she gives it to her son and sends him to enlist with her blessing4 ,in the next picture ,lincoln and ,mrs4 ,howe are looking out of the window where was once the idle recruiting tent4 ,a new army is pouring by1 singing the words that have rallied the nation4 ,ritualistic birth and death have been discussed4 ,this film might be said to illustrate ritualistic birth1 death1 and resurrection4 ,the writer has seen hundreds of productions since this one4 ,he has described it from memory4 ,it came out in a time when the ,american people paid no attention to the producer or the cast4 ,it may have many technical crudities by present-day standards4 ,but the root of the matter is there4 ,and ,springfield knew it4 ,it was brought back to our town many times4 ,it was popular in both the fashionable picture show houses and the cheapest1 dirtiest hole in the town4 ,it will soon be reissued by the ,vitagraph ,company4 ,every student of ,american ,art should see this film4 ,the same exultation that went into it1 the faculty for commanding the great spirits of history and making visible the unseen powers of the air1 should be applied to ,crowd ,pictures which interpret the non-sectarian prayers of the broad human race4 ,the pageant of ,religious ,splendor is the final photoplay form in the classification which this work seeks to establish4 ,much of what follows will be to reenforce the heads of these first discourses4 ,further comment on the ,religious ,photoplay may be found in the eleventh chapter1 entitled ,architecture-in-,motion4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,sculpture-,,in-,,motion ,the outline is complete4 ,now to reenforce it4 ,pictures of ,action ,intimacy and ,splendor are the foundation colors in the photoplay1 as red1 blue1 and yellow are the basis of the rainbow4 ,action ,films might be called the red section2 ,intimate ,motion ,pictures1 being colder and quieter1 might be called blue2 and ,splendor ,photoplays called yellow1 since that is the hue of pageants and sunshine4 ,another way of showing the distinction is to review the types of gesture4 ,the ,action ,photoplay deals with generalized pantomime3 the gesture of the conventional policeman in contrast with the mannerism of the stereotyped preacher4 ,the ,intimate ,film gives us more elusive personal gestures3 the difference between the table manners of two preachers in the same restaurant1 or two policemen4 ,a mark of the ,fairy ,play is the gesture of incantation1 the sweep of the arm whereby ,mab would transform a prince into a hawk4 ,the other ,splendor ,films deal with the total gestures of crowds3 the pantomime of a torch-waving mass of men1 the drill of an army on the march1 or the bending of the heads of a congregation receiving the benediction4 ,another way to demonstrate the thesis is to use the old classification of poetry3 dramatic1 lyric1 epic4 ,the ,action ,play is a narrow form of the dramatic4 ,the ,intimate ,motion ,picture is an equivalent of the lyric4 ,in the seventeenth chapter it is shown that one type of the ,intimate might be classed as imagist4 ,and obviously the ,splendor ,pictures are the equivalent of the epic4 ,but perhaps the most adequate way of showing the meaning of this outline is to say that the ,action ,film is sculpture-in-motion1 the ,intimate ,photoplay is painting-in-motion1 and the ,fairy ,pageant1 along with the rest of the ,splendor ,pictures1 may be described as architecture-in-motion4 ,this chapter will discuss the bearing of the phrase sculpture-in-motion4 ,it will relate directly to chapter two4 ,first1 gentle and kindly reader1 let us discuss sculpture in its most literal sense3 after that1 less realistically1 but perhaps more adequately4 ,let us begin with ,annette ,kellerman in ,neptune's ,daughter4 ,this film has a crude plot constructed to show off ,annette's various athletic resources4 ,it is good photography1 and a big idea so far as the swimming episodes are concerned4 ,an artist haunted by picture-conceptions equivalent to the musical thoughts back of ,wagner's ,rhine-maidens could have made of ,annette1 in her mermaid's dress1 a notable figure4 ,or a story akin to the mermaid tale of ,hans ,christian ,andersen1 or ,matthew ,arnold's poem of the forsaken merman1 could have made this picturesque witch of the salt water truly significant1 and still retained the most beautiful parts of the photoplay as it was exhibited4 ,it is an exceedingly irrelevant imagination that shows her in other scenes as a duellist1 for instance1 because forsooth she can fence4 ,as a child of the ocean1 half fish1 half woman1 she is indeed convincing4 ,such mermaids as this have haunted sailors1 and lured them on the rocks to their doom1 from the day the siren sang till the hour the ,lorelei sang no more4 ,the scene with the baby mermaid1 when she swims with the pretty creature on her back1 is irresistible4 ,why are our managers so mechanical8 ,why do they flatten out at the moment the fancy of the tiniest reader of fairy-tales begins to be alive8 ,most of ,annette's support were stage dummies4 ,neptune was a lame ,santa ,claus with cotton whiskers4 ,but as for the bearing of the film on this chapter3 the human figure is within its rights whenever it is as free from self-consciousness as was the life-radiating ,annette in the heavenly clear waters of ,bermuda4 ,on the other hand1 ,neptune and his pasteboard diadem and wooden-pointed pitchfork1 should have put on his dressing-gown and retired4 ,as a toe dancer in an alleged court scene1 on land1 ,annette was a mere simperer4 ,possibly ,pavlowa as a swimmer in ,bermuda waters would have been as much of a mistake4 ,each queen to her kingdom4 ,for living1 moving sculpture1 the human eye requires a costume and a part in unity with the meaning of that particular figure4 ,there is the ,greek dress of ,mordkin in the arrow dance4 ,there is ,annette's breast covering of shells1 and wonderful flowing mermaid hair1 clothing her as the midnight does the moon4 ,the new costume freedom of the photoplay allows such limitation of clothing as would be probable when one is honestly in touch with wild nature and preoccupied with vigorous exercise4 ,thus the cave-man and desert island narratives1 though seldom well done1 when produced with verisimilitude1 give an opportunity for the native human frame in the logical wrappings of reeds and skins4 ,but those who in a silly hurry seek excuses1 are generally merely ridiculous1 like the barefoot man who is terribly tender about walking on the pebbles1 or the wild man who is white as celery or grass under a board4 ,there is no short cut to vitality4 ,a successful literal use of sculpture is in the film ,oil and ,water4 ,blanche ,sweet is the leader of the play within a play which occupies the first reel4 ,here the ,olympians and the ,muses1 with a grace that we fancy was ,greek1 lead a dance that traces the story of the spring1 summer1 and autumn of life4 ,finally the supple dancers turn gray and old and die1 but not before they have given us a vision from the ,ionian islands4 ,the play might have been inspired from reading ,keats' ,lamia1 but is probably derived from the work of ,isadora ,duncan4 ,this chapter has hereafter only a passing word or two on literal sculptural effects4 ,it has more in mind the carver's attitude toward all that passes before the eye4 ,the sculptor ,george ,gray ,barnard is responsible for none of the views in this discourse1 but he has talked to me at length about his sense of discovery in watching the most ordinary motion pictures1 and his delight in following them with their endless combinations of masses and flowing surfaces4 ,the little far-away people on the old-fashioned speaking stage do not appeal to the plastic sense in this way4 ,they are1 by comparison1 mere bits of pasteboard with sweet voices1 while1 on the other hand1 the photoplay foreground is full of dumb giants4 ,the bodies of these giants are in high sculptural relief4 ,where the lights are quite glaring and the photography is bad1 many of the figures are as hard in their impact on the eye as lime-white plaster-casts1 no matter what the clothing4 ,there are several passages of this sort in the otherwise beautiful ,enoch ,arden1 where the shipwrecked sailor is depicted on his desert island in the glaring sun4 ,what materials should the photoplay figures suggest8 ,there are as many possible materials as there are subjects for pictures and tone schemes to be considered4 ,but we will take for illustration wood1 bronze1 and marble1 since they have been used in the old sculptural art4 ,there is found in most art shows a type of carved wood gargoyle where the work and the subject are at one1 not only in the color of the wood1 but in the way the material masses itself1 in bulk betrays its qualities4 ,we will suppose a moving picture humorist who is in the same mood as the carver4 ,he chooses a story of quaint old ladies1 street gamins1 and fat aldermen4 ,imagine the figures with the same massing and interplay suddenly invested with life1 yet giving to the eye a pleasure kindred to that which is found in carved wood1 and bringing to the fancy a similar humor4 ,or there is a type of ,action ,story where the mood of the figures is that of bronze1 with the aesthetic resources of that metal3 its elasticity2 its emphasis on the tendon1 ligament1 and bone1 rather than on the muscle2 and an attribute that we will call the panther-like quality4 ,hermon ,a4 ,mac,neil has a memorable piece of work in the yard of the architect ,shaw1 at ,lake ,forest1 ,illinois4 ,it is called ,the ,sun ,vow4 ,a little ,indian is shooting toward the sun1 while the old warrior1 crouching immediately behind him1 follows with his eye the direction of the arrow4 ,few pieces of sculpture come readily to mind that show more happily the qualities of bronze as distinguished from other materials4 ,to imagine such a group done in marble1 carved wood1 or ,della ,robbia ware is to destroy the very image in the fancy4 ,the photoplay of the ,american ,indian should in most instances be planned as bronze in action4 ,the tribes should not move so rapidly that the panther-like elasticity is lost in the riding1 running1 and scalping4 ,on the other hand1 the aborigines should be far from the temperateness of marble4 ,mr4 ,edward ,s4 ,curtis1 the super-photographer1 has made an ,ethnological collection of photographs of our ,american ,indians4 ,this work of a life-time1 a supreme art achievement1 shows the native as a figure in bronze4 ,mr4 ,curtis' photoplay1 ,the ,land of the ,head ,hunters 7,world ,film ,corporation71 a romance of the ,indians of the ,north-,west1 abounds in noble bronzes4 ,i have gone through my old territories as an art student1 in the ,chicago ,art ,institute and the ,metropolitan ,museum1 of late1 in special excursions1 looking for sculpture1 painting1 and architecture that might be the basis for the photoplays of the future4 ,the ,bacchante of ,frederick ,mac,monnies is in bronze in the ,metropolitan ,museum and in bronze replica in the ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts4 ,there is probably no work that more rejoices the hearts of the young art students in either city4 ,the youthful creature illustrates a most joyous leap into the air4 ,she is high on one foot with the other knee lifted4 ,she holds a bunch of grapes full-arm's length4 ,her baby1 clutched in the other hand1 is reaching up with greedy mouth toward the fruit4 ,the bacchante body is glistening in the light4 ,this is joy-in-bronze as the ,sun ,vow is power-in-bronze4 ,this special story could not be told in another medium4 ,i have seen in ,paris a marble copy of this ,bacchante4 ,it is as though it were done in soap4 ,on the other hand1 many of the renaissance ,italian sculptors have given us children in marble in low relief1 dancing like lilies in the wind4 ,they could not be put into bronze4 ,the plot of the ,action ,photoplay is literally or metaphorically a chase down the road or a hurdle-race4 ,it might be well to consider how typical figures for such have been put into carved material4 ,there are two bronze statues that have their replicas in all museums4 ,they are generally one on either side of the main hall1 towering above the second-story balustrade4 ,first1 the statue of ,gattamelata1 a ,venetian general1 by ,donatello4 ,the original is in ,padua4 ,then there is the figure of ,bartolommeo ,colleoni4 ,the original is in ,venice4 ,it is by ,verrocchio and ,leopardi4 ,these equestrians radiate authority4 ,there is more action in them than in any cowboy hordes ,i have ever beheld zipping across the screen4 ,look upon them and ponder long1 prospective author-producer4 ,even in a simple chase-picture1 the speed must not destroy the chance to enjoy the modelling4 ,if you would give us mounted legions1 destined to conquer1 let any one section of the film1 if it is stopped and studied1 be grounded in the same bronze conception4 ,the ,assyrian commanders in ,griffith's ,judith would1 without great embarrassment1 stand this test4 ,but it may not be the pursuit of an enemy we have in mind4 ,it may be a spring celebration1 horsemen in ,arcadia1 going to some happy tournament4 ,where will we find our precedents for such a cavalcade8 ,go to any museum4 ,find the ,parthenon room4 ,high on the wall is the copy of the famous marble frieze of the young citizens who are in the procession in praise of ,athena4 ,such a rhythm of bodies and heads and the feet of proud steeds1 and above all the profiles of thoroughbred youths1 no city has seen since that day4 ,the delicate composition relations1 ever varying1 ever refreshing1 amid the seeming sameness of formula of rider behind rider1 have been the delight of art students the world over1 and shall so remain4 ,no serious observer escapes the exhilaration of this company4 ,let it be studied by the author-producer though it be but an idyl in disguise that his scenario calls for3 merry young farmers hurrying to the ,state ,fair parade1 boys making all speed to the political rally4 ,buy any three moving picture magazines you please4 ,mark the illustrations that are massive1 in high relief1 with long lines in their edges4 ,cut out and sort some of these4 ,i have done it on the table where ,i write4 ,after throwing away all but the best specimens1 ,i have four different kinds of sculpture4 ,first1 behold the inevitable cowboy4 ,he is on a ramping horse1 filling the entire outlook4 ,the steed rears1 while facing us4 ,the cowboy waves his hat4 ,there is quite such an animal by ,frederick ,mac,monnies1 wrought in bronze1 set up on a gate to a park in ,brooklyn4 ,it is not the identical color of the photoplay animal1 but the bronze elasticity is the joy in both4 ,here is a scene of a masked monk1 carrying off a fainting girl4 ,the hero intercepts him4 ,the figures of the lady and the monk are in sufficient sculptural harmony to make a formal sculptural group for an art exhibition4 ,the picture of the hero1 strong1 with well-massed surfaces1 is related to both4 ,the fact that he is in evening dress does not alter his monumental quality4 ,all three are on a stone balcony that relates itself to the general largeness of spirit in the group1 and the semi-classic dress of the maiden4 ,no doubt the title is3 ,the ,morning ,following the ,masquerade ,ball4 ,this group could be made in unglazed clay1 in four colors4 ,here is an ,american lieutenant with two ladies4 ,the three are suddenly alert over the approach of the villain1 who is not yet in the picture4 ,in costume it is an everyday group1 but those three figures are related to one another1 and the trees behind them1 in simple sculptural terms4 ,the lieutenant1 as is to be expected1 looks forth in fierce readiness4 ,one girl stands with clasped hands4 ,the other points to the danger4 ,the relations of these people to one another may seem merely dramatic to the superficial observer1 but the power of the group is in the fact that it is monumental4 ,i could imagine it done in four different kinds of rare tropical wood1 carved unpolished4 ,here is a scene of storm and stress in an office where the hero is caught with seemingly incriminating papers4 ,the table is in confusion4 ,the room is filling with people1 led by one accusing woman4 ,is this also sculpture8 ,yes4 ,the figures are in high relief4 ,even the surfaces of the chairs and the littered table are massive1 and the eye travels without weariness1 as it should do in sculpture1 from the hero to the furious woman1 then to the attorney behind her1 then to the two other revilers1 then to the crowd in three loose rhythmic ranks4 ,the eye makes this journey1 not from space to space1 or fabric to fabric1 but first of all from mass to mass4 ,it is sculpture1 but it is the sort that can be done in no medium but the moving picture itself1 and therefore it is one goal of this argument4 ,but there are several other goals4 ,one of the sculpturesque resources of the photoplay is that the human countenance can be magnified many times1 till it fills the entire screen4 ,some examples are in rather low relief1 portraits approximating certain painters4 ,but if they are on sculptural terms1 and are studies of the faces of thinking men1 let the producer make a pilgrimage to ,washington for his precedent4 ,there1 in the rotunda of the capitol1 is the face of ,lincoln by ,gutzon ,borglum4 ,it is one of the eminently successful attempts to get at the secret of the countenance by enlarging it much1 and concentrating the whole consideration there4 ,the photoplay producer1 seemingly without taking thought1 is apt to show a sculptural sense in giving us ,newfoundland fishermen1 clad in oilskins4 ,the background may have an unconscious ,winslow ,homer reminiscence4 ,in the foreground our hardy heroes fill the screen1 and dripping with sea-water become wave-beaten granite1 yet living creatures none the less4 ,imagine some one chapter from the story of ,little ,em'ly in ,david ,copperfield1 retold in the films4 ,show us ,ham ,peggotty and old ,mr4 ,peggotty in colloquy over their nets4 ,there are many powerful bronze groups to be had from these two1 on to the heroic and unselfish death of ,ham1 rescuing his enemy in storm and lightning4 ,i have seen one rich picture of alleged cannibal tribes4 ,it was a comedy about a missionary4 ,but the aborigines were like living ebony and silver4 ,that was long ago4 ,such things come too much by accident4 ,the producer is not sufficiently aware that any artistic element in his list of productions that is allowed to go wild1 that has not had full analysis1 reanalysis1 and final conservation1 wastes his chance to attain supreme mastery4 ,open your history of sculpture1 and dwell upon those illustrations which are not the normal1 reposeful statues1 but the exceptional1 such as have been listed for this chapter4 ,imagine that each dancing1 galloping1 or fighting figure comes down into the room life-size4 ,watch it against a dark curtain4 ,let it go through a series of gestures in harmony with the spirit of the original conception1 and as rapidly as possible1 not to lose nobility4 ,if you have the necessary elasticity1 imagine the figures wearing the costumes of another period1 yet retaining in their motions the same essential spirit4 ,combine them in your mind with one or two kindred figures1 enlarged till they fill the end of the room4 ,you have now created the beginning of an ,action ,photoplay in your own fancy4 ,do this with each most energetic classic till your imagination flags4 ,i do not want to be too dogmatic1 but it seems to me this is one way to evolve real ,action ,plays4 ,it would1 perhaps1 be well to substitute this for the usual method of evolving them from old stage material or newspaper clippings4 ,there is in the ,metropolitan ,museum a noble modern group1 the ,mares of ,diomedes1 by the aforementioned ,gutzon ,borglum4 ,it is full of material for the meditations of a man who wants to make a film of a stampede4 ,the idea is that ,hercules1 riding his steed bareback1 guides it in a circle4 ,he is fascinating the horses he has been told to capture4 ,they are held by the mesmerism of the circular path and follow him round and round till they finally fall from exhaustion4 ,thus the ,indians of the ,west capture wild ponies1 and ,borglum1 a far western man1 imputes the method to ,hercules4 ,the bronze group shows a segment of this circle4 ,the whirlwind is at its height4 ,the mares are wild to taste the flesh of ,hercules4 ,whoever is to photograph horses1 let him study the play of light and color and muscle-texture in this bronze4 ,and let no group of horses ever run faster than these of ,borglum4 ,an occasional hint of a ,michelangelo figure or gesture appears for a flash in the films4 ,young artist in the audience1 does it pass you by8 ,open your history of sculpture again and look at the usual list of ,michelangelo groups4 ,suppose the seated majesty of ,moses should rise1 what would be the quality of the action8 ,suppose the sleeping figures of the ,medician tombs should wake1 or those famous slaves should break their bands1 or ,david again hurl the stone4 ,would not their action be as heroic as their quietness8 ,is it not possible to have a ,michelangelo of photoplay sculpture8 ,should we not look for him in the fulness of time8 ,his figures might come to us in the skins of the desert island solitary1 or as cave men and women1 or as mermaids and mermen1 and yet have a force and grandeur akin to that of the old ,italian4 ,rodin's famous group of the citizens of ,calais is an example of the expression of one particular idea by a special technical treatment4 ,the producer who tells a kindred story to that of the siege of ,calais1 and the final going of these humble men to their doom1 will have a hero-tale indeed4 ,it will be not only sculpture-in-action1 but a great ,crowd ,picture4 ,it begins to be seen that the possibilities of monumental achievement in the films transcend the narrow boundaries of the ,action ,photoplay4 ,why not conceptions as heroic as ,rodin's ,hand of ,god1 where the first pair are clasped in the gigantic fingers of their maker in the clay from which they came8 ,finally1 ,i desire in moving pictures1 not the stillness1 but the majesty of sculpture4 ,i do not advocate for the photoplay the mood of the ,venus of ,milo4 ,but let us turn to that sister of hers1 the great ,victory of ,samothrace1 that spreads her wings at the head of the steps of the ,louvre1 and in many an art gallery beside4 ,when you are appraising a new film1 ask yourself3 ,is this motion as rapid1 as godlike1 as the sweep of the wings of the ,samothracian8 ,let her be the touchstone of the ,action ,drama1 for nothing can be more swift than the winged ,gods1 nothing can be more powerful than the oncoming of the immortals4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,painting-,,in-,,motion ,this chapter is founded on the delicate effects that may be worked out from cosy interior scenes1 close to the camera4 ,it relates directly to chapter three4 ,while the ,intimate-and-friendly ,motion ,picture may be in high sculptural relief1 its characteristic manifestations are in low relief4 ,the situations show to better advantage when they seem to be paintings rather than monumental groups4 ,turn to your handful of motion picture magazines and mark the illustrations that look the most like paintings4 ,cut them out4 ,winnow them several times4 ,i have before me1 as a final threshing from such an experiment1 five pictures4 ,each one approximates a different school4 ,here is a colonial ,virginia maiden by the hearth of the inn4 ,bending over her in a cherishing way is the negro maid4 ,on the other side1 the innkeeper shows a kindred solicitude4 ,a dishevelled traveller sleeps huddled up in the corner4 ,the costume of the man fades into the velvety shadows of the wall4 ,his face is concealed4 ,his hair blends with the soft background4 ,the clothing of the other three makes a patch of light gray4 ,added to this is the gayety of special textures3 the turban of the negress1 a trimming on the skirt of the heroine1 the silkiness of the innkeeper's locks1 the fabric of the broom in the hearthlight1 the pattern of the mortar lines round the bricks of the hearth4 ,the tableau is a satisfying scheme in two planes and many textures4 ,here is another sort of painting4 ,the young mother in her pretty bed is smiling on her infant4 ,the cot and covers and flesh tints have gentle scales of difference1 all within one tone of the softest gray4 ,her hair is quite dark4 ,it relates to the less luminous black of the coat of the physician behind the bed and the dress of the girl-friend bending over her4 ,the nurse standing by the doctor is a figure of the same gray-white as the bed4 ,within the pattern of the velvety-blacks there are as many subtle gradations as in the pattern of the gray-whites4 ,the tableau is a satisfying scheme in black and gray1 with practically one non-obtrusive texture throughout4 ,here is a picture of an ,englishman and his wife1 in ,india4 ,it might be called sculptural1 but for the magnificence of the turban of the rajah who converses with them1 the glitter of the light round his shoulders1 and the scheme of shadow out of which the three figures rise4 ,the arrangement remotely reminds one of several of ,rembrandt's semi-oriental musings4 ,here is a picture of ,mary ,pickford as ,fanchon the ,cricket4 ,she is in the cottage with the strange old mother4 ,i have seen a painting in this mood by the ,greek ,nickolas ,gysis4 ,the ,intimate-and-friendly ,moving ,picture1 the photoplay of painting-in-motion1 need not be indoors as long as it has the native-heath mood4 ,it is generally keyed to the hearthstone1 and keeps quite close to it4 ,but how well ,i remember when the first ,french photoplays began to come4 ,though unintelligent in some respects1 the photography and subject-matter of many of them made one think of that painter of gentle out-of-door scenes1 ,jean ,charles ,cazin4 ,here is our last clipping1 which is also in a spirit allied to ,cazin4 ,the heroine1 accompanied by an aged shepherd and his dog1 are in the foreground4 ,the sheep are in the middle distance on the edge of the river4 ,there is a noble hill beyond the gently flowing water4 ,here is intimacy and friendliness in the midst of the big out of doors4 ,if these five photo-paintings were on good paper enlarged to twenty by twenty-four inches1 they would do to frame and hang on the wall of any study1 for a month or so4 ,and after the relentless test of time1 ,i would venture that some one of the five would prove a permanent addition to the household gods4 ,hastily made photographs selected from the films are often put in front of the better theatres to advertise the show4 ,of late they are making them two by three feet and sometimes several times larger4 ,here is a commercial beginning of an art gallery1 but not enough pains are taken to give the selections a complete art gallery dignity4 ,why not have the most beautiful scenes in front of the theatres1 instead of those alleged to be the most thrilling8 ,why not rest the fevered and wandering eye1 rather than make one more attempt to take it by force8 ,let the reader supply another side of the argument by looking at the illustrations in any history of painting4 ,let him select the pictures that charm him most1 and think of them enlarged and transferred bodily to one corner of the room1 as he has thought of the sculpture4 ,let them take on motion without losing their charm of low relief1 or their serene composition within the four walls of the frame4 ,as for the motion1 let it be a further extension of the drawing4 ,let every gesture be a bolder but not less graceful brush-stroke4 ,the ,metropolitan ,museum has a ,van ,dyck that appeals equally to one's sense of beauty and one's feeling for humor4 ,it is a portrait of ,james ,stuart1 ,duke of ,lennox1 and ,i cannot see how the author-producer-photographer can look upon it without having it set his imagination in a glow4 ,every small town dancing set has a ,james like this4 ,the man and the greyhound are the same witless breed1 the kind that achieve a result by their clean-limbed elegance alone4 ,van ,dyck has painted the two with what might be called a greyhound brush-stroke1 a style of handling that is nothing but courtly convention and strut to the point of genius4 ,he is as far from the meditative spirituality of ,rembrandt as could well be imagined4 ,conjure up a scene in the hereditary hall after a hunt 7or golf tournament71 in which a man like this ,duke of ,lennox has a noble parley with his lady 7or dancing partner71 she being a sweet and stupid swan 7or a white rabbit7 by the same sign that he is a noble and stupid greyhound4 ,be it an ancient or modern episode1 the story could be told in the tone and with well-nigh the brushwork of ,van ,dyck4 ,then there is a picture my teachers1 ,chase and ,henri1 were never weary of praising1 the ,girl with the ,parrot1 by ,manet4 ,here continence in nervous force1 expressed by low relief and restraint in tone1 is carried to its ultimate point4 ,i should call this an imagist painting1 made before there were such people as imagist poets4 ,it is a perpetual sermon to those that would thresh around to no avail1 be they orators1 melodramatists1 or makers of photoplays with an alleged heart-interest4 ,let us consider ,gilbert ,stuart's portrait of ,washington4 ,this painter's notion of personal dignity has far more of the intellectual quality than ,van ,dyck4 ,he loves to give us stately1 able1 fairly conscientious gentry1 rather than overdone royalty4 ,his work represents a certain mood in design that in architecture is called colonial4 ,such portraits go with houses like ,mount ,vernon4 ,let the photographer study the flat blacks in the garments4 ,let him note the transparent impression of the laces and flesh-tints that seem to be painted on glass1 observing especially the crystalline whiteness of the wigs4 ,let him inspect also the silhouette-like outlines1 noting the courtly self-possession they convey4 ,then let the photographer1 the producer1 and the author1 be they one man or six men1 stick to this type of picturization through one entire production1 till any artist in the audience will say1 ,this photoplay was painted by a pupil of ,gilbert ,stuart2 and the layman will say1 ,it looks like those stately days4 ,and let us not have battle1 but a ,mount ,vernon fireside tale4 ,both the ,chicago and ,new ,york museums contain many phases of one same family group1 painted by ,george de ,forest ,brush4 ,there is a touch of the hearthstone priestess about the woman4 ,the force of sex has turned to the austere comforting passion of motherhood4 ,from the children1 under the wings of this spirit1 come special delicate powers of life4 ,there is nothing tense or restless about them1 yet they embody action1 the beating of the inner fire1 without which all outer action is mockery4 ,hearthstone tales keyed to the mood and using the brush stroke that delineates this especial circle would be unmistakable in their distinction4 ,charles ,w4 ,hawthorne has pictures in ,chicago and ,new ,york that imply the ,intimate-and-friendly ,photoplay4 ,the ,trousseau in the ,metropolitan ,museum shows a gentle girl1 an unfashionable home-body with a sweetly sheltered air4 ,behind her glimmers the patient mother's face4 ,the older woman is busy about fitting the dress4 ,the picture is a tribute to the qualities of many unknown gentlewomen4 ,such an illumination as this1 on faces so innocently eloquent1 is the light that should shine on the countenance of the photoplay actress who really desires greatness in the field of the ,intimate ,motion ,picture4 ,there is in ,chicago1 ,hawthorne's painting of ,sylvia3 a little girl standing with her back to a mirror1 a few blossoms in one hand and a vase of flowers on the mirror shelf4 ,it is as sound a composition as ,hawthorne ever produced4 ,the painting of the child is another tribute to the physical-spiritual textures from which humanity is made4 ,ah1 you producer who have grown squeaky whipping your people into what you called action1 consider the dynamics of these figures that would be almost motionless in real life4 ,remember there must be a spirit-action under the other1 or all is dead4 ,yet that soul may be the muse of ,comedy4 ,if ,hawthorne and his kind are not your fashion1 turn to models that have their feet on the earth always1 yet successfully aspire4 ,key some of your intimate humorous scenes to the ,dutch ,little ,masters of ,painting1 such pictures as ,gerard ,terburg's ,music ,lesson in the ,chicago ,art ,institute4 ,the thing is as well designed as a ,dutch house1 wind-mill1 or clock4 ,and it is more elegant than any of these4 ,there is humor enough in the picture to last one reel through4 ,the society dame of the period1 in her pretty raiment1 fingers the strings of her musical instrument1 while the master stands by her with the baton4 ,the painter has enjoyed the satire1 from her elegant little hands to the teacher's well-combed locks4 ,it is very plain that she does not want to study music with any sincerity1 and he does not desire to develop the ability of this particular person4 ,there may be a flirtation in the background4 ,yet these people are not hollow as gourds1 and they are not caricatured4 ,the ,dutch ,little ,masters have indulged in numberless characterizations of mundane humanity4 ,but they are never so preoccupied with the story that it is an anecdote rather than a picture4 ,it is1 first of all1 a piece of elegant painting-fabric4 ,next it is a scrap of ,dutch philosophy or aspiration4 ,let ,whistler turn over in his grave while we enlist him for the cause of democracy4 ,one view of the technique of this man might summarize it thus3 fastidiousness in choice of subject1 the picture well within the frame1 low relief1 a ,velasquez study of tones and a ,japanese study of spaces4 ,let us1 dear and patient reader1 particularly dwell upon the spacing4 ,a ,whistler1 or a good ,japanese print1 might be described as a kaleidoscope suddenly arrested and transfixed at the moment of most exquisite relations in the pieces of glass4 ,an ,intimate ,play of a kindred sort would start to turning the kaleidoscope again1 losing fine relations only to gain those which are more exquisite and novel4 ,all motion pictures might be characterized as space measured without sound1 plus time measured without sound4 ,this description fits in a special way the delicate form of the ,intimate ,motion ,picture1 and there can be studied out1 free from irrelevant issues4 ,as to space measured without sound4 ,suppose it is a humorous characterization of comfortable family life1 founded on some ,dutch ,little ,master4 ,the picture measures off its spaces in harmony4 ,the triangle occupied by the little child's dress is in definite relation to the triangle occupied by the mother's costume4 ,to these two patterns the space measured off by the boy's figure is adjusted1 and all of them are as carefully related to the shapes cut out of the background by the figures4 ,no matter how the characters move about in the photoplay1 these pattern shapes should relate to one another in a definite design4 ,the exact tone value of each one and their precise nearness or distance to one another have a deal to do with the final effect4 ,we go to the photoplay to enjoy right and splendid picture-motions1 to feel a certain thrill when the pieces of kaleidoscope glass slide into new places4 ,instead of moving on straight lines1 as they do in the mechanical toy1 they progress in strange curves that are part of the very shapes into which they fall4 ,consider3 first came the photograph4 ,then motion was added to the photograph4 ,we must use this order in our judgment4 ,if it is ever to evolve into a national art1 it must first be good picture1 then good motion4 ,belasco's attitude toward the stage has been denounced by the purists because he makes settings too large a portion of his story-telling1 and transforms his theatre into the paradise of the property-man4 ,but this very quality of the well spaced setting1 if you please1 has made his chance for the world's moving picture anthology4 ,as reproduced by ,jesse ,k4 ,lasky the ,belasco production is the only type of the old-line drama that seems really made to be the basis of a moving picture play4 ,not always1 but as a general rule1 ,belasco suffers less detriment in the films than other men4 ,take1 for instance1 the ,belasco-,lasky production of ,the ,rose of the ,rancho with ,bessie ,barriscale as the heroine4 ,it has many highly modelled action-tableaus1 and others that come under the classification of this chapter4 ,when ,i was attending it not long ago1 here in my home town1 the fair companion at my side said that one scene looked like a painting by ,sorolla y ,bastida1 the ,spaniard4 ,it is the episode where the ,rose sends back her servant to inquire the hero's name4 ,as a matter of fact there were ,sorollas and ,zuloagas all through the piece4 ,the betrothal reception with flying confetti was a satisfying piece of ,spanish splendor4 ,it was space music indeed1 space measured without sound4 ,incidentally the cast is to be congratulated on its picturesque acting1 especially ,miss ,barriscale in her impersonation of the ,rose4 ,it is harder to grasp the other side of the paradox1 picture-motions considered as time measured without sound4 ,but think of a lively and humoresque clock that does not tick and takes only an hour to record a day4 ,think of a noiseless electric vehicle1 where you are looking out of the windows1 going down the smooth boulevard of ,wonderland4 ,consider a film with three simple time-elements3 7#a7 that of the pursuer1 7#b7 the pursued1 7#c7 the observation vehicle of the camera following the road and watching both of them1 now faster1 now slower than they1 as the photographer overtakes the actors or allows them to hurry ahead4 ,the plain chase is a bore because there are only these three time-elements4 ,but the chase principle survives in every motion picture and we simply need more of this sort of time measurement1 better considered4 ,the more the non-human objects1 the human actors1 and the observer move at a varying pace1 the greater chances there are for what might be called time-and-space music4 ,no two people in the same room should gesture at one mechanical rate1 or lift their forks or spoons1 keeping obviously together4 ,yet it stands to reason that each successive tableau should be not only a charming picture1 but the totals of motion should be an orchestration of various speeds1 of abrupt1 graceful1 and seemingly awkward progress1 worked into a silent symphony4 ,supposing it is a fisher-maiden's romance4 ,in the background the waves toss in one tempo4 ,owing to the sail1 the boat rocks in another4 ,in the foreground the tree alternately bends and recovers itself in the breeze1 making more opposition than the sail4 ,in still another time-unit the smoke rolls from the chimney1 making no resistance to the wind4 ,in another unit1 the lovers pace the sand4 ,yet there is one least common multiple in which all move4 ,this the producing genius should sense and make part of the dramatic structure1 and it would have its bearing on the periodic appearance of the minor and major crises4 ,films like this1 you say1 would be hard to make4 ,yes4 ,here is the place to affirm that the one-reel ,intimate ,photoplay will no doubt be the form in which this type of time-and-space music is developed4 ,the music of silent motion is the most abstract of moving picture attributes and will probably remain the least comprehended4 ,like the quality of ,walter ,pater's ,marius the ,epicurean1 or that of ,shelley's ,hymn to ,intellectual ,beauty1 it will not satisfy the sudden and the brash4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the reader will find in his round of the picture theatres many single scenes and parts of plays that elucidate the title of this chapter4 ,often the first two-thirds of the story will fit it well4 ,then the producers1 finding that1 for reasons they do not understand1 with the best and most earnest actors they cannot work the three reels into an emotional climax1 introduce some stupid disaster and rescue utterly irrelevant to the character-parts and the paintings that have preceded4 ,whether the alleged thesis be love1 hate1 or ambition1 cottage charm1 daisy dell sweetness1 or the ivy beauty of an ancient estate1 the resource for the final punch seems to be something like a train-wreck4 ,but the transfiguration of the actors1 not their destruction or rescue1 is the goal4 ,the last moment of the play is great1 not when it is a grandiose salvation from a burning house1 that knocks every delicate preceding idea in the head1 but a tableau that is as logical as the awakening of the ,sleeping ,beauty after the hero has explored all the charmed castle4 ,,chapter ,x ,,furniture1 ,,trappings1 ,,and ,,inventions ,,in ,,motion ,the ,action ,pictures are sculpture-in-motion1 the ,intimate ,pictures1 paintings-in-motion1 the ,splendor ,pictures1 many and diverse4 ,it seems far-fetched1 perhaps1 to complete the analogy and say they are architecture-in-motion2 yet1 patient reader1 unless ,i am mistaken1 that assumption can be given a value in time without straining your imagination4 ,landscape gardening1 mural painting1 church building1 and furniture making as well1 are some of the things that come under the head of architecture4 ,they are discussed between the covers of any architectural magazine4 ,there is a particular relation in the photoplay between ,crowd ,pictures and landscape conceptions1 between ,patriotic ,films and mural paintings1 between ,religious ,films and architecture4 ,and there is just as much of a relation between ,fairy ,tales and furniture1 which same is discussed in this chapter4 ,let us return to ,moving ,day1 chapter four4 ,this idea has been represented many times with a certain sameness because the producers have not thought out the philosophy behind it4 ,a picture that is all action is a plague1 one that is all elephantine and pachydermatous pageant is a bore1 and1 most emphatically1 a film that is all mechanical legerdemain is a nuisance4 ,the possible charm in a so-called trick picture is in eliminating the tricks1 giving them dignity till they are no longer such1 but thoughts in motion and made visible4 ,in ,moving ,day the shoes are the most potent4 ,they go through a drama that is natural to them4 ,to march without human feet inside is but to exaggerate themselves4 ,it would not be amusing to have them walk upside down1 for instance4 ,as long as the worn soles touch the pavement1 we unconsciously conjure up the character of the absent owners1 about whom the shoes are indeed gossiping4 ,so let the remainder of the furniture keep still while the shoes do their best4 ,let us call to mind a classic fairy-tale involving shoes that are magical3 ,the ,seven ,leagued ,boots1 for example1 or ,the ,enchanted ,moccasins1 or the footwear of ,puss in ,boots4 ,how gorgeous and embroidered any of these should be1 and at a crisis what sly antics they should be brought to play1 without fidgeting all over the shop6 ,cinderella's ,slipper is not sufficiently the heroine in moving pictures of that story4 ,it should be the tiny leading lady of the piece1 in the same sense the mighty steam-engine is the hero of the story in chapter two4 ,the peasants when they used to tell the tale by the hearth fire said the shoe was made of glass4 ,this was in mediaeval ,europe1 at a time when glass was much more of a rarity4 ,the material was chosen to imply a sort of jewelled strangeness from the start4 ,when ,cinderella loses it in her haste1 it should flee at once like a white mouse1 to hide under the sofa4 ,it should be pictured there with special artifice1 so that the sensuous little foot of every girl-child in the audience will tingle to wear it4 ,it should move a bit when the prince comes frantically hunting his lady1 and peep out just in time for that royal personage to spy it4 ,even at the coronation it should be the centre of the ritual1 more gazed at than the crown1 and on as dazzling a cushion4 ,the final taking on of the slipper by the lady should be as stately a ceremony as the putting of the circlet of gold on her aureole hair4 ,so much for ,cinderella4 ,but there are novel stories that should be evolved by preference1 about new sorts of magic shoes4 ,we have not exhausted ,moving ,day4 ,the chairs kept still through the ,cinderella discourse4 ,now let them take their innings4 ,instead of having all of them dance about1 invest but one with an inner life4 ,let its special attributes show themselves but gradually1 reaching their climax at the highest point of excitement in the reel1 and being an integral part of that enthusiasm4 ,perhaps1 though we be inventing a new fairy-tale1 it will resemble the ,siege ,perilous in the ,arthurian story1 the chair where none but the perfect knight could sit4 ,a dim row of flaming swords might surround it4 ,when the soul entitled to use this throne appears1 the swords might fade away and the gray cover hanging in slack folds roll back because of an inner energy and the chair might turn from gray to white1 and with a subtle change of line become a throne4 ,the photoplay imagination which is able to impart vital individuality to furniture will not stop there4 ,let the buildings emanate conscious life4 ,the author-producer-photographer1 or one or all three1 will make into a personality some place akin to the ,house of the ,seven ,gables till the ancient building dominates the fancy as it does in ,hawthorne's tale4 ,there are various ways to bring about this result3 by having its outlines waver in the twilight1 by touches of phosphorescence1 or by the passing of inexplicable shadows or the like4 ,it depends upon what might be called the genius of the building4 ,there is the ,poe story of ,the ,fall of the ,house of ,usher1 where with the death of the last heir the castle falls crumbling into the tarn4 ,there are other possible tales on such terms1 never yet imagined1 to be born to-morrow4 ,great structures may become in sort villains1 as in the old ,bible narrative of the origin of the various languages4 ,the producer can show the impious ,babel ,tower1 going higher and higher into the sky1 fascinating and tempting the architects till a confusion of tongues turns those masons into quarrelling mobs that become departing caravans1 leaving her blasted and forsaken1 a symbol of every ,babylon that rose after her4 ,there are fables where the rocks and the mountains speak4 ,emerson has given us one where the ,mountain and the ,squirrel had a quarrel4 ,the ,mountain called the ,squirrel ,little ,prig4 ,and then continues a clash of personalities more possible to illustrate than at first appears4 ,here we come to the second stage of the fairy-tale where the creature seems so unmanageable in his physical aspect that some actor must be substituted who will embody the essence of him4 ,to properly illustrate the quarrel of the ,mountain and the ,squirrel1 the steep height should quiver and heave and then give forth its personality in the figure of a vague smoky giant1 capable of human argument1 but with oak-roots in his hair1 and ,bun1 perhaps1 become a jester in squirrel's dress4 ,or it may be our subject matter is a tall ,dutch clock4 ,father ,time himself might emerge therefrom4 ,or supposing it is a chapel1 in a knight's adventure4 ,an angel should step from the carving by the door3 a design that is half angel1 half flower4 ,but let the clock first tremble a bit4 ,let the carving stir a little1 and then let the spirit come forth1 that there may be a fine relation between the impersonator and the thing represented4 ,a statue too often takes on life by having the actor abruptly substituted4 ,the actor cannot logically take on more personality than the statue has4 ,he can only give that personality expression in a new channel4 ,in the realm of letters1 a real transformation scene1 rendered credible to the higher fancy by its slow cumulative movement1 is the tale of the change of the dying ,rowena to the living triumphant ,ligeia in ,poe's story of that name4 ,substitution is not the fairy-story4 ,it is transformation1 transfiguration1 that is the fairy-story1 be it a divine or a diabolical change4 ,there is never more than one witch in a forest1 one ,siege ,perilous at any ,round ,table4 ,but she is indeed a witch and the other is surely a ,siege ,perilous4 ,we might define ,fairy ,splendor as furniture transfigured1 for without transfiguration there is no spiritual motion of any kind4 ,but the phrase furniture-in-motion serves a purpose4 ,it gets us back to the earth for a reason4 ,furniture is architecture1 and the fairy-tale picture should certainly be drawn with architectural lines4 ,the normal fairy-tale is a sort of tiny informal child's religion1 the baby's secular temple1 and it should have for the most part that touch of delicate sublimity that we see in the mountain chapel or grotto1 or fancy in the dwellings of ,aucassin and ,nicolette4 ,when such lines are drawn by the truly sophisticated producer1 there lies in them the secret of a more than ritualistic power4 ,good fairy architecture amounts to an incantation in itself4 ,if it is a grown-up legend1 it must be more than monumental in its lines1 like the great stone face of ,hawthorne's tale4 ,even a chair can reach this estate4 ,for instance1 let it be the throne of ,wodin1 illustrating some passage in ,norse mythology4 ,if this throne has a language1 it speaks with the lightning2 if it shakes with its threat1 it moves the entire mountain range beneath it4 ,let the wizard-author-producer climb up from the tricks of ,moving ,day to the foot-hills where he can see this throne against the sky1 as a superarchitect would draw it4 ,but even if he can give this vision in the films1 his task will not be worth while if he is simply a teller of old stories4 ,let us have magic shoes about which are more golden dreams than those concerning ,cinderella4 ,let us have stranger castles than that of ,usher1 more dazzling chairs than the ,siege ,perilous4 ,let us have the throne of ,liberty1 not the throne of ,wodin4 ,there is one outstanding photoplay that ,i always have in mind when ,i think of film magic4 ,it illustrates some principles of this chapter and chapter four1 as well as many others through the book4 ,it is ,griffith's production of ,the ,avenging ,conscience4 ,it is also an example of that rare thing1 a use of old material that is so inspired that it has the dignity of a new creation4 ,the raw stuff of the plot is pieced together from the story of ,the ,tell-tale ,heart and the poem ,annabel ,lee4 ,it has behind it1 in the further distance1 ,poe's conscience stories of ,the ,black ,cat1 and ,william ,wilson4 ,i will describe the film here at length1 and apply it to whatever chapters it illustrates4 ,an austere and cranky bachelor 7well impersonated by ,spottiswoode ,aitken7 brings up his orphan nephew with an awkward affection4 ,the nephew is impersonated by ,henry ,b4 ,walthall4 ,the uncle has an ambition that the boy will become a man of letters4 ,in his attempts at literature the youth is influenced by ,poe4 ,this brings about the ,poe quality of his dreams at the crisis4 ,the uncle is silently exasperated when he sees his boy's writing-time broken into1 and wasted1 as he thinks1 by an affair with a lovely ,annabel 7,blanche ,sweet74 ,the intimacy and confidence of the lovers has progressed so far that it is a natural thing for the artless girl to cross the gardens and after hesitation knock at the door4 ,she wants to know what has delayed her boy4 ,she is all in a flutter on account of the overdue appointment to go to a party together4 ,the scene of the pretty hesitancy on the step1 her knocking1 and the final impatient tapping with her foot is one of the best illustrations of the intimate mood in photoplay episodes4 ,on the girl's entrance the uncle overwhelms her and the boy by saying she is pursuing his nephew like a common woman of the town4 ,the words actually burst through the film1 not as a melodramatic1 but as an actual insult4 ,this is a thing almost impossible to do in the photoplay4 ,this outrage in the midst of an atmosphere of chivalry is one of ,griffith's master-moments4 ,it accounts for the volcanic fury of the nephew that takes such trouble to burn itself out afterwards4 ,it is not easy for the young to learn that they must let those people flay them for an hour who have made every sacrifice for them through a life-time4 ,this scene of insult and the confession scene1 later in this film1 moved me as similar passages in high drama would do2 and their very rareness1 even in the hands of photoplay masters1 indicates that such purely dramatic climaxes cannot be the main asset of the moving picture4 ,over and over1 with the best talent and producers1 they fail4 ,the boy and girl go to the party in spite of the uncle4 ,it is while on the way that the boy looks on the face of a stranger who afterwards mixes up in his dream as the detective4 ,there is a mistake in the printing here4 ,there are several minutes of a worldly-wise oriental dance to amuse the guests1 while the lovers are alone at another end of the garden4 ,it is1 possibly1 the aptest contrast with the seriousness of our hero and heroine4 ,but the social affair could have had a better title than the one that is printed on the film ,an ,old-fashioned ,sweetheart ,party4 ,possibly the dance was put in after the title4 ,the lovers part forever4 ,the girl's pride has had a mortal wound4 ,about this time is thrown on the screen the kind of a climax quite surely possible to the photoplay4 ,it reminds one1 not of the mood of ,poe's verse1 but of the spirit of the paintings of ,george ,frederick ,watts4 ,it is allied in some way1 in my mind1 with his ,love and ,life1 though but a single draped figure within doors1 and ,love and ,life are undraped figures1 climbing a mountain4 ,the boy1 having said good-by1 remembers the lady ,annabel4 ,it is a crisis after the event4 ,in his vision she is shown in a darkened passageway1 all in white1 looking out of the window upon the moonlit sky4 ,simple enough in its elements1 this vision is shown twice in glory4 ,the third replica has not the same glamour4 ,the first two are transfigurations into divinity4 ,the phrase thrown on the screen is ,the moon never beams without bringing me dreams of the beautiful ,annabel ,lee4 ,and the sense of loss goes through and through one like a flight of arrows4 ,another noble picture1 more realistic1 more sculpturesque1 is of ,annabel mourning on her knees in her room4 ,her bended head makes her akin to ,niobe1 all tears4 ,the boy meditating on a park-path is meanwhile watching the spider in his web devour the fly4 ,then he sees the ants in turn destroy the spider4 ,these pictures are shown on so large a scale that the spiderweb fills the end of the theatre4 ,then the ant-tragedy does the same4 ,they can be classed as particularly apt hieroglyphics in the sense of chapter thirteen4 ,their horror and decorative iridescence are of the ,poe sort4 ,it is the first hint of the ,poe hieroglyphic we have had except the black patch over the eye of the uncle1 along with his jaundiced1 cadaverous face4 ,the boy meditates on how all nature turns on cruelty and the survival of the fittest4 ,he passes just now an ,italian laborer 7impersonated by ,george ,seigmann74 ,this laborer enters later into his dream4 ,he finally goes to sleep in his chair1 the resolve to kill his uncle rankling in his heart4 ,the audience is not told that a dream begins4 ,to understand that1 one must see the film through twice4 ,but it is perfectly legitimate to deceive us4 ,through our ignorance we share the young man's hallucinations1 entering into them as imperceptibly as he does4 ,we think it is the next morning4 ,poe would start the story just here1 and here the veritable ,poe-esque quality begins4 ,after debate within himself as to means1 the nephew murders his uncle and buries him in the thick wall of the chimney4 ,the ,italian laborer witnesses the death-struggle through the window4 ,while our consciences are aching and the world crashes round us1 he levies black-mail4 ,then for due compensation the ,italian becomes an armed sentinel4 ,the boy fears detection4 ,yet the foolish youth thinks he will be happy4 ,but every time he runs to meet his sweetheart he is appalled by hallucinations over her shoulder4 ,the cadaverous ghost of the uncle is shown on the screen several times4 ,it is an appearance visible to the young man and the audience only4 ,later the ghost is implied by the actions of the guilty one4 ,we merely imagine it4 ,this is a piece of sound technique4 ,we no more need a dray full of ghosts than a dray full of jumping furniture4 ,the village in general has never suspected the nephew4 ,only two people suspect him3 the broken-hearted girl and an old friend of his father4 ,this gentleman puts a detective on the trail4 7,the detective is impersonated by ,ralph ,lewis47 ,the gradual breakdown of the victim is traced by dramatic degrees4 ,this is the second case of the thing ,i have argued as being generally impossible in a photoplay chronicle of a private person1 and which the considerations of chapter twelve indicate as exceptional4 ,we trace the innermost psychology of one special citizen step by step to the crisis1 and that path is actually the primary interest of the story4 ,the climax is the confession to the detective4 ,with this self-exposure the direct ,poe-quality of the technique comes to an end4 ,moreover1 ,poe would end the story here4 ,but the ,poe-dream is set like a dark jewel in a gold ring1 of which more anon4 ,let us dwell upon the confession4 ,the first stage of this conscience-climax is reached by the dramatization of ,the ,tell-tale ,heart reminiscence in the memory of the dreaming man4 ,the episode makes a singular application of the theories with which this chapter begins4 ,for furniture-in-motion we have the detective's pencil4 ,for trappings and inventions in motion we have his tapping shoe and the busy clock pendulum4 ,because this scene is so powerful the photoplay is described in this chapter rather than any other1 though the application is more spiritual than literal4 ,the half-mad boy begins to divulge that he thinks that the habitual ticking of the clock is satanically timed to the beating of the dead man's heart4 ,here more unearthliness hovers round a pendulum than any merely mechanical trick-movements could impart4 ,then the merest commonplace of the detective tapping his pencil in the same time--the boy trying in vain to ignore it--increases the strain1 till the audience has well-nigh the hallucinations of the victim4 ,then the bold tapping of the detective's foot1 who would do all his accusing without saying a word1 and the startling coincidence of the owl hoot-hooting outside the window to the same measure1 bring us close to the final breakdown4 ,these realistic material actors are as potent as the actual apparitions of the dead man that preceded them4 ,those visions prepared the mind to invest trifles with significance4 ,the pencil and the pendulum conducting themselves in an apparently everyday fashion1 satisfy in a far nobler way the thing in the cave-man attending the show that made him take note in other centuries of the rope that began to hang the butcher1 the fire that began to burn the stick1 and the stick that began to beat the dog4 ,now the play takes a higher demoniacal plane reminiscent of ,poe's ,bells4 ,the boy opens the door4 ,he peers into the darkness4 ,there he sees them4 ,they are the nearest to the sinister ,poe quality of any illustrations ,i recall that attempt it4 ,they are neither man nor woman1 they are neither brute nor human2 they are ghouls4 ,the scenes are designed with the architectural dignity that the first part of this chapter has insisted wizard trappings should take on4 ,now it is that the boy confesses and the ,poe story ends4 ,then comes what the photoplay people call the punch4 ,it is discussed at the end of chapter nine4 ,it is a kind of solar plexus blow to the sensibilities1 certainly by this time an unnecessary part of the film4 ,usually every soul movement carefully built up to where the punch begins is forgotten in the material smash or rescue4 ,it is not so bad in this case1 but it is a too conventional proceeding for ,griffith4 ,the boy flees interminably to a barn too far away4 ,there is a siege by a posse1 led by the detective4 ,it is veritable border warfare4 ,the ,italian leads an unsuccessful rescue party4 ,the unfortunate youth finally hangs himself4 ,the beautiful ,annabel bursts through the siege a moment too late2 then1 heart broken1 kills herself4 ,these things are carried out by good technicians4 ,but it would have been better to have had the suicide with but a tiny part of the battle1 and the story five reels long instead of six4 ,this physical turmoil is carried into the spiritual world only by the psychic momentum acquired through the previous confession scene4 ,the one thing with intrinsic pictorial heart-power is the death of ,annabel by jumping off the sea cliff4 ,then comes the awakening4 ,to every one who sees the film for the first time it is like the forgiveness of sins4 ,the boy finds his uncle still alive4 ,in revulsion from himself1 he takes the old man into his arms4 ,the uncle has already begun to be ashamed of his terrible words1 and has prayed for a contrite heart4 ,the radiant ,annabel is shown in the early dawn rising and hurrying to her lover in spite of her pride4 ,she will bravely take back her last night's final word4 ,she cannot live without him4 ,the uncle makes amends to the girl4 ,the three are in the inconsistent but very human mood of sweet forgiveness for love's sake1 that sometimes overtakes the bitterest of us after some crisis in our days4 ,the happy pair are shown1 walking through the hills4 ,thrown upon the clouds for them are the moods of the poet-lover's heart4 ,they look into the woods and see his fancies of ,spring1 the things that he will some day write4 ,these pageants might be longer4 ,they furnish the great climax4 ,they make a consistent parallel and contrast with the ghoul-visions that end with the confession to the detective4 ,they wipe that terror from the mind4 ,they do not represent ,poe4 ,the rabbits1 the leopard1 the fairies1 ,cupid and ,psyche in the clouds1 and the little loves from the hollow trees are contributions to the original poetry of the eye4 ,finally1 the central part of this production of the ,avenging ,conscience is no dilution of ,poe1 but an adequate interpretation1 a story he might have written4 ,those who have the ,european respect for ,poe's work will be most apt to be satisfied with this section1 including the photographic texture which may be said to be an authentic equivalent of his prose4 ,how often ,poe has been primly patronized for his majestic quality1 the wizard power which looms above all his method and subject-matter and furnishes the only reason for its existence6 ,for ,griffith to embroider this ,poe ,interpretation in the centre of a fairly consistent fabric1 and move on into a radiant climax of his own that is in organic relation to the whole1 is an achievement indeed4 ,the final criticism is that the play is derivative4 ,it is not built from new material in all its parts1 as was the original story4 ,one must be a student of ,poe to get its ultimate flavor4 ,but in reading ,poe's own stories1 one need not be a reader of any one special preceding writer to get the strange and solemn exultation of that literary enchanter4 ,he is the quintessence of his own lonely soul4 ,though the wizard element is paramount in the ,poe episode of this film1 the appeal to the conscience is only secondary to this4 ,it is keener than in ,poe1 owing to the human elements before and after4 ,the ,chameleon producer approximates in ,the ,avenging ,conscience the type of mystic teacher1 discussed in the twentieth chapter3 ,the ,prophet-,wizard4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,architecture-,,in-,,motion ,this chapter is a superstructure upon the foundations of chapters five1 six1 and seven4 ,i have said that it is a quality1 not a defect1 of the photoplays that while the actors tend to become types and hieroglyphics and dolls1 on the other hand1 dolls and hieroglyphics and mechanisms tend to become human4 ,by an extension of this principle1 non-human tones1 textures1 lines1 and spaces take on a vitality almost like that of flesh and blood4 ,it is partly for this reason that some energy is hereby given to the matter of reenforcing the idea that the people with the proper training to take the higher photoplays in hand are not veteran managers of vaudeville circuits1 but rather painters1 sculptors1 and architects1 preferably those who are in the flush of their first reputation in these crafts4 ,let us imagine the centres of the experimental drama1 such as the ,drama ,league1 the ,universities1 and the stage societies1 calling in people of these professions and starting photoplay competitions and enterprises4 ,let the thesis be here emphasized that the architects1 above all1 are the men to advance the work in the ultra-creative photoplay4 ,but few architects1 you say1 are creative1 even in their own profession4 ,let us begin with the point of view of the highly trained pedantic young builder1 the type that1 in the past few years1 has honored our landscape with those paradoxical memorials of ,abraham ,lincoln the railsplitter1 memorials whose ,ionic columns are straight from ,paris4 ,pericles is the real hero of such a man1 not ,lincoln4 ,so let him for the time surrender completely to that great ,greek4 ,he is worthy of a monument nobler than any ,america has set up to any one4 ,the final pictures may be taken in front of buildings with which the architect or his favorite master has already edified this republic1 or if the war is over1 before some surviving old-world models4 ,but whatever the method1 let him study to express at last the thing that moves within him as a creeping fire1 which ,americans do not yet understand and the loss of which makes the classic in our architecture a mere piling of elegant stones upon one another4 ,in the arrangement of crowds and flow of costuming and study of tableau climaxes1 let the architect bring an illusion of that delicate flowering1 that brilliant instant of time before the ,peloponnesian war4 ,it does not seem impossible when one remembers the achievements of the author of ,cabiria in approximating ,rome and ,carthage4 ,let the principal figure of the pageant be the virgin ,athena1 walking as a presence visible only to us1 yet among her own people1 and robed and armed and panoplied1 the guardian of ,pericles1 appearing in those streets that were herself4 ,let the architect show her as she came only in a vision to ,phidias1 while the dramatic writers and mathematicians and poets and philosophers go by4 ,the crowds should be like pillars of ,athens1 and she like a great pillar4 ,the crowds should be like the tossing waves of the ,ionic ,sea and ,athena like the white ship upon the waves4 ,the audiences in the tragedies should be shown like wheat-fields on the hill-sides1 always stately yet blown by the wind1 and ,athena the one sower and reaper4 ,crowds should descend the steps of the ,acropolis1 nymphs and fauns and ,olympians1 carved as it were from the marble1 yet flowing like a white cataract down into the town1 bearing with them ,athena1 their soul4 ,all this in the ,photoplay of ,pericles4 ,no civic or national incarnation since that time appeals to the poets like the ,french worship of the ,maid of ,orleans4 ,in ,percy ,mac,kaye's book1 ,the ,present ,hour1 he says on the ,french attitude toward the war3-- ,half artist and half anchorite1 ,part siren and part ,socrates1 ,her face--alluring fair1 yet recondite-- ,smiled through her salons and academies4 ,lightly she wore her double mask1 ,till sudden1 at war's kindling spark1 ,her inmost self1 in shining mail and casque1 ,blazed to the world her single soul--,jeanne d',arc6 ,to make a more elaborate showing of what is meant by architecture-in-motion1 let us progress through the centuries and suppose that the builder has this enthusiasm for ,france1 that he is slowly setting about to build a photoplay around the idea of the ,maid4 ,first let him take the mural painting point of view4 ,bear in mind these characteristics of that art3 it is wall-painting that is an organic part of the surface on which it appears3 it is on the same lines as the building and adapted to the colors and forms of the structure of which it is a part4 ,the wall-splendors of ,america that are the most scattered about in inexpensive copies are the decorations of the ,boston ,public ,library4 ,note the pillar-like quality of ,sargent's prophets1 the solemn dignity of ,abbey's ,holy ,grail series1 the grand horizontals and perpendiculars of the work of ,puvis de ,chavannes4 ,the last is the orthodox mural painter of the world1 but the other two will serve the present purpose also4 ,these architectural paintings if they were dramatized1 still retaining their powerful lines1 would be three exceedingly varied examples of what is meant by architecture-in-motion4 ,the visions that appear to ,jeanne d',arc might be delineated in the mood of some one of these three painters4 ,the styles will not mix in the same episode4 ,a painter from old time we mention here1 not because he was orthodox1 but because of his genius for the drawing of action1 and because he covered tremendous wall-spaces with ,venetian tone and color1 is ,tintoretto4 ,if there is a mistrust that the mural painting standard will tend to destroy the sense of action1 ,tintoretto will restore confidence in that regard4 ,as the ,winged ,victory represents flying in sculpture1 so his work is the extreme example of action with the brush4 ,the ,venetians called him the furious painter4 ,one must understand a man through his admirers4 ,so explore ,ruskin's sayings on ,tintoretto4 ,i have a dozen moving picture magazine clippings1 which are in their humble way first or second cousins of mural paintings4 ,i will describe but two1 since the method of selection has already been amply indicated1 and the reader can find his own examples4 ,for a ,crowd ,picture1 for instance1 here is a scene at a masquerade ball4 ,the glitter of the costumes is an extension of the glitter of the candelabra overhead4 ,the people are as it were chandeliers1 hung lower down4 ,the lines of the candelabra relate to the very ribbon streamers of the heroine1 and the massive wood-work is the big brother of the square-shouldered heroes in the foreground1 though one is a clown1 one is a ,russian ,duke1 and one is ,don ,caesar ,de ,bazan4 ,the building is the father of the people4 ,these relations can be kept in the court scenes of the production of ,jeanne d',arc4 ,here is a night picture from a war story in which the light is furnished by two fires whose coals and brands are hidden by earth heaped in front4 ,the sentiment of tenting on the old camp-ground pervades the scene4 ,the far end of the line of those keeping bivouac disappears into the distance1 and the depths of the ranks behind them fade into the thick shadows4 ,the flag1 a little above the line1 catches the light4 ,one great tree overhead spreads its leafless half-lit arms through the gloom4 ,behind all this is unmitigated black4 ,the composition reminds one of a ,hiroshige study of midnight4 ,these men are certainly a part of the architecture of out of doors1 and mysterious as the vault of ,heaven4 ,this type of a camp-fire is possible in our ,jeanne d',arc4 ,these pictures1 new and old1 great and unknown1 indicate some of the standards of judgment and types of vision whereby our conception of the play is to be evolved4 ,by what means shall we block it in8 ,our friend ,tintoretto made use of methods which are here described from one of his biographers1 ,w4 ,roscoe ,osler3 ,they have been much enlarged upon in the different biographies as the means whereby ,tintoretto obtained his power4 ,they constituted1 however1 his habitual method of determining the effect and general grouping of his compositions4 ,he moulded with extreme care small models of his figures in wax and clay4 ,titian and other painters as well as ,tintoretto employed this method as the means of determining the light and shade of their design4 ,afterwards the later stages of their work were painted from the life4 ,but in ,tintoretto's compositions the position and arrangement of his figures as he began to dwell upon his great conceptions were such as to render the study from the living model a matter of great difficulty and at times an impossibility4444 ,he 444 modelled his sculptures 444 imparting to his models a far more complete character than had been customary4 ,these firmly moulded figures1 sometimes draped1 sometimes free1 he suspended in a box made of wood1 or of cardboard for his smaller work1 in whose walls he made an aperture to admit a lighted candle4444 ,he sits moving the light about amidst his assemblage of figures4 ,every aspect of sublimity of light suitable to a ,madonna surrounded with angels1 or a heavenly choir1 finds its miniature response among the figures as the light moves4 ,this was the method by which1 in conjunction with a profound study of outward nature1 sympathy with the beauty of different types of face and varieties of form1 with the many changing hues of the ,venetian scene1 with the great laws of color and a knowledge of literature and history1 he was able to shadow forth his great imagery of the intuitional world4 ,this method of ,tintoretto suggests several possible derivatives in the preparation of motion pictures4 ,let the painters and sculptors be now called upon for painting models and sculptural models1 while the architect1 already present1 supplies the architectural models1 all three giving us visible scenarios to furnish the cardinal motives for the acting1 from which the amateur photoplay company of the university can begin their interpretation4 ,for episodes that follow the precedent of the simple ,action ,film tiny wax models of the figures1 toned and costumed to the heart's delight1 would tell the high points of the story4 ,let them represent1 perhaps1 seven crucial situations from the proposed photoplay4 ,let them be designed as uniquely in their dresses as are the ,russian dancers' dresses1 by ,leon ,bakst4 ,then to alternate with these1 seven little paintings of episodes1 designed in blacks1 whites1 and grays1 each representing some elusive point in the intimate aspects of the story4 ,let there be a definite system of space and texture relations retained throughout the set4 ,the models for the splendor scenes would1 of course1 be designed by the architect1 and these other scenes alternated with and subordinated to his work4 ,the effects which he would conceive would be on a grander scale4 ,the models for these might be mere extensions of the methods of those others1 but in the typical and highest let us imagine ourselves going beyond ,tintoretto in preparation4 ,let the principal splendor moods and effects be indicated by actual structures1 such miniatures as architects offer along with their plans of public buildings1 but transfigured beyond that standard by the light of inspiration combined with experimental candle-light1 spot-light1 sunlight1 or torchlight4 ,they must not be conceived as stage arrangements of wax figures with harmonious and fitting backgrounds1 but as backgrounds that clamor for utterance through the figures in front of them1 as ,athens finds her soul in the ,athena with which we began4 ,these three sorts of models1 properly harmonized1 should have with them a written scenario constructed to indicate all the scenes between4 ,the scenario will lead up to these models for climaxes and hold them together in the celestial hurdle-race4 ,we have in our museums some definite architectural suggestions as to the style of these models4 ,there are in ,blackstone ,hall in the ,chicago ,art ,institute several great ,romanesque and ,gothic portals1 pillars1 and statues that might tell directly upon certain settings of our ,jeanne d',arc pageant4 ,they are from ,notre ,dame du ,port at ,clermont-,ferrand1 the ,abbey church of ,st4 ,gilles1 the ,abbey of ,charlieu1 the ,cathedral of ,amiens1 ,notre ,dame at ,paris1 the ,cathedral of ,bordeaux1 and the ,cathedral of ,rheims4 ,perhaps the object ,i care for most in the ,metropolitan ,museum1 ,new ,york1 is the complete model of ,notre ,dame1 ,paris1 by ,m4 ,joly4 ,why was this model of ,notre ,dame made with such exquisite pains8 ,certainly not as a matter of mere information or cultivation4 ,i venture the first right these things have to be taken care of in museums is to stimulate to new creative effort4 ,i went to look over the ,chicago collection with a friend and poet ,arthur ,davison ,ficke4 ,he said something to this effect3 ,the first thing ,i see when ,i look at these fragments is the whole cathedral in all its original proportions4 ,then ,i behold the mediaeval marketplace hunched against the building1 burying the foundations1 the life of man growing rank and weedlike around it4 ,then ,i see the bishop coming from the door with his impressive train4 ,but a crusade may go by on the way to the ,holy ,land4 ,a crusade may come home battered and in rags4 ,i get the sense of life1 as of a rapid in a river flowing round a great rock4 ,the cathedral stands for the age-long meditation of the ascetics in the midst of battling tribes4 ,this brooding architecture has a blood-brotherhood with the meditating1 saint-seeing ,jeanne d',arc4 ,there is in the ,metropolitan ,museum a large and famous canvas painted by the dying ,bastien-,lepage2--,jeanne ,listening to the ,voices4 ,it is a picture of which the technicians and the poets are equally enamored4 ,the tale of ,jeanne d',arc could be told1 carrying this particular peasant girl through the story4 ,and for a piece of architectural pageantry akin to the photoplay ballroom scene already described1 yet far above it1 there is nothing more apt for our purpose than the painting by ,boutet de ,monvel filling the space at the top of the stair at the ,chicago ,art ,institute4 ,though the ,bastien-,lepage is a large painting1 this is many times the size4 ,it shows ,joan's visit at the court of ,chinon4 ,it is big without being empty4 ,it conveys a glitter which expresses one of the things that is meant by the phrase3 ,splendor ,photoplay4 ,but for moving picture purposes it is the ,bastien-,lepage ,joan that should appear here1 set in dramatic contrast to the ,boutet de ,monvel ,court4 ,two valuable neighbors to whom ,i have read this chapter suggest that the whole ,boutet de ,monvel illustrated child's book about our heroine could be used on this grand scale1 for a background4 ,the ,inness room at the ,chicago ,art ,institute is another school for the meditative producer1 if he would evolve his tribute to ,france on ,american soil4 ,though no photoplay tableau has yet approximated the brush of ,inness1 why not attempt to lead ,jeanne through an ,inness landscape8 ,the ,bastien-,lepage trees are in ,france4 ,but here is an ,american world in which one could see visions and hear voices4 ,where is the inspired camera that will record something of what ,inness beheld8 ,thus much for the atmosphere and trappings of our ,jeanne d',arc scenario4 ,where will we get our story8 ,it should1 of course1 be written from the ground up for this production1 but as good ,americans we would probably find a mass of suggestions in ,mark ,twain's ,joan of ,arc4 ,quite recently a moving picture company sent its photographers to ,springfield1 ,illinois1 and produced a story with our city for a background1 using our social set for actors4 ,backed by the local commercial association for whose benefit the thing was made1 the resources of the place were at the command of routine producers4 ,springfield dressed its best1 and acted with fair skill4 ,the heroine was a charming debutante1 the hero the son of ,governor ,dunne4 ,the ,mine ,owner's ,daughter was at best a mediocre photoplay4 ,but this type of social-artistic event1 that happened once1 may be attempted a hundred times1 each time slowly improving4 ,which brings us to something that is in the end very far from ,the ,mine ,owner's ,daughter4 ,by what scenario method the following film or series of films is to be produced ,i will not venture to say4 ,no doubt the way will come if once the dream has a sufficient hold4 ,i have long maintained that my home-town should have a goddess like ,athena4 ,the legend should be forthcoming4 ,the producer1 while not employing armies1 should use many actors and the tale be told with the same power with which the productions of ,judith of ,bethulia and ,the ,battle ,hymn of the ,republic were evolved4 ,while the following story may not be the form which ,springfield civic religion will ultimately take1 it is here recorded as a second cousin of the dream that ,i hope will some day be set forth4 ,late in an afternoon in ,october1 a light is seen in the zenith like a dancing star4 ,the clouds form round it in the approximation of a circle4 ,now there becomes visible a group of heads and shoulders of presences that are looking down through the ring of clouds1 watching the star1 like giant children that peep down a well4 ,the jewel descends by four sparkling chains1 so far away they look to be dewy threads of silk4 ,as the bright mystery grows larger it appears to be approaching the treeless hill of ,washington ,park1 a hill that is surrounded by many wooded ridges4 ,the people come running from everywhere to watch4 ,here indeed will be a ,crowd ,picture with as many phases as a stormy ocean4 ,flying machines appear from the ,fair ,ground north of the city1 and circle round and round as they go up1 trying to reach the slowly descending plummet4 99 99 99 99 99 ,at last1 while the throng cheers1 one bird-man has attained it4 ,he brings back his message that the gift is an image1 covered loosely with a wrapping that seems to be of spun gold4 ,now the many aviators whirl round the descending wonder1 like seagulls playing about a ship's mast4 ,soon1 amid an awestruck throng1 the image is on the hillock4 ,the golden chains1 and the giant children holding them there above1 have melted into threads of mist and nothingness4 ,the shining wrapping falls away4 ,the people look upon a seated statue of marble and gold4 ,there is a branch of wrought-gold maple leaves in her hands4 ,then beside the image is a fluttering transfigured presence of which the image seems to be a representation4 ,this spirit1 carrying a living maple branch in her hand1 says to the people3 ,men and ,women of ,springfield1 this carving is the ,lady ,springfield sent by your ,lord from ,heaven4 ,build no canopy over her4 ,let her ever be under the prairie-sky4 ,do her perpetual honor4 ,the messenger1 who is the soul and voice of ,springfield1 fades into the crowd1 to emerge on great and terrible occasions4 ,this is only one story4 ,round this public event let the photoplay romancer weave what tales of private fortune he will1 narratives bound up with the events of that ,october day1 as the story of ,nathan and ,naomi is woven into ,judith of ,bethulia4 ,henceforth the city officers are secular priests of ,our ,lady ,springfield4 ,their failure in duty is a profanation of her name4 ,a yearly pledge of the first voters is taken in her presence like the old ,athenian oath of citizenship4 ,the seasonal pageants march to the statue's feet1 scattering flowers4 ,the important outdoor festivals are given on the edge of her hill4 ,all the roads lead to her footstool4 ,pilgrims come from the ,seven ,seas to look upon her face that is carved by ,invisible ,powers4 ,moreover1 the living messenger that is her actual soul appears in dreams1 or visions of the open day1 when the days are dark for the city1 when her patriots are irresolute1 and her children are put to shame4 ,this spirit with the maple branch rallies them1 leads them to victories like those that were won of old in the name of ,jeanne d',arc or ,pallas ,athena herself4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,thirty ,,differences ,,between ,,the ,,photoplays ,,and ,,the ,,stage ,the stage is dependent upon three lines of tradition3 first1 that of ,greece and ,rome that came down through the ,french4 ,second1 the ,english style1 ripened from the miracle play and the ,shakespearian stage4 ,and third1 the ,ibsen precedent from ,norway1 now so firmly established it is classic4 ,these methods are obscured by the commercialized dramas1 but they are behind them all4 ,let us discuss for illustration the ,ibsen tradition4 ,ibsen is generally the vitriolic foe of pageant4 ,he must be read aloud4 ,he stands for the spoken word1 for the iron power of life that may be concentrated in a phrase like the ,all or nothing of ,brand4 ,though ,peer ,gynt has its spectacular side1 ,ibsen generally comes in through the ear alone4 ,he can be acted in essentials from end to end with one table and four chairs in any parlor4 ,the alleged punch with which the movie culminates has occurred three or ten years before the ,ibsen curtain goes up4 ,at the close of every act of the dramas of this ,norwegian one might inscribe on the curtain ,this the magnificent moving picture cannot achieve4 ,likewise after every successful film described in this book could be inscribed ,this the trenchant ,ibsen cannot do4 ,but a photoplay of ,ghosts came to our town4 ,the humor of the prospect was the sort too deep for tears4 ,my pastor and ,i reread the ,william ,archer translation that we might be alert for every antithesis4 ,together we went to the services4 ,since then the film has been furiously denounced by the literati4 ,floyd ,dell's discriminating assault upon it is quoted in ,current ,opinion1 ,october1 #aiae1 and ,margaret ,anderson prints a denunciation of it in a recent number of ,the ,little ,review4 ,but it is not such a bad film in itself4 ,it is not ,ibsen4 ,it should be advertised ,the ,iniquities of the ,fathers1 an ,american drama of ,eugenics1 in a ,palatial ,setting4 ,henry ,walthall as ,alving1 afterward as his son1 shows the men much as ,ibsen outlines their characters4 ,of course the only way to be ,ibsen is to be so precisely4 ,in the new plot all is open as the day4 ,the world is welcome1 and generally present when the man or his son go forth to see the elephant and hear the owl4 ,provincial hypocrisy is not implied4 ,but ,ibsen can scarcely exist without an atmosphere of secrecy for his human volcanoes to burst through in the end4 ,mary ,alden as ,mrs4 ,alving shows in her intelligent and sensitive countenance that she has a conception of that character4 ,she does not always have the chance to act the woman written in her face1 the tart1 thinking1 handsome creature that ,ibsen prefers4 ,nigel ,debrullier looks the buttoned-up ,pastor ,manders1 even to caricature4 ,but the crawling1 bootlicking carpenter1 ,jacob ,engstrand1 is changed into a respectable1 guileless man with an income4 ,and his wife and daughter are helpless1 conventional1 upper-class rabbits4 ,they do not remind one of the saucy originals4 ,the original ,ibsen drama is the result of mixing up five particular characters through three acts4 ,there is not a situation but would go to pieces if one personality were altered4 ,here are two1 sadly tampered with3 ,engstrand and his daughter4 ,here is the mother1 who is only referred to in ,ibsen4 ,here is the elder ,alving1 who disappears before the original play starts4 ,so the twenty great ,ibsen situations in the stage production are gone4 ,one new crisis has an ,ibsen irony and psychic tension4 ,the boy is taken with the dreaded intermittent pains in the back of his head4 ,he is painting the order that is to make him famous3 the ,king's portrait4 ,while the room empties of people he writhes on the floor4 ,if this were all1 it would have been one more moving picture failure to put through a tragic scene4 ,but the thing is reiterated in tableau-symbol4 ,he is looking sideways in terror4 ,a hairy arm with clutching demon claws comes thrusting in toward the back of his neck4 ,he writhes in deadly fear4 ,the audience is appalled for him4 ,this visible clutch of heredity is the nearest equivalent that is offered for the whispered refrain3 ,ghosts1 in the original masterpiece4 ,this hand should also be reiterated as a refrain1 three times at least1 before this tableau1 each time more dreadful and threatening4 ,it appears but the once1 and has no chance to become a part of the accepted hieroglyphics of the piece1 as it should be1 to realize its full power4 ,the father's previous sins have been acted out4 ,the boy's consequent struggle with the malady has been traced step by step1 so the play should end here4 ,it would then be a rough equivalent of the ,ibsen irony in a contrary medium4 ,instead of that1 it wanders on through paraphrases of scraps of the play1 sometimes literal1 then quite alien1 on to the alleged motion picture punch1 when the ,doctor is the god from the machine4 ,there is no doctor on the stage in the original ,ghosts4 ,but there is a physician in the ,doll's ,house1 a scientific1 quietly moving oracle1 crisp1 ,spartan1 sophisticated4 ,is this photoplay physician such a one8 ,the boy and his half-sister are in their wedding-clothes in the big church4 ,pastor ,manders is saying the ceremony4 ,the audience and building are indeed showy4 ,the doctor charges up the aisle at the moment people are told to speak or forever hold their peace4 ,he has tact4 ,he simply breaks up the marriage right there4 ,he does not tell the guests why4 ,but he takes the wedding party into the pastor's study and there blazes at the bride and groom the long-suppressed truth that they are brother and sister4 ,always an orotund man1 he has the ,chautauqua manner indeed in this exigency4 ,he brings to one's mind the tearful book1 much loved in childhood1 ,parted at the ,altar1 or ,why ,was it ,thus8 ,and four able actors have the task of telling the audience by facial expression only1 that they have been struck by moral lightning4 ,they stand in a row1 facing the people1 endeavoring to make the crisis of an alleged ,ibsen play out of a crashing melodrama4 ,the final death of young ,alving is depicted with an approximation of ,ibsen's mood4 ,but the only ways to suggest such feelings in silence1 do not convey them in full to the audience1 but merely narrate them4 ,wherever in ,ghosts we have quiet voices that are like the slow drip of hydrochloric acid1 in the photoplay we have no quiet gestures that will do trenchant work4 ,instead there are endless writhings and rushings about1 done with a deal of skill1 but destructive of the last remnants of ,ibsen4 ,up past the point of the clutching hand this film is the prime example for study for the person who would know once for all the differences between the photoplays and the stage dramas4 ,along with it might be classed ,mrs4 ,fiske's decorative moving picture ,tess1 in which there is every determination to convey the original ,mrs4 ,fiske illusion without her voice and breathing presence4 ,to people who know her well it is a surprisingly good tintype of our beloved friend1 for the family album4 ,the relentless ,thomas ,hardy is nowhere to be found4 ,there are two moments of dramatic life set among many of delicious pictorial quality3 when ,tess baptizes her child1 and when she smooths its little grave with a wavering hand4 ,but in the stage-version the dramatic poignancy begins with the going up of the curtain1 and lasts till it descends4 ,the prime example of complete failure is ,sarah ,bernhardt's ,camille4 ,it is indeed a tintype of the consumptive heroine1 with every group entire1 and taken at full length4 ,much space is occupied by the floor and the overhead portions of the stage setting4 ,it lasts as long as would the spoken performance1 and wherever there is a dialogue we must imagine said conversation if we can4 ,it might be compared to watching ,camille from the top gallery through smoked glass1 with one's ears stopped with cotton4 ,it would be well for the beginning student to find some way to see the first two of these three1 or some other attempts to revamp the classic1 for instance ,mrs4 ,fiske's painstaking reproduction of ,vanity ,fair1 bearing in mind the list of differences which this chapter now furnishes4 ,there is no denying that many stage managers who have taken up photoplays are struggling with the ,shakespearian ,french and ,norwegian traditions in the new medium4 ,many of the moving pictures discussed in this book are rewritten stage dramas1 and one1 ,judith of ,bethulia1 is a pronounced success4 ,but in order to be real photoplays the stage dramas must be overhauled indeed1 turned inside out and upside down4 ,the successful motion picture expresses itself through mechanical devices that are being evolved every hour4 ,upon those many new bits of machinery are founded novel methods of combination in another field of logic1 not dramatic logic1 but tableau logic4 ,but the old-line managers1 taking up photoplays1 begin by making curious miniatures of stage presentations4 ,they try to have most things as before4 ,later they take on the moving picture technique in a superficial way1 but they1 and the host of talented actors in the prime of life and ,broadway success1 retain the dramatic state of mind4 ,it is a principle of criticism1 the world over1 that the distinctions between the arts must be clearly marked1 even by those who afterwards mix those arts4 ,take1 for instance1 the perpetual quarrel between the artists and the half-educated about literary painting4 ,whistler fought that battle in ,england4 ,he tried to beat it into the head of ,john ,bull that a painting is one thing1 a mere illustration for a story another thing4 ,but the novice is always stubborn4 ,to him ,hindu and ,arabic are both foreign languages1 therefore just alike4 ,the book illustration may be said to come in through the ear1 by reading the title aloud in imagination4 ,and the other is effective with no title at all4 ,the scenario writer who will study to the bottom of the matter in ,whistler's ,gentle ,art of ,making ,enemies will be equipped to welcome the distinction between the old-fashioned stage1 where the word rules1 and the photoplay1 where splendor and ritual are all4 ,it is not the same distinction1 but a kindred one4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but let us consider the details of the matter4 ,the stage has its exits and entrances at the side and back4 ,the standard photoplays have their exits and entrances across the imaginary footlight line1 even in the most stirring mob and battle scenes4 ,in ,judith of ,bethulia1 though the people seem to be coming from everywhere and going everywhere1 when we watch close1 we see that the individuals enter at the near right-hand corner and exit at the near left-hand corner1 or enter at the near left-hand corner and exit at the near right-hand corner4 ,consider the devices whereby the stage actor holds the audience as he goes out at the side and back4 ,he sighs1 gestures1 howls1 and strides4 ,with what studious preparation he ripens his quietness1 if he goes out that way4 ,in the new contraption1 the moving picture1 the hero or villain in exit strides past the nose of the camera1 growing much bigger than a human being1 marching toward us as though he would step on our heads1 disappearing when largest4 ,there is an explosive power about the mildest motion picture exit1 be the actor skilful or the reverse4 ,the people left in the scene are pygmies compared with each disappearing cyclops4 ,likewise1 when the actor enters again1 his mechanical importance is overwhelming4 ,therefore1 for his first entrance the motion picture star does not require the preparations that are made on the stage4 ,the support does not need to warm the spectators to the problem1 then talk them into surrender4 ,when the veteran stage-producer as a beginning photoplay producer tries to give us a dialogue in the motion pictures1 he makes it so dull no one follows4 ,he does not realize that his camera-born opportunity to magnify persons and things instantly1 to interweave them as actors on one level1 to alternate scenes at the slightest whim1 are the big substitutes for dialogue4 ,by alternating scenes rapidly1 flash after flash3 cottage1 field1 mountain-top1 field1 mountain-top1 cottage1 we have a conversation between three places rather than three persons4 ,by alternating the picture of a man and the check he is forging1 we have his soliloquy4 ,when two people talk to each other1 it is by lifting and lowering objects rather than their voices4 ,the collector presents a bill3 the adventurer shows him the door4 ,the boy plucks a rose3 the girl accepts it4 ,moving objects1 not moving lips1 make the words of the photoplay4 ,the old-fashioned stage producer1 feeling he is getting nowhere1 but still helpless1 puts the climax of some puzzling lip-debate1 often the climax of the whole film1 as a sentence on the screen4 ,sentences should be used to show changes of time and place and a few such elementary matters before the episode is fully started4 ,the climax of a motion picture scene cannot be one word or fifty words4 ,as has been discussed in connection with ,cabiria1 the crisis must be an action sharper than any that has gone before in organic union with a tableau more beautiful than any that has preceded3 the breaking of the tenth wave upon the sand4 ,such remnants of pantomimic dialogue as remain in the main chase of the photoplay film are but guide-posts in the race toward the goal4 ,they should not be elaborate toll-gates of plot1 to be laboriously lifted and lowered while the horses stop1 mid-career4 ,the ,venus of ,milo1 that comes directly to the soul through the silence1 requires no quotation from ,keats to explain her1 though ,keats is the equivalent in verse4 ,her setting in the great ,french ,museum is enough4 ,we do not know that her name is ,venus4 ,she is thought by many to be another statue of ,victory4 ,we may some day evolve scenarios that will require nothing more than a title thrown upon the screen at the beginning1 they come to the eye so perfectly4 ,this is not the only possible sort1 but the self-imposed limitation in certain films might give them a charm akin to that of the ,songs without ,words4 ,the stage audience is a unit of three hundred or a thousand4 ,in the beginning of the first act there is much moving about and extra talk on the part of the actors1 to hold the crowd while it is settling down1 and enable the late-comer to be in his seat before the vital part of the story starts4 ,if he appears later1 he is glared at4 ,in the motion picture art gallery1 on the other hand1 the audience is around two hundred1 and these are not a unit1 and the only crime is to obstruct the line of vision4 ,the high-school girls can do a moderate amount of giggling without breaking the spell4 ,there is no spell1 in the stage sense1 to break4 ,people can climb over each other's knees to get in or out4 ,if the picture is political1 they murmur war-cries to one another4 ,if the film suggests what some of the neighbors have been doing1 they can regale each other with the richest sewing society report4 ,the people in the motion picture audience total about two hundred1 any time1 but they come in groups of two or three at no specified hour4 ,the newcomers do not1 as in ,vaudeville1 make themselves part of a jocular army4 ,strictly as individuals they judge the panorama4 ,if they disapprove1 there is grumbling under their breath1 but no hissing4 ,i have never heard an audience in a photoplay theatre clap its hands even when the house was bursting with people4 ,yet they often see the film through twice4 ,when they have had enough1 they stroll home4 ,they manifest their favorable verdict by sending some other member of the family to see the picture4 ,if the people so delegated are likewise satisfied1 they may ask the man at the door if he is going to bring it back4 ,that is the moving picture kind of cheering4 ,it was a theatrical sin when the old-fashioned stage actor was rendered unimportant by his scenery4 ,but the motion picture actor is but the mood of the mob or the landscape or the department store behind him1 reduced to a single hieroglyphic4 ,the stage-interior is large4 ,the motion-picture interior is small4 ,the stage out-of-door scene is at best artificial and little and is generally at rest1 or its movement is tainted with artificiality4 ,the waves dash1 but not dashingly1 the water flows1 but not flowingly4 ,the motion picture out-of-door scene is as big as the universe4 ,and only pictures of the ,sahara are without magnificent motion4 ,the photoplay is as far from the stage on the one hand as it is from the novel on the other4 ,its nearest analogy in literature is1 perhaps1 the short story1 or the lyric poem4 ,the key-words of the stage are passion and character2 of the photoplay1 splendor and speed4 ,the stage in its greatest power deals with pity for some one especially unfortunate1 with whom we grow well acquainted2 with some private revenge against some particular despoiler2 traces the beginning and culmination of joy based on the gratification of some preference1 or love for some person1 whose charm is all his own4 ,the drama is concerned with the slow1 inevitable approaches to these intensities4 ,on the other hand1 the motion picture1 though often appearing to deal with these things1 as a matter of fact uses substitutes1 many of which have been listed4 ,but to review3 its first substitute is the excitement of speed-mania stretched on the framework of an obvious plot4 ,or it deals with delicate informal anecdote as the short story does1 or fairy legerdemain1 or patriotic banners1 or great surging mobs of the proletariat1 or big scenic outlooks1 or miraculous beings made visible4 ,and the further it gets from ,euripides1 ,ibsen1 ,shakespeare1 or ,moliere--the more it becomes like a mural painting from which flashes of lightning come--the more it realizes its genius4 ,men like ,gordon ,craig and ,granville ,barker are almost wasting their genius on the theatre4 ,the ,splendor ,photoplays are the great outlet for their type of imagination4 ,the typical stage performance is from two hours and a half upward4 ,the movie show generally lasts five reels1 that is1 an hour and forty minutes4 ,and it should last but three reels1 that is1 an hour4 ,edgar ,poe said there was no such thing as a long poem4 ,there is certainly no such thing as a long moving picture masterpiece4 ,the stage-production depends most largely upon the power of the actors1 the movie show upon the genius of the producer4 ,the performers and the dumb objects are on equal terms in his paint-buckets4 ,the star-system is bad for the stage because the minor parts are smothered and the situations distorted to give the favorite an orbit4 ,it is bad for the motion pictures because it obscures the producer4 ,while the leading actor is entitled to his glory1 as are all the actors1 their mannerisms should not overshadow the latest inspirations of the creator of the films4 ,the display of the name of the corporation is no substitute for giving the glory to the producer4 ,an artistic photoplay is not the result of a military efficiency system4 ,it is not a factory-made staple article1 but the product of the creative force of one soul1 the flowering of a spirit that has the habit of perpetually renewing itself4 ,once ,i saw ,mary ,fuller in a classic4 ,it was the life and death of ,mary ,queen of ,scots4 ,not only was the tense1 fidgety1 over-,american ,mary ,fuller transformed into a being who was a poppy and a tiger-lily and a snow-queen and a rose1 but she and her company1 including ,marc ,macdermott1 radiated the old ,scotch patriotism4 ,they made the picture a memorial4 ,it reminded one of ,maurice ,hewlett's novel ,the ,queen's ,quair4 ,evidently all the actors were fused by some noble managerial mood4 ,there can be no doubt that so able a group have evolved many good films that have escaped me4 ,but though ,i did go again and again1 never did ,i see them act with the same deliberation and distinction1 and ,i laid the difference to a change in the state of mind of the producer4 ,even baseball players must have managers4 ,a team cannot pick itself1 or it surely would4 ,and this rule may apply to the stage4 ,but by comparison to motion picture performers1 stage-actors are their own managers1 for they have an approximate notion of how they look in the eye of the audience1 which is but the human eye4 ,they can hear and gauge their own voices4 ,they have the same ears as their listeners4 ,but the picture producer holds to his eyes the seven-leagued demon spy-glass called the kinetoscope1 as the audience will do later4 ,the actors have not the least notion of their appearance4 ,also the words in the motion picture are not things whose force the actor can gauge4 ,the book under the table is one word1 the dog behind the chair is another1 the window curtain flying in the breeze is another4 ,this chapter has implied that the performers were but paint on the canvas4 ,they are both paint and models4 ,they are models in the sense that the young ,ellen ,terry was the inspiration for ,watts' ,sir ,galahad4 ,they resemble the persons in private life who furnish the basis for novels4 ,dickens' mother was the original of ,mrs4 ,nickleby4 ,his father entered into ,wilkins ,micawber4 ,but these people are not perpetually thrust upon us as ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,dickens4 ,we are glad to find them in the ,dickens biographies4 ,when the stories begin1 it is ,micawber and ,mrs4 ,nickleby we want1 and the ,charles ,dickens atmosphere4 ,the photoplays of the future will be written from the foundations for the films4 ,the soundest actors1 photographers1 and producers will be those who emphasize the points wherein the photoplay is unique4 ,what is adapted to complete expression in one art generally secures but half expression in another4 ,the supreme photoplay will give us things that have been but half expressed in all other mediums allied to it4 ,once this principle is grasped there is every reason why the same people who have interested themselves in the advanced experimental drama should take hold of the super-photoplay4 ,the good citizens who can most easily grasp the distinction should be there to perpetuate the higher welfare of these institutions side by side4 ,this parallel development should come1 if for no other reason1 because the two arts are still roughly classed together by the public4 ,the elect cannot teach the public what the drama is till they show them precisely what the photoplay is and is not4 ,just as the university has departments of both ,history and ,english teaching in amity1 each one illuminating the work of the other1 so these two forms should live in each other's sight in fine and friendly contrast4 ,at present they are in blind and jealous warfare4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,hieroglyphics ,i have read this chapter to a pretty neighbor who has approved of the preceding portions of the book1 whose mind1 therefore1 ,i cannot but respect4 ,my neighbor classes this discussion of hieroglyphics as a fanciful flight rather than a sober argument4 ,i submit the verdict1 then struggle against it while you read4 ,the invention of the photoplay is as great a step as was the beginning of picture-writing in the stone age4 ,and the cave-men and women of our slums seem to be the people most affected by this novelty1 which is but an expression of the old in that spiral of life which is going higher while seeming to repeat the ancient phase4 ,there happens to be here on the table a book on ,egypt by ,rawlinson that ,i used to thumb long ago4 ,a footnote says3 ,the font of hieroglyphic type used in this work contains eight hundred forms4 ,but there are many other forms beside4 ,there is more light on ,egypt in later works than in ,rawlinson1 but the statement quoted will serve for our text4 ,several complex methods of making visible scenarios are listed in this work4 ,here is one that is mechanically simple4 ,let the man searching for tableau combinations1 even if he is of the practical commercial type1 prepare himself with eight hundred signs from ,egypt4 ,he can construct the outlines of his scenarios by placing these little pictures in rows4 ,it may not be impractical to cut his hundreds of them from black cardboard and shuffle them on his table every morning4 ,the list will contain all elementary and familiar things4 ,let him first give the most literal meaning to the patterns4 ,then if he desires to rise above the commercial field1 let him turn over each cardboard1 making the white undersurface uppermost1 and there write a more abstract meaning of the hieroglyphic1 one that has a fairly close relation to his way of thinking about the primary form4 ,from a proper balance of primary and secondary meanings photoplays with souls could come4 ,not that he must needs become an expert ,egyptologist4 ,yet it would profit any photoplay man to study to think like the ,egyptians1 the great picture-writing people4 ,there is as much reason for this course as for the ,bible student's apprenticeship in ,hebrew4 ,hieroglyphics can prove their worth1 even without the help of an ,egyptian history4 ,humorous and startling analogies can be pointed out by opening the ,standard ,dictionary1 page fifty-nine4 ,look under the word alphabet4 ,there is the diagram of the evolution of inscriptions from the ,egyptian and ,phoenician idea of what letters should be1 on through the ,greek and ,roman systems4 ,in the ,egyptian row is the picture of a throne1 ,illustration that has its equivalent in the ,roman letter ,c4 ,and a throne has as much place in what might be called the moving-picture alphabet as the letter ,c has in ours4 ,there are sometimes three thrones in this small town of ,springfield in an evening4 ,when you see one flashed on the screen1 you know instantly you are dealing with royalty or its implications4 ,the last one ,i saw that made any particular impression was when ,mary ,pickford acted in ,such a ,little ,queen4 ,i only wished then that she had a more convincing throne4 ,let us cut one out of black cardboard4 ,turning the cardboard over to write on it the spirit-meaning1 we inscribe some such phrase as ,the ,throne of ,wisdom or ,the ,throne of ,liberty4 ,here is the hieroglyphic of a hand3 ,illustration ,roman equivalent1 the letter ,d4 ,the human hand1 magnified till it is as big as the whole screen1 is as useful in the moving picture alphabet as the letter ,d in the printed alphabet4 ,this hand may open a lock4 ,it may pour poison in a bottle4 ,it may work a telegraph key4 ,then turning the white side of the cardboard uppermost we inscribe something to the effect that this hand may write on the wall1 as at the feast of ,belshazzar4 ,or it may represent some such conception as ,rodin's ,hand of ,god1 discussed in the ,sculpture-in-motion chapter4 ,here is a duck3 ,illustration ,roman equivalent1 the letter ,z4 ,in the motion pictures this bird1 a somewhat z-shaped animal1 suggests the finality of ,arcadian peace4 ,it is the last and fittest ornament of the mill-pond4 ,nothing very terrible can happen with a duck in the foreground4 ,there is no use turning it over4 ,it would take ,maeterlinck or ,swedenborg to find the mystic meaning of a duck4 ,a duck looks to me like a caricature of an alderman4 ,here is a sieve3 ,illustration ,roman equivalent1 ,h4 ,a sieve placed on the kitchen-table1 close-up1 suggests domesticity1 hired girl humors1 broad farce4 ,we will expect the bride to make her first cake1 or the flour to begin to fly into the face of the intrusive ice-man4 ,but1 as to the other side of the cardboard1 the sieve has its place in higher symbolism4 ,it has been recorded by many a sage and singer that the ,almighty ,powers sift men like wheat4 ,here is the picture of a bowl3 ,illustration ,roman equivalent1 the letter ,k4 ,a bowl seen through the photoplay window on the cottage table suggests ,johnny's early supper of bread and milk4 ,but as to the white side of the cardboard1 out of a bowl of kindred form ,omar may take his moonlit wine1 or the higher gods may lift up the very wine of time to the lips of men1 as ,swinburne sings in ,atalanta in ,calydon4 ,here is a lioness3 ,illustration ,roman equivalent1 the letter ,l4 ,the lion or lioness creeps through the photoplay jungle to give the primary picture-word of terror in this new universal alphabet4 ,the present writer has seen several valuable lions unmistakably shot and killed in the motion pictures1 and charged up to profit and loss1 just as steam-engines or houses are sometimes blown up or burned down4 ,but of late there is a disposition to use the trained lion 7or lioness7 for all sorts of effects4 ,no doubt the king and queen of beasts will become as versatile and humbly useful as the letter ,l itself3 that is1 in the commonplace routine photoplay4 ,we turn the cardboard over and the lion becomes a resource of glory and terror1 a symbol of cruel persecutions or deathless courage1 sign of the zodiac that ,poe in ,ulalume calls the ,lair of the ,lion4 ,here is an owl3 ,illustration ,roman equivalent1 the letter ,m4 ,the only use of the owl ,i can record is to be inscribed on the white surface4 ,in ,the ,avenging ,conscience1 as described in chapter ten1 the murderer marks the ticking of the heart of his victim while watching the swinging of the pendulum of the old clock1 then in watching the tapping of the detective's pencil on the table1 then in the tapping of his foot on the floor4 ,finally a handsome owl is shown in the branches outside hoot-hooting in time with the action of the pencil1 and the pendulum1 and the dead man's heart4 ,but here is a wonderful thing1 an actual picture that has lived on1 retaining its ancient imitative sound and form3 ,illustration the letter ,n1 the drawing of a wave1 with the sound of a wave still within it4 ,one could well imagine the ,nile in the winds of the dawn making such a sound3 ,,nn1 ,n1 ,n1 lapping at the reeds upon its banks4 ,certainly the glittering water scenes are a dominant part of moving picture ,esperanto4 ,on the white reverse of the symbol1 the spiritual meaning of water will range from the metaphor of the purity of the dew to the sea as a sign of infinity4 ,here is a window with closed shutters3 ,illustration ,latin equivalent1 the letter ,p4 ,it is a reminder of the technical outline of this book4 ,the ,intimate ,photoplay1 as ,i have said1 is but a window where we open the shutters and peep into some one's cottage4 ,as to the soul meaning in the opening or closing of the shutters1 it ranges from ,noah's opening the hatches to send forth the dove1 to the promises of blessing when the ,windows of ,heaven should be opened4 ,here is the picture of an angle3 ,illustration ,latin equivalent1 ,q4 ,this is another reminder of the technical outline4 ,the photoplay interior1 as has been reiterated1 is small and three-cornered4 ,here the heroine does her plotting1 flirting1 and primping1 etc4 ,i will leave the spiritual interpretation of the angle to ,emerson1 ,swedenborg1 or ,maeterlinck4 ,here is the picture of a mouth3 ,illustration ,latin equivalent1 the letter ,r4 ,if we turn from the dictionary to the monuments1 we will see that the ,egyptians used all the human features in their pictures4 ,we do not separate the features as frequently as did that ancient people1 but we conventionalize them as often4 ,nine-tenths of the actors have faces as fixed as the masks of the ,greek chorus3 they have the hero-mask with the protruding chin1 the villain-frown1 the comedian-grin1 the fixed innocent-girl simper4 ,these formulas have their place in the broad effects of ,crowd ,pictures and in comedies4 ,then there are sudden abandonments of the mask4 ,griffith's pupils1 ,henry ,walthall and ,blanche ,sweet1 seem to me to be the greatest people in the photoplays3 for one reason their faces are as sensitive to changing emotion as the surfaces of fair lakes in the wind4 ,there is a passage in ,enoch ,arden where ,annie1 impersonated by ,lillian ,gish1 another pupil of ,griffith1 is waiting in suspense for the return of her husband4 ,she changes from lips of waiting1 with a touch of apprehension1 to a delighted laugh of welcome1 her head making a half-turn toward the door4 ,the audience is so moved by the beauty of the slow change they do not know whether her face is the size of the screen or the size of a postage-stamp4 ,as a matter of fact it fills the whole end of the theatre4 ,thus much as to faces that are not hieroglyphics4 ,yet fixed facial hieroglyphics have many legitimate uses4 ,for instance in ,the ,avenging ,conscience1 as the play works toward the climax and the guilty man is breaking down1 the eye of the detective is thrown on the screen with all else hid in shadow1 a watching1 relentless eye4 ,and this suggests a special talisman of the old ,egyptians1 a sign called the ,eyes of ,horus1 meaning the all-beholding sun4 ,here is the picture of an inundated garden3 ,illustration ,latin equivalent1 the letter ,s4 ,in our photoplays the garden is an ever-present resource1 and at an instant's necessity suggests the glory of nature1 or sweet privacy1 and kindred things4 ,the ,egyptian lotus garden had to be inundated to be a success4 ,ours needs but the hired man with the hose1 who sometimes supplies broad comedy4 ,but we turn over the cardboard1 for the deeper meaning of this hieroglyphic4 ,our gardens can1 as of old1 run the solemn range from those of ,babylon to those of the ,resurrection4 ,if there is one sceptic left as to the hieroglyphic significance of the photoplay1 let him now be discomfited by page fifty-nine1 ,standard ,dictionary4 ,the last letter in this list is a lasso3 ,illustration4 ,the equivalent of the lasso in the ,roman alphabet is the letter ,t4 ,the crude and facetious would be apt to suggest that the equivalent of the lasso in the photoplay is the word trouble1 possibly for the hero1 but probably for the villain4 ,we turn to the other side of the symbol4 ,the noose may stand for solemn judgment and the hangman1 it may also symbolize the snare of the fowler1 temptation4 ,then there is the spider web1 close kin1 representing the cruelty of evolution1 in ,the ,avenging ,conscience4 ,this list is based on the rows of hieroglyphics most readily at hand4 ,any volume on ,egypt1 such as one of those by ,maspero1 has a multitude of suggestions for the man inclined to the idea4 ,if this system of pasteboard scenarios is taken literally1 ,i would like to suggest as a beginning rule that in a play based on twenty hieroglyphics1 nineteen should be the black realistic signs with obvious meanings1 and only one of them white and inexplicably strange4 ,it has been proclaimed further back in this treatise that there is only one witch in every wood4 ,and to illustrate further1 there is but one scarlet letter in ,hawthorne's story of that name1 but one wine-cup in all of ,omar1 one ,bluebird in ,maeterlinck's play4 ,i do not insist that the prospective author-producer adopt the hieroglyphic method as a routine1 if he but consents in his meditative hours to the point of view that it implies4 ,the more fastidious photoplay audience that uses the hieroglyphic hypothesis in analyzing the film before it1 will acquire a new tolerance and understanding of the avalanche of photoplay conceptions1 and find a promise of beauty in what have been properly classed as mediocre and stereotyped productions4 ,the nineteenth chapter has a discourse on the ,book of the ,dead4 ,as a connecting link with that chapter the reader will note that one of the marked things about the ,egyptian wall-paintings1 pictures on the mummy-case wrappings1 papyrus inscriptions1 and architectural conceptions1 is that they are but enlarged hieroglyphics1 while the hieroglyphics are but reduced fac-similes of these4 ,so when a few characters are once understood1 the highly colored ,egyptian wall-paintings of the same things are understood4 ,the hieroglyphic of ,osiris is enlarged when they desire to represent him in state4 ,the hieroglyphic of the soul as a human-headed hawk may be in a line of writing no taller than the capitals of this book4 ,immediately above may be a big painting of the soul1 the same hawk placed with the proper care with reference to its composition on the wall1 a pure decoration4 ,the transition from reduction to enlargement and back again is as rapid in ,egypt as in the photoplay4 ,it follows1 among other things1 that in ,egypt1 as in ,china and ,japan1 literary style and mere penmanship and brushwork are to be conceived as inseparable4 ,no doubt the ,egyptian scholar was the man who could not only compose a poem1 but write it down with a brush4 ,talent for poetry1 deftness in inscribing1 and skill in mural painting were probably gifts of the same person4 ,the photoplay goes back to this primitive union in styles4 ,the stages from hieroglyphics through ,phoenician and ,greek letters to ours1 are of no particular interest here4 ,but the fact that hieroglyphics can evolve is important4 ,let us hope that our new picture-alphabets can take on richness and significance1 as time goes on1 without losing their literal values4 ,they may develop into something more all-pervading1 yet more highly wrought1 than any written speech4 ,languages when they evolve produce stylists1 and we will some day distinguish the different photoplay masters as we now delight in the separate tang of ,o4 ,henry and ,mark ,twain and ,howells4 ,when these are ancient times1 we will have scholars and critics learned in the flavors of early moving picture traditions with their histories of movements and schools1 their grammars1 and anthologies4 ,now some words as to the ,anglo-,saxon language and its relation to pictures4 ,in ,england and ,america our plastic arts are but beginning4 ,yesterday we were preeminently a word-civilization4 ,england built her mediaeval cathedrals1 but they left no legacy among craftsmen4 ,art had to lean on imported favorites like ,van ,dyck till the days of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds and the founding of the ,royal ,society4 ,consider that the friends of ,reynolds were of the circle of ,doctor ,johnson4 ,literary tradition had grown old4 ,then ,england had her beginning of landscape gardening4 ,later she saw the rise of ,constable1 ,ruskin1 and ,turner1 and their iridescent successors4 ,still to-day in ,england the average leading citizen matches word against word1--using them as algebraic formulas1--rather than picture against picture1 when he arranges his thoughts under the eaves of his mind4 ,to step into the ,art world is to step out of the beaten path of ,british dreams4 ,shakespeare is still king1 not ,rossetti1 nor yet ,christopher ,wren4 ,moreover1 it was the book-reading colonial who led our rebellion against the very royalty that founded the ,academy4 ,the public-speaking ,american wrote the ,declaration of ,independence4 ,it was not the work of the painting or cathedral-building ,englishman4 ,we were led by ,patrick ,henry1 the orator1 ,benjamin ,franklin1 the printer4 ,the more characteristic ,america became1 the less she had to do with the plastic arts4 ,the emigrant-train carried many a ,bible and ,dictionary packed in beside the guns and axes4 ,it carried the ,elizabethan writers1 ,a,esop's ,fables1 ,blackstone's ,commentaries1 the revised statutes of ,indiana1 ,bunyan's ,pilgrim's ,progress1 ,parson ,weems' ,life of ,washington4 ,but1 obviously1 there was no place for the ,elgin marbles4 ,giotto's tower could not be loaded in with the dried apples and the seedcorn4 ,yesterday morning1 though our arts were growing every day1 we were still more of a word-civilization than the ,english4 ,our architectural1 painting1 and sculptural history is concerned with men now living1 or their immediate predecessors4 ,and even such work as we have is pretty largely a cult by the wealthy4 ,this is the more a cause for misgiving because1 in a democracy1 the arts1 like the political parties1 are not founded till they have touched the county chairman1 the ward leader1 the individual voter4 ,the museums in a democracy should go as far as the public libraries4 ,every town has its library4 ,there are not twenty ,art museums in the land4 ,here then comes the romance of the photoplay4 ,a tribe that has thought in words since the days that it worshipped ,thor and told legends of the cunning of the tongue of ,loki1 suddenly begins to think in pictures4 ,the leaders of the people1 and of culture1 scarcely know the photoplay exists4 ,but in the remote villages the players mentioned in this work are as well known and as fairly understood in their general psychology as any candidates for president bearing political messages4 ,there is many a babe in the proletariat not over four years old who has received more pictures into its eye than it has had words enter its ear4 ,the young couple go with their first-born and it sits gaping on its mother's knee4 ,often the images are violent and unseemly1 a chaos of rawness and squirm1 but scattered through the experience is a delineation of the world4 ,pekin and ,china1 ,harvard and ,massachusetts1 ,portland and ,oregon1 ,benares and ,india1 become imaginary playgrounds4 ,by the time the hopeful has reached its geography lesson in the public school it has travelled indeed4 ,almost any word that means a picture in the text of the geography or history or third reader is apt to be translated unconsciously into moving picture terms4 ,in the next decade1 simply from the development of the average eye1 cities akin to the beginnings of ,florence will be born among us as surely as ,chaucer came1 upon the first ripening of the ,english tongue1 after ,caedmon and ,beowulf4 ,sculptors1 painters1 architects1 and park gardeners who now have their followers by the hundreds will have admirers by the hundred thousand4 ,the voters will respond to the aspirations of these artists as the back-woodsmen followed ,poor ,richard's ,almanac1 or the trappers in their coon-skin caps were fired to patriotism by ,patrick ,henry4 99 99 99 99 99 ,this ends the second section of the book4 ,were it not for the passage on ,the ,battle ,hymn of the ,republic1 the chapters thus far might be entitled3 an open letter to ,griffith and the producers and actors he has trained4 ,contrary to my prudent inclinations1 he is the star of the piece1 except on one page where he is the villain4 ,this stardom came about slowly4 ,in making the final revision1 looking up the producers of the important reels1 especially those from the beginning of the photoplay business1 numbers of times the photoplays have turned out to be the work of this former leading man of ,nance ,o',neil4 ,no one can pretend to a full knowledge of the films4 ,they come faster than rain in ,april4 ,it would take a man every day of the year1 working day and night1 to see all that come to ,springfield4 ,but in the photoplay world1 as ,i understand it1 ,d4,w4 ,griffith is the king-figure4 ,so far1 in this work ,i have endeavored to keep to the established dogmas of ,art4 ,i hope that the main lines of the argument will appeal to the people who have classified and related the beautiful works of man that have preceded the moving pictures4 ,let the reader make his own essay on the subject for the local papers and send the clipping to me4 ,the next photoplay book that may appear from this hand may be construed to meet his point of view4 ,it will try to agree or disagree in clear language4 ,many a controversy must come before a method of criticism is fully established4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,book ,,iii ,,more ,,personal ,,speculations ,,and ,,afterthoughts ,,not ,,brought ,,forward ,,so ,,dogmatically ,at this point ,i climb from the oracular platform and go down through my own chosen underbrush for haphazard adventure4 ,i renounce the platform4 ,whatever it may be that ,i find1 pawpaw or may-apple or spray of willow1 if you do not want it1 throw it over the edge of the hill1 without ado1 to the birds or squirrels or kine1 and do not include it in your controversial discourse4 ,it is not a part of the dogmatic system of photoplay criticism4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,the ,,orchestra1 ,,conversation1 ,,and ,,the ,,censorship ,whenever the photoplay is mixed in the same programme with vaudeville1 the moving picture part of the show suffers4 ,the film is rushed through1 it is battered1 it flickers more than commonly1 it is a little out of focus4 ,the house is not built for it4 ,the owner of the place cannot manage an art gallery with a circus on his hands4 ,it takes more brains than one man possesses to pick good vaudeville talent and bring good films to the town at the same time4 ,the best motion picture theatres are built for photoplays alone4 ,but they make one mistake4 ,almost every motion picture theatre has its orchestra1 pianist1 or mechanical piano4 ,the perfect photoplay gathering-place would have no sound but the hum of the conversing audience4 ,if this is too ruthless a theory1 let the music be played at the intervals between programmes1 while the advertisements are being flung upon the screen1 the lights are on1 and the people coming in4 ,if there is something more to be done on the part of the producer to make the film a telling one1 let it be a deeper study of the pictorial arrangement1 with the tones more carefully balanced1 the sculpture vitalized4 ,this is certainly better than to have a raw thing bullied through with a music-programme1 furnished to bridge the weak places in the construction4 ,a picture should not be released till it is completely thought out4 ,a producer with this goal before him will not have the time or brains to spare to write music that is as closely and delicately related to the action as the action is to the background4 ,and unless the tunes are at one with the scheme they are an intrusion4 ,perhaps the moving picture maker has a twin brother almost as able in music1 who possesses the faculty of subordinating his creations to the work of his more brilliant coadjutor4 ,how are they going to make a practical national distribution of the accompaniment8 ,in the metropolitan theatres ,cabiria carried its own musicians and programme with a rich if feverish result4 ,in ,the ,birth of a ,nation1 music was used that approached imitative sound devices4 ,also the orchestra produced a substitute for old-fashioned stage suspense by long drawn-out syncopations4 ,the finer photoplay values were thrown askew4 ,perhaps these two performances could be successfully vindicated in musical policy4 ,but such a defence proves nothing in regard to the typical film4 ,imagine either of these put on in ,rochester1 ,illinois1 population one hundred souls4 ,the reels run through as well as on ,broadway or ,michigan ,avenue1 but the local orchestra cannot play the music furnished in annotated sheets as skilfully as the local operator can turn the reel 7or watch the motor turn it674 ,the big social fact about the moving picture is that it is scattered like the newspaper4 ,any normal accompaniment thereof must likewise be adapted to being distributed everywhere4 ,the present writer has seen1 here in his home place1 population sixty thousand1 all the films discussed in this book but ,cabiria and ,the ,birth of a ,nation4 ,it is a photoplay paradise1 the spoken theatre is practically banished4 ,unfortunately the local moving picture managers think it necessary to have orchestras4 ,the musicians they can secure make tunes that are most squalid and horrible4 ,with fathomless imbecility1 hoochey koochey strains are on the air while heroes are dying4 ,the ,miserere is in our ears when the lovers are reconciled4 ,ragtime is imposed upon us while the old mother prays for her lost boy4 ,sometimes the musician with this variety of sympathy abandons himself to thrilling improvisation4 ,my thoughts on this subject began to take form several years ago1 when the film this book has much praised1 ,the ,battle ,hymn of the ,republic1 came to town4 ,the proprietor of one theatre put in front of his shop a twenty-foot sign ,the ,battle ,hymn of the ,republic1 by ,harriet ,beecher ,stowe1 brought back by special request4 ,he had probably read ,julia ,ward ,howe's name on the film forty times before the sign went up4 ,his assistant1 ,i presume his daughter1 played ,in the ,shade of the ,old ,apple ,tree hour after hour1 while the great film was rolling by4 ,many old soldiers were coming to see it4 ,i asked the assistant why she did not play and sing the ,battle ,hymn4 ,she said they just couldn't find it4 ,are the distributors willing to send out a musician with each film8 ,many of the ,springfield producers are quite able and enterprising1 but to ask for music with photoplays is like asking the man at the news stand to write an editorial while he sells you the paper4 ,the picture with a great orchestra in a far-off metropolitan ,opera ,house1 may be classed by fanatic partisanship with ,grand ,opera4 ,but few can get at it4 ,it has nothing to do with ,democracy4 ,of course people with a mechanical imagination1 and no other kind1 begin to suggest the talking moving picture at this point1 or the phonograph or the mechanical piano4 ,let us discuss the talking moving picture only4 ,that disposes of the others4 ,if the talking moving picture becomes a reliable mirror of the human voice and frame1 it will be the basis of such a separate art that none of the photoplay precedents will apply4 ,it will be the phonoplay1 not the photoplay4 ,it will be unpleasant for a long time4 ,this book is a struggle against the non-humanness of the undisciplined photograph4 ,any film is correct1 realistic1 forceful1 many times before it is charming4 ,the actual physical storage-battery of the actor is many hundred miles away4 ,as a substitute1 the human quality must come in the marks of the presence of the producer4 ,the entire painting must have his brushwork4 ,if we compare it to a love-letter it must be in his handwriting rather than worked on a typewriter4 ,if he puts his autograph into the film1 it is after a fierce struggle with the uncanny scientific quality of the camera's work4 ,his genius and that of the whole company of actors is exhausted in the task4 ,the raw phonograph is likewise unmagnetic4 ,would you set upon the shoulders of the troupe of actors the additional responsibility of putting an adequate substitute for human magnetism in the phonographic disk8 ,the voice that does not actually bleed1 that contains no heart-beats1 fails to meet the emergency4 ,few people have wept over a phonographic selection from ,tristan and ,isolde4 ,they are moved at the actual performance4 ,why8 ,look at the opera singer after the last act4 ,his eyes are burning4 ,his face is flushed4 ,his pulse is high4 ,reaching his hotel room1 he is far more weary than if he had sung the opera alone there4 ,he has given out of his brain-fire and blood-beat the same magnetism that leads men in battle4 ,to speak of it in the crassest terms1 this resource brings him a hundred times more salary than another man with just as good a voice can command4 ,the output that leaves him drained at the end of the show cannot be stored in the phonograph machine4 ,that device is as good in the morning as at noon4 ,it ticks like a clock4 ,to perfect the talking moving picture1 human magnetism must be put into the mirror-screen and into the clock4 ,not only is this imperative1 but clock and mirror must be harmonized1 one gently subordinated to the other4 ,both cannot rule4 ,in the present talking moving picture the more highly developed photoplay is dragged by the hair in a dead faint1 in the wake of the screaming savage phonograph4 ,no talking machine on the market reproduces conversation clearly unless it be elaborately articulated in unnatural tones with a stiff interval between each question and answer4 ,real dialogue goes to ruin4 ,the talking moving picture came to our town4 ,we were given for one show a line of minstrels facing the audience1 with the interlocutor repeating his immemorial question1 and the end-man giving the immemorial answer4 ,then came a scene in a blacksmith shop where certain well-differentiated rackets were carried over the footlights4 ,no one heard the blacksmith1 unless he stopped to shout straight at us4 ,the phonoplay can quite possibly reach some divine goal1 but it will be after the speaking powers of the phonograph excel the photographing powers of the reel1 and then the pictures will be brought in as comment and ornament to the speech4 ,the pictures will be held back by the phonograph as long as it is more limited in its range4 ,the pictures are at present freer and more versatile without it4 ,if the phonoplay is ever established1 since it will double the machinery1 it must needs double its prices4 ,it will be the illustrated phonograph1 in a more expensive theatre4 ,the orchestra is in part a blundering effort by the local manager to supply the human-magnetic element which he feels lacking in the pictures on which the producer has not left his autograph4 ,but there is a much more economic and magnetic accompaniment1 the before-mentioned buzzing commentary of the audience4 ,there will be some people who disturb the neighbors in front1 but the average crowd has developed its manners in this particular1 and when the orchestra is silent1 murmurs like a pleasant brook4 ,local manager1 why not an advertising campaign in your town that says3 ,beginning ,monday and henceforth1 ours shall be known as the ,conversational ,theatre8 ,at the door let each person be handed the following card3-- ,you are encouraged to discuss the picture with the friend who accompanies you to this place4 ,conversation1 of course1 must be sufficiently subdued not to disturb the stranger who did not come with you to the theatre4 ,if you are so disposed1 consider your answers to these questions3 ,what play or part of a play given in this theatre did you like most to-day8 ,what the least8 ,what is the best picture you have ever seen anywhere8 ,what pictures1 seen here this month1 shall we bring back8 ,here give a list of the recent productions1 with squares to mark by the ,australian ballot system3 approved or disapproved4 ,the cards with their answers could be slipped into the ballot-box at the door as the crowd goes out4 ,it may be these questions are for the exceptional audiences in residence districts4 ,perhaps with most crowds the last interrogation is the only one worth while4 ,but by gathering habitually the answers to that alone the place would get the drift of its public1 realize its genius1 and become an art-gallery1 the people bestowing the blue ribbons4 ,the photoplay theatres have coupon contests and balloting already3 the most popular young lady1 money prizes to the best vote-getter in the audience1 etc4 ,why not ballot on the matter in hand8 ,if the cards are sent out by the big producers1 a referendum could be secured that would be invaluable in arguing down to rigid censorship1 and enable them to make their own private censorship more intelligent4 ,various styles of experimental cards could be tried till the vital one is found4 ,there is growing up in this country a clan of half-formed moving picture critics4 ,the present stage of their work is indicated by the eloquent notice describing ,your ,girl and ,mine1 in the chapter on ,progress and ,endowment4 ,the metropolitan papers give their photoplay reporters as much space as the theatrical critics4 ,here in my home town the twelve moving picture places take one half a page of chaotic notices daily4 ,the country is being badly led by professional photoplay news-writers who do not know where they are going1 but are on the way4 ,but they aptly describe the habitual attendants as moving picture fans4 ,the fan at the photoplay1 as at the baseball grounds1 is neither a low-brow nor a high-brow4 ,he is an enthusiast who is as stirred by the charge of the photographic cavalry as by the home runs that he watches from the bleachers4 ,in both places he has the privilege of comment while the game goes on4 ,in the photoplay theatre it is not so vociferous1 but as keenly felt4 ,each person roots by himself4 ,he has his own judgment1 and roasts the umpire3 who is the keeper of the local theatre3 or the producer1 as the case may be4 ,if these opinions of the fan can be collected and classified1 an informal censorship is at once established4 ,the photoplay reporters can then take the enthusiasts in hand and lead them to a realization of the finer points in awarding praise and blame4 ,even the sporting pages have their expert opinions with due influence on the betting odds4 ,out of the work of the photoplay reporters let a superstructure of art criticism be reared in periodicals like ,the ,century1 ,harper's1 ,scribner's1 ,the ,atlantic1 ,the ,craftsman1 and the architectural magazines4 ,these are our natural custodians of art4 ,they should reproduce the most exquisite tableaus1 and be as fastidious in their selection of them as they are in the current examples of the other arts4 ,let them spread the news when photoplays keyed to the ,rembrandt mood arrive4 ,the reporters for the newspapers should get their ideas and refreshment in such places as the ,ryerson ,art ,library of the ,chicago ,art ,institute4 ,they should begin with such books as ,richard ,muther's ,history of ,modern ,painting1 ,john ,c4 ,van ,dyke's ,art for ,art's ,sake1 ,marquand and ,frothingham's ,history of ,sculpture1 ,a4,d4,f4 ,hamlin's ,history of ,architecture4 ,they should take the business of guidance in this new world as a sacred trust1 knowing they have the power to influence an enormous democracy4 ,the moving picture journals and the literati are in straits over the censorship question4 ,the literati side with the managers1 on the principles of free speech and a free press4 ,but few of the aesthetically super-wise are persistent fans4 ,they rave for freedom1 but are not1 as a general thing1 living back in the home town4 ,they do not face the exigency of having their summer and winter amusement spoiled day after day4 ,extremists among the pious are railing against the moving pictures as once they railed against novels4 ,they have no notion that this institution is penetrating to the last backwoods of our civilization1 where its presence is as hard to prevent as the rain4 ,but some of us are destined to a reaction1 almost as strong as the obsession4 ,the religionists will think they lead it4 ,they will be self-deceived4 ,moving picture nausea is already taking hold of numberless people1 even when they are in the purely pagan mood4 ,forced by their limited purses1 their inability to buy a ,ford car1 and the like1 they go in their loneliness to film after film till the whole world seems to turn on a reel4 ,when they are again at home1 they see in the dark an imaginary screen with tremendous pictures1 whirling by at a horribly accelerated pace1 a photoplay delirium tremens4 ,faster and faster the reel turns in the back of their heads4 ,when the moving picture sea-sickness is upon one1 nothing satisfies but the quietest out of doors1 the companionship of the gentlest of real people4 ,the non-movie-life has charms such as one never before conceived4 ,the worn citizen feels that the cranks and legislators can do what they please to the producers4 ,he is through with them4 ,the moving picture business men do not realize that they have to face these nervous conditions in their erstwhile friends4 ,they flatter themselves they are being pursued by some reincarnations of ,anthony ,comstock4 ,there are several reasons why photoplay corporations are callous1 along with the sufficient one that they are corporations4 ,first1 they are engaged in a financial orgy4 ,fortunes are being found by actors and managers faster than they were dug up in #ahdi and #ahej in ,california4 ,forty-niner lawlessness of soul prevails4 ,they talk each other into a lordly state of mind4 ,all is dash and experiment4 ,look at the advertisements in the leading moving picture magazines4 ,they are like the praise of oil stock or ,peruna4 ,they bawl about films founded upon little classics4 ,they howl about plots that are ostensibly from the soberest of novels1 whose authors they blasphemously invoke4 ,they boo and blow about twisted1 callous scenarios that are bad imitations of the world's most beloved lyrics4 ,the producers do not realize the mass effect of the output of the business4 ,it appears to many as a sea of unharnessed photography3 sloppy conceptions set forth with sharp edges and irrelevant realism4 ,the jumping1 twitching1 cold-blooded devices1 day after day1 create the aforesaid sea-sickness1 that has nothing to do with the questionable subject4 ,when on top of this we come to the picture that is actually insulting1 we are up in arms indeed4 ,it is supplied by a corporation magnate removed from his audience in location1 fortune1 interest1 and mood3 an absentee landlord4 ,i was trying to convert a talented and noble friend to the films4 ,the first time we went there was a prize-fight between a black and a white man1 not advertised1 used for a filler4 ,i said it was queer1 and would not happen again4 ,the next time my noble friend was persuaded to go1 there was a cock-fight1 incidental to a ,cuban romance4 ,the third visit we beheld a lady who was dying for five minutes1 rolling her eyes about in a way that was fearful to see4 ,the convert was not made4 ,it is too easy to produce an unprovoked murder1 an inexplicable arson1 neither led up to nor followed by the ordinary human history of such acts1 and therefore as arbitrary as the deeds of idiots or the insane4 ,a villainous hate1 an alleged love1 a violent death1 are flashed at us1 without being in any sort of tableau logic4 ,the public is ceaselessly played upon by tactless devices4 ,therefore it howls1 just as children in the nursery do when the awkward governess tries the very thing the diplomatic governess1 in reasonable time1 may bring about4 ,the producer has the man in the audience who cares for the art peculiarly at his mercy4 ,compare him with the person who wants to read a magazine for an evening4 ,he can look over all the periodicals in the local book-store in fifteen minutes4 ,he can select the one he wants1 take this bit of printed matter home1 go through the contents1 find the three articles he prefers1 get an evening of reading out of them1 and be happy4 ,every day as many photoplays come to our town as magazines come to the book-store in a week or a month4 ,there are good ones and bad ones buried in the list4 ,there is no way to sample the films4 ,one has to wait through the first third of a reel before he has an idea of the merits of a production1 his ten cents is spent1 and much of his time is gone4 ,it would take five hours at least to find the best film in our town for one day4 ,meanwhile1 nibbling and sampling1 the seeker would run such a gantlet of plot and dash and chase that his eyes and patience would be exhausted4 ,recently there returned to the city for a day one of ,griffith's best ,biographs1 ,the ,last ,drop of ,water4 ,it was good to see again4 ,in order to watch this one reel twice ,i had to wait through five others of unutterable miscellany4 ,since the producers and theatre-managers have us at their mercy1 they are under every obligation to consider our delicate susceptibilities--granting the proposition that in an ideal world we will have no legal censorship4 ,as to what to do in this actual nation1 let the reader follow what ,john ,collier has recently written in ,the ,survey4 ,collier was the leading force in founding the ,national ,board of ,censorship4 ,as a member of that volunteer extra-legal board which is independent and high minded1 yet accepted by the leading picture companies1 he is able to discuss legislation in a manner which the present writer cannot hope to match4 ,read ,john ,collier4 ,but ,i wish to suggest that the ideal censorship is that to which the daily press is subject1 the elastic hand of public opinion1 if the photoplay can be brought as near to newspaper conditions in this matter as it is in some others4 ,how does public opinion grip the journalist8 ,the editor has a constant report from his constituency4 ,a popular scoop sells an extra at once4 ,an attack on the wrong idol cancels fifty subscriptions4 ,people come to the office to do it1 and say why4 ,if there is a piece of real news on the second page1 and fifty letters come in about it that night1 next month when that character of news reappears it gets the front page4 ,some human peculiarities are not mentioned1 some phrases not used4 ,the total attribute of the blue-pencil man is diplomacy4 ,but while the motion pictures come out every day1 they get their discipline months afterwards in the legislation that insists on everything but tact4 ,a tentative substitute for the letters that come to the editor1 the personal call and cancelled subscription1 and the rest1 is the system of balloting on the picture1 especially the answer to the question1 ,what picture seen here this month1 or this week1 shall we bring back8 ,experience will teach how to put the queries4 ,by the same system the public might dictate its own cut-outs4 ,let us have a democracy and a photoplay business working in daily rhythm4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,the ,,substitute ,,for ,,the ,,saloon ,this is a special commentary on chapter five1 ,the ,picture of ,crowd ,splendor4 ,it refers as well to every other type of moving picture that gets into the slum4 ,but the masses have an extraordinary affinity for the ,crowd ,photoplay4 ,as has been said before1 the mob comes nightly to behold its natural face in the glass4 ,politicians on the platform have swayed the mass below them4 ,but now1 to speak in an ,irish way1 the crowd takes the platform1 and looking down1 sees itself swaying4 ,the slums are an astonishing assembly of cave-men crawling out of their shelters to exhibit for the first time in history a common interest on a tremendous scale in an art form4 ,below the cliff caves were bar rooms in endless lines4 ,there are almost as many bar rooms to-day1 yet this new thing breaks the lines as nothing else ever did4 ,often when a moving picture house is set up1 the saloon on the right hand or the left declares bankruptcy4 ,why do men prefer the photoplay to the drinking place8 ,for no pious reason1 surely4 ,now they have fire pouring into their eyes instead of into their bellies4 ,blood is drawn from the guts to the brain4 ,though the picture be the veriest mess1 the light and movement cause the beholder to do a little reptilian thinking4 ,after a day's work a street-sweeper enters the place1 heavy as ,king ,log4 ,a ditch-digger goes in1 sick and surly4 ,it is the state of the body when many men drink themselves into insensibility4 ,but here the light is as strong in the eye as whiskey in the throat4 ,along with the flare1 shadow1 and mystery1 they face the existence of people1 places1 costumes1 utterly novel4 ,immigrants are prodded by these swords of darkness and light to guess at the meaning of the catch-phrases and headlines that punctuate the play4 ,they strain to hear their neighbors whisper or spell them out4 ,the photoplays have done something to reunite the lower-class families4 ,no longer is the fire-escape the only summer resort for big and little folks4 ,here is more fancy and whim than ever before blessed a hot night4 ,here1 under the wind of an electric fan1 they witness everything1 from a burial in ,westminster to the birthday parade of the ruler of the land of ,swat4 ,the usual saloon equipment to delight the eye is one so-called leg picture of a woman1 a photograph of a prize-fighter1 and some colored portraits of goats to advertise various brands of beer4 ,many times1 no doubt1 these boys and young men have found visions of a sordid kind while gazing on the actress1 the fighter1 or the goats4 ,but what poor material they had in the wardrobes of memory for the trimmings and habiliments of vision1 to make this lady into ,freya1 this prize-fighter into ,thor1 these goats into the harnessed steeds that drew his chariot6 ,man's dreams are rearranged and glorified memories4 ,how could these people reconstruct the torn carpets and tin cans and waste-paper of their lives into mythology8 ,how could memories of ,ladies' ,entrance squalor be made into ,castles in ,granada or ,carcassonne8 ,the things they drank to see1 and saw but grotesquely1 and paid for terribly1 now roll before them with no after pain or punishment4 ,the mumbled conversation1 the sociability for which they leaned over the tables1 they have here in the same manner with far more to talk about4 ,they come1 they go home1 men and women together1 as casually and impulsively as the men alone ever entered a drinking-place1 but discoursing now of far-off mountains and star-crossed lovers4 ,as ,padraic ,colum says in his poem on the herdsman3-- ,with thoughts on white ships ,and the ,king of ,spain's ,daughter4 ,this is why the saloon on the right hand and on the left in the slum is apt to move out when the photoplay moves in4 ,but let us go to the other end of the temperance argument4 ,i beg to be allowed to relate a personal matter4 ,for some time ,i was a field-worker for the ,anti-,saloon ,league of ,illinois1 being sent every ,sunday to a new region to make the yearly visit on behalf of the league4 ,such a visitor is apt to speak to one church in a village1 and two in the country1 on each excursion1 being met at the station by some leading farmer-citizen of the section1 and driven to these points by him4 ,the talk with this man was worth it all to me4 ,the agricultural territory of the ,united ,states is naturally dry4 ,this is because the cross-roads church is the only communal institution1 and the voice of the cross-roads pastor is for teetotalism4 ,the routine of the farm-hand1 while by no means ideal in other respects1 keeps him from craving drink as intensely as other toilers do4 ,a day's work in the open air fills his veins at nightfall with an opiate of weariness instead of a high-strung nervousness4 ,the strong men of the community are church elders1 not through fanaticism1 but by right of leadership4 ,through their office they are committed to prohibition4 ,so opposition to the temperance movement is scattering4 ,the ,anti-,saloon ,league has organized these leaders into a nation-wide machine4 ,it sees that they get their weekly paper1 instructing them in the tactics whereby local fights have been won4 ,a subscription financing the ,state ,league is taken once a year4 ,it counts on the regular list of church benevolences4 ,the state officers come in to help on the critical local fights4 ,any country politician fears their non-partisan denunciation as he does political death4 ,the local machines thus backed are incurable mugwumps1 hold the balance of power1 work in both parties1 and have voted dry the agricultural territory of the ,united ,states everywhere1 by the township1 county1 or state unit4 ,the only institutions that touch the same territory in a similar way are the ,chautauquas in the prosperous agricultural centres4 ,these1 too1 by the same sign are emphatically anti-saloon in their propaganda1 serving to intellectualize and secularize the dry sentiment without taking it out of the agricultural caste4 ,there is a definite line between our farm-civilization and the rest4 ,when a county goes dry1 it is generally in spite of the county-seat4 ,such temperance people as are in the court-house town represent the church-vote1 which is even then in goodly proportion a retired-farmer vote4 ,the larger the county-seat1 the larger the non-church-going population and the more stubborn the fight4 ,the majority of miners and factory workers are on the wet side everywhere4 ,the irritation caused by the gases in the mines1 by the dirty work in the blackness1 by the squalor in which the company houses are built1 turns men to drink for reaction and lamplight and comradeship4 ,the similar fevers and exasperations of factory life lead the workers to unstring their tense nerves with liquor4 ,the habit of snuggling up close in factories1 conversing often1 bench by bench1 machine by machine1 inclines them to get together for their pleasures at the bar4 ,in industrial ,america there is an anti-saloon minority in moral sympathy with the temperance wave brought in by the farmers4 ,but they are outstanding groups4 ,their leadership seldom dries up a factory town or a mining region1 with all the help the ,anti-,saloon ,league can give4 ,in the big cities the temperance movement is scarcely understood4 ,the choice residential districts are voted dry for real estate reasons4 ,the men who do this1 drink freely at their own clubs or parties4 ,the temperance question would be fruitlessly argued to the end of time were it not for the massive agricultural vote rolling and roaring round each metropolis1 reawakening the town churches whose vote is a pitiful minority but whose spokesmen are occasionally strident4 ,there is a prophecy abroad that prohibition will be the issue of a national election4 ,if the question is squarely put1 there are enough farmers and church-people to drive the saloon out of legal existence4 ,the women's vote1 a little more puritanical than the men's vote1 will make the result sure4 ,as one anxious for this victory1 ,i have often speculated on the situation when all ,america is nominally dry1 at the behest of the ,american farmer1 the ,american preacher1 and the ,american woman4 ,when the use of alcohol is treason1 what will become of those all but unbroken lines of slum saloons8 ,no lesser force than regular troops could dislodge them1 with yesterday's intrenchment4 ,the entrance of the motion picture house into the arena is indeed striking1 the first enemy of ,king ,alcohol with real power where that king has deepest hold4 ,if every one of those saloon doors is nailed up by the ,chautauqua orators1 the photoplay archway will remain open4 ,the people will have a shelter where they can readjust themselves1 that offers a substitute for many of the lines of pleasure in the groggery4 ,and a whole evening costs but a dime apiece4 ,several rounds of drinks are expensive1 but the people can sit through as many repetitions of this programme as they desire1 for one entrance fee4 ,the dominant genius of the moving picture place is not a gentleman with a red nose and an eye like a dead fish1 but some producer who1 with all his faults1 has given every person in the audience a seven-leagued angel-and-demon telescope4 ,since ,i have announced myself a farmer and a puritan1 let me here list the saloon evils not yet recorded in this chapter4 ,they are separate from the catalogue of the individualistic woes of the drunkard that are given in the ,scripture4 ,the shame of the ,american drinking place is the bar-tender who dominates its thinking4 ,his cynical and hardened soul wipes out a portion of the influence of the public school1 the library1 the self-respecting newspaper4 ,a stream rises no higher than its source1 and through his dead-fish eye and dead-fish brain the group of tired men look upon all the statesmen and wise ones of the land4 ,though he says worse than nothing1 his furry tongue1 by endless reiteration1 is the ,american slum oracle4 ,at the present the bar-tender handles the neighborhood group1 the ultimate unit in city politics4 ,so1 good citizen1 welcome the coming of the moving picture man as a local social force4 ,whatever his private character1 the mere formula of his activities makes him a better type4 ,he may not at first sway his group in a directly political way1 but he will make himself the centre of more social ideals than the bar-tender ever entertained4 ,and he is beginning to have as intimate a relation to his public as the bar-tender4 ,in many cases he stands under his arch in the sheltered lobby and is on conversing terms with his habitual customers1 the length of the afternoon and evening4 ,voting the saloon out of the slums by voting ,america dry1 does not1 as of old1 promise to be a successful operation that kills the patient4 ,in the past some of the photoplay magazines have contained denunciations of the temperance people for refusing to say anything in behalf of the greatest practical enemy of the saloon4 ,but it is not too late for the dry forces to repent4 ,the ,anti-,saloon ,league officers and the photoplay men should ask each other to dinner4 ,more moving picture theatres in doubtful territory will help make dry voters4 ,and wet territory voted dry will bring about a greatly accelerated patronage of the photoplay houses4 ,there is every strategic reason why these two forces should patch up a truce4 ,meanwhile1 the cave-man1 reader of picture-writing1 is given a chance to admit light into his mind1 whatever he puts to his lips4 ,let us look for the day1 be it a puritan triumph or not1 when the sons and the daughters of the slums shall prophesy1 the young men shall see visions1 the old men dream dreams4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,california ,,and ,,america ,the moving picture captains of industry1 like the ,california gold finders of #ahdi1 making colossal fortunes in two or three years1 have the same glorious irresponsibility and occasional need of the sheriff4 ,they are ,californians more literally than this4 ,around ,los ,angeles the greatest and most characteristic moving picture colonies are being built4 ,each photoplay magazine has its ,california letter1 telling of the putting-up of new studios1 and the transfer of actors1 with much slap-you-on-the-back personal gossip4 ,this is the outgrowth of the fact that every type of the photoplay but the intimate is founded on some phase of the out-of-doors4 ,being thus dependent1 the plant can best be set up where there is no winter4 ,besides this1 the ,los ,angeles region has the sea1 the mountains1 the desert1 and many kinds of grove and field4 ,landscape and architecture are sub-tropical4 ,but for a description of ,california1 ask any traveller or study the background of almost any photoplay4 ,if the photoplay is the consistent utterance of its scenes1 if the actors are incarnations of the land they walk upon1 as they should be1 ,california indeed stands a chance to achieve through the films an utterance of her own4 ,will this land furthest west be the first to capture the inner spirit of this newest and most curious of the arts8 ,it certainly has the opportunity that comes with the actors1 producers1 and equipment4 ,let us hope that every region will develop the silent photographic pageant in a local form as outlined in the chapter on ,progress and ,endowment4 ,already the ,california sort1 in the commercial channels1 has become the broadly accepted if mediocre national form4 ,people who revere the ,pilgrim ,fathers of #afbj have often wished those gentlemen had moored their bark in the region of ,los ,angeles rather than ,plymouth ,rock1 that ,boston had been founded there4 ,at last that landing is achieved4 ,patriotic art students have discussed with mingled irony and admiration the ,boston domination of the only ,american culture of the nineteenth century1 namely1 literature4 ,indianapolis has had her day since then1 ,chicago is lifting her head4 ,nevertheless ,boston still controls the text-book in ,english and dominates our high schools4 ,ironic feelings in this matter on the part of western men are based somewhat on envy and illegitimate cussedness1 but are also grounded in the honest hope of a healthful rivalry4 ,they want new romanticists and artists as indigenous to their soil as was ,hawthorne to witch-haunted ,salem or ,longfellow to the chestnuts of his native heath4 ,whatever may be said of the patriarchs1 from ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes to ,amos ,bronson ,alcott1 they were true sons of the ,new ,england stone fences and meeting houses4 ,they could not have been born or nurtured anywhere else on the face of the earth4 ,some of us view with a peculiar thrill the prospect that ,los ,angeles may become the ,boston of the photoplay4 ,perhaps it would be better to say the ,florence1 because ,california reminds one of colorful ,italy more than of any part of the ,united ,states4 ,yet there is a difference4 ,the present-day man-in-the-street1 man-about-town ,californian has an obvious magnificence about him that is allied to the eucalyptus tree1 the pomegranate4 ,california is a gilded state4 ,it has not the sordidness of gold1 as has ,wall ,street1 but it is the embodiment of the natural ore that the ragged prospector finds4 ,the gold of ,california is the color of the orange1 the glitter of dawn in the ,yosemite1 the hue of the golden gate that opens the sunset way to mystic and terrible ,cathay and ,hindustan4 ,the enemy of ,california says the state is magnificent but thin4 ,he declares it is as though it were painted on a ,brobdingnagian piece of gilt paper1 and he who dampens his finger and thrusts it through finds an alkali valley on the other side1 the lonely prickly pear1 and a heap of ashes from a deserted camp-fire4 ,he says the citizens of this state lack the richness of an aesthetic and religious tradition4 ,he says there is no substitute for time4 ,but even these things make for coincidence4 ,this apparent thinness ,california has in common with the routine photoplay1 which is at times as shallow in its thought as the shadow it throws upon the screen4 ,this newness ,california has in common with all photoplays4 ,it is thrillingly possible for the state and the art to acquire spiritual tradition and depth together4 ,part of the thinness of ,california is not only its youth1 but the result of the physical fact that the human race is there spread over so many acres of land4 ,they try not only to count their mines and enumerate their palm trees1 but they count the miles of their sea-coast1 and the acres under cultivation and the height of the peaks1 and revel in large statistics and the bigness generally1 and forget how a few men rattle around in a great deal of scenery4 ,they shout their statistics across the ,rockies and the deserts to ,new ,york4 ,the ,mississippi ,valley is non-existent to the ,californian4 ,his fellow-feeling is for the opposite coast-line4 ,through the geographical accident of separation by mountain and desert from the rest of the country1 he becomes a mere shouter1 hurrahing so assiduously that all variety in the voice is lost4 ,then he tries gestures1 and becomes flamboyant1 rococo4 ,these are the defects of the motion picture qualities also4 ,its panoramic tendency runs wild4 ,as an institution it advertises itself with the sweeping gesture4 ,it has the same passion for coast-line4 ,these are not the sins of ,new ,england4 ,when1 in the hands of masters1 they become sources of strength1 they will be a different set of virtues from those of ,new ,england4 ,there is no more natural place for the scattering of confetti than this state1 except the moving picture scene itself4 ,both have a genius for gardens and dancing and carnival4 ,when the ,californian relegates the dramatic to secondary scenes1 both in his life and his photoplay1 and turns to the genuinely epic and lyric1 he and this instrument may find their immortality together as ,new ,england found its soul in the essays of ,emerson4 ,tide upon tide of ,spring comes into ,california through all four seasons4 ,fairy beauty overwhelms the lumbering grand-stand players4 ,the tiniest garden is a jewelled pathway of wonder4 ,but the ,californian cannot shout orange blossoms1 orange blossoms2 heliotrope1 heliotrope6 ,he cannot boom forth roseleaves1 roseleaves so that he does their beauties justice4 ,here is where the photoplay can begin to give him a more delicate utterance4 ,and he can go on into stranger things and evolve all the ,splendor ,films into higher types1 for the very name of ,california is splendor4 ,the ,california photo-playwright can base his ,crowd ,picture upon the city-worshipping mobs of ,san ,francisco4 ,he can derive his ,patriotic and ,religious ,splendors from something older and more magnificent than the aisles of the ,romanesque1 namely3 the groves of the giant redwoods4 ,the campaign for a beautiful nation could very well emanate from the west coast1 where with the slightest care grow up models for all the world of plant arrangement and tree-luxury4 ,our mechanical ,east is reproved1 our tension is relaxed1 our ugliness is challenged every time we look upon those garden paths and forests4 ,it is possible for ,los ,angeles to lay hold of the motion picture as our national text-book in ,art as ,boston appropriated to herself the guardianship of the national text-books of ,literature4 ,if ,california has a shining soul1 and not merely a golden body1 let her forget her seventeen-year-old melodramatics1 and turn to her poets who understand the heart underneath the glory4 ,edwin ,markham1 the dean of ,american singers1 ,clark ,ashton ,smith1 the young star treader1 ,george ,sterling1 that son of ,ancient ,merlin1 have in their songs the seeds of better scenarios than ,california has sent us4 ,there are two poems by ,george ,sterling that ,i have had in mind for many a day as conceptions that should inspire mystic films akin to them4 ,these poems are ,the ,night ,sentries and ,tidal ,king of ,nations4 ,but ,california can tell us stories that are grim children of the tales of the wild ,ambrose ,bierce4 ,then there is the lovely unforgotten ,nora ,may ,french and the austere ,edward ,rowland ,sill4 ,edison is the new ,gutenberg4 ,he has invented the new printing4 ,the state that realizes this may lead the soul of ,america1 day after to-morrow4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,progress ,,and ,,endowment ,the moving picture goes almost as far as journalism into the social fabric in some ways1 further in others4 ,soon1 no doubt1 many a little town will have its photographic news-press4 ,we have already the weekly world-news films from the big centres4 ,with local journalism will come devices for advertising home enterprises4 ,some staple products will be made attractive by having film-actors show their uses4 ,the motion pictures will be in the public schools to stay4 ,text-books in geography1 history1 zoology1 botany1 physiology1 and other sciences will be illustrated by standardized films4 ,along with these changes1 there will be available at certain centres collections of films equivalent to the ,standard ,dictionary and the ,encyclopaedia ,britannica4 ,and sooner or later we will have a straight-out capture of a complete film expression by the serious forces of civilization4 ,the merely impudent motion picture will be relegated to the leisure hours with yellow journalism4 ,photoplay libraries are inevitable1 as active if not as multitudinous as the book-circulating libraries4 ,the oncoming machinery and expense of the motion picture is immense4 ,where will the money come from8 ,no one knows4 ,what the people want they will get4 ,the race of man cannot afford automobiles1 but has them nevertheless4 ,we cannot run away into non-automobile existence or non-steam-engine or non-movie life long at a time4 ,we must conquer this thing4 ,while the more stately scientific and educational aspects just enumerated are slowly on their way1 the artists must be up and about their ameliorative work4 ,every considerable effort to develop a noble idiom will count in the final result1 as the writers of early ,english made possible the language of the ,bible1 ,shakespeare1 and ,milton4 ,we are perfecting a medium to be used as long as ,chinese ideographs have been4 ,it will no doubt1 like the ,chinese language1 record in the end massive and classical treatises1 imperial chronicles1 law-codes1 traditions1 and religious admonitions4 ,all this by the motion picture as a recording instrument1 not necessarily the photoplay1 a much more limited thing1 a form of art4 ,what shall be done in especial by this generation of idealists1 whose flags rise and go down1 whose battle line wavers and breaks a thousand times8 ,what is the high quixotic splendid call8 ,we know of a group of public-spirited people who advocate1 in endowed films1 safety first1 another that champions total abstinence4 ,often their work seems lost in the mass of commercial production1 but it is a good beginning4 ,such citizens take an established studio for a specified time and at the end put on the market a production that backs up their particular idea4 ,there are certain terms between the owners of the film and the proprietors of the studio for the division of the income1 the profits of the cult being spent on further propaganda4 ,the product need not necessarily be the type outlined in chapter two1 ,the ,photoplay of ,action4 ,often some other sort might establish the cause more deeply4 ,but most of the propaganda films are of the action variety1 because of the dynamic character of the people who produce them4 ,fired by fanatic zeal1 the auto speeds faster1 the rescuing hero runs harder1 the stern policeman and sheriff become more jumpy1 all that the audience may be converted4 ,here if anywhere meditation on the actual resources of charm and force in the art is a fitting thing4 ,the crusader should realize that it is not a good ,action ,play nor even a good argument unless it is indeed the ,winged ,victory sort4 ,the gods are not always on the side of those who throw fits4 ,there is here appended a newspaper description of a crusading film1 that1 despite the implications of the notice1 has many passages of charm4 ,it is two-thirds ,action ,photoplay1 one-third ,intimate-and-friendly4 ,the notice does not imply that at times the story takes pains to be gentle4 ,this bit of writing is all too typical of film journalism4 ,not only as an argument for suffrage but as a play with a story1 a punch1 and a mission1 ',your ,girl and ,mine' is produced under the direction of the ,national ,woman's ,suffrage ,association at the ,capitol to-day4 ,olive ,wyndham forsook the legitimate stage for the time to pose as the heroine of the play4 ,katherine ,kaelred1 leading lady of ',joseph and his ,brethren1' took the part of a woman lawyer battling for the right4 ,sydney ,booth1 of the ',yellow ,ticket' company posed as the hero of the experiment4 ,john ,charles and ,katharine ,henry played the villain and the honest working girl4 ,about three hundred secondaries were engaged along with the principals4 ,it is melodrama of the most thrilling sort1 in spite of the fact that there is a moral concealed in the very title of the play4 ,but who is worried by a moral in a play which has an exciting hand-to-hand fight between a man and a woman in one of the earliest acts1 when the quick march of events ranges from a wedding to a murder and an automobile abduction scene that breaks all former speed-records4 ',the ,cause' comes in most symbolically and poetically1 a symbolic figure that 'fades out' at critical periods in the plot4 ,dr4 ,anna ,howard ,shaw1 the famous suffrage leader1 appears personally in the film4 ',your ,girl and ,mine' is a big play with a big mission built on a big scale4 ,it is a whole evening's entertainment1 and a very interesting evening at that4 ,here endeth the newspaper notice4 ,compare it with the ,biograph advertisement of ,judith in chapter six4 ,there is nothing in the film that rasps like this account of it4 ,the clipping serves to give the street-atmosphere through which our ,woman's ,suffrage ,joan of ,arcs move to conquest and glory with unstained banners4 ,the obvious amendments to the production as an instrument of persuasion are two4 ,firstly there should be five reels instead of six1 every scene shortened a bit to bring this result4 ,secondly1 the lieutenant governor of the state1 who is the ,rudolf ,rassendyll of the production1 does not enter the story soon enough1 and is too ,james ,k4 ,hacketty all at once4 ,we are jerked into admiration of him1 rather than ensnared4 ,but after that the gentleman behaves more handsomely than any of the distinguished lieutenant governors in real life the present writer happens to remember4 ,the figure of ,aunt ,jane1 the queenly serious woman of affairs1 is one to admire and love4 ,her effectiveness without excess or strain is in itself an argument for giving woman the vote4 ,the newspaper notice does not state the facts in saying the symbolical figure fades out at critical periods in the plot4 ,on the contrary1 she appears at critical periods1 clothed in white1 solemn and royal4 ,she comes into the groups with an adequate allurement1 pointing the moral of each situation while she shines brightest4 ,the two children for whom the contest is fought are winsome little girls4 ,by the side of their mother in the garden or in the nursery they are a potent argument for the natural rights of femininity4 ,the film is by no means ultra-aesthetic4 ,the implications of the clipping are correct to that degree4 ,but the resources of beauty within the ready command of the advising professional producer are used by the women for all they are worth4 ,it could not be asked of them that they evolve technical novelties4 ,yet the figures of ,aunt ,jane and the ,goddess of ,suffrage are something new in their fashion4 ,aunt ,jane is a spiritual sister to that unprecedented woman1 ,jane ,addams1 who went to the ,hague conference for ,peace in the midst of war1 which heroic action the future will not forget4 ,aunt ,jane does justice to that breed of women amid the sweetness and flowers and mere scenario perils of the photoplay story4 ,the presence of the ,votes for ,women figure is the beginning of a line of photoplay goddesses that serious propaganda in the new medium will make part of the ,american ,spiritual ,hierarchy4 ,in the imaginary film of ,our ,lady ,springfield1 described in the chapter on ,architecture-in-,motion1 a kindred divinity is presumed to stand by the side of the statue when it first reaches the earth4 ,high-minded graduates of university courses in sociology and schools of philanthropy1 devout readers of ,the ,survey1 ,the ,chicago ,public1 ,the ,masses1 ,the ,new ,republic1 ,la ,follette's1 are going to advocate increasingly1 their varied and sometimes contradictory causes1 in films4 ,these will generally be produced by heroic exertions in the studio1 and much passing of the subscription paper outside4 ,then there are endowments already in existence that will no doubt be diverted to the photoplay channel4 ,in every state house1 and in ,washington1 ,d4,c41 increasing quantities of dead printed matter have been turned out year after year4 ,they have served to kindle various furnaces and feed the paper-mills a second time4 ,many of these routine reports will remain in innocuous desuetude4 ,but one-fourth of them1 perhaps1 are capable of being embodied in films4 ,if they are scientific demonstrations1 they can be made into realistic motion picture records4 ,if they are exhortations1 they can be transformed into plays with a moral1 brothers of the film ,your ,girl and ,mine4 ,the appropriations for public printing should include such work hereafter4 ,the scientific museums distribute routine pamphlets that would set the whole world right on certain points if they were but read by said world4 ,let them be filmed and started4 ,whatever the congressman is permitted to frank to his constituency1 let him send in the motion picture form when it is the expedient and expressive way4 ,when men work for the high degrees in the universities1 they labor on a piece of literary conspiracy called a thesis which no one outside the university hears of again4 ,the gist of this research work that is dead to the democracy1 through the university merits of thoroughness1 moderation of statement1 and final touch of discovery1 would have a chance to live and grip the people in a motion picture transcript1 if not a photoplay4 ,it would be ,university ,extension4 ,the relentless fire of criticism which the heads of the departments would pour on the production before they allowed it to pass would result in a standardization of the sense of scientific fact over the land4 ,suppose the film has the coat of arms of the ,university of ,chicago along with the name of the young graduate whose thesis it is4 ,he would have a chance to reflect credit on the university even as much as a foot-ball player4 ,large undertakings might be under way1 like those described in the chapter on ,architecture-in-,motion4 ,but these would require much more than the ordinary outlay for thesis work1 less1 perhaps1 than is taken for ,athletics4 ,lyman ,howe and several other world-explorers have already set the pace in the more human side of the educative film4 ,the list of ,mr4 ,howe's offerings from the first would reveal many a one that would have run the gantlet of a university department4 ,he points out a new direction for old energies1 whereby professors may become citizens4 ,let the cave-man1 reader of picture-writing1 be allowed to ponder over scientific truth4 ,he is at present the victim of the alleged truth of the specious and sentimental variety of photograph4 ,it gives the precise edges of the coat or collar of the smirking masher and the exact fibre in the dress of the jumping-jack4 ,the eye grows weary of sharp points and hard edges that mean nothing4 ,all this idiotic precision is going to waste4 ,it should be enlisted in the cause of science and abated everywhere else4 ,the edges in art are as mysterious as in science they are exact4 ,some of the higher forms of the ,intimate ,moving ,picture play should be endowed by local coteries representing their particular region4 ,every community of fifty thousand has its group of the cultured who have heretofore studied and imitated things done in the big cities4 ,some of these coteries will in exceptional cases become creative and begin to express their habitation and name4 ,the ,intimate ,photoplay is capable of that delicacy and that informality which should characterize neighborhood enterprises4 ,the plays could be acted by the group who1 season after season1 have secured the opera house for the annual amateur show4 ,other dramatic ability could be found in the high-schools4 ,there is enough talent in any place to make an artistic revolution1 if once that region is aflame with a common vision4 ,the spirit that made the ,irish ,players1 all so racy of the soil1 can also move the company of local photoplayers in ,topeka1 or ,indianapolis1 or ,denver4 ,then let them speak for their town1 not only in great occasional enterprises1 but steadily1 in little fancies1 genre pictures1 developing a technique that will finally make magnificence possible4 ,there was given not long ago1 at the ,illinois ,country ,club here1 a performance of ,the ,yellow ,jacket by the ,coburn ,players4 ,it at once seemed an integral part of this chapter4 ,the two flags used for a chariot1 the bamboo poles for oars1 the red sack for a decapitated head1 etc41 were all convincing1 through a direct resemblance as well as the passionate acting4 ,they suggest a possible type of hieroglyphics to be developed by the leader of the local group4 ,let the enthusiast study this westernized ,chinese play for primitive representative methods4 ,it can be found in book form1 a most readable work4 ,it is by ,g4,c4 ,hazelton1 ,jr41 and ,j4,h4 ,benrimo4 ,the resemblance between the stage property and the thing represented is fairly close4 ,the moving flags on each side of the actor suggest the actual color and progress of the chariot1 and abstractly suggest its magnificence4 ,the red sack used for a bloody head has at least the color and size of one4 ,the dressed-up block of wood used for a child is the length of an infant of the age described and wears the general costume thereof4 ,the farmer's hoe1 though exaggerated1 is still an agricultural implement4 ,the evening's list of properties is economical1 filling one wagon1 rather than three4 ,photographic realism is splendidly put to rout by powerful representation4 ,when the villager desires to embody some episode that if realistically given would require a setting beyond the means of the available endowment1 and does not like the near-,egyptian method1 let him evolve his near-,chinese set of symbols4 ,the ,yellow ,jacket was written after long familiarity with the ,chinese ,theatre in ,san ,francisco4 ,the play is a glory to that city as well as to ,hazelton and ,benrimo4 ,but every town in the ,united ,states has something as striking as the ,chinese ,theatre1 to the man who keeps the eye of his soul open4 ,it has its ,ministerial ,association1 its boys' secret society1 its red-eyed political gang1 its grubby ,justice of the ,peace court1 its free school for the teaching of ,hebrew1 its snobbish chapel1 its fire-engine house1 its milliner's shop4 ,all these could be made visible in photoplays as flies are preserved in amber4 ,edgar ,lee ,masters looked about him and discovered the village graveyard1 and made it as wonderful as ,noah's ,ark1 or ,adam naming the animals1 by supplying honest inscriptions to the headstones4 ,such stories can be told by the ,chinese theatrical system as well4 ,as many different films could be included under the general title3 ,seven ,old ,families1 and ,why they ,went to ,smash4 ,or a less ominous series would be ,seven ,victorious ,souls4 ,for there are triumphs every day under the drab monotony of an apparently defeated town3 conquests worthy of the waving of sun-banners4 ,above all1 ,the ,yellow ,jacket points a moral for this chapter because there was conscience behind it4 ,first3 the rectitude of the ,chinese actors of ,san ,francisco who kept the dramatic tradition alive1 a tradition that was bequeathed from the ancient generations4 ,then the artistic integrity of the men who readapted the tradition for western consumption1 and their religious attitude that kept the high teaching and devout feeling for human life intact in the play4 ,then the zeal of the ,drama ,league that indorsed it for the country4 ,then the earnest work of the ,coburn ,players who embodied it devoutly1 so that the whole company became dear friends forever4 ,by some such ladder of conscience as this can the local scenario be endowed1 written1 acted1 filmed1 and made a real part of the community life4 ,the ,yellow ,jacket was a drama1 not a photoplay4 ,this chapter does not urge that it be readapted for a photoplay in ,san ,francisco or anywhere else4 ,but a kindred painting-in-motion1 something as beautiful and worthy and intimate1 in strictly photoplay terms1 might well be the flower of the work of the local groups of film actors4 ,harriet ,monroe's magazine1 ,poetry 7,chicago71 has given us a new sect1 the ,imagists3--,ezra ,pound1 ,richard ,aldington1 ,john ,gould ,fletcher1 ,amy ,lowell1 ,f4,s4 ,flint1 ,d4,h4 ,lawrence1 and others4 ,they are gathering followers and imitators4 ,to these followers ,i would say3 the ,imagist impulse need not be confined to verse4 ,why would you be imitators of these leaders when you might be creators in a new medium8 ,there is a clear parallelism between their point of view in verse and the ,intimate-and-friendly ,photoplay1 especially when it is developed from the standpoint of the last part of chapter nine1 space measured without sound plus time measured without sound4 ,there is no clan to-day more purely devoted to art for art's sake than the ,imagist clan4 ,an ,imagist film would offer a noble challenge to the overstrained emotion1 the over-loaded splendor1 the mere repetition of what are at present the finest photoplays4 ,now even the masterpieces are incontinent4 ,except for some of the old one-reel ,biographs of ,griffith's beginning1 there is nothing of ,doric restraint from the best to the worst4 ,read some of the poems of the people listed above1 then imagine the same moods in the films4 ,imagist photoplays would be ,japanese prints taking on life1 animated ,japanese paintings1 ,pompeian mosaics in kaleidoscopic but logical succession1 ,beardsley drawings made into actors and scenery1 ,greek vase-paintings in motion4 ,scarcely a photoplay but hints at the ,imagists in one scene4 ,then the illusion is lost in the next turn of the reel4 ,perhaps it would be a sound observance to confine this form of motion picture to a half reel or quarter reel1 just as the ,imagist poem is generally a half or quarter page4 ,a series of them could fill a special evening4 ,the ,imagists are colorists4 ,some people do not consider that photographic black1 white1 and gray are color4 ,but here for instance are seven colors which the ,imagists might use3 7#a7 ,the whiteness of swans in the light4 7#b7 ,the whiteness of swans in a gentle shadow4 7#c7 ,the color of a sunburned man in the light4 7#d7 ,his color in a gentle shadow4 7#e7 ,his color in a deeper shadow4 7#f7 ,the blackness of black velvet in the light4 7#g7 ,the blackness of black velvet in a deep shadow4 ,and to use these colors with definite steps from one to the other does not militate against an artistic mystery of edge and softness in the flow of line4 ,there is a list of possible ,imagist textures which is only limited by the number of things to be seen in the world4 ,probably only seven or ten would be used in one scheme and the same list kept through one production4 ,the ,imagist photoplay will put discipline into the inner ranks of the enlightened and remind the sculptors1 painters1 and architects of the movies that there is a continence even beyond sculpture and that seas of realism may not have the power of a little well-considered elimination4 ,the use of the scientific film by established institutions like schools and state governments has been discussed4 ,let the ,church also1 in her own way1 avail herself of the motion picture1 whole-heartedly1 as in mediaeval time she took over the marvel of ,italian painting4 ,there was a stage in her history when religious representation was by ,byzantine mosaics1 noble in color1 having an architectural use1 but curious indeed to behold from the standpoint of those who crave a sensitive emotional record4 ,the first paintings of ,cimabue and ,giotto1 giving these formulas a touch of life1 were hailed with joy by all ,italy4 ,now the ,church ,universal has an opportunity to establish her new painters if she will4 ,she has taken over in the course of history1 for her glory1 miracle plays1 ,romanesque and ,gothic architecture1 stained glass windows1 and the music of ,st4 ,cecilia's organ4 ,why not this new splendor8 ,the ,cathedral of ,st4 ,john the ,divine1 on ,morningside ,heights1 should establish in its crypt motion pictures as thoroughly considered as the lines of that building1 if possible designed by the architects thereof1 with the same sense of permanency4 ,this chapter does not advocate that the ,church lay hold of the photoplays as one more medium for reillustrating the stories of the ,bible as they are given in the ,sunday-school papers4 ,it is not pietistic simpering that will feed the spirit of ,christendom1 but a steady church-patronage of the most skilful and original motion picture artists4 ,let the ,church follow the precedent which finally gave us ,fra ,angelico1 ,botticelli1 ,andrea del ,sarto1 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,raphael1 ,michelangelo1 ,correggio1 ,titian1 ,paul ,veronese1 ,tintoretto1 and the rest4 ,who will endow the successors of the present woman's suffrage film1 and other great crusading films8 ,who will see that the public documents and university researches take on the form of motion pictures8 ,who will endow the local photoplay and the ,imagist photoplay8 ,who will take the first great measures to insure motion picture splendors in the church8 ,things such as these come on the winds of to-morrow4 ,but let the crusader look about him1 and where it is possible1 put in the diplomatic word1 and cooeperate with the ,gray ,norns4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,architects ,,as ,,crusaders ,many a worker sees his future ,america as a ,utopia1 in which his own profession1 achieving dictatorship1 alleviates the ills of men4 ,the militarist grows dithyrambic in showing how war makes for the blessings of peace4 ,the economic teacher argues that if we follow his political economy1 none of us will have to economize4 ,the church-fanatic says if all churches will merge with his organization1 none of them will have to try to behave again4 ,they will just naturally be good4 ,the physician hopes to abolish the devil by sanitation4 ,we have our ,utopias4 ,despite levity1 the present writer thinks that such hopes are among the most useful things the earth possesses4 ,a normal man in the full tide of his activities finds that a world-machinery could logically be built up by his profession4 ,at least in the heyday of his working hours his vocation satisfies his heart4 ,so he wants the entire human race to taste that satisfaction4 ,approximate ,utopias have been built from the beginning4 ,many civilizations have had some dominant craft to carry them the major part of the way4 ,the priests have made ,india4 ,the classical student has preserved ,old ,china to its present hour of new life4 ,the samurai knights have made ,japan4 ,sailors have evolved the ,british ,empire4 ,one of the enticing future ,americas is that of the architect4 ,let the architect appropriate the photoplay as his means of propaganda and begin4 ,from its intrinsic genius it can give his profession a start beyond all others in dominating this land4 ,or such is one of many speculations of the present writer4 ,the photoplay can speak the language of the man who has a mind ,world's ,fair size4 ,that we are going to have successive generations of such builders may be reasonably implied from past expositions4 ,beginning with ,philadelphia in #ahgf1 and going on to ,san ,francisco and ,san ,diego in #aiae1 nothing seems to stop us from the habit4 ,let us enlarge this proclivity into a national mission in as definite a movement1 as thoroughly thought out as the evolution of the public school system1 the formation of the ,steel ,trust1 and the like4 ,after duly weighing all the world's fairs1 let our architects set about making the whole of the ,united ,states into a permanent one4 ,supposing the date to begin the erection be #aicj4 ,till that time there should be tireless if indirect propaganda that will further the architectural state of mind1 and later bring about the elucidation of the plans while they are being perfected4 ,for many years this ,america1 founded on the psychology of the ,splendor ,photoplay1 will be evolving4 ,it might be conceived as a going concern at a certain date within the lives of men now living1 but it should never cease to develop4 ,to make films of a more beautiful ,united ,states is as practical and worth while a custom as to make military spy maps of every inch of a neighbor's territory1 putting in each fence and cross-roads4 ,those who would satisfy the national pride with something besides battle flags must give our people an objective as shining and splendid as war when it is most glittering1 something ,napoleonic1 and with no outward pretence of excessive virtue4 ,we want a substitute as dramatic internationally1 yet world-winning1 friend making4 ,if ,america is to become the financial centre through no fault of her own1 that fact must have a symbol other than guns on the sea-coast4 ,if it is inexpedient for the architectural patriarchs and their young hopefuls to take over the films bodily1 let a board of strategy be formed who make it their business to eat dinner with the scenario writers1 producers1 and owners1 conspiring with them in some practical way4 ,why should we not consider ourselves a deathless ,panama-,pacific ,exposition on a coast-to-coast scale8 ,let ,chicago be the transportation building1 ,denver the mining building4 ,let ,kansas ,city be the agricultural building and ,jacksonville1 ,florida1 the horticultural building1 and so around the states4 ,even as in mediaeval times men rode for hundreds of miles through perils to the permanent fairs of the free cities1 the world-travellers will attend this exhibit1 and many of them will in the end become citizens4 ,our immigration will be something more than tide upon tide of raw labor4 ,the ,architects would send forth publicity films which are not only delineations of a future ,cincinnati1 ,cleveland1 or ,st4 ,louis1 but whole counties and states and groups of states could be planned at one time1 with the development of their natural fauna1 flora1 and forestry4 ,wherever nature has been rendered desolate by industry or mere haste1 there let the architect and park-architect proclaim the plan4 ,wherever she is still splendid and untamed1 let her not be violated4 ,america is in the state of mind where she must visualize herself again4 ,if it is not possible to bring in the ,new ,jerusalem to-day1 by public act1 with every citizen eating bread and honey under his vine and fig-tree1 owning forty acres and a mule1 singing hymns and saying prayers all his leisure hours1 it is still reasonable to think out tremendous things the ,american people can do1 in the light of what they have done1 without sacrificing any of their native cussedness or kick4 ,it was sprawling ,chicago that in #ahic achieved the ,white ,city4 ,the automobile routes bind the states together closer than muddy counties were held in #ahic4 ,a ,permanent ,world's ,fair may be a phrase distressing to the literal mind4 ,perhaps it would be better to say ,an ,architect's ,america4 ,let each city take expert counsel from the architectural demigods how to tear out the dirty core of its principal business square and erect a combination of civic centre and permanent and glorious bazaar4 ,let the public debate the types of state flower1 tree1 and shrub that are expedient1 the varieties of villages and middle-sized towns1 farm-homes1 and connecting parkways4 ,sometimes it seems to me the ,american expositions are as characteristic things as our land has achieved4 ,they went through without hesitation4 ,the difficulties of one did not deter the erection of the next4 ,the ,united ,states may be in many things slack4 ,often the democracy looks hopelessly shoddy4 ,but it cannot be denied that our people have always risen to the dignity of these great architectural projects4 ,once the population understand they are dealing with the same type of idea on a grander scale1 they will follow to the end4 ,we are not proposing an economic revolution1 or that human nature be suddenly altered4 ,if ,california can remain in the ,world's ,fair state of mind for four or five years1 and finally achieve such a splendid result1 all the states can undertake a similar project conjointly1 and because of the momentum of a nation moving together1 remain in that mind for the length of the life of a man4 ,here we have this great instrument1 the motion picture1 the fourth largest industry in the ,united ,states1 attended daily by ten million people1 and in ten days by a hundred million1 capable of interpreting the largest conceivable ideas that come within the range of the plastic arts1 and those ideas have not been supplied4 ,it is still the plaything of newly rich vaudeville managers4 ,the nation goes daily1 through intrinsic interest in the device1 and is dosed with such continued stories as the ,adventures of ,kathlyn1 ,what ,happened to ,mary1 and the ,million ,dollar ,mystery1 stretched on through reel after reel1 week after week4 ,kathlyn had no especial adventures4 ,nothing in particular happened to ,mary4 ,the million dollar mystery was3 why did the millionaires who owned such a magnificent instrument descend to such silliness and impose it on the people8 ,why cannot our weekly story be henceforth some great plan that is being worked out1 whose history will delight us8 ,for instance1 every stage of the building of the ,panama ,canal was followed with the greatest interest in the films4 ,but there was not enough of it to keep the films busy4 ,the great material projects are often easier to realize than the little moral reforms4 ,beautiful architectural undertakings1 while appearing to be material1 and succeeding by the laws of ,american enterprise1 bring with them the healing hand of beauty4 ,beauty is not directly pious1 but does more civilizing in its proper hour than many sermons or laws4 ,the world seems to be in the hands of adventurers4 ,why not this for the adventure of the ,american architects8 ,if something akin to this plan does not come to pass through photoplay propaganda1 it means there is no ,american builder with the blood of ,julius ,caesar in his veins4 ,if there is the old brute lust for empire left in any builder1 let him awake4 ,the world is before him4 ,as for the other ,utopians1 the economist1 the physician1 the puritan1 as soon as the architects have won over the photoplay people1 let these others take sage counsel and ensnare the architects4 ,is there a reform worth while that cannot be embodied and enforced by a builder's invention8 ,a mere city plan1 carried out1 or the name or intent of a quasi-public building and the list of offices within it may bring about more salutary economic change than all the debating and voting imaginable4 ,so without too much theorizing1 why not erect our new ,america and move into it8 ,,chapter ,,xix ,,on ,,coming ,,forth ,,by ,,day ,if he will be so indulgent with his author1 let the reader approach the photoplay theatre as though for the first time1 having again a new point of view4 ,here the poorest can pay and enter from the glaring afternoon into the twilight of an ,ali ,baba's cave4 ,the dime is the single open-sesame required4 ,the half-light wherein the audience is seated1 by which they can read in an emergency1 is as bright and dark as that of some candle-lit churches4 ,it reveals much in the faces and figures of the audience that cannot be seen by common day4 ,hard edges are the main things that we lose4 ,the gain is in all the delicacies of modelling1 tone-relations1 form1 and color4 ,a hundred evanescent impressions come and go4 ,there is often a tenderness of appeal about the most rugged face in the assembly4 ,humanity takes on its sacred aspect4 ,it is a crude mind that would insist that these appearances are not real1 that the eye does not see them when all eyes behold them4 ,to say dogmatically that any new thing seen by half-light is an illusion1 is like arguing that a discovery by the telescope or microscope is unreal4 ,if the appearances are beautiful besides1 they are not only facts1 but assets in our lives4 ,book-reading is not done in the direct noon-sunlight4 ,we retire to the shaded porch4 ,it takes two more steps toward quietness of light to read the human face and figure4 ,many great paintings and poems are records of things discovered in this quietness of light4 ,it is indeed ironical in our ,ali ,baba's cave to see sheer everydayness and hardness upon the screen1 the audience dragged back to the street they have escaped4 ,one of the inventions to bring the twilight of the gathering into brotherhood with the shadows on the screen is a simple thing known to the trade as the fadeaway1 that had its rise in a commonplace fashion as a method of keeping the story from ending with the white glare of the empty screen4 ,as a result of the device the figures in the first episode emerge from the dimness and in the last one go back into the shadow whence they came1 as foam returns to the darkness of an evening sea4 ,in the imaginative pictures the principle begins to be applied more largely1 till throughout the fairy story the figures float in and out from the unknown1 as fancies should4 ,this method in its simplicity counts more to keep the place an ,ali ,baba's cave than many a more complicated procedure4 ,in luxurious scenes it brings the soft edges of ,correggio1 and in solemn ones a light and shadow akin to the effects of ,rembrandt4 ,now we have a darkness on which we can paint1 an unspoiled twilight4 ,we need not call it the ,arabian's cave4 ,there is a tomb we might have definitely in mind1 an ,egyptian burying-place where with a torch we might enter1 read the inscriptions1 and see the illustrations from the ,book of the ,dead on the wall1 or finding that ancient papyrus in the mummy-case1 unroll it and show it to the eager assembly1 and have the feeling of return4 ,man is an ,egyptian first1 before he is any other type of civilized being4 ,the ,nile flows through his heart4 ,so let this cave be ,egypt1 let us incline ourselves to revere the unconscious memories that echo within us when we see the hieroglyphics of ,osiris1 and ,isis4 ,egypt was our long brooding youth4 ,we built the mysteriousness of the ,universe into the ,pyramids1 carved it into every line of the ,sphinx4 ,we thought always of the immemorial4 ,the reel now before us is the mighty judgment roll dealing with the question of our departure in such a way that any man who beholds it will bear the impress of the admonition upon his heart forever4 ,those ,egyptian priests did no little thing1 when amid their superstitions they still proclaimed the ,judgment4 ,let no one consider himself ready for death1 till like the men by the ,nile he can call up every scene1 face with courage every exigency of the ordeal4 ,there is one copy of the ,book of the ,dead of especial interest1 made for the ,scribe ,ani1 with exquisite marginal drawings4 ,copies may be found in our large libraries4 ,the particular fac-simile ,i had the honor to see was in the ,lenox ,library1 ,new ,york1 several years ago4 ,ani1 according to the formula of the priesthood1 goes through the adventures required of a shade before he reaches the court of ,osiris4 ,all the ,egyptian pictures on tomb-wall and temple are but enlarged picture-writing made into tableaus4 ,through such tableaus ,ani moves4 ,the ,ani manuscript has so fascinated some of the ,egyptologists that it is copied in figures fifteen feet high on the walls of two of the rooms of the ,british ,museum4 ,and you can read the story eloquently told in ,maspero4 ,ani knocks at many doors in the underworld4 ,monstrous gatekeepers are squatting on their haunches with huge knives to slice him if he cannot remember their names or give the right password1 or by spells the priests have taught him1 convince the sentinels that he is ,osiris himself4 ,to further the illusion the name of ,osiris is inscribed on his breast4 ,while he is passing these perils his little wife is looking on by a sort of clairvoyant sympathy1 though she is still alive4 ,she is depicted mourning him and embracing his mummy on earth at the same time she accompanies him through the shadows4 ,ani ploughs and sows and reaps in the fields of the underworld4 ,he is carried past a dreadful place on the back of the cow ,hathor4 ,after as many adventures as ,browning's ,childe ,roland he steps into the judgment-hall of the gods4 ,they sit in majestic rows4 ,he makes the proper sacrifices1 and advances to the scales of justice4 ,there he sees his own heart weighed against the ostrich-feather of ,truth1 by the jackal-god ,anubis1 who has already presided at his embalming4 ,his own soul1 in the form of a human-headed hawk1 watches the ceremony4 ,his ghost1 which is another entity1 looks through the door with his little wife4 ,both of them watch with tense anxiety4 ,the fate of every phase of his personality depends upon the purity of his heart4 ,lying in wait behind ,anubis is a monster1 part crocodile1 part lion1 part hippopotamus4 ,this terror will eat the heart of ,ani if it is found corrupt4 ,at last he is declared justified4 ,thoth1 the ibis-headed ,god of ,writing1 records the verdict on his tablet4 ,the justified ,ani moves on past the baffled devourer1 with the mystic presence of his little wife rejoicing at his side4 ,they go to the awful court of ,osiris4 ,she makes sacrifice with him there4 ,the ,god of the ,dead is indeed a strange deity1 a seated semi-animated mummy1 with all the appurtenances of royalty1 and with the four sons of ,horus on a lotus before him1 and his two wives1 ,isis and ,nephthys1 standing behind his throne with their hands on his shoulders4 ,the justified soul now boards the boat in which the sun rides as it journeys through the night4 ,he rises a glorious boatman in the morning1 working an oar to speed the craft through the high ocean of the noon sky4 ,henceforth he makes the eternal round with the sun4 ,therefore in ,ancient ,egypt the roll was called1 not the ,book of the ,dead1 but ,the ,chapters on ,coming ,forth by ,day4 ,this book on motion pictures does not profess to be an expert treatise on ,egyptology as well4 ,the learned folk are welcome to amend the modernisms that have crept into it4 ,but the fact remains that something like this story in one form or another held ,egypt spell-bound for many hundred years4 ,it was the force behind every mummification4 ,it was the reason for the whole ,egyptian system of life1 death1 and entombment1 for the man not embalmed could not make the journey4 ,so the explorer finds the ,egyptian with a roll of this papyrus as a guide-book on his mummy breast4 ,the soul needed to return for refreshment periodically to the stone chamber1 and the mummy mutilated or destroyed could not entertain the guest4 ,egypt cried out through thousands of years for the ultimate resurrection of the whole man1 his coming forth by day4 ,we need not fear that a story that so dominated a race will be lost on modern souls when vividly set forth4 ,is it too much to expect that some ,american prophet-wizard of the future will give us this film in the spirit of an ,egyptian priest8 ,the ,greeks1 the wisest people in our limited system of classics1 bowed down before the ,egyptian hierarchy4 ,that cult must have had a fine personal authority and glamour to master such men4 ,the unseen mysteries were always on the ,egyptian heart as a burden and a consolation1 and though there may have been jugglers in the outer courts of these temples1 as there have been in the courts of all temples1 no mere actor could make an ,egyptian priest of himself4 ,their very alphabet has a regal enchantment in its lines1 and the same aesthetic-mystical power remains in their pylons and images under the blaze of the all-revealing noonday sun4 ,here is a nation1 ,america1 going for dreams into caves as shadowy as the tomb of ,queen ,thi4 ,there they find too often1 not that ancient priestess and ruler1 nor any of her kin1 nor yet ,ani the scribe1 nor yet any of the kings1 but shabby rags of fancy1 or circuses that were better in the street4 ,because ten million people daily enter into the cave1 something akin to ,egyptian wizardry1 certain national rituals1 will be born4 ,by studying the matter of being an ,egyptian priest for a little while1 the author-producer may learn in the end how best to express and satisfy the spirit-hungers that are peculiarly ,american4 ,it is sometimes out of the oldest dream that the youngest vision is born4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,the ,,prophet-,,wizard ,the whirlwind of cowboys and ,indians with which the photoplay began1 came about because this instrument1 in asserting its genius1 was feeling its way toward the most primitive forms of life it could find4 ,now there is a tendency for even wilder things4 ,we behold the half-draped figures living in tropical islands or our hairy fore-fathers acting out narratives of the stone age4 ,the moving picture conventionality permits an abbreviation of drapery4 ,if the primitive setting is convincing1 the figure in the grass-robe or buffalo hide at once has its rights over the healthful imagination4 ,there is in this nation of moving-picture-goers a hunger for tales of fundamental life that are not yet told4 ,the cave-man longs with an incurable homesickness for his ancient day4 ,one of the fine photoplays of primeval life is the story called ,man's ,genesis1 described in chapter two4 ,we face the exigency the world over of vast instruments like national armies being played against each other as idly and aimlessly as the checker-men on the cracker-barrels of corner groceries4 ,and this invention1 the kinetoscope1 which affects or will affect as many people as the guns of ,europe1 is not yet understood in its powers1 particularly those of bringing back the primitive in a big rich way4 ,the primitive is always a new and higher beginning to the man who understands it4 ,not yet has the producer learned that the feeling of the crowd is patriarchal1 splendid4 ,he imagines the people want nothing but a silly lark4 ,all this apparatus and opportunity1 and no immortal soul6 ,yet by faith and a study of the signs we proclaim that this lantern of wizard-drama is going to give us in time the visible things in the fulness of their primeval force1 and some that have been for a long time invisible4 ,to speak in a metaphor1 we are going to have the primitive life of ,genesis1 then all that evolution after3 ,exodus1 ,leviticus1 ,numbers1 ,deuteronomy1 ,joshua1 ,judges1 and on to a new revelation of ,st4 ,john4 ,in this adolescence of ,democracy the history of man is to be retraced1 the same round on a higher spiral of life4 ,our democratic dream has been a middle-class aspiration built on a bog of toil-soddened minds4 ,the piles beneath the castle of our near-democratic arts were rotting for lack of folk-imagination4 ,the ,man with the ,hoe had no spark in his brain4 ,but now a light is blazing4 ,we can build the ,american soul broad-based from the foundations4 ,we can begin with dreams the veriest stone-club warrior can understand1 and as far as an appeal to the eye can do it1 lead him in fancy through every phase of life to the apocalyptic splendors4 ,this progress1 according to the metaphor of this chapter1 will be led by prophet-wizards4 ,these were the people that dominated the cave-men of old4 ,but what1 more specifically1 are prophet-wizards8 ,let us consider two kinds of present-day people3 scientific inventors1 on the one hand1 and makers of art and poetry and the like1 on the other4 ,the especial producers of art and poetry that we are concerned with in this chapter we will call prophet-wizards3 men like ,albert ,duerer1 ,rembrandt1 ,blake1 ,elihu ,vedder1 ,watts1 ,rossetti1 ,tennyson1 ,coleridge1 ,poe1 ,maeterlinck1 ,yeats1 ,francis ,thompson4 ,they have a certain unearthly fascination in some one or many of their works4 ,a few other men might be added to the list4 ,most great names are better described under other categories1 though as much beloved in their own way4 ,but these are especially adapted to being set in opposition to a list of mechanical inventors that might be called realists by contrast3 the ,wright brothers1 and ,h4 ,pierpont ,langley1 ,thomas ,a4 ,edison1 ,charles ,steinmetz1 ,john ,hays ,hammond1 ,hudson ,maxim1 ,graham ,bell4 ,the prophet-wizards are of various schools4 ,but they have a common tendency and character in bringing forth a type of art peculiarly at war with the realistic civilization science has evolved4 ,it is one object of this chapter to show that1 when it comes to a clash between the two forces1 the wizards should rule1 and the realists should serve them4 ,the two functions go back through history1 sometimes at war1 other days in alliance4 ,the poet and the scientist were brethren in the centuries of alchemy4 ,tennyson1 bearing in mind such a period1 took the title of ,merlin in his veiled autobiography1 ,merlin and the ,gleam4 ,wizards and astronomers were one when the angels sang in ,bethlehem1 ,peace on ,earth1 ,good ,will to ,men4 ,there came magicians1 saying1 ,where is he that is born king of the ,jews1 for we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him8 ,the modern world in its gentler moments seems to take a peculiar thrill of delight from these travellers1 perhaps realizing what has been lost from parting with such gentle seers and secular diviners4 ,every ,christmas half the magazines set them forth in richest colors1 riding across the desert1 following the star to the same manger where the shepherds are depicted4 ,those wizard kings1 whatever useless charms and talismans they wore1 stood for the unknown quantity in spiritual life4 ,a magician is a man who lays hold on the unseen for the mere joy of it1 who steals1 if necessary1 the holy bread and the sacred fire4 ,he is often of the remnant of an ostracized and disestablished priesthood4 ,he is a free-lance in the soul-world1 owing final allegiance to no established sect4 ,the fires of prophecy are as apt to descend upon him as upon members of the established faith4 ,he loves the mysterious for the beauty of it1 the wildness and the glory of it1 and not always to compel stiff-necked people to do right4 ,it seems to me that the scientific and poetic functions of society should make common cause again1 if they are not1 as in ,merlin's time1 combined in one personality4 ,they must recognize that they serve the same society1 but with the understanding that the prophetic function is the most important1 the wizard vocation the next1 and the inventors' and realists' genius important indeed1 but the third consideration4 ,the war between the scientists and the prophet-wizards has come about because of the half-defined ambition of the scientists to rule or ruin4 ,they give us the steam-engine1 the skyscraper1 the steam-heat1 the flying machine1 the elevated railroad1 the apartment house1 the newspaper1 the breakfast food1 the weapons of the army1 the weapons of the navy1 and think that they have beautified our existence4 ,moreover some one rises at this point to make a plea for the scientific imagination4 ,he says the inventor-scientists have brought us the mystery of electricity1 which is no hocus-pocus1 but a special manifestation of the ,immanent ,god within us and about us4 ,he says the student in the laboratory brought us the ,x-ray1 the wireless telegraph1 the mystery of radium1 the mystery of all the formerly unharnessed power of ,god which man is beginning to gather into the hollow of his hand4 ,the one who pleads for the scientific imagination points out that ,edison has been called the ,american ,wizard4 ,all honor to ,edison and his kind4 ,and ,i admit specifically that ,edison took the first great mechanical step to give us the practical kinetoscope and make it possible that the photographs1 even of inanimate objects thrown upon the mirror-screen1 may become celestial actors4 ,but the final phase of the transfiguration is not the work of this inventor or any other4 ,as long as the photoplays are in the hands of men like ,edison they are mere voodooism4 ,we have nothing but ,moving ,day1 as heretofore described4 ,it is only in the hands of the prophetic photo-playwright and allied artists that the kinetoscope reels become as mysterious and dazzling to the thinking spirit as the wheels of ,ezekiel in the first chapter of his prophecy4 ,one can climb into the operator's box and watch the sword-like stream of light till he is as dazzled in flesh and spirit as the moth that burns its wings in the lamp4 ,but this is while a glittering vision and not a mere invention is being thrown upon the screen4 ,the scientific man can explain away the vision as a matter of the technique of double exposure1 double printing1 trick-turning1 or stopping down4 ,and having reduced it to terms and shown the process1 he expects us to become secular and casual again4 ,but of course the sun itself is a mere trick of heat and light1 a dynamo1 an incandescent globe1 to the man in the laboratory4 ,to us it must be a fire upon the altar4 ,transubstantiation must begin4 ,our young magicians must derive strange new pulse-beats from the veins of the earth1 from the sap of the trees1 from the lightning of the sky1 as well as the alchemical acids1 metals1 and flames4 ,then they will kindle the beginning mysteries for our cause4 ,they will build up a priesthood that is free1 yet authorized to freedom4 ,it will be established and disestablished according to the intrinsic authority of the light revealed4 ,now for a closer view of this vocation4 ,the picture of ,religious ,splendor has its obvious form in the delineation of ,biblical scenes1 which1 in the hands of the best commercial producers1 can be made as worth while as the work of men like ,tissot4 ,such films are by no means to be thought of lightly4 ,this sort of work will remain in the minds of many of the severely orthodox as the only kind of a religious picture worthy of classification4 ,but there are many further fields4 ,just as the wireless receiving station or the telephone switchboard become heroes in the photoplay1 so ,aaron's rod that confounded the ,egyptians1 the brazen serpent that ,moses up-lifted in the wilderness1 the ram's horn that caused the fall of ,jericho1 the mantle of ,elijah descending upon the shoulders of ,elisha from the chariot of fire1 can take on a physical electrical power and a hundred times spiritual meaning that they could not have in the dead stage properties of the old miracle play or the realism of the ,tissot school4 ,the waterfall and the tossing sea are dramatis personae in the ordinary film romance4 ,so the ,red ,sea overwhelming ,pharaoh1 the fires of ,nebuchadnezzar's furnace sparing and sheltering the three holy children1 can become celestial actors4 ,and winged couriers can appear1 in the pictures1 with missions of import1 just as an angel descended to ,joshua1 saying1 ,as captain of the host of the ,lord am ,i now come4 ,the pure mechanic does not accept the doctrine4 ,your alleged supernatural appearance1 he says1 is based on such a simple fact as this3 two pictures can be taken on one film4 ,but the analogy holds4 ,many primitive peoples are endowed with memories that are double photographs4 ,the world faiths1 based upon centuries of these appearances1 are none the less to be revered because machine-ridden men have temporarily lost the power of seeing their thoughts as pictures in the air1 and for the time abandoned the task of adding to tradition4 ,man will not only see visions again1 but machines themselves1 in the hands of prophets1 will see visions4 ,in the hands of commercial men they are seeing alleged visions1 and the term vision is a part of moving-picture studio slang1 unutterably cheapening religion and tradition4 ,when ,confucius came1 he said one of his tasks was the rectification of names4 ,the leaders of this age should see that this word vision comes to mean something more than a piece of studio slang4 ,if it is the conviction of serious minds that the mass of men shall never again see pictures out of ,heaven except through such mediums as the kinetoscope lens1 let all the higher forces of our land courageously lay hold upon this thing that saves us from perpetual spiritual blindness4 ,when the thought of primitive man1 embodied in misty forms on the landscape1 reached epic proportions in the ,greek1 he saw the ,olympians more plainly than he beheld the ,acropolis4 ,myron1 ,polykleitos1 ,phidias1 ,scopas1 ,lysippus1 ,praxiteles1 discerned the gods and demigods so clearly they afterward cut them from the hard marble without wavering4 ,our guardian angels of to-day must be as clearly seen and nobly hewn4 ,a double mental vision is as fundamental in human nature as the double necessity for air and light4 ,it is as obvious as that a thing can be both written and spoken4 ,we have maintained that the kinetoscope in the hands of artists is a higher form of picture writing4 ,in the hands of prophet-wizards it will be a higher form of vision-seeing4 ,i have said that the commercial men are seeing alleged visions4 ,take1 for instance1 the large ,italian film that attempts to popularize ,dante4 ,though it has a scattering of noble passages1 and in some brief episodes it is an enhancement of ,gustave ,dore1 taking it as a whole1 it is a false thing4 ,it is full of apparitions worked out with mechanical skill1 yet ,dante's soul is not back of the fires and swords of light4 ,it gives to the uninitiated an outline of the stage paraphernalia of the ,inferno4 ,it has an encyclopaedic value4 ,if ,dante himself had been the high director in the plenitude of his resources1 it might still have had that hollowness4 ,a list of words making a poem and a set of apparently equivalent pictures forming a photoplay may have an entirely different outcome4 ,it may be like trying to see a perfume or listen to a taste4 ,religion that comes in wholly through the eye has a new world in the films1 whose relation to the old is only discovered by experiment and intuition1 patience and devotion4 ,but let us imagine the grandson of an ,italian immigrant to ,america1 a young seer1 trained in the photoplay technique by the high ,american masters1 knowing all the moving picture resources as ,dante knew ,italian song and mediaeval learning4 ,assume that he has a genius akin to that of the ,florentine4 ,let him be a ,modernist ,catholic if you will4 ,let him begin his message in the timber lands of ,minnesota or the forests of ,alaska4 ,in midway of this our mortal life ,i found me in a gloomy wood astray4 ,then let him paint new pictures of just punishment beyond the grave1 and merciful rehabilitation and great reward4 ,let his ,hell1 ,purgatory1 and ,paradise be built of those things which are deepest and highest in the modern mind1 yet capable of emerging in picture-writing form4 ,men are needed1 therefore they will come4 ,and lest they come weeping1 accursed1 and alone1 let us ask1 how shall we recognize them8 ,there is no standard by which to discern the true from the false prophet1 except the mood that is engendered by contemplating the messengers of the past4 ,every man has his own roll call of noble magicians selected from the larger group4 ,but here are the names with which this chapter began1 with some words on their work4 ,albert ,duerer is classed as a ,renaissance painter4 ,yet his art has its dwelling-place in the early ,romanesque savageness and strangeness4 ,and the reader remembers ,duerer's brooding muse called ,melancholia that so obsessed ,kipling in ,the ,light that ,failed4 ,but the wonder-quality went into nearly all the ,duerer wood-cuts and etchings4 ,rembrandt is a prophet-wizard1 not only in his shadowy portraits1 but in his etchings of holy scenes even his simplest cobweb lines become incantations4 ,other artists in the high tides of history have had kindred qualities1 but coming close to our day1 ,elihu ,vedder1 the ,american1 the illustrator of the ,rubaiyat1 found it a poem questioning all things1 and his very illustrations answer in a certain fashion with winds of infinity1 and bring the songs of ,omar near to the ,book of ,job4 ,vedder's portraits of ,lazarus and ,samson are conceptions that touch the hem of the unknown4 ,george ,frederick ,watts was a painter of portraits of the soul itself1 as in his delineations of ,burne-,jones and ,morris and ,tennyson4 ,it is a curious thing that two prophet-wizards have combined pictures and song4 ,blake and ,rossetti1 whatever the failure of their technique1 never lacked in enchantment4 ,students of the motion picture side of poetry would naturally turn to such men for spiritual precedents4 ,blake1 that strange ,londoner1 in his book of ,job1 is the paramount example of the enchanter doing his work with the engraving tool in his hand4 ,rossetti's ,dante's ,dream is a painting on the edge of every poet's paradise4 ,as for the poetry of these two men1 there are ,blake's ,songs of ,innocence1 and ,rossetti's ,blessed ,damozel and his ,burden of ,nineveh4 ,as for the other poets1 we have ,coleridge1 the author of ,christabel1 that piece of winter witchcraft1 ,kubla ,khan1 that oriental dazzlement1 and the ,ancient ,mariner1 that most ,english of all this list of enchantments4 ,of ,tennyson's work1 besides ,merlin and the ,gleam1 there are the poems when the mantle was surely on his shoulders3 ,the ,lady of ,shalott1 ,the ,lotus ,eaters1 ,sir ,galahad1 and ,st4 ,agnes' ,eve4 ,edgar ,poe1 always a magician1 blends this power with the prophetical note in the poem1 ,the ,haunted ,palace1 and in the stories of ,william ,wilson1 ,the ,black ,cat and ,the ,tell-tale ,heart4 ,this prophet-wizard side of a man otherwise a wizard only1 has been well illustrated in ,the ,avenging ,conscience photoplay4 ,from ,maeterlinck we have ,the ,bluebird and many another dream4 ,i devoutly hope ,i will never see in the films an attempt to paraphrase this master4 ,but some disciple of his should conquer the photoplay medium1 giving us great original works4 ,yeats has bestowed upon us ,the ,land of ,heart's ,desire1 ,the ,secret ,rose1 and many another piece of imaginative glory4 ,let us hope that we may be spared any attempts to hastily paraphrase his wonders for the motion pictures4 ,but the man that reads ,yeats will be better prepared to do his own work in the films1 or to greet the young new masters when they come4 ,finally1 ,francis ,thompson1 in ,the ,hound of ,heaven1 has written a song that the young wizard may lean upon forevermore for private guidance4 ,it is composed of equal parts of wonder and conscience4 ,with this poem in his heart1 the roar of the elevated railroad will be no more in his ears1 and he will dream of palaces of righteousness1 and lead other men to dream of them till the houses of mammon fade away4 ,,chapter ,,xxi ,,the ,,acceptable ,,year ,,of ,,the ,,lord ,without airing my private theology ,i earnestly request the most sceptical reader of this book to assume that miracles in a ,biblical sense have occurred4 ,let him take it for granted in the fashion of the strictly aesthetic commentator who writes in sympathy with a ,fra ,angelico painting1 or as that great modernist1 ,paul ,sabatier1 does as he approaches the problems of faith in the life of ,st4 ,francis4 ,let him also assume1 for the length of time that he is reading this chapter if no longer1 that miracles1 in a ,biblical sense1 as vivid and as real to the body of the ,church1 will again occur two thousand years in the future3 events as wonderful as those others1 twenty centuries back4 ,let us anticipate that many of these will be upon ,american soil4 ,particularly as sons and daughters of a new country it is a spiritual necessity for us to look forward to traditions1 because we have so few from the past identified with the six feet of black earth beneath us4 ,the functions of the prophet whereby he definitely painted future sublimities have been too soon abolished in the minds of the wise4 ,mere forecasting is left to the weather bureau so far as a great section of the purely literary and cultured are concerned4 ,the term prophet has survived in literature to be applied to men like ,carlyle3 fiery spiritual leaders who speak with little pretence of revealing to-morrow4 ,but in the street1 definite forecasting of future events is still the vulgar use of the term4 ,dozens of sober historians predicted the present war with a clean-cut story that was carried out with much faithfulness of detail1 considering the thousand interests involved4 ,they have been called prophets in a congratulatory secular tone by the man in the street4 ,these felicitations come because well-authorized merchants in futures have been put out of countenance from the days of ,jonah and ,balaam till now4 ,it is indeed a risky vocation4 ,yet there is an undeniable line of successful forecasting by the hardy1 to be found in the ,scripture and in history4 ,in direct proportion as these men of fiery speech were free from sheer silliness1 their outlook has been considered and debated by the gravest people round them4 ,the heart of man craves the seer4 ,take1 for instance1 the promise of the restoration of ,jerusalem in glory that fills the latter part of the ,old ,testament4 ,it moves the ,jewish ,zionist1 the true race-,jew1 to this hour4 ,he is even now endeavoring to fulfil the prophecy4 ,consider the words of ,john the ,baptist1 ,one mightier than ,i cometh1 the latchet of whose shoes ,i am not worthy to unloose3 he shall baptize you with the ,holy ,ghost and with fire4 ,a magnificent foreshadowing1 being both a spiritual insight and the statement of a great definite event4 ,the heeded seers of the civilization of this our day have been secular in their outlook4 ,perhaps the most striking was ,karl ,marx1 in the middle of the capitalistic system tracing its development from feudalism and pointing out as inevitable1 long before they came1 such modern institutions as the ,steel ,trust and the ,standard ,oil ,company4 ,it remains to be seen whether the ,marxian prophecy of the international alliance of workingmen that is obscured by the present conflict in ,europe1 and other of his forecastings1 will be ultimately verified4 ,there have been secular teachers like ,darwin1 who1 by a scientific reconstruction of the past1 have implied an evolutionary future based on the biological outlook4 ,deductions from the teachings of ,darwin are said to control those who mould the international doings of ,germany and ,japan4 ,there have been inventor-seers like ,jules ,verne4 ,in ,twenty ,thousand ,leagues under the ,sea he dimly discerned the submarine4 ,there is a type of social prophet allied to ,verne4 ,edward ,bellamy1 in ,looking ,backward1 reduced the world to a matter of pressing the button1 turning on the phonograph4 ,it was a combination of glorified department-store and ,coney ,island1 on a cooperative basis4 ,a seventeen-year-old boy from the country1 making his first visit to the ,woolworth building in ,new ,york1 and riding in the subway when it is not too crowded1 might be persuaded by an eloquent city relative that this is ,bellamy's ,new ,jerusalem4 ,a soul with a greater insight is ,h4,g4 ,wells4 ,but he too1 in spite of his humanitarian heart1 has1 in a great mass of his work1 the laboratory imagination4 ,serious ,americans pronounce themselves beneficiaries of ,wells' works1 and ,i confess myself edified and thoroughly grateful4 ,nevertheless1 one smells chemicals in the next room when he reads most of ,wells' prophecies4 ,the ,x-ray has moved that ,englishman's mind more dangerously than moonlight touches the brain of the chanting witch4 ,one striking and typical story is ,the ,food of the ,gods4 ,it is not only a fine speculation1 but a great parable4 ,the reader may prefer other tales4 ,many times ,wells has gone into his laboratory to invent our future1 in the same state of mind in which an automobile manufacturer works out an improvement in his car4 ,his disposition has greatly mellowed of late1 in this respect1 but underneath he is the same ,wells4 ,citizens of ,america1 wise or foolish1 when they look into the coming days1 have the submarine mood of ,verne1 the press-the-button complacency of ,bellamy1 the wireless telegraph enthusiasm of ,wells4 ,if they express hopes that can be put into pictures with definite edges1 they order machinery piled to the skies4 ,they see the redeemed ,united ,states running deftly in its jewelled sockets1 ticking like a watch4 ,this1 their own chosen outlook1 wearies the imaginations of our people1 they do not know why4 ,it gives no full-orbed apocalyptic joy4 ,only to the young mechanical engineer does such a hope express real ,utopia4 ,he can always keep ahead of the devices that herald its approach4 ,no matter what day we attain and how busy we are adjusting ourselves1 he can be moving on1 inventing more to-morrows2 ruling the age1 not being ruled by it4 ,because this ,utopia is in the air1 a goodly portion of the precocious boys turn to mechanical engineering4 ,youths with this bent are the most healthful and inspiring young citizens we have4 ,they and their like will fulfil a multitude of the hopes of men like ,verne1 ,bellamy1 and ,wells4 ,but if every mechanical inventor on earth voiced his dearest wish and lived to see it worked out1 the real drama of prophecy and fulfilment1 as written in the imagination of the human race1 would remain uncompleted4 ,as ,mrs4 ,browning says in ,lady ,geraldine's ,courtship3-- ,if we trod the deeps of ocean1 if we struck the stars in rising1 ,if we wrapped the globe intensely with one hot electric breath1 ',twere but power within our tether1 no new spirit-power comprising1 ,and in life we were not greater men1 nor bolder men in death4 ,st4 ,john beheld the ,new ,jerusalem coming down out of ,heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband1 not equipped as a touring car varnished for its owner4 ,it is my hope that the moving picture prophet-wizards will set before the world a new group of pictures of the future4 ,the chapter on ,the ,architect as a ,crusader endeavors to show how1 by proclaiming that ,america will become a permanent ,world's ,fair1 she can be made so within the lives of men now living1 if courageous architects have the campaign in hand4 ,there are other hopes that look a long way further4 ,they peer as far into the coming day as the ,chinese historian looks into the past4 ,and then they are but halfway to the millennium4 ,any standard illustrator could give us ,verne or ,bellamy or ,wells if he did his best4 ,but we want pictures beyond the skill of any delineator in the old mediums1 yet within the power of the wizard photoplay producer4 ,oh you who are coming to-morrow1 show us everyday ,america as it will be when we are only halfway to the millennium yet thousands of years in the future6 ,tell what type of honors men will covet1 what property they will still be apt to steal1 what murders they will commit1 what the law court and the jail will be or what will be the substitutes1 how the newspaper will appear1 the office1 the busy street4 ,picture to ,america the lovers in her half-millennium1 when usage shall have become iron-handed once again1 when noble sweethearts must break beautiful customs for the sake of their dreams4 ,show us the gantlet of strange courtliness they must pass through before they reach one another1 obstacles brought about by the immemorial distinctions of scholarship gowns or service badges4 ,make a picture of a world where machinery is so highly developed it utterly disappeared long ago4 ,show us the antique ,united ,states1 with ivy vines upon the popular socialist churches1 and weather-beaten images of socialist saints in the niches of the doors4 ,show us the battered fountains1 the brooding universities1 the dusty libraries4 ,show us houses of administration with statues of heroes in front of them and gentle banners flowing from their pinnacles4 ,then paint pictures of the oldest trees of the time1 and tree-revering ceremonies1 with unique costumes and a special priesthood4 ,show us the marriage procession1 the christening1 the consecration of the boy and girl to the state4 ,show us the political processions and election riots4 ,show us the people with their graceful games1 their religious pantomimes4 ,show us impartially the memorial scenes to celebrate the great men and women1 and the funerals of the poor4 ,and then moving on toward the millennium itself1 show ,america after her victories have been won1 and she has grown old1 as old as the ,sphinx4 ,then give us the ,dragon and ,armageddon and the ,lake of ,fire4 ,author-producer-photographer1 who would prophesy1 read the last book in the ,bible1 not to copy it in form and color1 but that its power and grace and terror may enter into you4 ,delineate in your own way1 as you are led on your own ,patmos1 the picture of our land redeemed4 ,after fasting and prayer1 let the ,spirit conduct you till you see in definite line and form the throngs of the brotherhood of man1 the colonnades where the arts are expounded1 the gardens where the children dance4 ,that which man desires1 that will man become4 ,he largely fulfils his own prediction and vision4 ,let him therefore have a care how he prophesies and prays4 ,we shall have a tin heaven and a tin earth1 if the scientists are allowed exclusive command of our highest hours4 ,let us turn to ,luke iv4 #ag4 ,and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet ,esaias4 ,and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written3-- ,the ,spirit of the ,lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the ,gospel to the poor2 he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted1 to preach deliverance to the captives1 and recovering of sight to the blind1 to set at liberty them that are bruised1 to preach the acceptable year of the ,lord4 ,and he closed the book1 and he gave it again to the minister1 and sat down4 ,and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him4 ,and he began to say unto them3 ',this day is this ,scripture fulfilled in your ears4' ,and all bare him witness1 and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth4 ,and they said3 ',is not this ,joseph's son8' ,i am moved to think ,christ fulfilled that prophecy because he had read it from childhood4 ,it is my entirely personal speculation1 not brought forth dogmatically1 that ,scripture is not so much inspired as it is curiously and miraculously inspiring4 ,if the ,new ,isaiahs of this time will write their forecastings in photoplay hieroglyphics1 the children in times to come1 having seen those films from infancy1 or their later paraphrases in more perfect form1 can rise and say1 ,this day is this ,scripture fulfilled in your ears4 ,but without prophecy there is no fulfilment1 without ,isaiah there is no ,christ4 ,america is often shallow in her dreams because she has no past in the ,european and ,asiatic sense4 ,our soil has no ,roman coin or buried altar or ,buddhist tope4 ,for this reason multitudes of ,american artists have moved to ,europe1 and only the most universal of wars has driven them home4 ,year after year ,europe drained us of our beauty-lovers1 our highest painters and sculptors and the like4 ,they have come pouring home1 confused expatriates1 trying to adjust themselves4 ,it is time for the ,american craftsman and artist to grasp the fact that we must be men enough to construct a to-morrow that grows rich in forecastings in the same way that the past of ,europe grows rich in sweet or terrible legends as men go back into it4 99 99 99 99 99 ,scenario writers1 producers1 photoplay actors1 endowers of exquisite films1 sects using special motion pictures for a predetermined end1 all you who are taking the work as a sacred trust1 ,i bid you ,god-speed4 ,let us resolve that whatever ,america's to-morrow may be1 she shall have a day that is beautiful and not crass1 spiritual1 not material4 ,let us resolve that she shall dream dreams deeper than the sea and higher than the clouds of heaven1 that she shall come forth crowned and transfigured with her statesmen and wizards and saints and sages about her1 with magic behind her and miracle before her4 ,pray that you be delivered from the temptation to cynicism and the timidities of orthodoxy4 ,pray that the workers in this your glorious new art be delivered from the mere lust of the flesh and pride of life4 ,let your spirits outflame your burning bodies4 ,consider what it will do to your souls1 if you are true to your trust4 ,every year1 despite earthly sorrow and the punishment of your mortal sins1 despite all weakness and all of ,time's revenges upon you1 despite ,nature's reproofs and the whips of the angels1 new visions will come1 new prophecies will come4 ,you will be seasoned spirits in the eyes of the wise4 ,the record of your ripeness will be found in your craftsmanship4 ,you will be ,god's thoroughbreds4 99 99 99 99 99 ,it has come then1 this new weapon of men1 and the face of the whole earth changes4 ,in after centuries its beginning will be indeed remembered4 ,it has come1 this new weapon of men1 and by faith and a study of the signs we proclaim that it will go on and on in immemorial wonder4 ,,vachel ,,lindsay4 ,,springfield1 ,,illinois1 ,nov4 #a1 #aiae4