| Show ossi About A boul Screen Stars Stories tories of Films Being Mad p PENDING PEG FOR ONE I Heres Here's Story of Annette Kellermann's New Picture 2 i 1 41 i y t 4 7 1 rg M J t r q N nr 4 4 c 1 V aLlut r L i t Y j J I S tl s SCENE Ff FOX MILLION DOLLAR JAEH 1 J v t hat Roger W. W Babson Says of William ox's 1 Kellermann Picture Foxs Fox's A Daughter of the Gods Gods' E EDITORS EDITOR'S ORS OR'S Roger NOTE Roger TV W. Babson writer writer- writer the of the following article I artl l on the on-the the lliam Fox Kellermann picture is the greatest financial and economic au- au rIty who ever wrote an article about abou t motion pictures He lIe Is isa a great finan- finan maintaining a tremendous-organization tremendous at Wellesley Hills Mass t Ills the consultant authority relied the kings of or American finance and Mr Babson made madea a special trip to Jamaica to see the Fox Kellermann ture Herbert tune Herbert Brenon's sp spectacle spectacle spectacle-in In in the actual making B It By ROGER W. W BABSON lR Recently on the Island nd of Jamaica I was with Herbert Brenon who his reputation as the he dire director tor of Daughter while he a new play at a cost of perhaps Talk about geometrical al progression Here is a jump in the cost of from to in five years and then from to in only one year Brenon's new William Fox picture has cost IFor For the setting of this new play an old Spanish fort was necessary so 3 sunny seas were searched in order to get one The most suitable one was md half under underwater water near near Kingston Jamaica It was called Fort Augusta out the water drain the land kill the mosquitos and fill in cost But this was only the beginning The made it necessary that a Moorish city should be built behind s sHort fort In this city must be a real palace an actual slave market stores all kinds and everything else that one sees in an Moorish city Moreover ise se stores must be full of goods cloth pottery baskets provisions etc must be full pf of people and all the people must be black and have costumes Such city was built so that when a stranger entered the harbor of Jamaica in February of this year this new movie city was more I evidence than was old Kingston itself It is certainly more spectacular build this city is said to have cost between and To one cocoanut tree cost while it cost 1000 1000 Just to repair a autry atry box on the old wall But the building g of the city was only a part of the expense As I have id it must be populated and all of the inhabitants had to be hired at from j cents a day upward I was there actors were which h t I i For the day on Jamaica over were engaged d I Id d some some d days ys the number ran up up-to up to I lOVall of whom whom- m must st be provided costumes th and arid many with helmets ars or bows and armor armor mels a Second forgone scene in one day Mr r. r Brenon rated the use of ten camels for forOut Out five minutes Arrangements ments r nade de with the manager of ot of-a of a cir cir- New York for tor ten camels to be t a a. cost of aday total aday-total total cost lOO 00 When you see this play on onscreen screen these camels will show for forten ten seconds seconds cost cost a se second ond alone Ithe camels nd yet ind-yet yet this great Moorish city ting half a million dollars Is only 1 scene of the story little gnome city was also also- con con- at St. St Anns Ann's bay forty miles ay for another scene in which le performed as fairies they Other scenes have been taken under terIn the harbor of Kingston with withe e erity- erity famous swimmers swimmers New r dressed as mermaids rigs liss Kellermann the star of the was was even taken into up-into up- up into the fors for- for s of Jamaica and with her hands oj Il allowed to float down a. a r rapid pid earn eam earn and and over a natural l precipice no expense has been leen spared thing wanted has been secured l ver the cost For one scene a hired boats were wanted and all n naica was scoured to secure th them m. m i had to have an oriental sail sails were made all dyed I ark red ark red to harmonize with the land land- pe pe And these boats appear 1 on ene for Just eight seconds this expenditure is based on son ion The only wonder is t that at more I pl plc did not have the sense to an- an pate such achievements Any ny one I d stopped to think it over could lly ilY have foreseen that th the presen- presen any ariy big spectacle was spectacle was sure to toa a money a-money making proposition with with- the slightest risk This is a are are- re ret re- re t of of the law of averages BM l laches aches cIes the Multitudes Shen a regular regular- theatrical company formed to stage some great play star famous it can appeal each ht to only one If If the ise js full fulland and this one audience is is it is a profitable Investment I Jt if not It fails At the most rost the ps are limited to the seats seats' of one 1 for tor the time to the I one community With movie du Lions it Is entirely different t rent i I F When a movie company gets a big star to play for It-it It can prepare a hup- hup hun I hup-I a thousand of the films almost as cheaply as as one As a result res the I movie company that employs the trie star I Ican can show its pl play y with her as the star at a thousand theatres each night instead instead instead in- in stead Of of at at only one This not o only oy y gives the producers cers of movie plays an infinitely greater field to draw upon but their eggs are not all in one bas bas- ket Instead of being dependent upon the whims of one community at a time I they they are appealing simultaneously to toa toa a thousand cities In view of this the law of the movie proa production production pro- pro I a real Investment while the same thing for the old fashioned Broad Broadway Broadway Broadway way theatrical manager would be a foolish gamble S 'S So far as the most trusted experts see the see the amusement field will always continue to be the gr great at money making opportunity for the movie people I asked Herbert Brenon who has edthe greatest shows up to this time to shut his eyes and tell me what he thought th the movies would be doing ten years hence Said he Future of the Movies Tl The e first development which is already al already already al- al ready in progress will wUl be toward longer long- long er reels or rather longer productions Instead of having half a dozen different differ differ- ent plots shown in one evening or even two two or or three the entire evening will be devoted to one production I refer to to such productions as The Birth of a Nation tion Daughter etc The new creation The Daughter of the Gods will be along these lines k Such Such plays can be produced much better than shorter ones In In oth other r words the movie theatres are bound more and more to take the place ot the regular theatres with one orie evening devoted de de- devoted voted exclusively to one c cast st and me play These longer plays will Inevitably lead to long runs For instance Instead in instead instead in- in stead of the movie houses In New York thinking that they must have a change once or twice a week they will be content content content con con- tent t to run the same production for several months or an an entire season I After a a play runs in the leading theatres theatres the the- the the-I atres of five or six big cities the pro- pro d will be shown In other other cities Gradually it will appear In and smaller places This gives glues a long life to a play a alife alife life of at at le least st five to ten years This has its commercial as well as Its sentimental sentimental senti senU- mental val value e. e Although the price to the theatre for the use of the reels syr 11 will decrease as the size of the city decreases yet the number of cities In i which the production will be shown will rapidly increase as their size diminishes How the Dollars Come Back For instance the first year the producers might get each from five theatres making a total of 50 the tae second year they might get J only from each theatre but they would be receiving an income from fifty theatres while three years later they might receive only per theatre theatre the the- atre but a thousand theatres would be showing it In these remarks of Mr Brenon's he touched on the great economic possibilities possibilities possibilities of the U game Nothing succeeds without a reason hence there Is a real reason why the movie business is sucha such sucha a financial success and always will be bp It be bears bears rs the same relation to the amusement fi field ld that the chain h in stores store bear to the field When a cast plays plays' in the old way it its income Is absolutely limited each ach day dayto dayto dayto to the capacity of the theatre Hence there is almost a physical limit to o the amount of money which can be spen spent profitably in producing a play to be shown along the old lines When a cast howey however r plays to the movie camera its Its efforts can be shown every night to th thousands of audiences a Moreover these audiences are no not confined to any anyone one country as pictures pictures pic plc- tures are area a universal language With this tills thought in mind it will be seen that there really Is not so much risk In spending a million doll dollars rs f for r one production production production pro pro- before the camera as as In spending spendIng spendIng spend spend- Ing a few thousand dollars for one Broadway production to be shown alon along the old lines |
