Show it Early Day Movies Had dad Very Hard lard Struggle Struggler r itZ S Inventor Tells Fells of First Motion Pictures By RODNEY NEA l Service Ice Writer Copyright 1927 NEA Service Inc Aug 31 31 In In the WASHINGTON early days cays of or motion pictures more than 30 years tars ago they used to I call them Most or of us can remember the themore themore themore more recent days daS when movies be- be beget get gt to be shown In all large cities and began to develop Into an nn In Industrialized In- In art They were funny enough then as viewed from a a. modem standpoint but In the days when they were no more than an nn experimental novelty they were ele ele- elementary elementary elementary indeed and no one had the Slightest idea of their future CHUCKLES OVER O EM ESI ESIC C. C Francis Jenkins the Inventor motion projector projector who ho made the first tor and who vho first showed moving pictures on a a. screen careen recalled these days das with frequent chuckles in an Interview with your our correspondent At first only the novelty of the new art made It attractive e Jenkins said uld We didn't have anything to show except motion We had pic plc- pictures pictures tures of Annabella In her serpentine dance dane and In a a. Spanish dance but there was nothing resembling resembling bling bUng plot or continuity When they first saw these things people got excited but nobody saw the future of or them B F. F Keith gave me a week for three weeks of them at nt his theatre here and then he said pictures Everyone's seen your now Jenkins and no one wants to see them twice They're re rotten any any- way I dont don't want them any more But I persuaded him to use them themas as a a. chaser at the end of or all the vaudeville to get the people out of or the theatre tre Women used to say to their husbands Henry lets let's le s 's get out of ot here quick Them things will ruin your eyes No No we e couldn't see anything to todo too todo do o with this thing thins now we vc had it NICKEL PLACE STARTED IT Then one day a Jew opened a five cent place and offered to rent renta a picture each week Others open open- opened opened opened ed up after he had succeeded and the the exchange developed The exchange ex exchange ex- ex exchange change made the motion picture in industry In- In Industry Industry Just as ns the telephone indus Indus- try We We began to Introduce stories and for a long time we made little bul bu b chase pictures These pictures In which people are pursued all over I the place arc are still popular in mod mod- modem modem modem em comedies My first picture story showed a foreign prince putting a want ad for fora a a. wife in the paper asking the girl to meet him at Grants Grant's tomb A girl came to the tomb then an- an another an an- another another other then a crowd and the prince ran through ran through a a. barbed wire fence water ater and all that with the girls chasing him It made a big hit and we made similar pictures for weeks Then came over o from France Prance with his mystery pictures pictures- freaks which caught the popular Im- Im im Someone produced A Day In the Life of a Fireman and the Industry was on its Us way Carl Laemmle set up a film filmmaking filmmaking I making m place In New York and gathered In street urchins as extras One of his first pictures showed a poor old blind fiddler returning to his attic with an empty cup close close- closely closely closely ly followed by a little boy who had made many pennies and poured them Into the cup That boy was Mary Pickford 1 w t a yf r l 1 b f MM t fC x L Io W Wyet p yet vya n r Miry Mary Pickford as she looked years ago In her first starring Fart Fart In In Inthe the days when a movie actress figured a week was a high salary Some one had brought her a boys boy's suit for the act act It It was her first prominent role role and and I remember they tore up the suit to make her look ragged I happened to be there thereat at the time because I had sold them some cameras SOLD OUT FOR I had sold my rights however for I stuck the money In my pocket and went to see my m girl girland girland girland and we had a whale of a time There was a a. club of us and for tor awhile I paid all the bills for their good times too The latest Jenkins Inventions are designed to remove all major dangers which beset airplane pilots There are arc four of these and they assure quick launching from a foot toot runway enable aviators to hold a definite course by means of a a. radio guiding channel makes It possible for a pilot to know his distance from the ground as he and permit a plane to be stopped in twice Its own length length length-as as on a flat fiat roof root SPEEDY CAMERA C. Another new Jenkins invention Is Isa Isa Isa a movie movle camera which takes pictures a second allowing hither hither- hitherto to Impossible photography photo of ot motion too rapid for tor the eye This camera takes lakes pictures times as fast flut as asa a asa I a a. regular movie camera I ouI The man apparently ar inventions Is turning T Tany out Important p nt inventions s faster than I any other man In America today He Is not a a. typical Inventor He Is Isas isas s sas as common s an art old shoe and takes nothing seriously not even en himself He gets a whole lot of 01 fun out of life lite and is interested only In inventing re refusing re- re refusing refusing fusing to bother with manufacture of his varied devices d He is now 59 years ears old I cant can't take tale much credit says he heI heI heI I Just happened to be born that way way- When I was a kid on an Indiana farm tarns my father a Quaker observed me fix a mowing machine and said thy talent One of ot my first inventions was a fence building mach mach- machine machIne machine ine andI and I followed it up with a wagon wagon- wa on- on Jack which could be operated by a aboy aboy aboy boy instead of ot necessarily by a man I sold some of ot these and found that if you painted cm em red you could sell em cm but I got tired of that These aviation Inventions came after what a aviation needed most I I made a few things for the he Navy during the var lar and occasionally went riding In planes At the end of the war I bought a a. surplus Navy plane although at first no one would try to teach an old fellow 50 years ears old how to fly fir Jenkins has had three planes since and Is 1 one ole one of the most aged I flyers In America |