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Show HEROES AND VILLAINS TREMBLE IN FEAR A T THE DIRECTORS FRO Wh Worshippers of Some Popular Photoplay Stars Would Be Surprised Were They to Witness A Rehearsal The director of a motion picture film producing plant is a director of a kind very different from a director of a bank, for instance. :r, for that matter, from any other known director, even if you include the musical director. He is, in fact, comparable rather to a theatrical stage manager, but in order to make such comparison it is necessary to sublimate subli-mate the latter, to intensify his hustk. energy and resourcefulness to the nth degree and then add sonic. It is difficult to tell all that a motion picture studio director must be and must stand for, but there is one thine certain and that is that he t the most important and the busiest man in the whole establishment While others however busy they may he, pet some rest some time, thr director never r,-T)s to get any. Even if you should find his body at apparent standstill it is safe to wager that his lvrain i- busily at work planning, devising, scheming Work preliminary to a phdtotffay production pro-duction runs parallel with that' in a Broadway theater. Plays arc received by every mail and examined by professional profes-sional readers who select the possible material for managerial consideration, lhose finallv accepted are given to a playwright to be tulK developed. In their final form jilays are turned over to the director, who first proceeds, as does his brother on Broaduav, to draw off scene plots for the painters and carpenters, and property and costume cos-tume lists for those in charge of tho . departments. An elaborate set of scenery is painted, mounted and set up for, say, one of six scenes in a play, the scene takes three minutes to photographs, photo-graphs, the camera man examines flil ftlms, and, if he reports "all right," the stage manager cal's to the stanc hands, "strike," and instead of the BCCnery being moved to the rear, or to one side, or hoisted out of sight, to be used many tims again, it is forthwith instantly destroyed THL M A N nr.HI.ND THE GUN When the plavers re-pond to the first call for rehearsal they are initructed and drilled in the situations in which they arc to appear, the story they arc to tell and the emotions they are to portray por-tray by gesture and play of feature alone; and just at the moment that the Mage manager finds that they are keyed ritfht the camera begins to snap there must be no delay then. The principal members of the company hae probably read the play and have done some rehearsing re-hearsing before a mirror, but minor people depend upon instruction at rehearsal re-hearsal to learn how their movements and expressions are to help interpret a story ihcy never know. While the director is drilling the players play-ers the operator is adjusting his camera an expert is controlling the amount and direction of light, and the stage hands are fastening the last grip-, or possiblv hanging a practical door to be used in the scene. One notices that some players play-ers are natural pantomtmists. while others find it difficult to express emotions emo-tions which arc supposed to direct their actions unless they have lines to sptll Ihey art constantly under the obsen i-tion i-tion and criticism of the stage director and occasionall- h-- - .-c rjnqs out . ftiA2J CKIlttl.. I "Say here, remember you are unJy a couple of pieces of fried e;g Yon are just plain soldiers, so stop that acting " You observe a rehearsal of a scene that carries you back to Victor Hugo's rra'terfu! story depicting the life of that remarkable character, jean Valjean. "Now, that's better; hold it," says the director to his people. The Operator in charge of the moving picture box is ready, stationed directly in front of the ne. with a blaze of electricity to aid him. "Ready ':" asks the director. - "Then i begin." .. '-- f - ' ' ' ' Ylj House milucd 1G7 11. t Flghtln Chaplain (Kalem) I' ',P ' '. 7 'TsSMk r7$ P.efore you there is the setting of an old J-rench inn, in the time of long jro. 1 he actors appear in their respective roles and the picture is in the making. You stand there looking on, bewildered. bewil-dered. To onr amazement vou are witnessing wit-nessing a real, live, throbbing play one with action and words, not the words of Victor Huro. but words supplied b) the director himself You ask if the actors have prepared their parts in advance, and the director tells you no. He is a versatile genius, the man of main parts, that supplies all 'Ihe actors are automata, mere machines who an- told to make up in a certain way. and then arc called into rehearsal Of course, these people, or most of them, have had wide experience in the business of acting. When one receives instructions to make up as a beggar, he knows that he is not to act as a lovesick-hero lovesick-hero when called into action He is a beggar, plain and simple, and that is all there is to it 'I lie director summons tin-cast tin-cast before him and briefly outlines the scene. The actors, in their turn, come-on. come-on. They reluar.se their parts over and over ac.tin a dozen times, before the picture is taken The director, standing directly in front of the stage, eyes each actor keenly, keeping a -mall whistle at his lips to call a halt when some particular thing goes wrong. "Mr. Bl-ank," he suddenly calls out in a rage, after blowing furiously on the whistle, "why i an t you remember your part: It's singular I can keep all your parts in my mind and you can't remember remem-ber yours Why, there's only one good actor among you. The rest arc boobs, just boobs, who ouht to be shining shoes instead of trying to act " He wipes the perspiration from his brow, heaves a sign and then continues: "Mow, try it over." The scene begins anew TAX ON Tlir. PAT IE VCE. Hardly has it started when the whistle sounds out sharph iy.ain "Why the deuce don't you look at me, Mr. Jones?" shouts the director, scowling. scowl-ing. There is sjcnce for a moment, then a Iresh start is made. And s,j it goes, until the director is sati bed that the scene has been rehearsed re-hearsed sufficiently for the taking of the pictures The motion picture machine is not in action, ami the scene i being recorded re-corded on the Rim, I hi s over, the scenario call for an outdoor scene The whole business is shifted Perhaps it's a week later before be-fore the setting can be arranged Autos are prcscd into service, and somewhere some-where out ,,n Long Island or in New Icrsev another part of the picture is coinpkucL ( ! And very often they do remain in the , studio all night Appreciating the hard-j hard-j ship it would work on the performers J to go out for their meals, one film company com-pany has installed a commissary depart-I depart-I ment in all of its studios, so that when there is work to be done there may be no delay on account of eating And as ! is often the case, where a dinner scene is pictured in a play, the actors and actresses ac-tresses arc served with their meals on the stage. A Strict DISCIPLINARIAN Generally speaking, the director has an interesting personality Very frc- , fluently he is more than a strict disciplinarian dis-ciplinarian and sometimes he is excecd- I ing well hated flis motto is work, work work and then more work If artistic results are not achieved after much labor he begins to believe that the plavers under his direction lack talent He i occasionally called upon to disillusion dis-illusion screen-struck girb- who apply to him for positions ,n the belief that when they become photoplay actresses they have embarked on an easy voage to fame and fortune "Think it over carefully," is the stereotyped remark of one director to the young women who come to him for aid in achieving their ambitions. Then he tells them that in order to become successful motion picture actresses it will be necessary tor rhem to work very hard and make a considerable number of sacrifices. The scenes the photoplay director is called upon to stage are many and various. vari-ous. On one occasion he may be ordered or-dered to prepare a scene representing a fight in an aeroplane. The next one he stage v may be a cciic 00 a sub- I marine boat. ,u a&ammn ' 1 |