CINEMA THEATRES 233 



however, the company produced several plays of interest by Yeats, Lady Gregory, 

 Bernard Shaw, and others. Mr. John Drew is still to the fore as an American actor ot 

 rich attainments, especially in comedy. 



The French Stage. On the whole the French stage, within recent months, does not 

 appear to be in so flourishing a condition as it has been in past years, and, indeed, it 

 seems a little deficient in vitality as compared with the English stage. We notice a 

 greater readiness to accept foreign importations, and a greater leniency of judgment in 

 estimating their merits. Thus, for instance, so thoroughly; an English book as Pick- 

 wick was adapted under the title "Monsieur Pickwick," and produced at the Athenee 

 with some success. " Kismet," too, has been transplanted from England and America 

 to Paris, under the care of M. Guitry. Of authors well-known in the French dramatic 

 world we may mention Pierre Wolff, Paul Bourget, Henri Lavedan, George de Porto- 

 Riche, and Henry Bernstein. From the last named writer have come two pieces 

 " Apres Moi," and "L'Assaut," together with a ; revival of " Le Detour," all more or 

 less successful. Paul Bourget's Drama " Le Tribun " saw the light at the Vaudeville 

 Theatre, and in conjunction with M. Beaunier, M. Bourget also produced " La Crise." 

 M. Alfred Capus has been represented by " Les Favorites " at the Varietes, and those 

 two capital comedians, De Flers and De Caillavet, have delighted the Parisian public 

 with " Primerose," " Papa," and still later with "L'Habit Vert." Gabriel Trarieux's 

 " La Brebis Perdue," Henri Lavedan's " Gout du Vice," Pierre Wolff's " L'amour De- 

 fendu," and George de Porto-Riche's " Vieil Homme," were all fairly successful pro- 

 ductions, whilst Henry Kistemaeckers' "La Flambee," which came out at the Porte St. 

 Martin, has since been seen in its English version at the St. James's Theatre. A very 

 peculiar and powerful Hungarian play entitled " Le Typhon," and written by Lengyell, 

 which came out in Paris, has already been adapted and produced by Mr. Laurence Irving 

 in the English provinces, although it has not yet appeared in London. Another adapta- 

 tion is " The Little Cafe," from M. Tristan Bernard's enormously successful farce " Le 

 Petit Cafe," at the Palais Royal. Perhaps in Paris the most popular contemporary 

 dramatist is Sacha Guitry, who made his fame in " Le Beau Mariage," and has certainly 

 confirmed it in his most amusing recent piece " La Prise de Berg-op-Zoom." Towards 

 the end of 1912 Paul Hervieu's " Bagatelle " was successfully produced at the Theatre 

 Francais, Georges Duhamel's " Dans 1'Ombre des Statues " at the Odeon, Henri Ba- 

 taille's " Les Flambeaux " at the Porte St. Martin, and Brieux's " La Femme Seule " 

 at the Gymnase (Dec. 22). Madame Sarah Bernhardt's success in " Lucrezia Borgia," 

 and in " Elizabeth Reine d'Angleterre," was confirmed by the extraordinarily warm 

 welcome accorded to her when she appeared at the London Coliseum. 



(W. L. COURTNEY.) 



Though it is now nearly twenty years since R. W. Paul and others first evolved the 

 cinematograph 1 from Edison's kinetoscope, and though numerous patents relating to 

 it have been granted in Great Britain and elsewhere, the machine remains essentially the 

 same as it was then, and it is only in matters of detail that great improvement has been 

 made. The film is now standardised and is if" in width, bearing 16 pictures, each i* 

 xf, to the foot and having eight sprocket holes, four on each side, to every picture. 

 The projector mechanism has been modified, the intermittent movement of the film be- 

 ing now usually effected on a " maltese cross " or Geneva stop principle instead of by 

 the old cam or " dog " motion ; and this has led to greatly increased steadiness" of picture, 

 as the film is positively locked except when the pictures are being changed. Another 

 advantage from its use is that the change from one picture to the next is reduced to less 

 than one-fifth of the whole cycle, thus minimising the " flicker." This has also been 

 reduced by modifying the shutter, which now has three blades, instead of one, as former- 

 ly, of which one serves to cut off the light while the change is effected and the other two 

 increase the frequency of the alternations of light and darkness thus rendering them less 



1 See E. B. vi, 374. 



