THE WORLD'S ADVANCE 



41 



"Sit down before the camera," he re- 

 quested her, "and when I talk to you, 

 make your facial expressions conform in- 

 stantly to the character of my conversa- 

 tion/' 



He adjusted an arc lamp, so that its 

 rays concentrated on her face. The cam- 

 era man began turning the crank. 



"Oh, Miss Jackson," exclaimed the di- 

 rector, his voice brimming with stage- 

 pathos, "just think of a poor old man 

 with white hair flowing walking across 

 the path of an approaching street car! 

 See that car ! Good heavens ! It's bear- 

 ing down upon him it's going to hit 



actress's chances for becoming famous. 

 The shape and size of the face are im- 

 portant, too. On the screen, a thin face 

 looks drawn and haggard ; a fat one, bal- 

 loon-like. The girl that Jefferson has 

 been trying out is a favorable prospect. 

 The film, however, may prove that she is 

 useless for our purpose. We will de- 

 velop it in our darkrooms to-night, look 

 it over and give her our decision to-mor- 

 row morning. We try to do everything 

 on the same short-cut yet effective scale 

 as that. Our production consists of noth- 

 ing but comedies and we have revolu- 

 tionized the "Broadway Stars" idea in 



Above: A Drying Room 

 in Which the Wet Films 

 Are Dried on Wooden 

 Drums. In the Oval: 

 The Inspecting Room 

 One Corner of the Sys- 

 tematized Solax Finish- 

 ing Plant. 



him ! is he being ground by those merci- 

 less wheels ! Ah ! The car has stopped ! 

 What's that? Ha Ha. Why, Miss Jack- 

 son, the old man has jumped up and he's 

 beating the motorman over the head with 

 an umbrella ! Stop, camera !" 



"Do you realize what facial stunts Jef- 

 ferson made that girl perform in that 

 short trial?" the manager was saying 

 between gulps of coffee. "Something 

 like this : comprehension sympathy 

 excitement fear indignation hor- 

 ror remorse relief amusement 

 and various shades in between. The more 

 numerous and the more distinct the facial 

 expressions, the greater are the actor's or 



Above: Method of 

 Developing the Films 

 at the Solax Plant. 

 The Strips Arc 

 Placed on Wooden 

 Frames and Dipped 

 in Narrow Tanks of 

 Chemicals. 



films by showing stage favorites in sin- 

 gle reels. Many producers have the mis- 

 taken notion that you can't put a Broad- 

 way star on the screen and make money 

 unless you show several miles of him. 

 Our pictures and our pocketbooks 

 prove just how foolish that idea is !" 



Watchful Waiting 



Around the corner from the Hillit Stu- 

 dios looms the gigantic concrete-and- 

 glass home of the Peerless. This is one 

 of the distinctly factory types of studio, 

 with a time clock, an appreciable office 



