186 



THE WORLD'S ADVANCE 



carry their own sweet messages may look 

 on the screen like a torn pocket. 



"To some extent we can with make- 

 up remedy certain small defects of shape 

 and color in the features. We even can 

 turn a naturally bad line into a distinct 

 asset. 



"Now, as i see it, the spoken drama, 

 pantomime and motion pictures are three 

 distinct and diverse arts. Too often mo- 

 tion pictures are considered part of the 

 pantomimic art. Nothing could be fur- 

 ther from the truth. And so motion 

 picture make-up is as distinctive as mo- 

 tion pictures : it is predicated upon one's 

 methods of before-the-camera acting. 



"Assuredly, success in motion picture 

 acting depends on one's ability to think 

 one's role so hard that it fairly exudes 

 through the pores of the face. One 

 thinks it hard against the inside of one's 

 forehead (yes, it is as physical as that) 

 and forces the idea against and through 



the camera lens. I think the success of 

 directors like Griffith, Ince, Fleming and 

 others of their class hinges on their abil- 

 ity to get their actors to do this. 



"I have tried the plan, and it seems to 

 succeed for me, anyhow. I never use 

 much make-up (fortunately, I have just 

 enough natural color in my skin to over- 

 come the green of the studio lights). But 

 I do have to think my role and the lines 

 I would be saying were it a speaking part 

 as hard as ever I can, so that my eyes 

 will look my thoughts and the lines of 

 my mouth will echo my eyes. 



"To be sure, one may accentuate a 

 heavy dramatic or a farcical role by 

 some trick of garb or hairdress. But all 

 such trickery should but frame the face 

 and the thoughts behind the forehead. 

 The motion picture is not an X-ray ma- 

 chine, but it comes pretty close to photo- 

 graphing through the forehead the ideas 

 behind it." 



USING A BATTLESHIP IN A 

 PHOTOPLAY 



In the recent Lubin production entitled 

 "The Insurrection," one of the scenes 

 shows an American battleship bombard- 

 ing a South American town where revo- 

 lutionists are about to massacre all the 

 Americans, as well as blow-up Amer- 

 ican vessels in the harbor. 



The production of this unusual scene 

 called for considerable preparation. To 

 begin with, Director Terwilliger asked 

 for, and succeeded in obtaining, permis- 

 sion to take scenes on board the battle- 

 ship Alabama. He also was granted per- 

 mission to fire a special light shell from 

 one of the big 1 3-inch guns mounted- by 

 the warship. The shell was of special 

 design and filled with a chemical capable 

 of emitting an intense flash of light. It 

 was constructed in the Lubin shops. 



The climax scene of the film was taken 

 at night. Four powerful searchlights 

 concentrated their rays on the af terdeck, 

 so as to permit the twelve cameras to 

 register the action. Finally, the lights 



were extinguished at the command of 

 Director Terwilliger and the cameramen 

 continued to crank in pitch darkness. 

 Suddenly the flash of a 1 3-inch gun 

 penetrated the darkness, followed an in- 

 stant later by a tremendous flash of light 

 in the distance. 



The realistic effect obtained in the fin- 

 ished picture does not fail to momentarily 

 convince the audience that the shell from 

 the big gun has wiped out the band of 

 revolutionists who threatened the Amer- 

 icans. 



NEW ANIMATED CARTOONS 



A cartoon comedy, drawn by Carl 

 Francis Lederer, of a somewhat differ- 

 ent sort, and introducing a droll addition 

 to the pen and ink creations of the screen, 

 was released by the Lubin Company re- 

 cently.- The comedy is called "Ping Pong 

 Woo." Ping is a Chinese urchin whose 

 grimaces and gyrations are extraordinary 

 examples of the camera's power to make 

 a line of ink seemingly take on life. 



