THE WORLD'S ADVANCE 



313 



of this influence of congeniality extends 

 far beyond the zone of the Lubin factory, 

 for charitableness of this kind is a fluid 

 that gathers volume as it flows. 



A number of plays for the benefit of 

 the Belgian sufferers have been produced 

 by Lubin talent in Philadelphia theatres. 

 There is no recompense, yet every one 

 gladly volunteers. Almost every chari- 

 table affair in the Quaker City finds Lu- 

 bin players enrolled. Outcroppings of 

 the Lubin spirit such as these are con- 

 stantly stimulated by activities _ within. 

 The Lubins have an enthusiastic base- 

 ball team and a good orchestra. 



Just across the street from the factory 

 is a little cafe popularity known there as 

 The Madhouse, where the Lubin work- 

 ers take their meals. Caste distinctions 

 are leveled ; sedate directors mingle with 

 unemployed "extras" ; leading ladies joke 

 with waiters everybody joins in the fun, 

 no matter who he is. "Pop" Lubin over 

 in one corner, who can't count his mil- 

 lions on all his fingers and toes, may be 

 telling his latest story to one of the di- 

 rectors. Next table may be occupied by 

 twelve-dollar-a-week scene shifters, while 

 scattered about the room are tempera- 

 mental scenario writers, sparkling lead- 

 ing ladies, placid cameramen and clerks, 

 eating and drinking without a care in the 

 world. 



Our table, which was built to accom- 



modate two, was surrounded by a dozen 

 Terwilliger, the Lubin miracle man; 

 Fife, a youthful scenario editor, who 

 wrote his way through the University of 

 Pennsylvania ; Ormi Hawley, the leading 

 lady who has captivated Australia; a 

 scenario writer who lives somewhere on 

 Long Island and comes to town periodi- 

 cally with a batch of throbbing scripts 

 (he had just come to town, and was 

 blowing off steam to the extent of Cham- 

 pagne for the tableful) ; J. Allen Boone, 

 the Publicity manager, who made a name 

 and a fortune as a newspaper corre- 

 spondent in the wake of Roosevelt's 

 Egyptian and European tour; Mary 

 Charleston, a lively little dare-devil of 

 the movies, who is paid several hundred 

 a week for jumping off precipices and 

 swimming ice-filled rivers and several 

 others, equally interesting, whose names 

 I have forgotten. 



Nobody in the entire room, apparently, 

 held himself or herself to be socially su- 

 perior to anyone else in the room. Per- 

 sonal esteem seemed to be based entirely 

 on one's ability to make himself agree- 

 able certainly not on any such undemo- 

 cratic things as salary or fame. 



Just why the Lubin scheme is over- 

 whelmingly successful is, to repeat the 

 words of the Lubin motto, "as clear as a 

 bell," because but why begin our story 

 all over again ? 



DRILLING A CROWD TO SURGE 

 FOR THE CAMERA 



"In producing a feature," said Thomas 

 H. Ince, the famous director who has 

 produced several of the remarkable Mu- 

 tual Masterpictures, "the crowd picture 

 is invariably the hardest to secure. First, 

 the important characters must be to the 

 fore. Then again, there may be a bit 

 of superb acting in front and some far- 

 cical stuff being parcelled out in the 

 background. All this must come under 

 the director's vision and the charac- 

 ters be so disposed as to meet the re- 

 quirements of mechanics and photog- 

 raphy. 



"In 'The Sign of the Rose/ in which 



we starred George Beban, there is an ex- 

 cited, surging crowd. Here the difficulty 

 was not with the principal players, but 

 with those in the minor roles. For one 

 thing, it was difficult to convince the 

 crowd that it should be both excited and 

 surging; it was doubly difficult to con- 

 vince the policeman that he should force 

 the crowd back just as hard as a New 

 York copper would. It was necessary to 

 change policemen before we found a good 

 near-cop. The crowd rehearsed one 

 scene twenty-four times before it reached 

 that pitch of excitement that called for 

 the camera man. 



"All this costs money. It is part of 

 the expenditure necessary to the produc- 

 tion of feature pictures which have be- 



