Jesse L. Lasky — The Pulse of the Photoplay Public (1920) 🇺🇸
An interview with Jesse L. Lasky
by Frederick James Smith
No one should know the pulse of the motion picture public better than Jesse Lasky [Jesse L. Lasky], first vice-president of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, and unquestionably one of the cinema’s biggest powers.
The photoplay, as developed by the Lasky organization, may well be described as art harnessed to business. The screen drama is very nearly produced according to a mathematical formula. make picture plays in this fashion one must know the public taste — and know it accurately.
The Famous Players-Lasky Corporation believes it has solved this. It secures regular reports from every exhibitor it supplies with picture plays, and these reports are supposed to embody the opinions of the audience, as well as the box-office result.
“The real — the vital — development of the photo-play,” says Mr. Lasky, “is the steadily increasing success of the film drama which, minus a star, scores on its own merit. The public is showing a confidence in the producer or director unheard of two years ago. For instance, consider the present drawing power of Cecil de Mille [Cecil B. deMille].
“There are several distinct trends to the photoplay of 1920. One is towards comedy. But, to be successful, the comedy, however light, must have a theme — an idea. This may be almost anything — the high cost of living, the extravagance of modern woman, the relation of husband and wife — but the idea must be beneath the laugh. ‘Twenty-three and a Half Hours’ Leave’ was an interesting example. Again, the fast-developing popularity of Wallace Reid in comedies of this type. Reid was always more or less a favorite, but since he has turned to comedy, he has developed by leaps and bounds.
“Again, the public of 1920 will now accept the drama with a moral, provided it is entertaining. Everywoman was a preachment, but it was pleasant, and it has been well received across country.
“Another trend is the extraordinary success of a film play like Huckleberry Finn. The public wants direct, human, close-to-the-soil stuff. There is no question of that. We are so certain that we have delegated William de Mille [William C. de Mille] to center upon this style of production.”
Mr. Lasky turned to answer the telephone. In a two-minute conversation he practically engaged a new star. Then he returned to our interview.
“The costume play of other days is still out of vogue and will not be popular for the next few years, if, indeed, it ever attains popularity. This can be easily explained psychologically. When we view a silent play we unconsciously cast ourselves in the rôle of the hero or the heroine. We live in a vital age — an age of the aeroplane, the automobile, the telegraph, the wireless, a period of tremendous business battles. When we see modern plays of our own time we throw ourselves into the drama and draw inspiration from it. This is unconscious, of course, but this exhilaration, this inspiration, is naturally lacking in stories of dead and passed times.’’
Mr. Lasky paused. And, catching our breath, we turned the subject towards the actor.
“The trend there,” he answered, “is clearly towards the dramatic man or woman and away from the becurled ingenue. The old-fashioned ingenue has passed. No one can ever make another Mary Pickford. Miss Pickford was the exception. She has an ability amounting to genius, along with tremendous technical resources. She is, in fact, an emotional actress with the exterior of an ingenue. There will never be another Mary Pickford, and any one who attempts to produce another is doomed to failure.”
The conversation switched back to the photoplay story. “The sex theme.” went on Mr. Lasky, “is steadily receiving more attention as audiences develop. That is natural, for sex, playing a big part in real life, must necessarily play a big part in our drama. Thus sex has stood out in our biggest recent successes, ‘The Miracle Man,’ ‘Male and Female,’ ‘Everywoman’ and our new film production, ‘On with the Dance.’
“Our public does not want a morbid story. Every film play tending towards the overdramatic, the brutal or the depressing shows poor box-office returns.
We questioned Mr. Lasky upon the happy ending. “It is necessary,” he answered. “The audience out in front of the screen centers its interest in the hero or heroine and unconsciously roots all evening for its favorite. If the story comes to an unsatisfactory ending, the audience feels an intense personal injury. So, the happv ending is a requisite. The charge is made that the spoken drama is truer to life in this respect, but if you go carefully over the footlight successes, you will find them capped with happy endings, with but few exceptions. “One thing I want to make clear: I do not, by any manner of means, believe that the death-knell of the star has been rung. But we can now have good pictures without a star, for our audiences have developed. Today the screen and stage stand upon an equal footing in this matter of the star.”
Mr. Lasky briefly disposed of the so-called menace of the foreign photoplay.
“The foreign-made drama can never cope with our own photoplays, because its makers have not the pulse of our public. Their work is temperamentally and even racially unsuited to us.
“We have been studying England care-fully. Indeed, our plans to produce in Britain were intended entirely to bring us closer to the English public, for we could find far better places to make pictures. On the whole, we have learnt that British and American tastes are very much alike. The English audience likes society plays very much. On the other hand, its taste in comedy runs to the slapstick, while over here we have been steadily tending towards a higher type of comedy.”
Again Mr. Lasky paused. “I want to add one thing,” he went on. “We hear a great deal of change and unrest among the personnel of picturedom. Stars and directors are ever shifting and ever starting their own companies. I have watched them and they all come face to face with one great fact — that there is an element in photoplay-making not often considered. That is the studio organization behind the picture — the art director, the scenario editor, the research department, the casting director, and all the rest. Back of every good picture must be a fine organization. That is why stars slump in popularity and directors fall off in workmanship when they try to go it alone. And they continue to fall down until they build up an adequate staff.”
Mr. Lasky picked up an exhibitor’s report. “The pulse of the public beats in this,” he smiled, and then he concluded:
“It would be folly to say that we lead our audiences, just as it would be equally ludicrous to say that they lead us. We are finding our way together.”
—
In the center is a snapshot of Mr. Lasky in conference with Cecil de Mille and, below, he is talking things over with Thomas Ince [Thomas H. Ince] and Mr. de Mille. Across the page is a glimpse of Mr. Lasky in his New York office and, in the lower corner, discussing “The Round-Up” with Roscoe Arbuckle [Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle]
—
Mr. Lasky discusses the popularity of the close-to-the-earth play, the comedy and the starless production, besides the happy ending and other things — as reflected by the theater box-office
—
—
Collection: Motion Picture Classic Magazine, April 1920