So I went to see Marion Leonard (1911) 🇺🇸

For weeks there had been whisperings and wondering regarding the gifted lady’s absence from the screen; rumors and reasons ran riot; conjectures and questions followed fast and followed faster; but the oracle was mute, and there was none who knew the answer. The perplexing puzzle lingered and lengthened.

Exhibitors asked, and a question was their answer. Exchange men inquired, and learned only a mystery. Manufacturers furrowed their brows — and that wasn’t the only plowing they did. But the elusive and illusive Miss Leonard became more so. Until —

An announcement came. Miss Leonard was engaged to the Gem Motion Picture Company. A sweet greeting to the legion of her friends cleared the mystery, but put the other manufacturers in a haze. It was all done so quietly, so quickly; and the wonder of the moment before continued and increased? The whisperings and wondering played a return engagement, only now in a much larger role. Chat and comment went the rounds of the new film and the popular star, and the great expectations entertained for both. And then the glee chorus sang a chorus and several encores, with the accent on the glee. Exhibitors were delighted; the moving picture public, via the former gentlemen, were ditto; the exchange men were likewise, and the other manufacturers — well, this is a respectable paper, so we can’t repeat their expressions of approval.

… So I went to see Marion Leonard.

From the very second she extended her firm little hand to grasp mine that is neither, the gifted goddess had the eight million and ninety friends that are said to admire her — plus one. It is impossible for anyone to know Miss Leonard for five tricks of the clock without really loving her and wishing to know her until the last clock is unwound. She has” the prettiest smile in captivity, the sincerest gleam eyes ever held, the sweetest and most sympathetic face God ever put on two feminine shoulders. Every inch of her is winsome charm and appealing personality — and she is five feet five. Besides, she is modest, for which reason I am telling all these truths about her. She couldn’t be conceited to pay an election bet — which is not suggesting that she is a suffragette. She’s the sweetest bit of femininity that ever strayed away from the angels — and that kind is not suffragetical; we say this even though the statement will prevent your showing this number of the News to your wife.

We talked of many things — except herself. That was impossible. All the agencies of persuasion I attempted to employ with a view of causing Her to talk about herself met with dismal and disconcerting failure. She would talk about her work, not about herself. Yet — isn’t it the same thing?

For herself is reflected in every gesture and expression of her acting. Her personality pervades the atmosphere of every picture in which she appears. There is a subtle influence that emanates from her, that steals into our hearts and sings its way into our souls. And her eyes — they tell us things — tell us things the human lips could never convey! They flash, and the tires of life and the heat of its battles are translated into our being. They gleam, and courage and the ideals of humankind assume incarnation. They glow, and everything base and banal in our beings depart, leaving only a great tenderness for the things of the earth, and a giant thrill of gladness to be on it. Those eyes mock the world’s weakness and triumph in its victories. They speak a message of sweetness and purity, with a suggestion lurking in their depths of things unknown to us and unknowable.

“We are going to make the silent drama eloquent,” she said. “We are going to make it speak the things that are in our hearts — yours and mine and the hungry hearts of the rest of us humans. We are going to portray their emotions, their aspirations, their yearnings, and our pictures will have enough realism to make them recognize themselves and their gropings and grapplings. We are not going to have illustrated sermons, but rather ‘talking pictures’ — pictures that will talk from the shoulder, straight to the heart, and beyond— pictures that will tell the truths we know but can’t express, and show the shams and shallows of life. We are going to put into each picture released by us a ‘still small voice,’ but it will be loud enough to be clearly heard.”

She says these things as though she means even more, as though she would rather underestimate the purposes and prospects of the Gem Motion Picture Company than exaggerate them. We feel as she speaks her own creative genius, her own sublime ideals and lofty aspirations, and a great, uncompassable determination to instill them into her work in telling fashion. Then the wonderful eyes close for a brief instant, and quickly open wide again, and —

“You know,” she says, “most actors and actresses make the mistake of acting! There are many motion pictures in which the message of the story is lost, simply because the actors acted! The audience feels, unconsciously, or subconsciously, that the incidents and attitudes being portrayed on the stage are assumed, affected. That’s just it — they know they are attitudes. But if one were natural, if one showed the grief of a seared soul, the torture of a wrecked heart, the dismal discovery of disillusionment, the vain yearning for things beyond our reach, the discontent with which we accept Destiny’s decisions, in such a manner, by such a means as to cause the audience to disMiss the natural personality of the players from their minds, and see and feel only the characters they assume — if we followed this line more often and more consistently in pictures, I venture the opinion that it would not be long before the daily newspapers would review photo-plays and recognize them as a legitimate branch of the legitimate drama. We are going to try to do just that.”

No egotism, no self-complacent conceit, only the expression of a desire and a possibility of success in attaining it are conveyed by the sentence, “We are going to try to do just that.” And somehow I feel more confidence in Miss Leonard’s ability and that of the Gem Motion Picture Company to accomplish their ambition than Miss Leonard seemed to express herself.

Readers, watch Gem. Watch Miss Leonard. The date of their first release has not yet been decided, but keep track of it when it is. It’s going to be worth while. You know, we can just sense some things; we feel just how much and how little we can expect from a venture from the first impression of it; and our impression of the Gem Motion Picture Company, Miss Leonard and their combined efforts would be very, very flattering to all concerned if they were susceptible of flattery.

I’m going to take advantage of Miss Leonard’s kind invitation to call again. It’s a real inspiration to talk to her. And there’s something about the atmosphere of the place that is warm and genial, and inspiring and inspiriting. She seems to cast her radiance over all and everything and — I am going to call again!

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“Fickle Bridget” (Solax)

Critics unanimously advocate the elimination of burlesque and slap-stick from comedies. Straight comedy, of course, “comes over” stronger with the elimination of these objectionable features. There is, however, a peculiar kind of comedy of which many producers fight shy. In that peculiar style of comedy there is a slight mixture of burlesque and slap-stick, and their application in proper measure without hurting the general scheme is difficult. For this reason manufacturers are usually lukewarm in their reception of scenarios with those apparently objectionable features incorporated. Unless the story is “handled with care” its appearance on the screen is usually received with a storm of protest. If carefully produced, such comedies can come under the head of satiric comedy — or comedy with a keen edge.

Such a comedy, carefully produced, is Fickle Bridget — the Solax release of Friday, December 13. It is a comedy with a keen edge — because it picturesquely “shows up” striking frailties of human nature in a pointed way. It, in a subtle manner, interprets the ambitions and the aspirations of a cook from Cork, Ireland, who inherits a fortune. It brings out forcefully the servant problem, and the point of view of foreign nobility and their attitude toward matrimony and the dollar.

The plot of this story concerns a cook, who, after her inheritance of a fortune assumes “airs” which she cannot support by her limited intellect. She has ambitions as a fencer, and engages a count to teach her the art of handling foils. Her former associates and admirers, a grocer and an iceman, are not good enough for her, and she finally accepts the proposal of the count — when the iceman and the grocer show themselves up as liars and unqualified for the tender profession of love.

The situations are absurdly funny and the satire is strongly emphasized.

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New Name

The Independent Moving Pictures Company of America — familiarly known as the “Imp” — has called upon the courts to change its name to The Imp Films Company.

“Because,” explained Mr. Laemmle, president of the concern, “nobody ever took the trouble to call us the Independent Moving Pictures Company of America. The name was too cumbersome and I considered it folly to keep advertising a name that nobody would use.

“I will venture to say that of the hundreds of letters we receive every day, not one per cent addressed us by our full title. Most of the letters came addressed to the ‘Imp Films Co.,’ so we adopted that name as the most natural for the people to remember. Others merely addressed us as ‘The  Imp’ or ‘The Imp Co.’

“Of course our films will continue to be known as ‘Imps’ but our new trade-mark, just registered, will contain the name ‘Imp Films Company’ in the form of a circle, while the little figure of an imp holding a banner bearing the word ‘Imp’ will still appear in the center.

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Waterloo, Ia. — A new opera house will be erected here to replace the one destroyed by a tornado.

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A Prominent Independent House

The Lyric Theater, 130 South Spring street, Los Angeles, Cal, is one of the prettiest and best five-cent houses in the city, and since changing from Trust to Independent service several months ago, business has wonderfully increased.

Four reels of pictures are shown, the program changing twice a week. The seating capacity of this popular theater is 400, and under the judicious management of Messrs. Howell and Skinner, it is always kept filled.

A $1,000 Peerless organ has recently been installed, which adds greatly to the pictures.

Two machines are used, and these, under the charge of Mr. E. Geary, always insure the best of projection.

The Lyric Theater, Los Angeles, California

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The Moving Picture Trade Journal

What is more convincing of the increasing popularity of the animated picture playlet than the demand for the moving picture trade journal? Nearly every operator, theater proprietor, scenario writer and critic subscribes for the trade papers. A few years ago, such publications were comparatively unknown. Now copies of the Moving Picture News can be found on every newsstand and the subscription lists are growing larger every week. Nearly every daily newspaper office of any importance has one or more picture trade journals on its exchange list. Not only those interested in the business read these papers but many others, partial to the Nickelodeons, subscribe. Everyone, seemingly, wishes to learn the inside gossip of the picture business and the trade journal is rapidly becoming a formidable rival of the popular-priced magazine.

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• St. Louis, Mo. — The Vaudeville Theater Co. will erect a new moving picture theater at 2312 S. Grand avenue.
• St. Louis, Mo. — The Vaudeville Theater Co. will erect a new moving picture theater at 3806 N. Vandeventer avenue.
• Trenton, N. J. — The Nicolet Moving Picture Theater on S. Broad street was damaged by fire to the amount of $500.

Collection: Moving Picture News, December 1911