Viola Allen with Essanay (1915) 🇺🇸
Viola Allen, the famous actress, after years of success on the legitimate stage, playing leading classical, Shakespearean and comedy roles, has decided to make her debut in photoplays. She has been engaged by Essanay at an enormous salary and soon will start the production of The White Sister, the novel by F. Marion Crawford. The dramatization of the novel will be filmed by Essanay at the Chicago studios.
Viola Allen is declared by photoplay experts to be an excellent photographic subject, and with her beauty and genius in acting, there is no question but that she will make a phenomenal success in photoplay work. The White Sister will be one of Essanay’s great multiple reel special features and bids fair to surpass any drama yet screened.
Miss Allen needs no introduction to the public, having had a long and successful stage career. She made her debut in Boston in “Esmeralda” at the age of fifteen. She played leading roles with Joseph Jefferson, Lawrence Barrett, Tommaso Salvini and William J. Florence. She starred in Hall Caine’s The Christian and The Eternal City. Later she took up Shakespearean plays, reviving the old English classics.
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Motion Pictures Interest Photographers
International exposition of photographic arts at Grand Central Palace gives considerable space to Kinematography.
The exposition of photographic arts and industries which held forth at the Grand Central Palace, New York, from March 21 to April 3, gave quite some attention to kinematography. There were a number of dealers in motion picture cameras and projectors represented and the discussions of the members of the trade took some cognizance of pictures in motion. The attendance during the afternoon and evening of each day was good and much interest was shown in the displays.
Among the firms represented were noticed the following named concerns, who give some attention to motion picture matters: Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, Rochester, N. Y.; Cooper-Hewitt Electrical Company, New York; Ernemann Photo-Kino Works, New York; Berlin Anelin Works, New York; Simlax Photo Products Company, Morris Park, N. Y.; Allison & Hadaway, New York; Motion Picture Apparatus Company, New York; Ansco Company, Binghamtun, N. V.; Menger & Ring, New York; Pathescope, New York; Myers Camera & Instrument Company, New York, and the Herbert & Huesgen Company, New York.
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Selig’s Second Athletic Picture.
The second release, of the Selig Athletic series will be made Monday, April 12. Willie Ritchie, the lightweight boxing champion, will be shown in training and physical culture exercises. Baadr LeVilla, the trick bicycle rider, will be presented in feats of skill. William Demetral, the Greek wrestler, will meet William Berve, the Russian giant, in a match to a finish. The second release is even more interesting and instructive, if that were possible, than the first. The training demonstrations given by William Ritchie, in which his wonderful endurance and alertness are presented, is alone of great interest. There is nothing at all offensive in these motion pictures of the world’s leading athletes. They convey a lesson and encourage interest in physical culture which means clean living.
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New York Hippodrome Takes World Comedy Stars.
Phil Gleichman, president of the Comedy-Star, and S. J. Herman, manager of the New York office of the World Film Corporation, are more elated than ever over the results produced by the Comedy Star releases. Following swiftly upon the heels of the order from the Strand Theater to run the comedies came a contract from the Now York Hippodrome, also calling for the output. Inasmuch as these theaters are the finest in the United States, it is a decided compliment to the worth of the Comedy-Star pictures. The Strand, a theater seating 3,300, had been running another well-known comedy brand, and it would have required a brand of exceptional merit to break in on them.
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Famous Players Secure Astor Theater.
It is authoritatively announced that by arrangement with Messrs. Cohan & Harris, the Famous Players’ Film Company will present at the Astor Theater, Broadway and Forty-fifth street, for an indefinite engagement, beginning April 12, its much discussed superb photo-spectacle, The Eternal City, by Hall Caine, produced with Pauline Frederick in Italy and England under the direction of Edwin S. Porter and Hugh Ford. This arrangement was consummated through the Select Film Booking Agency, recently organized to distribute The Eternal City, and a series of selected film attractions to follow to theaters equipped to present extraordinary motion picture ofiferings for long runs.
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Trustee for Alco.
At a meeting of the creditors of the Alco Film Corporation of New York, held at the office of Stanley W. Dexter, referee in bankruptcy, 71 Broadway, New York, on March 25, Arthur Butler Graham was selected as trustee, with M. H. Goldsmith as attorney. It is believed that this arrangement will be for the best interests of the creditors.
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New Mutual Exchange.
On April 1, 1915, The Mutual Film Corporation opened a branch exchange at 420 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa. The exchange is under the management of Sydney E. Abel. It will handle Mutual releases exclusively, beginning with the issues of April 1 and thereafter.
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Brooke Will Direct Costello.
An important announcement by the Vitagraph Company that will be of interest to moving picture patrons is the lately rejoined Maurice Costello–Van Dyke Brooke combination in which Mr. Costello will be seen in pictures directed by Mr. Brooke. Mr. Costello is giving up directing that he may devote all his time to the interpretation of characters. It is two years since these two gentlemen worked together in such Vitagraph successes as My Old Dutch, The Adventure of a Retired Army Colonel, A Romance of Wall Street, For the Honor of the Family, etc., and the experience gained during the two years in which they worked independently will add materially to the quality of their work in the forthcoming pictures.
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Hulsey Uses Novel Ad.
E. H. Hulsey, that well known Texas exhibitor, who has fathered many unusual advertising schemes, was sponsor for one used recently in the exploitation of George Kleine’s The Woman Who Dared, as successful as it was original. The leading character in the story wears a black mask in most of her big scenes, so Mr. Hulsey found a splendid likeness in build and appearance, dressed her in a black evening gown with a black silk mask, rented an open carriage with a coachman and footman in full livery and announced a parade route in the newspapers. Black silk blankets on the horses were lettered in gold, “See the mysterious woman in the black mask at the Old Mill Theater.” The idea was a genuine novelty in Dallas and proved a winner for Hulsey. The fact that horses and carriages are almost obsolete in the southwest made their use a sensation in itself.
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Walker Whiteside in “The Melting Pot.”
Walker Whiteside, the famous Broadway star, has but recently been lured away from the footlights to play the leading role in The Melting Pot, a new special feature, which is being produced at the Centaur Film Company, Bayonne, New Jersey, by the J. Cort Film Company. The Melting Pot met with great success some years ago at the Comedy Theater, New York City, where it played for one season, and with the help of Mr. Whiteside, who played the leading part, its picturization is expected to meet with the same universal popularity.
Collection: Moving Picture World, 10 April 1915
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[Transcriber’s Note: The following texts were published in the same publication at the same time. We include them in here because why shouldn’t we?]
Viola Allen in “The White Sister.”
Viola Allen, who will soon make her debut in photoplays, after years of success on the legitimate stage, playing leading classical, Shakespearian and comedy roles. Her first photoplay will be The White Sister, dramatized from the novel by F. Marion Crawford, in which she made such a signal success on the speaking stage. The production shortly will be released by Essanay.
Collection: Moving Picture World, 24 April 1915
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Viola Allen is at present enthusiastically engaged in the production of Essanay’s five-reel photoplay, The White Sister, at the Essanay studios. As the reader may recollect, the adaptation for the photoplay is made from the novel of F. Marion Crawford, in the stage dramatization of which she made such signal success. “I am much pleased with my surroundings and with the way the work is progressing on the picture,” said Miss Allen recently. “I am more than anxious to see it a great success, both because of the Essanay Company and of Mr. Crawford’s family, who are greatly interested in the filming of the book story, which they consider Mr. Crawford’s greatest work. It was partly for this reason that I consented to appear in the pictures.” Richard C. Travers, Essanay’s leading man, has returned from Chattanooga, where he was working with Essanay’s Tennessee company, to play opposite Miss Allen. The White Sister will be released through the V-L-S-E Inc., on July 19.
Collection: Moving Picture World, 5 June 1915
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Viola Allen as “White Sister” Achieves Great Film Success
Probably no announcement caused a greater stir in the photoplay world than that made recently by Essanay to the effect that Viola Allen had been secured to play the leading role in The White Sister. Thousands will remember the wonderful part as it was played by Miss Allen on the stage.
The “White Sister” has been made into a marvelous photoplay by Essanay and Miss Allen has given to the world a film record that will be an everlasting tribute to her art.
This is the first photoplay m which Miss Allen has ever appeared. This wonderful actress received many offers from film companies to appear on the screen. She refused them for Essanay.
Only the knowledge that Essanay could and would make a master production of The White Sister decided Miss Allen to accept the offer. As a friend of the late F. Marion Crawford and his family Miss Allen felt that she could do no more than pay a tribute to the author’s greatness by a film record of his most popular work.
Essanay is now offering this greatest of all productions to exhibitors throughout the United States. It is unnecessary to tell you what this stupendous photoplay will mean to you and your theatre. You can apply for bookings now through any branch office of the V-L-S-E Inc.
Collection: Moving Picture World, 12 June 1915
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The White Sister, in which Viola Allen appears in the titular role, is at the time of writing receiving its finishing touches at Essanay’s Chicago studios. It will be released by the V-L-S-E Inc. on June 21.
Collection: Moving Picture World, 12 June 1915