William Welsh (1916) 🇺🇸
Nearly six years with one motion picture company is an unusual record for a player. William Welsh, who has figured in the casts of the three greatest Universal subjects, has just signed a contract with Herbert Brenon to work for him in the making of the pretentious photoplays to be released on the Selznick [Lewis J. Selznick] program.
Mr. Welsh was one of the old-time members of the Imp stock company. It was while at the Eleventh avenue studio he portrayed Father Neptune in Neptune’s Daughter, under the direction of Mr. Brenon. It was there, too, under George L. Tucker he played one of the prominent parts in Traffic in Souls, one of the screen’s strongest melodramas. Mr. Welsh also participated in the making of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the marine spectacle now “cleaning up” in Chicago.
Mr. Welsh was born in Philadelphia. Possessing a fine baritone voice, in his youth he did much singing in churches. This led to his engagement by H. W. Savage to sing at the Grand Opera House. He remained with the Castle Square company for several years, acquiring a repertoire of fifty-two operas.
His first venture in New York was with the original Way Down East company. Later he played in Augustin Daly’s The Runaway Girl. Geisha and other productions. With Blanche Bates he was a member of Belasco’s Under Two Flags company: he toured the country in Quo Vadis, and for two years was with the American Theater stock company in New York. He managed on tour Joseph Santley in From Rags to Riches and also managed Laurette Taylor, Richard Byhler and others. He also managed the Manhattan and Circle theaters in their pioneer picture days.
Six years ago Mr. Welsh joined Mr. Laemmle’s Imp company. During this connection the player established himself as one of the best character players on the screen. Besides the subjects already mentioned some of his more notable appearances were in Conscience, Court-martialed, His Hour of Triumph, Peg of the Wilds, Robespierre and The Price of Sacrilege.
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Greene Outlines Artcraft’s Scope
President of new distributing organization declares company is prepared to handle all headliners.
Walter E. Greene, president of Artcraft Pictures Corporation, said this week there seemed to be a misunderstanding in some divisions of the trade as to the scope of his company’s activities. He said the idea that Artcraft was formed solely for the exploitation of Pickford pictures was erroneous, that his company was prepared to distribute any of the larger subjects possessing unusual merit — “headliners” was the exact expression Mr. Greene used.
“Artcraft was formed with the idea of distributing the headliners of motion pictures, as I would describe them,” said Mr. Greene, “pictures that have the right quality to go into big theaters for long runs. We claim, too, that the smaller exhibitor can use these subjects as a stimulus, as a tonic, as an extra attraction for his house. Very often a manufacturer will produce a picture that is too costly to go into a regular program — through ordinary channels he would be unable to get back the money he had invested in the subject. We believe there is an increasing number of theaters which will put on these larger productions for long runs. On the Pacific coast and in the Middle West the movement is in full swing. We believe that for these big pictures there is sooner or later going to be a steady demand, and we are preparing to meet it.”
Mr. Greene called attention to the fact that at present there are practically only a half dozen cities where pictures can run for a full week. He cited offhand New York, St. Louis, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston.
“As an indication of how this movement actually is extending I may call your attention to the fact that we have booked Miss Pickford’s [Mary Pickford] Less Than the Dust for a full week’s run in no fewer than eighty theaters,” went on the president of Artcraft. “In eleven of these houses the runs will be for two weeks and in two of them for three weeks. This shows what we have accomplished for a beginning. At the present time we are negotiating with several manufacturers for extra large productions. We now have fifteen exchanges in the United States for handling this business and one in Canada. We will have three more across the line, too. We intend eventually to furnish at least the larger theaters with all their requirements in the way of big attractions.
“Some exhibitors feel we are trying to get too much money for our pictures. Actually we want from the exhibitor only what the star and the production is worth, based upon the conditions surrounding his house — such as, for instance, seating capacity. population of the city or town and the general exhibiting conditions of the community.
“Artcraft, then, is prepared to give this producer his real incentive, obtain adequate presentation for his work and pay him sufficiently for it. At the same time the motion picture theater is protected. The new big feature houses are able to obtain the kind of pictures that their policy requires and the smaller theater may share in the profits by engagements of big productions that have been successful in the long run houses. Together we can keep our masterpieces out of the opera houses and combination theaters. This is the opportunity Artcraft gives to the exhibitor: To have and to hold the best in motion pictures.”
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Mutual Settles with Barry.
The case of Richard Barry against the Mutual Film Corporation has been settled out of court and the suit for damages brought by Mr. Barry has been discontinued by stipulation. The action was brought on account of the production of the serial. The Secret of the Submarine, which was made by the American Film Manufacturing Company. Mr. Barry claimed authorship and protection of the copyright.
The Mutual claimed to have bought the rights to the book from Russell Smith, but Smith afterward admitted that he did not own such rights. When the case came to trial in the New York Supreme Court the defendants offered to settle and an agreement was reached whereby a very considerable sum was paid Mr. Barry, together with an agreement to give him proper credit on the screen and in the advertising as author of the story from which the picture was taken.
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Seeing San Francisco’s Chinatown
Captain Lewis holds forth at Daly’s Theater with a pictured trip to Famous Golden Gate Resorts.
Captain H. J. Lewis, pioneer guide of San Francisco’s Chinatown and Barbary Coast, has filmed these famous districts in five reels, and is at present showing the production at Daly’s Theater, Broadway near Thirtieth street. As the reels are run Captain Lewis delivers an entertaining and instructive lecture, interjecting many anecdotes of his experiences during the many years that he was official guide of Chinatown and the Barbary Coast.
The production is really a personally conducted tour of San Francisco’s Chinatown. The pictures show everything of interest in the Chinatown of today. Captain Lewis has endeavored to film the district so that the spectator of his picture sees just about what he would see if brought through the Oriental quarter of the coast city.
Many of the scenes are instructive as well as interesting. The guide has screened several places of interest in Chinatown that he claims have never before been filmed. These include the interior of the famous Chinese Six Companies building and the Chinese court of arbitration. Capt. Lewis has also secured scenes showing an aged Chinaman smoking opium — showing just how the drug is prepared for smoking, etc. There is nothing sensational or offensive in the film.
The production makes an entertaining and instructive travelogue, whose interest is greatly added to by the captain’s talk.
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Beaudine Directing “The Tramp Chef.”
Director W. W. Beaudine, of Universal City, is filming a one-reel comedy, The Tramp Chef, written by himself and C. J. Wilson Jr.
Gale Henry and William Franey take the featured leads with Lillian Peacock, Milburn Moranti and C. Conklin in their support.
Collection: Moving Picture World, November 1916