Part 41

A creature without imagination does not pretend to see or believe in ghosts. Man is the only animal which possesses the ability to imagine things and so the ghosts we hear about are the creatures of the disturbed brains of men. Generally in the ghost stories we hear of, the ghost is described as wearing clothes--usually white. A bed sheet thrown over the foot of the bed may appear to a half-awake person as the outline of the figure of a ghost and to one of a highly imaginative temperament without the courage of investigation, become forever a real ghost. Usually what is supposed to be a ghost is only a creation of the mind--a vision such as we can develop during a dream--oftentimes, however, what you look at when you think you see a ghost is an actual something such as the sheet referred to, but which takes the form of the ghost in the brain of the person who is looking at it through eyes that really see it, but out of a brain that for the moment at least is far off its balance.

Why Do Girls Like Dolls?

Girls like dolls because they come into the world for the purpose of becoming mothers and the love which they display for dolls is the mother instinct which begins to show itself early in life. To the little girl the doll is a make-believe child. It satisfies her as long as there are no real babies to take its place, but any little girl will drop her dollie if she is given an opportunity to play at dolls with a real live baby instead. This is a very interesting fact in connection with the human race. Boys sometimes play with dolls, but not so often, and any kind of a boy will give up playing with a doll as soon as a toy engine or some other boy’s toy appears for him. A boy has certain mannish instincts which a girl has not. We have many other instincts besides the instinct of parenthood and each of them has its origin in some certain kind of feeling which is born within us and is capable of development along interesting lines.

What Makes the Works of a Watch Go?

A watch like any other machine which we have, only goes when power is applied in some form or another. In the case of a watch it is a spring. A spring is an elastic body, such as a strip of steel, as in the case of the watch, coiled spirally which, when bent or forced out of its natural state, has the power of recovering its shape again by virtue of its elastic power. The natural state of a watch spring is to be open flat and spread out to its full length. When you wind a watch you coil this spring, i.e., you bend it out of its natural shape. As soon as you stop winding the spring begins to uncoil itself, trying to get back to its natural shape, and in doing so makes the wheels of the watch which operate the hands go round. The spring then, or rather its elasticity, which always makes an effort to get back to its natural state, is the power which makes the watch go. Men who make watches arrange the spring and the other machinery in the watch in such a way that it will uncoil itself only at a certain rate of speed. Sooner or later the spring loses its elasticity and then its power to make the watch go.

What Makes a Hot Box?

When you put oil on the axle, however, the oil fills up the hollows between the little irregular bumps on both the axle and the hub, and makes them both smooth--almost perfectly so. This reduces the friction and keeps the axle and hub from becoming hot and expanding. The less friction that is developed, the more easily the wheel will turn.

[Illustration]

The Story in a Moving Picture

How Are Moving Pictures Made?

To begin at the beginning, we must start with the negative stock, or film on which the pictures are taken. This material is very much like the films you buy for the ordinary snap-shot camera, slightly heavier and of more durable quality, to stand the wear and tear of passing through the picture camera and the projecting machine used in exhibition. This film is 1³⁄₈ inches wide and comes in rolls of 200 feet in length. This negative stock has to be carefully perforated, making the holes necessary to conduct the film by aid of sprockets through the camera and the projectoscope. To still further understand this explanation, see illustrations of the negative stock. Having prepared the film in the dark room, we can load the camera in the dark room and proceed to take the picture.

In taking an industrial or travelogue picture, after the camera is in readiness, is not so much of an undertaking as taking a picture of a drama or comedy, wherein a plot and players are concerned. The travelogue or industrial pictures are simply photography, with the additional manipulation of panoraming or turning the camera, which requires an expert knowledge, acquired from experience and years of study. There is a distinction and a big difference between the ordinary photographer and the moving picture photographer, who is generally known as a “camera-man.” A photographer, therefore, though of vast experience, cannot step into a “camera-man’s” place and expect to “make good.” The latter has to depend entirely upon his special experience and judgment as to light and distance, focusing and general physical conditions of the moving-picture camera, which is affected by static and other electrical peculiarities of the atmosphere, to be avoided by him. These, and many other points, are convincing evidence that the moving-picture camera is entirely different from an ordinary photographic camera. A moving-picture camera and tripod weigh from fifty to one hundred pounds. There are two styles of cameras, one which takes a single film and one which takes two films at once, and each lens of the double camera must be equally well focused and every feature to be depicted must be brought within the focus, which generally occupies a radius of 8 feet in width by 10 feet in height.

[Illustration: SCENES FROM “OFFICER KATE.”]

[Illustration: RAW NEGATIVE STOCK. PERFORATED NEGATIVE STOCK.

Exact size of a Motion Picture Film]

When it comes to taking a photo-play, a drama or comedy, different conditions of a varied nature have to be contended with. To proceed intelligently in taking a photo-play, a scenario or manuscript is essential. It must be prefaced with a well-written synopsis of the story involved, cast of characters, scenes to be enacted and a list of properties required in the scenes. The director, or producer, of the play, being furnished with such a guide, proceeds to select the actors and actresses (called players) suitable for the parts and the filling of the cast. This being accomplished, he insists that each one of the players read the scenario in order to be familiar with his or her part and understand the whole play before going into the picture. The director instructs them as to the costumes fitting the parts and then confers with the costumer concerning the furnishing of proper dress for each one of the players. The director is ready to go on with the performance of the play, and tells his cast to appear for rehearsal at a set hour. At that time he puts them through a thorough course of training or rehearsal, to “get over” and register the meaning of each thought which is to be expressed by their actions. Sometimes a scene is rehearsed four to six hours before it is photographed. A one-reel play is generally 1000 feet in length, and it is very important that the director, if he has twenty scenes, for instance, to introduce within that 1000 feet, to time the scenes to the length of his film; that is, if he has twenty scenes within one thousand feet, each of the twenty scenes must not average more than one minute each. If one should happen to be more than one minute, then he has to condense another scene less than one minute, in order to bring all within the twenty minutes or 1000 feet.

[Illustration: STAGING A MOTION PICTURE IN A STUDIO

REHEARSING SCENE IN STUDIO]

The Size of Each Picture on the Film.

So you can see from this that it needs very careful rehearsal and nice calculation to bring a well-acted and convincing play within so short a time, to tell the whole story intelligently. Having done all this, the director is ready to have the “camera-man” do his part of the work. He draws his lines within the range of the camera, which do not exceed eight or ten feet in the foreground. This is another point to be considered on the part of the director, because all the action has to be carried out within the eight feet of space, which is really confined to that much stage width. Here again is where the camera-man has to watch very carefully, not only the workings of his camera, but the players; always alert that they are in the picture, and assisting the director by his observations. The size of each picture as taken on the film is ³⁄₄ by 1 inch. It is magnified ten thousand times its actual size when we see it on the screen in a place of exhibition. A full reel of 1000 feet shows 16,000 photographs on the screen during the twenty minutes it consumes in its showing. The future of moving pictures is no longer a matter of speculation. The business is an established one, and its further developments are only matters of time. The possibilities and uses of the animated art are unlimited. Already it is felt in educational, religious, scientific, and industrial affairs. Their influence in matters of sanitation and all civic improvements, construction and mechanics, is invaluable. As a medium of wholesome entertainment and solid instruction it is unsurpassed.

These are merely suggestions of a few phases of its utility and it is only a natural conclusion that it will be so far-reaching in its uplift that it will surpass the expectations of the most sanguine.

[Illustration: THE DEVELOPING ROOM.]

To develop, tint and clear the films, large tanks of wood or soapstone are used. The films, which are wound upon the wooden frames, or racks, are dipped into these vats, filled with the necessary chemicals and liquids. The films being wound on frames enables the developers to examine them without handling them. The tinting is done by similar methods to give the necessary tint, coloring in red, sepia, blue, green or yellow, imparting to them the effect of night, sunlight or evening, whichever the case may be. The films are finally cleared, to wash them clear of any extraneous chemicals or matter which might streak or scratch the films, and avoid any objectionable matter that might mar their appearance when shown on the screen or in the process of handling.

~EACH PICTURE IS FIRST EXHIBITED AT THE STUDIO~

As soon as convenient after a film is finished it is taken to the exhibition rooms, at the studio, where it is thrown onto the screen. It is reviewed first by the heads of the departments and the directors, and later by players and all those interested in it. The projectoscopes or moving-picture machines are run by motor, presided over by licensed operators, who are kept on the job continually.

These exhibition rooms are called, in the parlance of the studios, “knocklodeums,” for here is where everything is criticised. Players’

## acting and fitness are judged by their appearance and conduct on the

screen and decision given as to their qualifications. The quality of the photography, developing and the picture as a finished production is here determined by the heads of the concern.

[Illustration: DRYING ROOM.]

~THE BOARD OF CENSORS PASSES ON EVERY PICTURE~

Every picture before it is released for exhibition must be passed upon by the Board of Censors. It is run upon the screen and thoroughly inspected, criticised, and every point involved thoroughly weighed as to its effect upon the mind of the general public. If, in their estimation, it is found objectionable in any particular, the objectionable parts are eliminated, and if considered entirely harmful, in its sentiments or influence, the picture is condemned. The majority rules in the board’s judgment, although it is by no means infallible in its decision. This board is composed of about sixty persons, who are appointed by the government for their general qualifications, their interest in the general welfare of the public, keenness as to morals and uplift of the people at large. They do not receive salaries; their services are _pro bono publico_.

[Illustration: TAKING A MILITARY SCENE OUTDOORS.]

THE STORY IN “PIGS IS PIGS”

[Illustration: “PIGS IS PIGS.”]

[Illustration:

VITAGRAPH FAMOUS AUTHORS’ SERIES BY ELLIS PARKER BUTLER.

_You Have Seen Pigs, but Never Such Pigs as These. Two of Them Become Eight Hundred Pigs so Rapidly, They Set Bunny Daffy and Almost Ruin the Express Business._

_Director_--GEORGE D. BAKER. _Author_--ELLIS PARKER BUTLER.

CAST.

_Flannery, an Express Agent_ JOHN BUNNY _Mr. Morehouse_ ETIENNE GIRARDOT _Clerk in Complaint Dept._ COURTLAND VAN DEUSEN _Head of Claims Dept._ WILLIAM SHEA _Mr. Morgan, Head of Tariff Dept._ ALBERT ROCCARDI _President of Company_ ANDERS RANDOLF _Prof. Gordon_ GEORGE STEVENS

After a strenuous argument with Flannery, the local Express Agent, Mr. Morehouse refuses to pay the 30c charges on each of two guinea pigs shipped him, claiming they are pets and subject to the 25c rate. Flannery replies, “Pigs is pigs and I’m blame sure them animals is pigs, not pets, and the rule says, ‘30c each.’” Mr. Morehouse writes many times to the Express Company, claiming guinea-pigs are not common pigs, and each time is referred to a different department. Flannery receives a note from the Tariff Department inquiring as to condition of consignment, to which he replies, “There are eight now! All good eaters. Paid out two dollars for cabbage so far.” The matter finally reaches the President, who writes a friend, a Zoological Professor. Unfortunately that gentleman is in South Africa, causing a delay of many months, during which time the pigs increase to 160. At last word is received from the learned man proving that guinea-pigs are not common pigs. Flannery is then ordered to collect 25c each for two guinea-pigs and deliver the entire lot to consignee. There are now 800 and Flannery is horrified to find Morehouse has moved to parts unknown. He is about to give up in despair when the company orders him to forward the entire collection to the Main Office, to be disposed of as unclaimed property, in accordance with the general rule.]

[Illustration: BUNNY FEEDING THE PIGS.]

[Illustration]

Who Made the First Moving Pictures?

~THE FIRST MOVING PICTURE CAMERA~

The first device which produced the motion-picture effect was nothing but a scientific toy. The idea is almost as old as pictures themselves. This toy we speak of was called a zoetrope. It consisted of a whirling cylinder having many slits in the outside through which you could see by looking into the cylinder a picture opposite each slit. The pictures were drawn by hand and the artist aimed to place the pictures within the cylinder in such order that each succeeding one would represent the next successive motion of any moving object in making a movement as near as he could draw it; when the cylinder was whirled with the slits on a level with the eye, the effect produced was of a continuous moving picture.

A great many devices were produced as a result of this toy for presenting the effect of pictures so arranged, but until photography was invented no way was found for making the pictures to be viewed except such as were drawn by artists. But when photography was developed it was possible to get actual successive photographs. The greatest difficulty was found in taking photographs in such quick succession that all of the motions in the moving object were taken without any skipping. This difficulty was for the first time successfully overcome by Muybridge in 1877. He arranged a row of twenty-four cameras with string trigger shutters, the string of each shutter being stretched across a race track. A moving horse approaching down the track broke the strings as he came to them, thus operating each of the cameras in turn in quick succession and securing a series of pictures of the moving horse within a very short time. There were twenty-four pictures to this film when reproduced in the devices then known for projecting pictures, and this method required one camera for each section of the picture produced. Of course, the length of the series was thus limited greatly.

About ten years later Le Prince arranged what he called a multiple camera. This was as a matter of fact a battery of sixteen automatically reloading cameras in which strips of film were used. Each of the sixteen cameras took a picture in turn and then automatically brought another strip of the film into position, so that camera number one took the seventeenth picture, the twenty-third, the forty-ninth, etc., and each of the other cameras took their various pictures in turn. With this camera a film of any required length could be produced.

The Le Prince camera was therefore the real parent from which the modern motion-picture camera sprang. The first really modern motion-picture camera was built in a single case with a battery of sixteen separate lenses and sixteen shutters. These were operated by turning a crank. The pictures were taken on four strips of film. When the crank was turned the exposure was made to each of the sixteen lenses in succession, and when the series was completed the films were cut apart and pasted together in a single strip of film, the pictures themselves being arranged in the proper order. The principal development of this camera, as found in the present method of making motion pictures, is the invention of the flexible film negatives; the transparent support for the print which permits the pictures to be projected in enlarged form upon a screen; and the system of holes in the margin of the film by which the film is held in perfect alignment for projecting the pictures.

But a few years ago, then, the motion picture was a child’s toy. To-day it forms the basis for not only a very large and profitable business for many people, but a source of amusement and education to millions of people at reasonable prices. To-day the motion-picture business is regarded as one of the world’s greatest industries.

No corner of the world is so far remote but the motion-picture man finds his way there, either as an exhibitor or as a producer. Nothing happens in the world to-day but the motion-picture man with his camera is on the job if it is a happening that can be preserved in motion pictures and worthy of that. The dethronement of kings and the inaugurations of presidents are all alike to him. If there is a war, he is found in all parts of the field, and is the first to see the parade when there is a peace jubilee. Disasters, horrors, heroes and criminals pass before his lens and he gives us a moving panorama of everything that is interesting, in nature, in real life, and in fiction.

Taking Motion Pictures a Simple Operation.

Motion-picture photography is mechanically simple and the projection of the pictures on the screen was made possible by the improvement in dry plates which made instantaneous photography successful, together with the invention of the process of using celluloid films for negatives. Motion pictures consist of a series of photographs made rapidly and then projected rapidly on the screen. In this way one picture follows another so quickly that the change from one picture to another is not noticed and the movements and actions of the persons or things photographed are reproduced in a life-like manner.

Is the Hand Quicker Than the Eye?

There is no question that the hand can be moved so quickly that the eye cannot detect the movement. This is proved by the motion picture when projected on the screen. In moving pictures the quickness of the machine deceives the eye and the transition from one picture to another is done so rapidly that the change is not seen and the apparent movement is continuous and unbroken.

The film made by the motion picture is a “negative” in which the colors are reversed, the blacks being white and the whites black, exactly as in still photography. The film used in the projection machine is a “positive,” in which the lights and shadows have their proper values. The principle and process is exactly the same as in making lantern slides and window transparencies.

Does the Film Move Continuously?

In making the negative for the motion picture the film does not move forward regularly, but it goes by jumps. It is absolutely still at the moment of exposure. The same is true in projecting the picture on the screen. In most projection machines the film is stationary three times as long as it is in motion, though in some machines the proportion is one in six. In the taking of the picture, the film is really stationary one-half of the time. As pictures are usually projected at the rate of fourteen or sixteen to the second, this means that each separate picture appears on the screen three-fourths of one-sixteenth of a second, or three-sixty-fourths of a second, and

How Are Freak Pictures Made?

Freak pictures are usually the result of clever manipulation of the camera or the film. Articles or individuals can be made to instantly disappear by stopping the camera while the article is removed or the person walks off the stage, the other characters holding their pose until the camera is again put in motion. In some films in which a person is thrown from a height or is apparently crushed under a steam roller the effect is gained by the live person walking away after the camera is stopped and a dummy substituted to undergo the death penalty.

By projecting the picture at a faster rate than it was taken, excruciatingly comic scenes are sometimes devised. An automobile going ten miles an hour, by speeding up the projection machine, may be made to apparently move at a hundred miles an hour, and by increasing in the same way the apparent speed of persons dodging the demoniac auto exceedingly ludicrous effects are had.

By mechanical means in combining two or more negatives into one positive a man can be shown fencing with himself or even cutting his own head off.

Pictures by courtesy of the Vitagraph Company.

[Illustration: HOW RUBBER TIRES ARE MADE

WASH ROOM.[4]]

[4] These and the following Pictures by courtesy of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.

The Story in a Ball of Rubber

How Crude Rubber Is Treated.