Up to this time, every scene had been a long shot—that is, the floor—the carpet—the greensward—showed yards in front of the actors’ feet. But Mr. Griffith knew he couldn’t show nine feet of floor and at the same time register expression. So to his camera man he said: “Now don’t get excited, but listen. I’m going to move the camera up, I’m going to show very little floor, but I’m going to show a large, full-length figure; just get in the actors’ feet—get the toes—one foot of foreground will do.
“Well, we’ve never done anything like that—how do you think that’s going to look?—a table with a man on each side filling up the whole screen, nearly.”
“We’ll do it—we’ll never get anywhere if we don’t begin to try new things.”
The burglars were screened so big that every wicked thought each entertained was plainly revealed. Everybody came to like the idea afterwards, especially the actors.
Along in November, Mr. Griffith began work on a series of domestic comedies—the “Jones Pictures.” Florence Lawrence played Mrs. Jones, and John Compson, Mr. Jones. Their movie marital début was in “A Smoked Husband.” The Jones movies were probably the first to achieve success as a series.
CHAPTER IX
FIRST PUBLICITY AND EARLY SCENARIOS
In Biograph’s story, quite a few who stuck to the ship in these first days are big names in the movies to-day.
In the town of Erie, Pa., in the early nineteen hundreds flourished a little newspaper, on the staff of which was Frank Woods. Besides reporting “news,” Frank Woods sold advertising. Erie, Pa., not long satisfying his ambitions, Mr. Woods set out for the journalistic marts of New York City, and shortly after found himself selling advertising for the New York Dramatic Mirror. The idea of getting ads from the picture people came to him when he noticed that pictures were not mentioned in the Dramatic Mirror. Writers on the paper were told that any reference to the movies would be promptly blue-penciled.
Mr. Woods figured that if he could interest the movie people he might get ads from them and the Dramatic Mirror wouldn’t mind that. But the picture people turned deaf ears. Why pay money for an ad in a paper that was all too ready to crush them? Besides, the Mirror didn’t circulate among the exhibitors and those interested in the movies. The movie people would stick to the more friendly Billboard—thank you kindly—it could have their ads.
Another idea came to Frank Woods. How about pictures being reviewed? He put the plan before Lee Dougherty, for Lee was always genial and had time to listen. Lee said: “Fine, give us real serious reviews—tell us where we are wrong—but don’t expect an ad for your effort.”