Until your work is pretty well known by the editors, it is just as
well not to attempt to write historical dramas. But if you do write
them, the greatest care must be taken to adhere closely to facts,
especially in composing scripts in which famous historical personages
figure. Three or four years ago a certain company that made a
specialty of two- and three-part historical, Western, and military
dramas, was called to account by an army officer in Washington for
having brought out a photoplay of pioneer life which held up a
well-known officer of the United States army in a rather bad light by
making him responsible for an act of great injustice to a famous
Indian chieftain. The author of the photoplay--whether a staff-writer
or a free lance--was doubtless unaware that he was doing an injustice
to the memory of a gallant and kind-hearted American soldier; but,
however the picture came to be written, it elicited the strong
disapproval of someone _who knew_, and who did not hesitate to tell
the makers that a mistake had been made.
Manufacturers have to be careful; they cannot afford to offend anyone.
Moreover, the motion picture has come to be looked upon as a great
educational factor, and no picture can be truly educational that is
not strictly accurate.
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