It is well to remember
also that just as the American public has tired of the chase and the
foolish powder, it has also sickened of the coarse, suggestive, and
even the questionable subjects that could once be depended upon to
"get a laugh." There is absolutely no excuse for introducing anything
into a picture today that would offend the good taste of any member of
an audience. The local censorship boards of some cities have made
themselves ridiculous in the eyes of thinking photoplay patrons, but
the work done by the National Board of Censors has been the means of
slowly and surely causing the lower class of photoplay patrons to
acquire an appreciation of good dramatic subjects as well as more
refined comedy.
It may be said in passing that not all the companies producing
farcical photoplays or slap-stick, as it is generally called--exclude
the work of the outside writer. Such firms as do accept outside
scripts of this kind are prepared to "go the limit" in the matter of
expense in order to make their pictures superlatively funny and
unusual in the matter of staging. The Pathe comedy, "Cleopatsy,"
featuring the famous clown Toto, was a striking example of how a
slap-stick comedy today is unhesitatingly given as elaborate and
sumptuous a scenic investiture as was accorded a few years ago to
screen-versions of Shakespearean or other "classic" plays.
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