Patriotic Airs and Other Tips

Clyde Martin's column this week is again rather amorphous, and it must be said that he seems in a rather surly mood. After taking issue with the use of the flag for assuring applause, Martin prints a letter from one reader, which he forthrightly calls "foolish question No. 999." The more I read Martin and the way he freely berates his readers (especially in comparison to Clarence Sinn), the more I wonder that his column lasted as long as he did.

It has only been in the last couple of years that any strides have been made towards playing the pictures and it has been just the last few months that musicians have awakened to the fact that they have a world of opportunities before them if they can master this new profession.

Last week, while we were running the Vitagraph picture "The Statue Dog," the release of November 25, it occurred to me that it was just such a picture that got me into the notion of making a study of playing the pictures. It was about four years ago, I was playing in one of the first picture houses in Denver, and if I remember correctly the name of the film was "Crayano." It showed a cartoonist drawing sketches, I think the first sketch was that of an Irishman, and I played "The Wearing of the Green." The second sketch was that of a dog and I played "Oh Where, Oh Where Is My Little Dog Gone," and there were several other sketches where such music filled in very well. Then at the close of the picture the cartoonist made a drawing of Col. Roosevelt, and of course I was there with "Yankee Doodle," or something of that nature, and naturally the house went into hysterics when the Roosevelt picture was completed, and I took credit for half of the applause (this was four years ago) at any rate I was "mut" enough to believe that the audience was showing their appreciation of my work. Although I have learned better since, I was innocent of the fact at that time, that half of the rotten vaudeville acts and some of the manufacturers of motion pictures would unfurl the American flag at the end or climax in order to get a hand. At that, I am glad that my conscience did not hurt me at that time, for it put me in the notion of watching for points in the pictures where I could use appropriate a music, and I trust that the Vita¬graph picture of "The Statue Dog" will have a tendency to start more beginners into playing the pictures.

In "The Statue Dog" several opportunities present themselves where short strains of popu¬lar tunes can be used to good advantage. When the title "A Rah Rah Boy" comes on, you can play "He's a College Boy" or "College Boys," then comes a title "2 A. M.," you can play "We Won’t Go Home until Morning," and when the title "Kelly” comes on you can play “Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly." But when the dog is shown holding the American flag, we have a subject that must be considered.

When the American flag is used in a picture, the average piano player falls into the first national air that comes into his mind, this is very well as far as your own patriotism is concerned, but if you will play something else in such a scene, and let the flag take due credit for the applause I believe you will be handling the situation in the proper way.

Of course, there are certain pictures like the Pathe picture the "Clemency of Abraham Lincoln" where national airs have been used throughout the picture that it is very appropriate to use them when the flag is shown as well. But the pictures I have reference to are such pictures as "The Statue Dog," where the producer has resorted to such unprofessional means to "pull a picture through."

I once knew of a fly-by-night vaudeville act that was so rotten it would have been hissed off the stage had it not been that they closed their act by letting down a big drop, on which was painted the American flag. When the audience saw the drop they gave it (the drop) a big hand and the vaudevillians took several bows. At the end of the week the manager, on the Saturday night show, had his carpenter put a sign on the drop reading "Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue, not the act,” and I believe the performers took eighteen or twenty bows that night before they discovered the sign on their drop.

This week I received a letter from a piano player, asking foolish question No. 999 "What can you play for dramatic pictures, can you give me a list of selections that won't make the work so tiresome?" Here is my answer: "If you find the art of playing the pictures becoming tiresome to you, don't undertake a profession that means work afternoon and night. If you would really make a success at playing the pictures, your work would be a pleasure and not a burden to you. If you have some relative in politics that can get you a job in the city hall, there's where you will be a shining light, or if you have money, go to Florida for the winter and take a rest, anyone that would write such a foolish letter either needs a rest or an examination."

I have received a large number of such foolish letters. and then I have received many letters giving practical tips and asking reasonable questions, and I am glad to hear from musicians at any time and be of any service possible.

A piano player that plays the pictures knows that it means hours of hard work, but if they are heart and soul in their work and are looking forward to a future, they will find their work to be a pleasure and not a drudge. If the work is a drudge to you, you had better get off of the job and find something "easy."

I cannot see why playing the pictures would be a burden to any musician. If you are playing for vaudeville, you are obliged to play as the act wants you to, if you are doing concert work you are in a rut, the same thing week in and week out. But picture playing offers something better. You have a large field, you have quite an assortment of subjects, you have no one but yourself to fight it out with. What more can you ask I was really glad to get such a foolish letter, for I never believed there was anyone with musical ability that found their work to be a burden.

Did you ever notice that the stars on the legitimate stage usually "get a hand" at their first appearance of the evening? This is just as true with the ten, twenty and thirty-cent attractions as it is with those higher up. Each have their own class of admirers. It is just the same with the motion picture star, yet, have you ever tried to "work up" the entrance of Florence Turner, Alice Joyce, or any of the stars of the picture world? I have, and have met with success. I make it a point to "work up" the entrance of the popular stars and it never falls that the audience give them a round of applause. It is true this is a small point, but, I believe, it makes the audience more enthusiastic in the pictures and has a tendency to make more admirers of the silent drama.

If you have any suggestions in this line, if you have discovered any new way of "working up" scenes, just drop me a line and I assure you any pointers win be appreciated by readers of The Index, as well' as myself.

Source: Clyde Martin, Playing the Pictures, Film Index 31 December 1910, 12.

Advertising Music and Playing Parallel Editing

Martin begins this week's column with a suggestion to use music as part of advertising the theater. He includes a sample ad for his home theater in Keokuk, Iowa. Perhaps in response to Sinn's column the previous week, Martin then turns to the issue of playing to scenes with parallel editing, a common difficulty for musicians of the time. The basic question was: when scenes alternate, should the players change music to reflect the change in scenes or should they maintain the same musical number so as to avoid abrupt shifts in music. Finally, Martin ends this week's column with brief paragraphs on using popular songs as accompaniments and on whether music should be played between shows.

When you take in consideration the number of people that come to your theatre to hear the music as well as to see the pictures, you will agree with me when I suggest advertising your musical part of the program as strong as you do the pictures. Of course, there are things to be considered: if you have run over a certain reel and find it to be a poor production you would not think of using any printers' ink on advertising the same. On the other hand, if you have some good feature picture that will get you the money by using a few inches in the local papers, you will take a chance and boost that certain picture. It is the same thing with your music, if your musicians are making good with your patrons, they are as much of a drawing card as the pictures and should have their share of publicity.

Advertising is the life of any business if used to the best advantage, but poor advertising is worse that none at all and only proves a detriment to your business. If you have good musicians, people who are playing the pictures boost them the same as you do your pictures and you will soon find it will mean money in your pocket, for as soon as you start advertising your musicians, the patrons will give more attention to their work, and when your patrons awake to the fact that the musicians are playing the pictures, you will find that you have a permanent drawing card.

The advertising copy on this page is an example of the way the Dodge theatre company, of Keokuk, Iowa, boost their musicians, and I believe their method of advertising in the local papers has gone far towards building up the capacity business that continues throughout the entire summer and winter season.

It is true that different conditions prevail in different towns, and possibly it would be money lost to advertise a picture show in some localities; nevertheless, if you have never tried this method, a few weeks' advertising in your local papers would be an inexpensive experiment and might prove to be the upbuilding of your business.

You will find that the advertising will help you in more ways than one, for if the musicians see that you are boosting their work and featuring the music they will work harder towards playing the pictures.

During the past week I have received a great many letters from musicians and the suggestions and inquiries have been a great help to me as they have brought up many points that often arise in playing the pictures. I think the most important question was in regard to a scene in the Pathe production of "Abraham Lincoln's Clemency," the piano player called my attention to the scene where there is a battle raging in the background and to the front of the picture is the hero who has been mortally wounded. The question was, "Should you continue loud heavy music in keeping with the battle, or soft pathetic music for the death of the hero?" This is a situation that often arises, you will find such double scenes in many pictures, and as a rule I would suggest that you keep your music in touch with the central figure or attraction, but in this particular scene I would suggest that you have the drummer carry out the scene of battle by a roll on the base [sic] drum throughout the entire scene, and the piano player play appropriate music for the death of the hero, by doing this I believe it will be as near correct as the scene can be worked out, and I think the contrast in the music should make a very pleasing effect.

Since this scene has been suggested to me I recall a similar scene in the Kalem picture "The Touch of a Child's Hand." In this picture you will remember the scene where the insane father is shown on the porch with a knife in his hand, the audience is in suspense as to whether he is to kill the rich man or the child of the rich man, and the scene shifts several times, first showing the insane man on the porch then showing the interior of the rich man's home. As the scene changes so quickly and often, I would suggest that you keep up the creepy music through the entire scene. The creepy music in this particular picture and scene not only suggests the insane man's intentions when he is shown on the porch, but when the interior of the rich man's home is shown it suggests the danger that is about to befall the rich man or his child, and as they are unaware of the oncoming danger the music makes a great contrast to the scene.

The Kalem release of November 25 "The Roses of the Virgin" is a good example where popular selections can be used to good advantage. In the scene where Pierre's mother takes the roses from the garden it would be very appropriate and pleasing to play "The Garden of Roses," or "Just Like the Rose." Then at the close of the picture where the mother appears before the shrine you will find it will help the scene by playing "The Rosary" until the close of the picture.

In another letter I received last week I was asked to suggest some good music to play between the shows. This question is easily answered. I do not believe in playing between the shows. As a rule the intermission is very short, you will seldom find a wait of over six or eight minutes, during this short time the people are passing in and out and there is usually so much confusion and noise that I hardly believe music would be appreciated. I believe if you will take a rest during the intermission the audience will appreciate your work a great deal more when you start playing the pictures. In next week's article I will devote most of my space to answering the numerous questions I have received In the last couple of weeks.

Source: Clyde Martin, “Playing the Pictures,” Film Index 24 December 1910, 28.

Traps and Effects

In this weeks column, Martin addresses the drummer and sound effects, with special attention to those effects that a small exhibitor would most likely need. Near the end of the article, he presents a couple of pieces of advice for the pianist: play throughout the showing of the picture and be sure to have exit music playing at the end of the show until the last person leaves the theater.

Since I have been conducting my article's in The Index I have received many letters from musicians asking suggestions for appropriate music for certain releases that have been booked in their theatres for some future date. It is very gratifying indeed to know that the musicians" in the better class of theatres are looking after the details of the picture music and bettering their own conditions,' as well as the conditions of the theatres.

I will be glad to receive suggestions at any time from picture musicians, and at any time I can be of service and give advice on appropriate music for any certain release I will do so either by letter or through the columns of the Index.

Last week I received an inquiry, from a Western exhibitor asking for a list of the most important traps and effects to be used by the drummer and behind the screen. From the tone of the letter I was led to believe the exhibitor was located in a small town with a limited number of amusement seekers to draw from, but was willing to take a chance at educating more picture fans by improving his show as much as his income would allow. I believe there are many more of the smaller exhibitors that are willing to spend a little money on effects, and for their special benefit publish the list I believe to be complete for the small town show.

On the drummer's rack I would advise, as the most essential effects,

Sand Blocks
Castanets
Crash Cymbal
Wood Block
Tom Tom
Triangles
Tambourine
Telephone
Electric Door Bell

The balance of the effects should be handled from behind the screen, and you should make it a point to have a competent person in charge of the concealed effects, as the least mistake on the part of your effect man may ruin a scene or possibly a whole picture. The most important line of effects to be used behind the screen consists of

Baby Cry
Rooster Crow
Hen Cackle
Mocking Bird Whistle
Steamboat Whistle
Sleigh Bells
Tugboat Whistle
Locomotive Whistle
Horse Hoof Imitation
Train Imitation
Midway Musette
Dog Bark
Chimes
Gongs
Cow Bawl
Revolver
Wind Machine
Auto Horn
Thunder Sheet

It is seldom that you will find use for some of these effects, but it is well to have them on hand. Take, for instance, such a picture as “The Legacy," that clever production, by the Vitagraph Company; just think what a help your tug and steamboat whistles would be to the scene where the old couple is shown on the ferry, crossing over to the New York side. The reason I mention this picture in particular, the first matinee this picture was run in our theatre, the effect man was on the job, but the only thing he had was one tug and one steamboat whistle, and the Hudson River was a very tame affair that afternoon. But after the matinee I searched the town over and scared up fifteen or twenty good whistles. That night everyone around the theatre with a good pair of lungs was on the job, and when the ferry scene came on, well, we nearly made the Hudson backwater to Albany. And the best part of it was the scene got a big hand and the picture caused so much comment the management kept the picture on and featured it for four days, matinee and night. This is what convinces me that the audience wants effects.

By the way, did you use a phonograph on the effect list when you run the Edison release of October 11? There was another chance for an inexpensive effect to make the hit of the show. Give them something different whenever you get the chance, and you will soon have them talking about your show, and when you get them talking you can get their loose change.

Another impressive effect that can be worked by the drummer is a roll on the crash cymbal. Don't run a good thing in the ground, but wait until you get such a picture as the Pathe release of Saturday, October 8, "An Indian's Gratitude," and in the scene where the Indian turns and falls over the 250-foot cliff you can make your audience stand up if you will give a roll on the crash cymbal. Don't work this on every little
fall; wait for a novelty like this Pathe picture and then you will take the audience by surprise.

The use of a thunder sheet is very seldom called for, unless you use it in such a picture as the Vitagraph release of November 19, "Francesca Da Rimini." Through the last scenes of the picture, during the approaching storm, try and work the effect of distant thunder, and then, when the cripple raises his dagger to kill, work up the scene with loud thunder from behind the screen, a roll on the crash cymbal is the drummer's end of the work; then, when the bolt of lightning strikes the lovers dead, muffle the vibration of the cymbal and thunder sheet so that the second they fall to the floor the house is quiet, and let the piano music fade away with the light on the picture. By handling the climax in this way It will be In keeping with the conception the producer hag portrayed.

A musician should never stop playing through the showing of a picture. This is a great mistake that you will frequently find in the big houses as well as the small ones. This is one reason why I say there is no orchestra that can play the picture properly, for the simple reason, the music of an orchestra is limited, and they are obliged to stop at times in the middle of a picture and wait their chance to go ahead.

This point was illustrated to me while on a short trip to Chicago. I happened to stroll into one of the largest picture houses in that city and I believe, there was a Biograph on the screen. When I entered I was surprised not to hear music. By the time I was seated I had come to the conclusion the orchestra was either eating their lunch in the pit or had sent a representative to the box office with a request for more money. I had still another surprise coming, for, at the finish of the picture every one in the orchestra sat up, took notice, and, as the last ten feet of the film passed through machine they struck a chord and went into the introduction of the illustrated song. I went from there to a five-cent picture house just a round the corner and found the same picture on the program that I had just seen at the larger house. The music at the five-cent house consisted of piano and drums, and when this same picture was thrown on the screen you would have been surprised to hear what that piano player made out of the picture. It is the same old story every place you go an orchestra either plays long andantes and waltzes, or they sit and watch the picture.

Another thing that should be remembered by the musicians: Don't cut your chaser short. If it is the last show for the evening play until nearly every one is out of the house. By doing this you send them away in good spirits. If you are running illustrated songs or a spotlight song in connection with the pictures, and you have a song that has made a hit with the crowd it is a very good idea to play the chorus over for a chaser. I figure if I can play a chaser that will have the audience humming as they leave the theatre I have won a good point. In my next article I will show how it is possible to advertise a picture in such a way as to help the musicians in their work.

Source: Clyde Martin, “Playing the Pictures,” Film Index 10 December 1910, 5.

Problems with Illustrated Songs

In this week's column, Martin takes issue with the illustrated song, which he says is too often smutty. It's a bit odd that he should go after the illustrated song in quite so forceful a manner given that illustrated song manufacturers had been faithful advertisers in the paper since at least the beginning of the 1909. (The illustration to the right comes from Film Index 9 January 1909, 12.) Film Index also had as one of its regular features a list of recent slide sets released by various slide companies. In general, Martin appears much less aware of the wider industry needs than does Sinn, who is writing for Moving Picture World.

Toward the end of his column this week, Martin also mentions that pianos in theaters need to be worked on (and tuned) at least once every six weeks. He also recommends not placing a piano in a pit but, if at all possible, to put it on a stage, as this will allow the music to sound best.

You may say it is none of my business, when I dwell on the illustrated song question, but, as I told you before, when the audience leaves your theatre, having heard some of the trash that is printed in music form and offered by some of the best-known publishers, they say, “The pictures were fine, but the music was disgusting.” This throws as much blame on the piano player as it does the singer, and no matter what efforts the piano player has made to “play the pictures,” the music has been condemned.

I can safely say, that the song question in the motion picture theatres has had a great deal to do with the trouble that has been raised by the censorship boards in the different cities. I believe the songs that have been used in the picture houses have given the police and authorities more room for the action they have taken in their crusade against the picture business, than any picture that has ever been thrown on a screen. It is very gratifying indeed, to know that Chief of Police LeRoy T. Steward, of Chicago, has outlawed a number of these questionable songs, and I believe this has been brought about by the untiring efforts of C. P. McDonald, the Music Editor of The Show World. A censorship board has also been appointed by the city council of Springfield, Ill., for the purpose of barring from that city such suggestive songs.

Some of the songs that have been condemned by the Chicago Chief of Police are, “When I Get That Loving Feeling,” “Oh, You Devil Rag,” “Do Your Duty, Doctor,” “The Dance of the Grizzly Bear,” “Casey Jones” and “Her Name was Mary Wood, but Mary Wouldn’t.” The daily papers of Chicago have taken up the fight with the Chief of Police and I believe the time is near when the authorities of the different cities will see their mistake in condemning the motion picture theatre; they will find it is the songs and not the pictures that need to be censored. It seems that the police authorities have hit the nail on the head when they have started at the bottom of the evil, the publisher, and the first complaints were filed last Wednesday in the Municipal Court of Chicago against H. S. Talbot, a publisher, at 184 Dearborn street, charging him with distributing a song that has failed to come up to the standard of decency established by the police department under the city ordinances. It is the aim of Sergt. O’Donnell, of Chicago, to make the rounds of the cheap theatres and listen to the songs, and any he finds beyond the limits of decency, he will arrest the singer. I believe C. P. O’Donnell, of The Show World staff, should have the glad hand out for anyone that will make a crusade against the late popular songs that the writers have to resort to smut to make them popular.

Have you ever noticed, when one of these “smut” songs are used in a picture house, they always get a hand? And have you noticed the hand comes from the “rough necks?” If you are catering to the low element of your city I can think of no better drawing card than such songs as “I Love It,” “Company in the Parlor,” “‘Tis Hard to be a Lady in a Case Like That” or “That Lovin’ Melody Rubenstein Wrote.”

Has the time come that the publishers have to resort to such low, degrading stuff, in order to stay in business? It is a cinch the better class of people, the ones you are catering to, are not demanding this kind of “music.”

There is no way possible for the general public to get a wrong conception of the publisher’s meaning in these titles and words. The publishers are making every effort to make it clear that they mean just what they say, for some of their advertising matter is lower (if possible) than the songs. For instance, in some of the advertising matter for the late song “I Love It,” published by the Harry Von Tilzer Publishing Company, of New York, they say, “It is a little word, but can mean many big things.” Now wouldn’t this advertising look good on a three-sheet in front of your picture house? so the children could figure “it” out?

No, don’t put me down as a crank, I write this because I know what is good for the picture industry, and what is not. If you are obliged to put on this trash in your picture house, if you cannot find decent music, don’t cater to a family business, change your location, move to the slums and you will soon have a fat bank account.

Have you ever noticed, when the illustrated song comes on, the people either leave the theatre or start up a conversation with those around them? and then as soon as the pictures start the house is quiet again. I think this would be enough to prove to the exhibitors that the majority of the people come for the pictures and not the songs.

On the other hand, if you can get a god singer, one that can handle good ballads and classic music you will find your audience will greatly appreciate the music, and it provides a good relief for your program. I believe the songs in the picture theatre would have a better standing to-day if the managers and singers would have used better judgment in their selections.

If this keeps up, the illustrated song will be greatly injured and only spot light songs will be used. The fault is the carelessness of the slide rental agencies. They put me in mind of the fly-by-night film exchanges. I mean those that have not bought a reel of film for a year and are working on their original investment. The average slide renter is working on the same plan, when their customer has used their entire stock they give him repeaters until he gets next to himself and tries another. I recently saw a shipment of three sets of song slides from a house making a specialty of th rental business, with twenty-one slides, out of forty, cracked, and two of the chorus slides missing. Good combination is it not? first run film service and five year slide service.

Well, to get back to “Playing the Pictures” there is another great point that is sadly neglected, and that is, the care of the piano. I have found in visiting different picture houses, that nine out of every ten pianos are in need of tuning. I will say that the wear and rough use that some of them get, it would be well for the manager to have a piano tuner on his salary list with the average use a piano gets in a picture theatre, it should be gone over at least every six weeks but an expert, not a “dub.”

A great mistake that is made by many exhibitors is, placing the piano in a pit. When you place a piano in a pit, it deadens the tone, and no matter how hard the piano player works, his music seems to have a dull finish. It is much better, if possible, to elevate the piano, so that the tones carry over the entire house and it makes the work much lighter for the musician. If you have room to place the piano on the stage next to the picture screen, you will find it will give great results. Another inexpensive improvement is to remove the rollers from the piano and place a heavy glass insulator under each corner, by raising the instrument from the floor it will add greatly to the tone quality.

In next week’s article I will offer some suggestions of appropriate music for some of the notable releases of the last two weeks, such as “Sunshine Sue,” Biograph, “Woman of Samaria,” Pathe, and “Fransesca Da Rimini,” Vitagraph.

Source: Clyde Martin, “Playing the Pictures,” Film Index 3 December 1910, 9.

Give-Aways, Racing the Picture and Indian Pictures

Though Clyde Martin's previous column had promised a discussion of accompanying "Indian pictures," this column in fact devotes little space to it; indeed the preview of this week's column at the end of the previous one in many respects contains a more thorough discussion. Instead, Martin's column this week begins with a rambling diatribe against exhibitors using voting contests, giving away cheap souvenirs and holding amateur nights to attract crowds. He then warns against the practice of "racing the pictures" in order to get an additional show or two in when crowds are waiting. He has short paragraphs advocating for a varied program and drawing attention to new books of music that have been recently released aimed specifically at the needs of playing the pictures. Only then does he finally turn briefly to a method of accompanying "Indian pictures."

In this stage of the game, you can scarcely pick up a trade paper that you do not see some suggestion or tip from an exhibitor giving his means of pulling off novelty stunts and drawing business to his picture house. If you talk to different exhibitors over the country it is the same thing, they are always ready to tell you how they “packed them in” during their voting contest or amateur nights, or, they may give you the address of some junk wholesale house where you can buy “handsome” souvenirs for half a cent apiece, and how much money they took in while they were giving away the souvenirs. The main idea with the average exhibitor is get them in the theatre, if they come once, you have ten cents of their money, then the next time you give something away, you may get another dime.

The exhibitor seems to make no distinction between “the people” and “patrons,” yet there is a vast difference. Patrons are the people that have come to your theatre and enjoyed the music and pictures to such an extent, that they come back to see your next change of program. This may sound silly to you but the point I am driving at is, the people that come to your theatre on the strength of voting for their neighbor’s little girl, or the people that come after a souvenir cup and saucer, are not the ones that get you the money, you may pack the house on these nights and possibly draw a little business away from your competitor for a couple of nights, but, is this kind of business really getting you the money? Wouldn’t it pay you better to put on a good show and make picture fans out of them, so they will come every change of picture instead of just getting them whenever you give something away?

If you have the souvenir craze in your noodle, you had better put store pictures in your building instead of a picture machine. If you are running a picture house give them a good grade of pictures with appropriate music, and see which pays best.

In the trade papers you can see article after article encouraging better music, music that fits the pictures, yet, it seems that the exhibitor cannot see the idea. I have tried time and time again to figure it out, and I certainly wish some one would enlighten me on the question.

If the exhibitor will cater to a family business and deliver the goods he will never be obliged to resort to such unprofessional methods as voting contests, souvenirs, amateur nights, etc. You can flood the town with hand bills and fill the house, but, you cannot expect them to come back unless you give them a good show.

I have tried to encourage better music in picture houses, and I have found several level minded exhibitors who have bettered their show by putting in musicians that have some regard for the picture on the screen, and if you will notice, the exhibitor who is looking after the music is the one that is getting the business.

I have visited some houses where they have had excellent music for the pictures and still the musicians have been handicapped. I cannot say whether it has been the fault of the operator or the manager, but no matter who was to blame, the pictures were run through the machine like a Kansas cyclone, making the efforts of the musicians in vain.

Sometimes the operator is to blame for running pictures too fast but, if you sift it down you will generally find the manager has instructed the operator to “shoot the show.” The reason I say it is nearly always the manager’s fault, is because you will notice these conditions on the big nights when there is a crowd in the lobby waiting for the next show.

When a manager, for the sake of saving a few minutes’ time, will push the show, he has no use for a piano player and plays the pictures; what he wants is an electric piano.

We will take for example such a picture as the Vitagraph release of September 30, “A Home Melody,” a picture where a good musician could make the subjects talk, and then to have the manager instruct the operator to hurry the pictures along, for the sake of a few more nickels and dimes, is enough to discourage everyone interested in the advancement of the picture industry.

Another drawback in the musician’s work is poorly selected programs. You may have a good piano player, one that can follow the pictures and then not give him any chance to work. By this I mean, if you are running a three-reel show and your program is made up of three reels of comedy, your piano player is obliged to play the same class of music through the entire show and the music as well as the pictures becomes very monotonous, the same by be said of a program made up of all dramatic or all western pictures.

It is very encouraging to note that the film exchanges are trying to overcome this point by engaging program clerks that try to give the exhibitor a variety of pictures.

At Dodge theatre, Keokuk, Iowa, where I am working at present, our programs usually run the same. We try to open with a short scenic film followed by a comedy, then an Indian or western picture and close with the feature dramatic. It has always been customary with most exhibitors to close their show with comedy, but I have found, if you have a musician that can bring the life out of a strong dramatic subject, it will leave a better impression in the minds of your patrons to close with a dramatic picture instead of a comedy.

From time to time the piano players over the country receive circulars, and read advertisement in the trade papers of different music publishers that are putting motion picture music on the market in book form, and I believe if these folios are handled properly they will be a big help to musicians. By being handled properly I mean, if the piano player will take one of these books and memorize such parts as the Indian war dances and the most important features, it will be a big help to him, but you must memorize so that you will not be obliged to refer to music during the showing of the pictures.

In playing Indian pictures, never let the drummer use a tom tom except during a war dance. Some musicians are under the impression that the tom tom should be used through every Indian picture from start to finish, but this is a great mistake, the tom tom should be used for a war dance only. Another great mistake that is made by many that do not look after the little details, is the use of horse hoof imitations. Some drummers use horse hoof imitations whenever a horse is shown on the screen regardless of whether the horse is running on the grass, crossing a creek or running on a pavement. There may be many in the audience that never notice these things, at the same time there are so many that do notice details, and it is just as easy to do things right as wrong that it would be well to watch all of these points.

Another point that is sadly neglected by some trap drummers, is the telephone. It is a very easy matter for a drummer to have an electric bell in his line of traps, and I have found if they will have the push button on the floor it is a very easy matter to catch telephone cues without interfering with the other work.

Take such pictures as “Two Little Waifs” or “Waiter No. 5” the telephone effect will make a good point for you, and everyone in the audience will appreciate the fact that you are working with the pictures.

Source: Clyde Martin, “Playing the Pictures,” Film Index 26 November 1910, 12.

Organs, Accompanying with Songs, and Playing Scenics

After a week off, Martin returns with a column arguing against the use of organs, taking issue with Vitagraph's suggestions for music to their films, and giving advice on what music to use in accompanying "Scenics."

Have you ever stopped to consider what the manufacturers are doing toward the advancement of the motion picture business, and what has been accomplished during the last ten or twelve months? All of the manufacturers are working hard and spending thousands of dollars to make the picture business an industry that will be looked up to instead of condemned. It is certainly encouraging when they engage such people as Elbert Hubbard, Rex Beach, Roy Norton, and Caroline Wells to write their plays, and then to have such people as Pilar-Morin and Florence Turner, the greatest exponents of the silent drama the world has ever known, playing in your theatre two or three nights a week, it seems that the exhibitor should at least furnish the proper music.

I know an exhibitor in the middle west that has just ordered a six thousand dollar pipe organ for his picture house and there are hundreds of other exhibitors who have been just as foolish. With all due respect for the manufacturers of pipe organs, I think it is the worst investment a man can make. If the ten dollar piano player does not make good and the exhibitor has more money than brains, his last resort is the pipe organ. Then comes the old story, he has invested so much money in the instrument that he must cut expenses in some way so the lot falls to the musician and he secures a ten dollar organist. Great combination, is it not? If Mr. Exhibitor had only considered paying a little more money for a good piano player, one that would have made good with the audience, he would never have thought of getting a pipe organ.

Let us say, you have one of the best pipe organs on the market, and you want your musician to “play the pictures,” do you realize out of the entire output of association pictures in a week, there will not be over three reels that organ music will be appropriate? Again I say, the piano is the only instrument that can ever be used in playing the pictures.

The pipe organ gives a very effective accompaniment where a picture is shown with religious sentiment, but a piano, when handled properly is just as good, and figure the money saved. Can you imagine a pipe organ accompaniment through such pictures as “The Telephone,” Vitagraph, “The Education of Elizabeth,” Kalem, or “Examination Day at School,” Biograph, it would certainly be a joke. Of course there are two sides to all questions, on the other hand, take such a picture as Gaumont’s “A Penitent of Florence” or Pathe’s “Sister Angelica,” the organ would be great for a picture of this nature, but it is so seldom that we get such pictures, it would hardly justify anyone in paying several thousand dollars for such an instrument. Still exhibitors will pay this great amount for an organ that can only be used once in a while, and will not pay a good salary to a piano player that can accompany any picture that is thrown on the screen.

In several of the recent bulletins of the Vitograph Com-

[27] pany has offered suggestions for appropriate music to accompany several of their releases. I am certainly glad to see a company like the Vitagraph taking an interest in the musical end of the picture business, but I must admit that their suggestions are very poor. For example in their bulletin number 222, where they give a description of the release of October 29th, “The Telephone,” in their note they say, “During the scene of the telephone exchange the musicians can play selection from “The Telephone Girl.” Just think o fit, have you seen the picture? During the telephone exchange scene the telephone girl is connecting the frantic wife with her husband at the club, and the men at the club are calling the fire department, from the expression on the telephone girl’s face you can imagine she hears the cracking of the flames on the other end of the wire, that have cut off all means of escape for that frantic mother and child. And in such a scene the Vitagraph company would like to hear the catchy selections from “The Telephone Girl.”

This is a mistake that is made by half of the musicians in the country, they will pick up a publisher’s catalogue and get names of songs that correspond with the scenes portrayed and they never consider that to make their point, the audience must know what they are playing. There are a few pieces such as “It Looks Like a Big Night Tonight,” “Waiting at the Church,” “We Won’t Go Home Until Morning,” “Don’t Take Me Home,” “Everybody Works But Father,” that can be used in comedy scenes to good advantage. Such pieces as these are known by everyone and when you play them in an appropriate scene the audience appreciates your efforts.

I believe in the use of comic opera music, but not in such pictures as “The Telephone.” Whenever you get pictures such as “The Tactics of Cupid,” Gaumont, “Alice in Wonderland,” Edison, or “The Land of Oz,” Selig, there is nothing more appropriate than selections from such light operas as “King Dodo,” “The Burgomaster,” “The Sultan of Sulu,” or “Babes in Toyland.” I might say when you get a “Special” picture, such as “Chew Chew Land,” the Vitagraph release of Sept. 6th, the most appropriate music you could play would be “Oh You Spearment Kiddo, With the Wriggley Eyes.”

I have been advised by one of the largest association manufacturers that they are about to release a certain grand opera film in the near future, and, as an experiment they are compiling a musical score to accompany the picture. This music will run scene for scene with the picture and the commencement of each title will be marked with a cue on the music. It is certainly encouraging when a manufacturer will take this much interest in the music for pictures, and it seems that the exhibitor should at least do his share, by securing a competent musician to handle the music.

I believe the next improvement in the film business will be the marking of titles with a musical cue. It may be in the next three or four months, or it may be years, but it is sure to come.

To begin with, in playing appropriate music for the pictures, you must divide the pictures in classes, and for the first class let us take the scenic pictures. There is hardly a change of program in your theatre that you do not have a scenic picture on the bill. For the average scenic picture a waltz or a march is about the only music you can find appropriate for the surroundings, but there are a few exceptions. Take for example Pathe’s short scenic picture, the release of October 19th, “Around Pekin,” or the Urban-Eclipse release of July 20, “Pekin, the Walled City,” try and arrange some weird or oriental music, play it in a regular Chinese sing song way and have your drummer keep time with his Turkish cymbal and the tom tom at the same time. It may be possible that later on, I can prepare a small chart for this page showing my style of oriental music.

When you get such a picture as the Pathe release of September 9th, “The Belgian Army,” or the Vitagraph release of October 29th, “A Day on the French Battleship Justice,” never attempt to use anything but a march. The same may be said about the first and last part of the Vitagraph picture released October 11th. “Actors’ Fund Field Day,’ save your marches for all military events, processions, and any picture where a band is shown.

For industrial pictures, such as the Selig release of August 1st, “Shrimps,” the Urban-Eclipse release of August 24th “Shipbuilding of Toulon, France,” or the Pathe release of September 5th, “Zoological Gardens in Antwerp” a good waltz is the best, and in fact the only music that can be used. On the other hand if you have some industrial or scenic pictures taken in Spain or Mexico, you can play some Spanish air that will give life, and be in keeping with the picture and it gives the drummer a chance to use Castanets tambourines.

In my next article I will give a few points in playing for Indian pictures. Indian pictures are possibly the easiest of all to play but the use of the tom tom is sadly abused in most places. There is a great deal in the drummer knowing when to use the tom tom and when not to, and I will try and make this point clear, next week.

Source: Clyde Martin, “Playing the Pictures,” Film Index 19 November 1910, 26-27.

Drummers and Illustrated Songs in the Moving Picture Theater

Martin's column this week features a new header, which includes a picture—though the microfilm did not allow me to reproduce it very well. His topic this week is the role of the drummer. Martin believes that the drummer belong in picture houses but thinks that most drummers are not properly trained. He draws attention to the work of Lyman H. Howe, especially his use of music and sound effects, which allows Howe to charge $1 a seat for his traveling show. (For a fine book-length treatment of Howe, see Charles Musser in collaboration with Carol Nelson, High-Class Moving Pictures: Lyman H. Howe and the Forgotten Era of Traveling Exhibition, 1880-1920 (Princeton, 1991).) Martin also makes the surprising remark that "piano and drums are the only instruments that can be used in playing pictures, when you add other instruments you cannot expect your musicians to make good playing pictures." Martin is lead to this position because he believes that improvisation is the only reliable way to successfully play the pictures and that group improvisation is prone to disaster. He concludes his article with a largely negative assessment of the illustrated song.

The average drummer in a picture theatre is the greatest handicap a piano player has to contend with. A good drummer, one who knows how and when to play, is a necessity in every well regulated picture house, but, they are hard to find. The average drummer wants to make himself heard from the overture to the chaser, and, as a rule they are very partial to marches, and play so loud that in a short time the piano player gets the habit of following the drummer instead of leading, and the result is, the audience is treated to a big noise from the beginning to the close of the picture, and, upon leaving the theatre, the audience would not speak a good word for the best picture ever produced after being compelled to sit and listen to such music.

You have, no doubt been in just such places, where the music has grated on your nerves to such an extent that you could not get interested in the pictures, and when the good night slide was thrown on the there was such a sigh of relief from the entire audience. Don’t blame the piano player because the drummer is no musician, it is not the piano player’s fault. Drumming looks very easy, and, nine times out of ten the manager, and, being not overly fond of work, they have bought him some second hand drums and given him a job in the picture house to keep him off the streets at night, consequently, the piano player an the patrons are made to suffer. [This is how the original reads—jwb.]

It is just as essential that an exhibitor secures a professional drummer as well as a professional piano player. He can hire the greatest piano player in the world to play the pictures and give him an amateur drummer to work with and his music will be a failure.

The professional drummer who has the least conception of playing the pictures, will never try to play through a pathetic scene or during the showing of the average dramatic subject unless he gives a roll during some good point in the picture or at the climax. When I say a roll, I do not mean a role on the snare, if the picture is a strong dramatic subject and the piano player has held the audience quiet up to the strongest point or the climax, how much more in keeping with the picture it is for the drummer to give a roll on the base [sic] drum, if he does not possess kettle drums.

I am a great believer in traps and effects if they are properly handled, and I can point to no better example than Lyman H. Howe. If the exhibitors would pay more attention to their music and effects they too would be receiving a dollar a ticket instead of five and ten cents. Lyman H. Howe is recognized as the greatest motion picture man in the field to-day. He can take the same pictures that you are showing for five cents and demand a dollar a seat for the same show. There is something behind this that would be worth while for the exhibitor to look into and consider. Lyman Howe has always made the music and effects a feature of his entertainment, and it is this point that has placed him as leader in the picture business. And still the exhibitor will give souvenirs, put on cheap vaudeville and pull off voting contests to boost business instead of considering the music. They put themselves in a rut at the opening of the house by engaging a ten-dollar piano player and an eight-dollar drummer.

Piano and drums are the only instruments that can be used in playing pictures, when you add other instruments you cannot expect your musicians to make good playing pictures. I have seen the greatest bunch of fakirs [i.e., “fakers”—jwb] in the country assembled for a picture orchestra, and the result was a failure.

There are certain pictures where a violin can be used in a pathetic scene to good advantage, but no matter how good the violinist is, they cannot change with a piano in playing pictures.

At Dodge’s theatre, Keokuk, Iowa, where I am working at present, we have a violinist, one of the best in the business, and I can safely say we do not use him in more than two pictures a week. If you are showing such a picture as Edison’s “The Song That Reached His Heart,” a violinist can use “Annie Laurie” in certain parts of the picture to good advantage.

Then for example take such a picture as the Biograph release of October 24th, “The Message of the Violin,” the violin is a necessity and the picture is not complete without one. If you have no violinist on your pay roll when you show such a picture as “The Message of the Violin” don’t be afraid of spending a little money, and, engage one for the night you show the picture, you will soon notice and increase in your receipts.

There is another thing to be considered. A drummer cannot be expected to handle the entire line of effects, it is the drummer’s business to handle chimes, tom toms, tambourines, castinets, wood blocks, cymbols [sic], bells and his drums. If you wish to add railroad imitations, slap sticks, etc., they should be worked from behind the screen.

The illustrated song is, as a matter of fact, looked upon as part of the music in the picture show, and I believe it is one of the greatest drawbacks in the business to-day. The singer, as a rule, is paid on the same basis as the piano player, and what kind of a singer can you get for ten dollars a week? The singer in most places is used as a sort of fill in, and in most cases the audience would rather have a white sheet instead of the song during the changing of the reels. Then there is another side to the illustrated song question. It may be you have a very good singer, but the smut that some of the publishers are putting in their songs to make them go, is enough to drive the better class of people from your house forever. Let us say for example you have a three-reel program made up of “The Tree Friends,” Gaumont, “The Broken Doll,” Biograph, and “The Legacy,” Vitagraph, a program that would please the Saints. Then say that you have a very select audience, people who have been skeptic towards motion pictures, you have induced them to come to your theatre as you have this excellent bill on, and then your singer gets up and hands them such stuff as “The Dance of the Grizzly Bear,” “Naughty Eyes” or “The Angle Worm Wiggle.” What kind of impression do you think your audience will have on your show? You will not only lose those people as patrons, but you have lowered the efforts of the producers in trying to better the picture business.

You may say I am getting away from my story when I mention the illustrated song, but I am not, for, that disgusted audience has left the theatre condemning everything on the inside, even the pictures and the piano player.

In my next article, I will suggest some appropriate music for recent releases of feature films.

Source: Clyde Martin, “Playing the Pictures,” Film Index 5 November 1910, 6.

Accompanying with Song Quotes

In this column, Clyde Martin discusses using song quotes to accompany a film. "Funning"—the ironic use of quotes to burlesque a film—is apparently not yet an issue, but Martin does caution against overusing the device, especially in dramatic pictures.

Once again, Martin rambles a bit before getting on point. The peculiar punctuation has also been retained from the original.

Some people are under the impression that to become an excellent piano player they must master sight reading, and I agree with them if they expect to follow concert work, but my advice to those wishing to become picture pianists, is to throw away your music and “fake,” as you can never play pictures as long as you are obliged to keep your music in front of you.

I was much amused at a little incident that happened in a picture house in the southern part of Indiana. The energetic young lad that presided over the ivories was making a great effort to accompany the pictures with appropriate music. He had two pieces in his repertoire, one for comedy scenes and one for dramatic scenes. If a picture opened with a dramatic scene, it never failed that his rag time score was in front of him, and by the time he had his correct music in place, the scene would be over.

You cannot expect to sort out your music during the showing of a picture and hold your audience to the scenes portrayed.

There are a few scenes in some of the comedy pictures where you can use strains from popular songs, but this can easily be overdone and if you give them too much of it the audience soon tires of you and an electric piano could take your place as far as the audience is concerned.

With the dramatic scenes it is different. During the showing of a heavy dramatic production, popular music is out of the question, unless you have a chance to use some of those good old tunes such as “Silver Threads Among the Gold,” “MY Old Kentucky Home,” “Annie Laurie,” etc. They are the pieces that reach home, if there is anything on earth that will hold an audience, it is one of those tunes. But don’t force them on the picture, wait your chance, wait until some good picture comes along that you can use one of them.

Do you remember the Biograph release of August 8. “The House With Closed Shutters?” There was your chance for “My Old Kentucky Home.” Let us take this picture as an example. Can you imagine a more pathetic scene than the closing of the picture where the old negro comes on the porch of the stately colonial mansion and closes the shutters, never to be opened again, and when the strains “By and by Hard Times Comes a Knocking at the Door,” then, “My Old Kentucky Home Good Night,” reaches the ears of the audience, every man, woman and child, in their mind repeats those famous lines, they not only repeat the words of the song with the action of the picture, they can picture the sorrow that is behind those closed shutters and can see the broken hearted mother protecting the family name. In this case the music has been as great a feature as the picture, but, you must take in consideration, you cannot place the music for “My Old Kentucky Home” on the piano and play it as it is written. You must be original, you must create and use expression. You must not try to make the picture fit your music you must make the music fit with the picture. Try and cultivate a sympathetic touch if you ever expect to make good in playing pictures.

As an example, for a good comedy picture, one that you can use several popular tunes during the showing and not overdo the thing, we will take the Edison release of August 26, “The Valet’s Vindication.” About the third scene in the picture is where Kirby, the valet, is awaiting the arrival of a number of friends, he has invited in to spend the evening. The table is well supplied with refreshments, cigars, poker chips, etc., and the audience will repeat the lines with you “It Looks Like a Big Night To-night,” you have won your first point. The next scene shows the Valet the morning after the party, considerably the worse for the wear, and asleep at the table. If you will play just a few strains from “The Morning After the Night Before” it will make every man in the audience, want to hand Kirby a cold towel and a pitcher of ice water. You have won your second point. Two points are enough in this picture, it is well to remember not to run a good thing in the ground. During the showing of the balance of the picture play some lively air until you come to the last scene, where, Beekman and Miss Bradley have been married and are enjoying their first home breakfast with Kirby as a sort of a guardian angel of the household, then play “The Waning Honeymoon” from “The Time, The Place and the Girl” until the close of the picture. In my next article I will show a few points where the average drummer is a handicap to the musician playing pictures. Drums are well enough in certain parts of pictures, but they are a detriment when used through the entire show.

Source: Clyde Martin, “Playing the Pictures,” Film Index 29 October 1910, 7.

Advice to Pianists

This is Clyde Martin's second column for Film Index. (There is no column for 15 October.) His column now has a rudimentrary header (shown below) and the page layout has all the trappings of a regular feature.

The article itself rambles a bit, with a call for quiet houses, for managers not to use their piano player as bally hoo, and for pianists to improvise.

If I should tell you, you can play better in the winter than in the summer, you would say, “to the nut farm for him.” But it is a fact, not because in the summer you have that lazy feeling and in the winter you feel like working, that is not the idea at all. Again you will say, I am crazy when I say it is the manager’s fault; yes (poor manager) he gets blamed for everything he does, his mind is so busily engaged at the box office that he forgets to oil his fans, and the (fall guy) the patron, upon entering the picture show is first under the impression that he made a mistake and in his absent-mindedness has entered a machine shop instead of a picture show.

In these joints you will never find it to fail that the piano player in order to make himself heard must either play rag time through a picture or do a pantomime stunt at the piano. Then Mr. Manager, will call the musician on the carpet and ask him why he plays rag time through a pathetic scene.

The greatest point about playing appropriate music for pictures is to hold the audience, but this I mean to keep the audience so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Now don’t tell me this is impossible, because I have played in picture houses from Franklin avenue in St. Louis to the best in the country, and have had an audience to work to, from a bunch of Greeks and “Wopa” to the most exclusive set at Washington, D. C.

To begin with, you must have a quiet house. There is nothing that will appeal to an audience as quick as soft music.

I recall a time I was working in the best house in St. Louis and I laid off for a couple of days to study the conditions in the “joints,” so I went down on Market street, and got a job at nine dollars a week, the most that had ever been paid on the street. The first night the manager came to me and said I could certainly play pictures, but he would have to let me go because they could not hear me on the street, “Canuamaginit.”

That is the fault with the average exhibitor today; he doesn’t want a piano player, he wants a Bally-Hoo.

I believe you will find conditions better in the West and Middle West than any other part of the country, and I lay it to the fact that the managers look after the show as well as the box office. In the Western theatres you will find that they have very little transient business, they naturally cater to a family business and are obliged to deliver the goods, as competition is very strong.

Taking this into consideration they have actually gone as strong as to pay a piano player “eighteen dollars;” just think of it (joke).

I find that the musicians in the west are making every effort to play the pictures and some of them are making a pretty good stab at it, but nine out of every ten are handicapped by a noisy house, the buzzing of fans, the rattle of the machine, and the conversation of the ushers with their friends in the back rows and still the manager wonders why his piano player does not make good.

At present I am playing at Dodges Theatre, Keokuk, Iowa, and I believe I can use this picture house as an example. To begin with, during a pathetic scene in a picture the ushers are instructed to hold all late comers to the rear of the house. The aisles are covered with a heavy carpet, so there is no noise from those passing in and out. There are over twenty electric fans running in the theatre during the summer months, and it is the duty of the electrician to go over them every other day to see that they are in perfect running order. I have played in this theatre for fourteen months, and I believe the patrons of the house are the greatest picture critic on earth.

The exhibitors over the country have had a very easy time during the infancy of motion pictures but the time has come when the public is demanding more than a flicker on the screen; the time is here when you have got to deliver the goods or get out of business, and the sooner the exhibitor recognizes the piano player as a feature of the entertainment the sooner the higher standard will be reached.

It does not take a renowned soloist to play the pictures, it takes what is commonly known as a fakir.* My advise [sic] to a musician with ambitions to become a picture player, is, throw away your music, improvise, and study expression.

In my next article I will point out a few pictures of recent release where popular music can be adapted to the action, but they are few and far between. Popular music with few exceptions can only be used with comedy pictures, while with dramatic pictures, you must either improvise, or give it up as a bad job.

* i.e., “faker”—jwb.

Source: Clyde Martin, “Playing the Pictures,” Film Index 22 October 1910, 13.

Playing the Pictures

Here is Clyde Martin's inaugural column in Film Index. As far as I'm aware this is the first regular column on music to appear in the American trade papers, preceding Clarence E. Sinn's "Music for the Pictures" by a couple of months. Martin's column will run until Film Index ceases publication in July 1911, at which point he will write occasionally on sound effects for Moving Picture World.

Proper Music for Motion Pictures and How to Play It

Clyde Martin is one of the few pianists in the country to make a specialty of playing for motion pictures. He is at present filling and engagement at Dodge’s theatre, Keokuk, Iowa, and while on a short trip to new York last week consented to write a series of articles on “The Proper Music for Motion Pictures,” for The Film Index. The articles will no doubt be a great help to musicians in the picture business.

No. 1—The Manager.

He was a shrewd (?) man. The clothing business was too slow and he had been fortunate enough to lay away a few thousand just about the time the call of the motion pictures began to ring in his ears. He figured: a nice front, a screen, a box office, and the public would do the rest. So Mr. Narrowmind secured an excellent location in the heart of the business district and spent a liberal amount on a handsome front. He secured the best machine and the best of everything for decorations, then came the salary list.

He wanted an attractive girl at the window. Many applied who would work for three dollars a week, but the one he wanted demanded ten dollars. Then came the doorman. Now, it kept him awake nights thinking of some popular fellow that could give everyone the glad hand. The man he decided on, just the fellow to his notions, would have laughted [sic] if he had been offered six dollars a week for the job, so he figured it money well spent to pay him fourteen. Then came the difficulty that ninety out of every hundred exhibitors experience before opening; the salary list was too large and the seating capacity too small; the same old story. Get a cheap piano player and singer.

Well, to make a long story short, the house was opened and everyone in the neighborhood was willing to take a chance, once. The house was packed, the pictures were fine, but there was something lacking, something that gave the audience an uneasy feeling that made them restless. Mr. Narrowmind stood in the lobby as the crowd passed out, he heard several knocks, but could not understand. Charlotte de Luxe in the box office certainly looked good to the passers-by, and A. La Mode certainly gave everyone the glad hand as they let loose of the pasteboards, but, still the knocks continued night after night until some friend finally suggested a new piano player.

“What! a new piano player!” He only had to pay this one six dollars a week, and the way business was falling off he would have to get a cheaper one.

The can be applied to nine out of every ten exhibitors to-day. I have found that the average exhibitor regards the piano player as a fill in, or something to break the monotony. It grieves me to make this statement, but the average piano player is worse than something to break the monotony, he makes the show monotonous. It is not their fault, it is the fault of the manager, because he pays them such a small salary that they have no heart to work for his interests. They do not care whether the picture is comedy or drama, they are paid a “rag time salary” and it’s “rag time music” the manager gets.

I know a great many managers who buy every new appliance for their machines; have installed the new screens and spend any amount of money to improve the picture, and still they employ a cheap piano player, who is worse than none at all. They do not take into consideration that the music makes the picture, and if they hope to make “picture fans” out of their audience, they should furnish the proper music with the pictures.

How many picture shows have you been in and heard some piano player playing a slow waltz through a comedy, or rag time through some dramatic scene? As soon as the exhibitor wakes up and insists upon his piano player following the pictures, and will pay him the right salary for the same, he will soon realize why his theatre has been a losing proposition in the past. The manufacturers are daily striving to better their productions and place pictures on a higher standard, the exhibitor should do his share.

In my next article I will give the piano players some tips that will be helpful to them in their work, and make them more valuable.

Source: Clyde Martin, “Playing the Pictures,” Film Index 8 October 1910, 30.