Judge — July 19, 1919 — page 8: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Mourners From the Celluloid By Dox Herxovn REFATORY NOTE BY THE AUTHOR: I can P not sit in a movie and weave myself socks or sweat ers. Not that textiles do not interest me; it is simply that men do not weave in public places. I think it was in the middle of the winter of tg10-11 that Ir ized that I would have to do something at the movies, stay away. Staying away was not so easy, with public opinion tugging at me every other evening, or oftener, tugging me movieward—the opinion of one wife, two sons and one daughter—which became public enough if I resisted it. One night, at our neighborhood theatre, I chanced to read a few of the captions—between the pic- tures proper, you know. I don’t know why I had never noticed them before. They interested me. I jotted down acouple. That was my start I believe I now have the largest private collection of moving picture captions in the United States if not, as is id, in the world. At first I relied on my own rapid pencil. But I discovered that many of the rare ones were escaping me. So I em- loyed a stenographer to take them down in short- hand as I read them. Some one is always reading them, if your own breath fails you I started with one stenog- pher. Now I have steno- sraphic agents in all of the first-run movie theatres in New York on every first I employ three young s for filing, alone, in the nuse I have built to estern et thar m house my captions. I am now considering negotiating Seized eradoes are with all the producers for rner—He ain't no west rman, out he ance copies of the cap- ‘olley mote 8 y J. H. Sern in Jopce, March 3tet, 1895 Gracious! what all scenarios. Then the work of my own o will consist only in sorting and climinat- ‘However, little elimination will be necessa It is surprising how many of the captions are do not care how many other people collect movie cap- tions. Anybody may have the idea. I am telling it to the world with the hope that it will lessen suffering. I go to the movies, now, with a light step, almost eagerly, with my family on one side and three stenos raphers on the other. I have only this word of advice to prospective collectors: do not copy every caption Some are better than others. Here are a few ex- amples, taken at random, from my collection of alm alf million rew sick as Cora ¢ ed her cynical “With each tig load y ed. from heart.” Blake's Untrained in any craft, orkaday world had her.” “ Bennet seas a forceful man and he had a way h him that ccomen could not resist.” “Her father and mother had never understood the child they had brought into the sveorld.” the whole “Deep into the mire of debt in @ pitiful atten to pull h self up into the su sunshine of arrived in Paris in time for Wuat Tuey Laucnen At Twenty-Five my costume ball tonight. Ar- Years Aco—III let ill be there.’ nore'n fifty people, “Tm just mabing some tests of waterproofing for the sunken garden.” (Laboratory scene.) terrible ows these west- ner, pard. He's a Brook- for ealth. of stairs a * comicbooks.com