All this is surely not beyond the power of modern stagecraft, which has already surmounted such obstacles and accomplished such wonders.  The projection, it is unnecessary to say, must be from behind, not from before, to avoid throwing the actors’ shadows on the scenery.  There must still, of course, be lighting from the front, and the shadow problem still exists, but no more than it does with ordinary scenery.  Its solution lies in diffusing the light.  No spotlight could be used, and its enforced absence would be one of the incidental blessings of the moving scene.

The advantages of this moving-picture scenery would be many and obvious.  Prominent among them of course are fidelity to nature and richness of detail.  The one, however, on which I desire to lay stress here is the flexibility in change of scene that we have lost with the introduction of heavy material “scenery” on our stages.  This flexibility would be regained without the necessity of discarding scenery altogether and going back to the Elizabethan reliance on the imagination of the audience.

Of course, moving scenery would not be required or desired in all dramatic productions—­only in those where realistic detail combined with perfect flexibility and rapidity of change in scene seems to be indicated.  The scenery should of course be colored, and while we are waiting for the commercial tri-chroic picture with absolutely true values, we may get along very well with the di-chroic ones, such as those turned out with the so-called Kinemacolor process.  Those who saw the wonderful screen reproduction of the Indian durbar, several years ago, will realize the possibilities.

And more than all else, may we not hope that these new backgrounds may react on the players who perform their parts in front of them?  Not necessarily; for we have seen that it does not always do so in the present movie play.  But I am confident that the change will come.  Little by little the necessities of the case are developing actors who act naturally.  One may pose in a canoe on a painted rapid; but how can he do so in the real water course, where every attitude, every play of the muscles must be adapted to the real propulsion of the boat?

In short, the movie may ultimately require its presenters to be real, and so may come a school of realism in acting that may have its uses on the legitimate stage also.

Who will be the first manager to experiment with this new adjunct to the art of the stage?

A WORD TO BELIEVERS[17]

[17] Address at the closing session of the Church School of
Religious Instruction, St. Louis.