To the Editor of the "Nonmu-Cmixa Dany News"
'Sm—In your issue of to-day Fuat Fax requests some local resident of 30 years' standing to give him the lie of and the names of the leading players in "the first feature film presented in Shanghai."
"The question arises, just what constitutes 2 "feature film" and why?
The earliest "features" (if they may bbe called such?) were serials, prominent among them being "The Perils of Pauline," in" which Pearl White starred. Then there was "Phantomaz a serial of weird happenings. For comedy there was the ever-welcome Max Linder, "WhiMles" (Mr. Prince); a stout, elderly gentleman named " "Bunny" "and, of course, "Lonesome Luke," nowadays Harold Lloyd, who had for support Bébé Daniels and Snub Pollard, and capital Alms they were too.
The only cinema "hall" thirty years or so ago was the Victoria, This was in Chapoo Road; five six Chinese houses, opposite to where the Lion Cafe stands to-day, had their Interior, party walls removed, making abi of sorts, capable of The "penny gat" apparently was a Hnanelal success, as the proprietor bbulli the Victoria, located on Haining Road, the original play-house having many names before it was finally demolished.
For a while the proprietor of the Victoria ran the old place as the "Colon Cinema" and among its. successive names was The Shows, a Japanese Katsudo and, finally, the Hongkew Cinema. new Hongkew Cinema was built on the corner of Chapoo and Malning Roads and this apparently still going strong.
In those days the show was a Cinema-cum-variety affair, songs, dances and specialities being inter palated between the films, presumably in order to permit of the projector cooling down, one machine only being deemed adequate in those early days, Many of the lady-choristers had more-or-less friendly relations with the audience, back-chat and criticism of the artisie's form, Agure or performance being freely indulged in, with advice across the footlights, given and taken. In fact this welter recalls Miss Violet Bonetta hheetic occasion coming "down front" writer and Distant, that shed wring their respective somethinged necks if they didn't "shut up." And methinks she could have done it too, as Vi was a hetty The first "talking Alms" screened Shanghai were shown at the Olympic (subsequently extensively altered and re-named the Embassy). They were thought wonderful at the time (approximately twenty years ago) and. were the ordinary silent lin to which a gramophone record was attached, played by a long endless belt, extending from the projection room to the amplifying horn fixed in the orchestra pit, The synchronization was remarkably good during the early part of the programme but towards the end, either the belt stretched too much, or something went wrong with the works, as while a charming lady was shown singing "Home Sweet Home" the singer's lips and motions were bars ahead of the "sound effects," the result being vastly amusing, if nol edifying.
The programme, it is recalled, began with a stirring speech deliver-by Theodore Roosevelt, at Oyster Later, about fifteen years ago, the first talking pictures, in the accepted sense of the term, were shown at the same theatre, at that time the Embassy. The picture was called "Strange Cargo" depicting exciting incidents during a yachting cruise, the most outstanding feature being the entire lack of modulation of the voices, gentle ladies blaring and Dlatting with a timbre similar to that. of a deep-water boatswain's voice. But again the audience thought it marvellous, in fact this writer saw the picture thrice!
Shanghai, Mar. 3.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.