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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1923)
Newest Progress Toward Fulfilling Mr. Edison’s Prediction That School Children Will Soon - Be Getting ,f All Their > Learning From Films Jk The dramatic landing of Columbus as it will be shown in the first of a series of films designed to teach the history of America from its discovery right down to the present time Educator* think few children will find their history lessens dull when they consist of such realistic pictures as this of the marriage of Pocahontas, the Indian __princess, to John Rolfe A faithful film reproduction of the Pilgrim* kneeling in the snow and ice to offer prayers of thanksgiving after their landing * ■■v on Plymouth Rock v Queen Isabella saying goodby to Columbus—a scene from the movie history which scholars pronounce accurate in every detail, even to the curious fold in the royal gown CHOMAS A. EDISON is only one of many thoughtful men and women who predict that the school houses of the future will be, at least for the greater part of every day, motion picture theaters. The boys and girls of to-morrow or the day after will learn most of their lessons by watching the most absorbing kind of movies instead of by poring over "dry” textbooks or listening to often tiresome lectures. It will be a great change for the bat ter, Mr. Edison and the others think, in teaching the young idea to shoot— and hit the mark. Through pictures flashed on the silver screen children will grasp the principles of chemistry, physics and biology far better than they could by reading about them or even by watching endless lab oratory experiments. On the movies' "magic carpet” they will travel to the jungles and other wild places of the earth and get a compre hensive grasp of natural history and so ciology almost at first hand. In the same way they will have etched upon their young brainB most unforgettably the famous events that make up the his tory of this earth. "I have made numerous Investiga tions,” says Mr. Edison, "along the lines of teaching children by other methods than books. “I recently made an experiment with a lot of motion pictures to teach chil dren chemistry. I got twelve children to write down what they had learned from the pictures they had seen. It was amazing to me that such a complicated subject as chemistry was readily grasped by them to a large extent through pic tures. "It is my opinion that in twenty years children will be taught through pictures and not through books.” Already educational motion pictures are being used wit4» great success in many schools and colleges and, when they come into general use, it is pre dicted that boys and girls will never want to play truant, but will find their schoolrooms just as fascinating as the movie theater*. We have films covering almost every bianch of science, films reverently and accurately portraying the life of the Saviour, films that record the memo rable events of Old Testament days. But there has long been u crying need for something that is of the utmost impor tance to American boy* anil girls—a complete anil authoritative film history of their own land. At last this need is to be supplied. The Yale University^ Press is making a series of films called "Chronicles of America” under the direction of the Councils Committee on Publications of Yale University, with the technical ad vice of eminent historians at Yale and other colleges. The series begins with the discovery of the continent by Colum bus, and eventually will, it is hoped, be brought right down to the present day. Four of these films have been com pleted and twenty-nine more are in preparation. They represent the last word in historical knowledge of the times and events they portray. Their every detail has been the subject of the most scholarly scrutiny—even to the way the court dressmakers cut Queen Isa bella's robes of state and the kind of. wigs George Washington thought looked best on him. For instance, after finding a suitable actor to play the difficult role of Wash ington, the film producers started search ing for a house to represent his family homestead. On first thought it seemed that an old Colonial house, with tall pillars in front, could he found near the center of opera tions, perhaps a little way up in New Kngland. But after one was picked out an architectural expert objected that it. was a type of house built after the Revolution. This wouldn’t do, of course, in a film that aims at such historical accuracy hs each one of this series. So they halted the "shooting” of the picture until they found the right hi use away down in Virginia. Then they packed up and moved the whole east down there. In “Columbus," the very first picture in the series, much stress is laid on the strong character of the discoverer. Mis hopes and fears and struggles are brought home as they never could he in history books, Hnd children will under stand as never before the sort of cour age anil persistence that brought him success. The ship scenes were made in Chicago, where there is a line replica of Colum bus's ship, the Santa Maria, which car ried him across the ocean. This ship was made for the World's Fair of ISfi'l and is considered a perfect example of the sailing vessels of the fifteenth een tury. Nothing rould be moro thrilling than a true and reverent picture of the land ing of Columbus. Ftobert E. MacAlar ney, the production manager, tells how thrilled with the importance of the scene all the actor* were. Between scene* they were forever studing his tory books and pictures, to be sure that they did full jus tice to the at mosphere of the great • vent. In this film Columbus, a handsome stal wart man, is shown stand ing on the deck of the Santa Maria previous to the landing. Historical ex pert* think it as accurate h picture of the hero and this great event as it ii humanly possible to make Kven the cap on Columbus's head is actually Jthe kind that would have been worn by a man of his standing on an ocean voyage from 1’ortugal in the year 14!':’. It is black velvet'on top, with lhi" aides of the brim turned up to show u red satin lining, and is held In place with a red satin ribbon. Me wear* a tunic of blue-gray cloth, with red bauds at the bottom of the skirt and full satin alarves of light blue. This I* covered b> n red cloth rohe, with collar and lining of dark, long haired fur, to protect him against wind mid weather on the long, dreary voyage Red cilk tight* and light-colored ru-set shoes complete the costume. Just a* carefully the film producers < selected the banner of Spain which he plants on the shore There were »pjiyin her of official banners at tha time, hut it was decided tha* Columbus probably carried to the New World the "Flag of the Green Cross," hearing the cross and the letters F and I, standing for Ferdi nand and Isabella. The opening episodes in the story of Columbus give an excellent opportunity for showing the splendors of the Spanish Court. In the scene where lovely Queen Isabella offers to sell her jewels to help Columbus she is shown in a gorgeous costume copied in the minutest detail from a painting by Bequer which hangs in the Gallery of San Telmon. in Seville. The pains taken to give authentic "atmosphere" to the picture is very well illustrated in the copying of this court costume. The actress playing the part of Queen Isabella did not like a certain fold in the silk dress. The result of her objec tion was a conference of artists and his torians. some of whom thought the skirt might just us well lie allowed to hang straight and others that it should re semble Bequer's picture us closely as possible. In the ejiU the actress hau to wear the dress it wa« the painting, al though there was ‘considerable doubt about the artistic effect of that curious cross fold. The costume worn by Queen Isabella is shown in puintings of the time and by contemporaneous chronicler* as mode of yellow velvet with parti-colored sleeves, having light blue aatin elbow and shoulder puffs. Over the yellow vel vet was an overdress of thin silk ti*»ue held with n gold cord girdle. Isabella's crown was of geld and jewels surmounting a thin transparent veil of silk tissue. Her velvet slippers matched the yellow gown. Ovei the gown she wore n state robe of blue vel vet, rfnfl on top of this n short cape of ermine. Hands of ermine were used to border her gown, and she was further adorned by a heavy gold collar and with some of the most precious court jewels, including a large square cross on a mm chain. In making another of these films, • The Pilgrims,” the climatic conditions had to be duplicated for the landing oti the “bleak and rockbound coast,” and this meant that the actors had to spend a large part of the bitter winter out of doors just as the Pilgrim fathers did. The actual Plymouth Rock could not Lh> used, of course, as it has been re moved some distance inland and made into a sort of memorial monument. An exact duplicate of it was constructed and placed on the shores of Flushing Bay, Long Island, which furnished a good counterpart of the bleak dreariness of the New England coast in winter. “Jamestown" is one of the most inter esting of the four “movie history les sons” thus far completed. Since the original site of the Virginia settlement bears no resemblance now to the colony that played so important a part in the making of America, the set tlement, with its protecting stockade, was reconstructed op Long Island. In this picture the children will see the romance of the Indian princess. Po cahontas, and John Rolfe. Their mar riage is shown in the picturesque little Jamestown church, with the red-skinned princess wearing a highly “civilized” gown. .Since the English in Jamestown had done everything possible to anglicize the Indian girl, even to having her baptized n member of the Church of England, it seems very probable that they tried to make her look as much like an English girl as possible for the wedding. The wedding dress in the picture is such a one as the Englishwomen in the colony would have helped Pocahontas to make, using materials imported from the home country. Although she wears the slashed sleeves and wide skirt of the time, it is inter esting to note that the historians have allowed Pocahontas to keep her Indian headdress. This was because most of the pictures of her by well known artists agree that she retained this mark of her rank even after she had left her tribe. The next picture to be finished was "Vincennes.” This gives another chap ter in the life of Washington. Also it includes the thrilling capture of the fort at Vincennes during the Revolution by that other gallant young Virginian, George Rogers Clark, who marched through the sunken forest at night to surprise the British. It is said that ('lark and his men were up to their waists in mud and water all night long and that the quick sands sucked off their high boots. Bring ing the horses through this treacherous bit of country was a task. So the moving picture soldiers ' marched through real sunken forest, the slimy depths of which they had not in vestigated before. And aa Clark took horses with him, so did they.