Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/521

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is far from being perfected, it may be that before long such copies of plays and operas by leading actors and singers with the best possible stage settings may be more effective than the average performance, as the photographic reproduction of a great painting may have more artistic value than an inferior original. As much as $150,000 has been spent on the production of a single set of films, and leading actors, such as Madame Bernhardt and Sir H. Beerbohn Tree have acted before the film camera. At present most of the shows exhibit crude farces and melodramas, and it may not be altogether satisfactory that a third as much money is spent on them as on our entire public school system. We may hope, however, that the moving picture show will make possible a democratic development of art and become an educational institution of the greatest possible consequence.