Page:Truth About The Movies, The (1924).djvu/15



N PRESENTING this book to the public, it is our utmost desire that it fulfill a purpose. Its purpose is—TRUTH, impartial and unbiased. For years, the public have shown an unselfish, enthusiastic interest in motion pictures, for which everyone in this industry feels that he or she owes an unselfish and enthusiastic return. Everyone in this industry has tried to give you that unselfish and enthusiastic return but, oftentimes, the literature concerning the motion picture industry has not exactly answered those vital questions which have sprung up in your mind. Oftentimes, you have felt that, with the meager information at hand, you cannot solve, to your own satisfaction, the interesting phases of a business in which you are vitally interested. You have felt that you are an outsider, groping in the dark, looking for knowledge and enlightenment on the subject of engaging in the motion picture profession.

In view of this, we have enlisted the sympathetic counsel and advice of men and women in all branches of the industry, whose practical achievements and whose reputations have been beacon lights. They have only too willingly co-operated with us, grasping at an opportunity to tell, in simple language, with open hearts and unbiased judgment, what their experience has been, how they, like you, have hoped and struggled and found in the end—success and justification of their ideals.

After all, humanity rules and governs. It is the heart beat which strengthens and guides. Human sympathies and love are the things which make life worth living and these qualities, above all else, are paramount in a business which centers around all. Perhaps, day after day, you wish and hope for the time when you, like many others, may emerge from a narrow environment and make your way in the great, ambitious world which lies there, perhaps waiting for you.

And yet, you may be one who has not been given the divine spark of expression. It may be that we can save you many a heartache and disappointment.