CHARMING WOMAN RUNS "MOVIE" BUSINESS ALL BY HERSELF, AND MAKES BIG SUCCESS OF IT

CHARMING WOMAN RUNS "MOVIE" BUSINESS ALL BY HERSELF, AND MAKES BIG SUCCESS OF IT

." The Day Book, Volume 2, Number 116, 13 February 1913
By Gertrude M. Price.
 "Will you walk into zee offeece?" The fact that the floor was bare, the furniture the simplest business type and the place a picture factory slipped from my mind as Alice Blache, the only woman owner, president, manager and producer of a moving picture concern in this country, bowed me in. Mme. Blache, the founder of the Solax Co. at Fort Lee, N. J., is a gentlewoman with a drawing room personality and a man's
mind for business. "J came to zis countree becoss my husband came," she said when I asked her to tell me about her work. And with her own happy accent, which is just enough to be attractive, she told me how she had commenced, "oh, many years ago," as a private secretary to Gaumont, the French picture manufacturer. The technical and the artistic side of the in
dustry pleased her. She studied it and became thoroughly conversant with every phase. Dan Cupid brought about an introduction between the French girl and Herbert Blache, who was then the London representative of the Gaumont Co. They were married. Herbert Blache was transferred to the United States as the American representative of the company. "And zat's zee reason I am heer," announced my smiling hostess. Here is an interesting point

which will appeal to the Industrious American woman. Mine. Blache decided to found the Solax company because she hates waste. She had time. She had the ability. She loved the picture work. And she wanted to make use of these gifts. "My husband was busee. Why shouldn't I be?" she asked me, raising her eyebrows just a trifle and lifting her shoulders ever such a tiny way. The wisdom of her plan is evident in the size, equipment and productions of the Solax moving picture company which, by the way, is situated on a little hill over on the picturesquely wooded side in Jersey. The Solaz president knows even- part of the manufacture and production of pictures from AtoZ. I had the opportunity to prove this, if proof were' necessary, as' I sat in the bTg studio watching her direct a picture. When the scenes were set, the actors ready and. the camera man in position, she slipped into a warm, fur-lined coat (it was blowy outside and the big studio had a chil) in it. too) : walked up to the camera and squinted through the focusing glass. The actors started: the camera commenced to grind and Mme. Rlache was directing in a voluble, pleasant voice. "Oh. zat is not quite right," she exclainied as her hand touched the camera man and she started toward the actors. "Zere must be more feeling.

So," she said as she gently placed the young girl's arms in the posi, tion she wanted and indicated the "business" of the scene, and the lines. "Zere, now. Try again," she said. And that's the way Madame produces her pictures. It's all done with kindliness and suggestion. She loves her people and tries to help them while she is helping herself. Her studio players are a sort of family with the "jars" left out. Three of Mme. Blache's most recent scenarios are "Flesh and Blood," "The Unknown Heart," and "The Face at the Window." The Day Book, Volume 2, Number 116, 13 February 1913