In the town of Erie, Pa., in the early nineteen hundreds flourished a little newspaper, on the staff of which was Frank Woods. Besides reporting “news,” Frank Woods sold advertising. Erie, Pa., not long satisfying his ambitions, Mr. Woods set out for the journalistic marts of New York City, and shortly after found himself selling advertising for the _New York Dramatic Mirror_. The idea of getting ads from the picture people came to him when he noticed that pictures were not mentioned in the _Dramatic Mirror_. Writers on the paper were told that any reference to the movies would be promptly blue-penciled. Mr. Woods figured that if he could interest the movie people he might get ads from them and the _Dramatic Mirror_ wouldn’t mind that. But the picture people turned deaf ears. Why pay money for an ad in a paper that was all too ready to crush them? Besides, the _Mirror_ didn’t circulate among the exhibitors and those interested in the movies. The movie people would stick to the more friendly _Billboard_--thank you kindly--it could have their ads. Another idea came to Frank Woods. How about pictures being reviewed? He put the plan before Lee Dougherty, for Lee was always genial and had time to listen. Lee said: “Fine, give us real serious reviews--tell us where we are wrong--but don’t expect an ad for your effort.” The result of this conversation was that three reviews appeared in the _New York Dramatic Mirror_, June, 1908. On a rear end page captioned “The Spectator,” Frank E. Woods dissertated through some columns on the merits and demerits of the movies, and thus became their first real critic. We were very grateful for the few paragraphs. It meant recognition--the beginning. How gladly we parted with our ten cents weekly to see what “Spec” had to say about us. But Mr. Woods didn’t get an ad from the Biograph. So he had another heart-to-heart talk with Mr. Dougherty, and Doc said: “Never mind, keep it up--but as I told you, the reviews aren’t going to influence us about ads.” But in August the Company came across and bought a quarter-page ad for the Biograph movies. The active mind of Frank Woods was not going to stop with critical comments on moving pictures. His new duties necessitated his seeing pictures; and, looking them over and analyzing them for his reviews, he said to himself; “Oh, they’re terrible--I could do better myself--such stories!” So he wrote three “suggestions”--that’s all they were--and that’s what they were then called. With great aplomb, he took them to Mr. Dougherty, and to his amazement Mr. Dougherty turned the whole three down. Sorry, but he didn’t think them up to scratch. But Mr. Woods would not be fazed by a turn-down like that. He wrote three more “suggestions.”