THE SUNDAY OREGONTAN, PORTLAND, OCTOBER 31, 1915.
Mit: .Will
V3Xr3SUr, V t l t t i i ma ts. ti-i-ni i n m m n n in t i mm ;::;, m u m--m m n t i.H i
Why Do You Want to
Go Into the "Movies"?
WHY do you want to go Into the
"movieB?"
You're going: to answer the
ttuestior.. giving all .the reasons under
the sun:
Somebody told you you looked like
Francis X. or Clara Kimball.
You always did take good pictures.
At school they always told you that
you had marked dramatic ability. When
you recited "Curfew Shall Not Ring
Tonight" all your aunts and uncles and
gradmothers and grandfathers looked
at you with awe and likened you to
Julia Marlowe and Mary Anderson and
Duse and prophesied that some day you
would set the world on fire.
You're tired of just being ordinary
like the other 939 majority. You want
to do something different. ,
What's the use of slaving along for
ten or twelve or twenty-five or twenty-seven-fifty
per when you might be
making a thousand just as easy as roll
ing off the proverbial log?
You've been told that anybody with
"The fa t-t that yon aln with a-usto la
no mr nlsn exhibitors will tight for
the chance of billing you.
nerve could make the 'movies" go.
Nerve! Ha! Didn't you have a double
wisdom todth pulled without taking a
thing? And didn't you ride down the
Capitol steps once on a bicycle? Nerve!
. And then, last but not least not in
the vurr' least you have heard that
the work is easy. Plenty of nothing
to do except occasionally and then
pleasant doings. Automobile trips and
chicken dinners, whenever a necessary
Kcene to be taken in the country af
fords the needed excuse for same
which Ui as often as merry directors
and gladsome actors and actresses can
manage It. Valets and maids hopping
around to fulfill the slightest behest of
a m. p. p. Ah-h-hhhh!
The?e and others are your reasons.
They're what you've heard.
All right. Now let me tell you a few
things I've heard.
If you take good pictures, that is
something In your favor, certainly, for
one must photograph well in order to
he successful on the screen. But this
Is only one qualification.
You must have personality.
That's the great asset. There are
hundreds of pretty girls and good-looking
men who photograph well to be seen
on the streets every day. But, I ask
you, how many of them attract and
hold your attention? Not one In a
hundred. You pass them by with a
casual glance and give them not the
half of a first thought.
The hundredth person may not have
taken a beauty prize or been crowned
queen or king of a fashion show, but
instinctively you pause in passing and
look again. Something has attracted
you held your eyes and your thought
for a moment. A person with per
sonality has crossed your trail.
After personality, what?
The God-given knack of "getting
aoross." On the stage voice and words
would help. On the screen you are
dependent absolutely on action. So,
whether the scene be boisterous or
quiet, action must be trenchant preg
nant with all that action means and
words could say.
Ability. Natural ability, comes next.
So many write asking if a course in
photoplay acting is necessary. They
want to know if one must have had
experience on the "legitimate" stage
In order to become a screen artist.
Neither la necessary, but
Tou must be a good mimic. You must
be able and willing to do as you are
told. You must have some idea of
how people in different walks of life
would do under various circumstances.
You must be adaptable, facile easily
molded to action. The fact that you
recite with perfect ease and composure
VOTE! FOR THE PICTtIRR OW
YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER.
Peggy Sweeney received the
highest number of votes last
week. Her picture, therefore,
will appear in the Frame of Pub
lie Favor next Sunday. Of th
other players voted upon the fol
lowing six are the leaders:
Matt Moore. Harry Myers. Sid
ney Bracy, Morgan Jones Be- . J
atrlz Michelina and Mae March. I
The Ballot. 1
requests the pleasure of see
ing the photograph of
appear In the Frame ot
Public Favor
n week from next Sunday.
time-worn and honored epics and .sing
with gusto and felling all of Mr. Irving
Berlin'B latest madnesses is no sure
sign, rabbit's foot attached, that you
are going to be a drawing card that
exhibitors will light for the privilege
of billing. Get that little idea right
out of your head.
Then, as regards this question ' of
munificent salaries whodja think yuh
are? A Mary Pickford, or a Blllle
Burke, or a Oeraldine Farrar, or a
Henry-B. Walthall? If you are there's
a hope for you that some day some
day, mind you in the future, you may
make considerable money. But if you're
not well, just don't believe all the wild
stories you hear, that's all I want to
say. Be thankful and happy that
you've a good, steady job stenograph
ing, or secretarying-, or lawyering, or
driving a delivery wagon. Good and
thankful, for steady jobs are at a pre
mium now, and you were born under a
lucky star if you have one.
As to the work being easy, that all
depends on the iway you look at It You
have to be on the job whether you're
working or not, and let me tell you
that after a few days of sitting around
a studio from 8 in the morning until
6 in the afternoon waiting for a call
from the director that doesn't ma
terialize, you're just about ready to
beat it back to where you came from..
You think of all the things you might
be doing, and you're not a particu
larly desirably constituted personage if,
thinking of action, you can Bit down
comfortable under inaction. (Neither,
quoth she in parentheses, are you
likely to amount to much when the
chance for action presents itself.)
Then, it's not so easy to be com
pelled to do a scene say a drowning
scene over three or four times, when
th water is cold and the air Is colder.
Nor does it bring Joy to the bones to
walk barefoot , in the snow in order
to picture the ajb scene demanded by
the scenario writer and being de
terminedly carried out by the director.
Also "falling naturally" has its dis
advantages that often result in sprains
and breaks, and when hnging from a
building by a rope there is, you know,
always a chance that the rope is not
the good, reliable hemp it has been
cracked up to be.
You say, thouph, you want to be a
screen . star.
Why?
Sh-u-ure! I'm only discouraging you
because I'm jealous!
Voice
o& Fan
Uets Her Money's Worth.
DEAR MISS TIKEE: The first part
of this letter is to thank Charles
Pimbley for his opinion of the people
who attend the movies. His remark,
"If "A Producer would put on some
thing good the mora Intelligent class
of people would go," surely gets me.
for how. If he Is eo wonderfully in
telligent, does he know what Is put on?
If It would not seriously inconvenience
htm to go more often he might see
something really worth while.
I spend my nickels quite freely and
am rewarded for doing so by seeing
some wonderfully good productions,
and they are not of the dime novel
sort, either; and as to his remark, "The
class of people who go to the movies
of today likes dime novels and would
kick if handed something good," allow
me to say I have never read a half
dozen dime novels In my life, and I am
now close to 40. Surely time to begin
if I am ever going to, and yet, strange
as it may appear to him, I enjoy the
movies, and quite frequently I find
myself close to a college-bred man or
woman enjoying the pictures as much
as I.
So much for that mortal! Now here
is what follows: Along with the daily
programme we generally are treated to
a comedy. I am no lover of comedies,
but I think of those who do enjoy them
and who go to the movies expressly for
them: but why In thunder don't the
comedies come singly Instead of in
sixes and sevens? Why, in a period
covering only two weeks I saw seven
comedies built around the unsuspecting
Count. It was Count This and Count
ANSWERS TO
JANICE M. : Pearl White is in her
early 20s. Ella Hall is 17. Flor
ence La Badie is 21. Mary Pick
ford is 22. Yes, James Cruze and Mar
guerite Snow played in "The Million
Dollar Mystery." I am glad you like
the page, Janice. You are a wise little
person not to have given up your edu
cation to go into pictures. Address
Cleo Madison, in care of the Universal
Company, Universal City. Cal.
J. P. 6.: The Edison company id lo
cated at 2S26 Decatur avenue, Bedford
Park, N. Y. This Is where the scenario
department is.
Ruth J.: It is my duty to keep the
name of the person who writes "His
Letters" a deep, dark secret. If I
should tell, grr-rr-rrt I reckon Harold
Lockwood would answer if you wrote
him in care ot the American company,
Santa Barbara, Cal. Thank you, my
dear, for wanting to meet me. I ap
preciate your thought.
Margaret: It was so nice ot you to
write to me. No, indeed. I don't feel
in the least cross. Yes, Edna Mayo
has been in the Frame of Public Favor.
Florence La Badie is still with the
Thanhouser company. Write again
some time, won't you? I assure you
there has been no trouble at all to
answer your questions.
Anxious: Address Grace Cunard, In
care of the Universal company. Uni
versal City, CaL I don't know the name
of Francis Ford's wife. Yes, Cleo
Madison would get your letter If you
addressed it as you say you did. Vic
toria Forde is not related to Francis
Ford. Don't you see they spell their
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MARC MACUERMOTT, of the Edison Company, is the favorite photoplayer with a great many fans, who declare
that both his personality and histrionic ability make him the peer of all screen stars. Mr. MacDermott is
English by birth. He started his career with George Rlgnold, of "Henry V" fame, and played for seven years
under his management in the principal cities of Australia, obtaining under hlra sound training in Shakespearean and
other dramatic productions. Later he was with Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Rtchard Mansfield, and la stock. Then
pictures "got him." Mr. MacDermott is fair, has auburn hair, is six feet tall, and weighs 170 pounds. Now you
know his terrible past.
That, and not one in the whole seven
amounted to anything.
If that is all the producers pay staff
wr!teis big salaries for, then I say give
the outside man a chance and perhaps
a new Idea will hit the studio and even
tually the public. The staff writers
surely do take the cake for working an
idea to death. Here's hoping the pro
ducers at large will see this and profit
thereby. JUDITH.
Oae for Kerria-aa.
Dear Miss Tlnee: When looking over
the movie picture section of the Sun
day paper I observed on your very en
joyable page poems written to you
about favorites, and so I tried writing
one, my first, to J. W. Kerrigan:
The women think that Bushman's there
Until they see J. W.'s hair. s
His style, his ways, are best of all.
Far better than those of H. B. Wal
thall This handsome moving picture man.
This great, big Kerrigan.
His work in Samson has never been
beat.
As-well as his many other good feats;
And when. he's in a loving scene
The girls just get right up and scream
This handsome moving picture man.
This great, big Kerrigan. x
E. WEBSTER.
MOVIE FANS
last name differently? She is with
the Universal company also.
W. A.: In the Vltagraph production,
"Two Women," both Julia Swayne Gor
don and Anita Stewart appeared. Anita
Stewart was Anita of the woodland
and Julia Swayne Gordon was Cleo
Emerson. Earle Williams took the part
of John Einerson and Harry Northrup
was Robert Lawler. No trouble at all.
Write again some time.
A. V. Y.: Little Jack Paul took the
part of Beverly Bayne's son in "The
Plum Tree."
Just 14: I don't see why Mr. Chaplla
would not answer a letter from a "kid"
Just as readily as he would from an
older person. I am glsd you don't
think I am either a "Turk" or a
"heathen Chinee." I assure you I am
neither. A little, my dear Watson. Yes,
Indeed, you certainly can write to me
just like a grown up sister, and I
wish you would. Your vote was re
ceived. It takes a number of votes,
you know, to get a picture into the
frame. Address.. Mr. Chaplin, in care
of the Essanay, Los Angeles. CaL He
will be sure to get your letter.
Babe: Actresses usually shed real
tears when the picture depicts them as
crying. This is an art, I know, but
then lots of our movie stars are artists.
Marguerite Clarke was born in 1382.
Florence Lawrence has been merely
taking a rest. It is expected she Ul
return to pictures soon.
Rose: Beverly Bayne's real name is
Pearl Ban Name. 6he Is not with the
Eesanay company any longer. She has
MARC MAC DfcMOTT
gone with tha Metro company, Los
Angeles. Cal. "Leads" of the United
Photoplays Company are Gerda Holmes,
her husband, Rapley Holmes, and Wil
muth Myrkel.
Dotty: Thanks vurr much. Jack
Standing's picture has been in the
"Frame." Is he the one you mean?
He is with the Famous Players com
pany. If I ever find myself In need
of an assistant. Dotty, I certainly will
' think of you. It is lovely to know
you'd like to "assist:"
M. H-: If you mean Bryant Wash
burn, his picture has been in the
"Frame." Charles Chaplin has not.
Write Mr. Chaplin In care ot the E
eanay Company, Los Angeles, Cal. Be
sure to inclose a quarter.
Betty: If you will write to Charles
Adventures of the Silly
TMBtR
Birr THEM
IOrfT -OdkJ
O OOR.
31
3
SHIP Oft A idffiWOTS boor I
I n
Chaplin in care of the Essanay Com
pany, Los Angeles, Cel.. inclosing a
quarter for his photograph, there is a
chance you may get one. Follow th
same method of procedure with
Crelghton Hale, who is .with the Pathe
Freres Company, 1 Congress street.
Jersey City Heights, N. J.
Ella Hall Fan: There Is no reason
why Miss Hall should not have re
ceived your letter if you directed it as
you say you did. You pronounce
Leonard with the accent on the first
syllable and Cunard with the accent on
the last. I couldn't print a list of the
actors and actresses who answer let
tekj themselves, for the good reason
that I don't know. I think most of
them try to. There v are a number of
magazines that print stories and pic
tures of the stars. You can find out
Gallillies in Movie Land
KEEJ ST1U, KOBA'
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A ROPE., RESCUE
HlA Awn ur KM
KHQVAJ OUR. SECRET
DON'T
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FOR. MVl
OF TXfc I
SHIPPED I
1 MAD OREl
I THAN CfE I
lit lEC -m i
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TO tE. CcTiwO.r
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what they are at any news stand.
Thank you for liking the Right Off
the Reel page. I love getting it up.
Joseph F. O. N. : Both Mr. Richie and
Mr. Chaplin declare they originated
tha makeup Which has made the world
laugh. Don't ask me to be umpire. No.
it is not necessary to take a course in
scenario writing in order to sell mo
tion picture plays, if you have a good
Idea and put it In simple story form it
will stand just as much chance of ac
ceptance as though you had labored
and worried over technique. No, mo
tion picture actors and actresses do
not take up a special course in acting.
Kathlyn Williams was married and is
now divorced. 1 don't know her exact
age.
Jessie M.: Lottie Pickford is about
20 years old. Eugenie Forde Is In her
TROPIC OF INTEREST TO
MOVING-PICTURE FANS
A PRETTY actress of the film drama
declares that motion pictures
have done more for the estab
lishment of uniformity in woman's dress
than any other outside fashion medium.
It is easy to see where the film star gets
proof of her assertion, for in the late
fashion show the motion picture ac
tresses were more in the limelight-than
any other class of women. A Him
actress led the fashion parade. Honors
were bestowed upon countless movie
actresses for the sense and ingenuity
of- costume.
Tbe number of motion picture stars
whose clothes are a sensation, both for
beauty and elegance, has been greatly
added to by a number ot legitimate
actresses who have Joined the silent
ranks In 1S15. And it is both through
them and the screen display of designs
by leaders of fashion and the artists
of gown creation both of America and
Europe that the knowledge of a wom
an's dress and how she should and
docs look in it. has been universal
ized. A three-flag run, from Mexico,
through the United States to Canada,
was the unique stunt of an endurance
run for an -automobile made this week.
The car made the long distance In 127
hours without stopping the engine or
machine from the time of starting till
It reached its destination. The car was
manned by Don Smith, the agent at
Los Angeles; Al G. Waddell, auto edi
tor of the Los Angeles Times; Joe Wad
dell, cameraman at Universal City, and
C H. Hunter and Jack Griffith, both
veteran drivers. The car left Tla
Juana Sunday morning, and arrived in
Vancouver Friday about noon. Camera
man Waddell made a number of scenic
pictures of various picturesque points
along the route which will be released,
through the Universal programme.
There is a bunch of farmers, land
scape artists, painters and decorators
in the ranks of the Western Vltagraph
studio who recently discussed the rela
tive merits of the various bungalows
and houses owned by members of the
company. This led to. a novel scheme.
The chief boasters of tbe aggregation
agreed to have photos taken of their
much beloved properties, put each photo
on file and then set to work to see how
much more beautiful their own could
be made inside three months. Th de
cision on the matter will rest with a
committee of three. The improvements
are to consist of flowers, lawn and
paint but especially flowers. Already
three of the contestants have been seen
on their knees on respective lawns
trying to decide which end of the seed
goes in the ground first, and how many
seeds to put into each little hole. The
outcome Is watched with Interest. In
making the decision, the one who has
done most will be favored rather than
the one who started with a slight edge
in the way of a newly built, beautifully
patnted domicile.
.
Dainty, talented, lovable and beauti
ful little Mimi Yvonne, the 7 H -year-old
little leading lady, has been added
to the Lubln Stock Company. For the
past six years little Mimi has been en
dearing herself to tbe hearts -of audi
ences of Europe and America with her
appearances on the speaking stage and
In motion pictures, for her first ap
pearance behind the footlights was
made on October 21. 1909, with tbe
' celebrated English actor, Martin Har
rey. Little Miss Yvonne made her first
pronounced "hit" in motion pictures in
the titular role of "The Littlest Rebel,'
for which performance the press of the
country were unanimous in their proc
lamation of the youthful actress, for
such she Is; not merely a portrayer of
the stage child, but a finished litUe
actress, be it comedy role or the more
serious.
Since her debut in motion pictures
ahe has earned tbe indorsement of such
producers as Herbert Brenon, King
Baggot, Daniel Frohman, William Fox
and others.
Her first appearance with tbe Lubln
Company will be In the coming pro
duction of a strong dramatic story by
Dr. Daniel Carson Goodman, which is
now being produced by Director Joseph
Kaufman with Vlnnie Burns in the
leading role.
Gordon Sackville, known to the
oreen fans for his splendid character
Impersonations in Balboa features, has
been a soldier, sung in opera and con
ducted a motion picture theater. Few
men have had the varied experiences
la life that Sackville knows about
first-banded. Yet you might be with
him a year and never dream it, for
ha has a modest Scotch disposition and
seldom talks about himself.
The son of a "hardshell" ' Baptist
minister, Gordon Sackville sang his
way through Kalamazoo College. Then
he went to New York, fully determined
to become a grand opera star. He
was well started on his road to a
career when the Spanish war broke
out. Patriotism swerved him into a
uniform. Entering Uncle Sam's serv
ice as a private, he came out with the
rank of First Sergeant.
Having saved his money, Sackville
then bad enough to go to Paris and
study music for- two years. He was
under the same teacher who made
Caruso, at the very time the premier
tenor was winning his spurs. Sack
ville developed such a fine baritone
voice that when he returned to this
country he bad no trouble landing well
la several of Charles Frohman's musi
30s. I think you are referring to Billy
Jacobs in children's pictures. He is
adorable, isn't he?
W. B.: Forest Stanley played the
part of Rob Van Buren in "The Rug
maker's Daughter." I am so glad you
find the Right Off the Reel page in
teresting. I've tried to make It so.
Ruth L. S.: "Funny and cay, am I?
Well? Dash nlsch. Write to Mary
Pickford in care of he Famous Play
ers Company. 213 West Twenty-sixth
street. New York.
"His Letters." which are tha
epistles from a moving picture
actor in California to his lawyer
friend in Chicago, will appear
from time to time on this page.
In the Intervals will appear va
rious articles of timely Interest.
cal productions. He was also with
Fritml Scheft. Having had some stage
experience before with Richard Mans
field, a flier into pictures with the
Edison company was not unnatural.
Then Sackville tried his hand in the
business end of the industry as an
exhibitor. But he found acting more
to his liking. Coming to the Tacitic
Coast about five years ago. he played
successively with all the big companies,
and finally landed in Long Beach with
Balboa. That was a year ao. Gordon
Saikville is regarded as one of the
stand-bys at the Herkheimer studies.
Few men are more reliable than he.
When not working his principal diver
sion is reading.
At the invitation of Director-Gcn-tral
McRae. of the Universal Film
Manufacturing Company. 200 girl stu
dents from the Los Angeles Polytechnic
High School this week visited Uni
versal City for a days outing at the
big plant, watching their film favorites
at work before the camera and getting
an inside knowledge of how pictures
are made. The party was chaperoned
by half a dozen of the teachers, who
evidently enjoyed the unusual sights
quite as much as did their charges.
They expressed an exceptional inter
est in all they saw, particularly the
work of Paul Bourgeois with the ani
mals In the production of the "Tiger
woman" and of Phillips Smalley in the
production of Booth Tarkintfton's "The
Flirt."
Before their return to the city they
were allowed to take part in Director
Otis Turner's production of "Penning
ton's Legacy," a five-part story written
by Meredith Nicholson and in which
J. Warren Kerrigan is being starred.
The play calls for several interior
scenes of a girls' semiamry. and the
schoolgirl visitors fitted nicely with the
effect desired.
William H. Clifford, who enjoys the
unique distinction of being the only
man who ever relinquished the prero
gatives of the director for the power
of the pen, has resigned from the New
York Motion Picture Corporation to
assume charge of the scenario depart
ment of the Famous Players Film Com
pany. Mr. Clifford is already in New
York, where he has begun work on
the preparation of several Important
scripts for immediate picturization.
e
Mothers will no longer be obliged
to remain away from Paramount Picr
ture theaters. If managers throughout
the country follow the new plan or a
number of Western exhibitors who
have Installed a "check your baby at
the door" system.
The commission appointed to look
after vice conditions, etc., in Ontario,
Canada, made a very unusual sugges
tion to the municipal government re
garding the censorship of plays, films,
etc. They stated that in addition to
condemning the bad and immoral films,
the good and worthy plays should be
upheld and receive the indorsement of
the censors. They argued that this
would be an added incentive to the
manufacturers to better their films and
at the same time act as an automatic
guide to the public The idea is being
considered in Toronto.
m m
Mary Pickford is so' enamored of the
Japanese maidens who have been as
sembled to support her in the Paramount-Famous
Players' adaptation of
John Luther Long's novel. "Madame
Butterfly." that sho is anxious to ob
tain the services of one of these dimi
nutive damsels as her own maid. The
neatness of the daughters of Nippon
has appealed very strongly' to Little
Mary, who declares that she believes
that they are unsurpassable in point of
personal neatness.
"Educate young women to go to
clean, wholesome motion pictures," is
the advice given reformers who in re
cent reports have declared that drunk
enness among the young women in
Philadelphia Is Increasing. The In
vestigators believe that if young
women will attend the better class of
pictures the tendency will be toward h
decrease in the sale of liquor. This
was recently proven in Brooklyn.
Elsie Janis says that to be a suc
cessful actress 3 girl requires tha tem
per of an angel, the face of a Greek
.goddess, the figure ot a Gaby Deslys
and the skin of a rhinoceros.
Helen Dunbar, who is perhaps the
beat known grand dame and "mother"
in motion pictures and who la now
playing important roles with Francis
X. Bushman, In Quality-Metro produc
tions, has just bought a beautiful
home in Hollywood. CaL It Is situated
on top of a hill in the western section,
overlooking Los Angeles.
Marie Doro and Elliott Dexter, who
wore recently engaged by the Fine
Arts Film Company for work in fea
ture Triangle plays, were both mem
bers of the recent New York cast of
"Diplomacy," which presented Miss
Doro as the star player. Mr. pexter.
who also starred with Nance O'Nell in
"The Lily." has already arrived at the
Fine Arts Films California studio and
is making preparations to play an Im
portant role In a Lillian Gsh feature
drama, about to be put into produc
tion. e
Charles Clary appeared in the first
film ever witnessed by the late Pope.
In "The Penitentes," Clary appears in
the support of the Fine Arts Films
star, Orrin Johnson