Motion Picture Story Magazine (Aug 1911-Jan 1912)

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MISS FLORENCE A. LAWRENCE, OF THE LUBIN CO. When the editor decided to inaugurate the Chats with Players, and I received my first assignment for the new department, I felt that I was fortunate. For who that had seen Miss Lawrence's acting would not be delighted with the thought of interviewing her ? When you were a child, did you ever dream that the figures in your favorite pictures upon the nursery walls came down out of their frames and talked and played with you? If you did, you will understand the unreal, dreamlike sensation that I felt when Miss Lawrence, in her own pretty sittingroom in the Philadelphia hotel where she lives, came forward, with gracious words of welcome, to greet me. For Miss Lawrence off the stage is exactly like Miss Lawrence upon the stage — the same charmingly expressive face, the same dainty, natural, yet finished, manner. It was as if The Little Rebel or The Hoiden had suddenly stepped off the screen and begun to converse with me in a musical, clear-toned voice. ' ' I have a long list of questions that I am directed to ask you ; I hope you wont mind," I said, hesitatingly. "I have not promised to answer them all, but you may ask them all," she smiled. So I asked them all, and she answered most of them, directly and concisely, with an occasional witty comment which made the task a pleasure. According to these answers, Florence A. Lawrence, known to her intimates as "Flo", was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, of Irish and English parents. Just when this event took place was not stated, but I am convinced that it could not have been very long ago. She was educated at the Loretta Academy in Toronto. Her stage work began with baby parts when she was three years old. Then she pla}7ed Little Lord Fauntleroy, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ten Nights in a Barroom, Rob .Roy ; toured the West as leading lady in the Lawrence Dramatic Company, and finally, three years ago, turned her attention to Motion Pictures, in which she has played innumerable parts with the Edison, Vitagraph, Biograph, Imp and Lubin companies. "Dont you miss the glare of the footlights and the applauding audiences ? " I questioned. ' ' No, ' ' she replied. ' ' I am quite contented without those features. I love to go into a Photoshow and sit unknown, among the audience, watching the effect that my pictured acting has upon them; but I do. that as a study rather than as a gratification to my feelings, tho, of course, I am pleased when I see that they like my efforts. I enjoy all my work when I am in the right mood, but it's hard to act tragedy when one feels like comedy, or vice versa — and I always dislike rehearsing." ' ' Do you ever go to the picture houses and appear before the audiences ? ' ' Miss Lawrence's height is only five feet four, and her weight only one hundred and eighteen pounds, but the look that she gave me at this question shriveled me (altho 1 am many sizes larger) into a mere pigmy beside her. "Emphatically, no," she said. I changed the subject, hastily, to that of her favorite sports and pastimes, and she smiled again. "I love the country," she declared with enthusiasm; "the seaside, the 131