The Moving picture world (November 1926-December 1926)

198 MOVING PICTURE WORLD Seeking Beauty in Far Places Edwin C. Hill of Fox Is Combing Italy and Spain For Film Talent By Sumner Smith THE search for new screen faces has become world-wide. The Fox Fihn Corporation has boldly challenged two great Latin nations — Spain and Itah— to enter their handsomest men and most charming women in contests to select screen talent. Similar contests are in the making for other nations, including several in South America. He Faces Fame Rome and Madrid have been in a furore of excitement. Two hundred thousand boys and girls have besieged photographers and forwarded huge numbers of photos to the Fox company. The two candidates for motion picture honors seen on this page have won a year's trial, with a generous salary and all expenses paid from their homes to Hollywood and back. When girls meet all the requirements, the company also pays the expenses of a duenna. A board of judges is working over-time in Rome, passing on applications. Its work requires considerable gray matter. Not only must it select outstanding acting possibilities, but it must exercise diplomacy in soothing the rejected and appeasing the national vanity. Edwin C. Hill, supervising director of the Hollywood Fox studios, is an charge of the campaign. Clayton P. Sheehan, head of the Fox Foreign Department, also is abroad and keeping a watchful eye on it. Hill Deluged with Applications In Italy alone Mr. Hill has received between 70,000 and 80,000 applications. He has had Mrs. Hill and a cameraman help him go through this enormous mass of photographs. Usually each application contains three different photos. Mr. Hill has found the contest idea to be highly successful. He hopes to bring thirty or forty pictures to America for the inspection of William Fox and Winfield R. Sheehan. The Latin races, he says, have a grace and vitality all of their own, and screen exceedingly well. They also have a natural histrionic ability. But the women, while beautiful, have one fault. Most of the feminine selections were of girls under 22 years of age because of this fault. It is that Italian beauties who have passed that age show a tendency toward plumpness, nay, even fullness. This youngster hails from the Adriatic Coast of Italy, noted for its classic male types — the region that gave Rudolph Valentino to the motion pictures. He'll be over here soon. Men Average Better Than Women The young men, Mr. Hill found, average better than the women in point of screen adaptibility. Many of the most impressive types come from the province of Apulia, which gave Valentino to the world. The central Adriatic coast is reputed a district in which may be found male types reminiscent of the classic sculptor's models. Greeks settled on these shores long before the Punic war, and the mixture of Greek blood years ago seems to influence the classic beauty of the Adriatic Italians to this day. The same is true of Sicily. Of course there have been thousands upon thousands of disappointments. Some of the losers took their fate pretty hard. Many tears w^ere shed. Mr. Hill had to exercise the utmost of tact and courtesy. November 27, 1926 TTie One They Chose One of the Italian girU selected out of over 70,000 applicants. Shapely and beautiful, with a definite personality, she is counted on to register a hit on the screen after an extensive period of training at Hollywood. The Italians, both men and women, seem passionately fond of the motion picture screen. They long to distinguish themselves on it. But, Mr. Hill found, first of all they are eager to visit, if not live permanently in America. The reputation of Holly\vood especially has reached all corners of the world. It is synonymous with Fairyland. Even the brigands and the smugglers in the mountain fastnesses know about it, and they, too, would become motion picture players. William Fox and Winfield R. Sheehan see a double advantage in combing the far places of the world. They gain their pick of beauty and talent, and by bringing the chosen of other peoples to this country, they aid in the promotion of international understanding and amity.