National Board of Review Magazine (Jan 1939 - Jan 1942)

May, 1939 5 that these classifications have to know anything about the picture. They sometimes come around and say, "What kind of a scene is this? \Miat are we supposed toi be doing here?", or "It looks kind of interesting. What's the story about?" Franchot Tone addresses National Board audience Perhaps the best way of giving you some idea of the actor's contribution will be for me to trace rapidly a typical day of his life. It is a day that starts, supposedly, at nine o'clock in the morning. But in many cases it starts a good deal ahead of that : I have known cases where makeup required an actor to arrive at the studio as early as five o'clock in the morning. Then, sometimes there are so many actors to be made up that they have to come at five and stand about until the makeup man can get around to them. Costumes have to be considered. Some people can walk into the studio wearing the clothesi for the part and, without any makeup, simply appear on the set at nine o'clock and start their day. Therefore, there is a wide range here, too. On arriving on the set the first thing that occurs is a rehearsal for the director. The director has planned out a scene and he places the actors in it. Some directors know exactly how they want the actors to move. Some leave it up to the actors to sort of fe-^l their way around the set. The director rehearses the scene, plans out which angle the cameramen will photograph, and the photographer sets his camera and lights. All this may take 20 or 30 minutes, so the actors have a chance to get together on the side and rehearse their lines between themselves. Sometimes they do it with a special line director, known as a dialogue director. Sometimes they do it without any help at all. That is very flattering — when you are allowed to do it without any assistance whatsoever ! After a little while the photographer says he would like to rehearse everybody for the lights, and back you go on the set. The photographer generally finds something to be changed, so you go back to the side lines and he sets his lights again. Of course, during this time some actors are allowed to have "stand-ins" ; that is people who are similar to them in size and coloring, and who stand in the glare for them while the photographer sets his lights. This way the real actors have a chance to relax or to study their lines. Finally, when the photographer feels he's ready, he calls for another rehearsal. For a little while the actor stands there, while the photographer puts the finishing touches to his lights ; then he has a rehearsal for the director, generally to set everything perfectly. Sometimes the director has to change the action — in which case the photographer has to change his lights ! Finally, there is a rehearsal for the sound man, and a final rehearsal for the director, and the scene is shot. That is, the first take of the scene is shot. After the first take the cameraman manages to find something wrong with his lights and generally changes them a little. Then the director wishes to improve the action, so there is another rehearsal, or a series of them, and then the scene is shot again. That is take No. 2. Sometimes that is enough. Sometimes one is enough, but sometimes ten or twelve are required. I suppose twelve is a good average, but I have been in takes that ran as high as 36 or 40, with various interruptions in between. Perhaps I had better give you an idea of some of the interruptions that may occur.