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July, 1919
PHOTO-PLAY JOURNAL
13
ftihe Directorial Terrace Wif
By MAUME MEYERS
Tom Terriss
IRST they gave him office number thirteen, and now he is making his thirteenth picture. Almost enough to f eaze anybody !
The gentleman I have reference to is Mr. Tom Terriss, Vitagraph director for Alice Joyce.
During his eighteen months' affiliation with Vitagraph, whom he joined in 1917, Mr. Ter
riss has exclusively directed Miss Joyce, and now they have come to the "turn in the road," the thirteenth picture.
Mr. Terriss's life reads like fiction. He hails from London, but is now an American citizen. That much I knew before seeing him, but a call on the 'phone brought forth an invitation to meet him at the Friars' Club and there he started to tell me a little about himself.
"First I wanted to explore — see what the world looked like — so I started out as a sailor, traveled around the world twice before I was twenty-one, and it was at that time that I had some of the most thrilling experiences of my life. Once I figured in a mutiny, and at another time we were swept overboard during a storm in mid-Atlantic. During one of the voyages we docked at Melbourne, Australia, and a sudden idea came over me that I would like to try sheep-raising, (but that proved as bad as a Sunday in Philadelphia), so I invaded America and thought I would startle the world with the fortunes I could make at silver mining. Destination — Silverton, Colorado. That lasted only a few months before I started on another tour of the world, in which I made every country of importance."
"That's enough for any man," I commented.
"That isn't all, however. We got up a party of three and crossed the Sahara Desert on bicycles, and Lord Northcliffe's English Daily Mail requested a series of articles concerning our adventures, which were published under the title of 'Three Men On a Wheel Through Algeria.'
"Then I came back to London, and since my father was in the theatrical profession, I became an actor-manager. I was particularly fond of Dickens and an offer to produce his works was accepted by me with great alacrity. I appeared at the head of my own company and played at the leading theatres all over
Terriss Directing Alice Joyce in the Art of "Safe Cracking"
the Kingdom, and we certainly established an enviable reputation. The news of my success must have come to America, for we received an offer to bring our company over, and we made a tour of the principal cities in United States and Canada.
"William Morris, the theatrical manager, offered me a three-year contract to produce these Dickens sketches in a condensed version
(Continued on page 48)
Left: Terriss Directing a Scene in "The Lion and the Mouse." Below: Doing an Exterior in "The Third Degree."