The Photo-Play Journal (Jul 1919-Feb 1921)

May, i p 2 o 15 TWO PARTS OF THE TRIO Hope Hampton Believes in Study, More Study and Still More Study By GEORGE LANDY FAITH, hope and charity — of this famous trio Hope Hampton, the screen's latest stellar sensation, possesses faith in abundance ; she is the second, not only in name, but in the completeness of her ambitions and expectations; but she will have none of the third. Her typically American upbringing— she was born and bred in Texas, surely a representatively independent Stat e — convinced her that she had to "have the goods" before she made her professional debut, that initial appearance which has since fructified into her initial stellar screen production, "A Modern Salome." This picture is, incidentally, being distributed through Metro Pictures Corporation and the unanimous approbation which it is meeting everywhere is proving conclusively to Miss Hampton that her tactics of preparation were correct and have borne fruit. The motion picture star of today is preeminently in the position of "having the real goods" ; it is no longer enough for a girl to have youth and beauty or to wear marvellous gowns. In addition she must possess a real dramatic talent and the rare ability to translate her emotion to the flickerings on the silver sheet, for unless she can put her message on to the screen in the universal language of the motion picture, all her other talents go for naught. This "feel for the camera," as it has been called by Leonce Perret, one of our eminent directors, is the Godgiven lodestone that spells cinema success. But just as every precious stone must be polished and cut before it is presented in its perfected state, so the screen star, be she ever so talented, must go through some period of preparation and training before her work is revealed in the fullness of its talent. Hope Hampton, the young Texas beauty who has just attained a place among the film luminaries, has cherished for many years the ambition to enter the dramatic profession, but steadfastly refused to enter upon such a career until she felt she was adequately prepared for it. So that, although her screen debut presents her as a star in her own right and at the head of her own producing organization, she comes not as one of those stars who are made overnight at some whim, or through any attempt to put her across upon the film public, but with a background of long, steady preparation and training for her chosen field. Hope Hampton Star in A Modern Salome, a Metro production Born in Dallas of a family which enjoyed high business and social standing, Hope Hampton was educated at home during her early girlhood and then attended the famous Sophie Newcomb School in New Orleans, to which the aristocracy of the South sends its daughters. It was here that she first determined upon the dramatic profession as her life work, although there had been no actors or actresses among her ancestors. The performances she gave in the amateur theatricals held at the school, as well as her special interest along literary and dramatic lines, gave such extraordinary promise that even her instructors in this conservative "finishing school" advised her to enter upon a theatrical career. With a rare appreciation for one so young, however, she continued her studies and later graduated from the school. Upon returning to her home in Dallas, she lived the average life of a popular girl in her set — winning sudden fame through a local newspaper's beauty contest, to which one of her friends had sent her photograph, unbeknown to her, and in which she was awarded first prize as Texas' most beautiful girl. Immediately, of course, she was the recipient of offers from numerous motion picture producers, who wanted to capture her beauty for their enterprises. She continued to refuse the tempting offers ; but still determined to enter upon this career, she came to New York with her family, where she entered the well-known Sargent Dramatic School. Here again came further proof of her unique innate ability. Although the course at this school usually extends for a couple of years before the student is formally graduated, it took only one season's study for Miss Hampton to be told by Mr. Diestel, Sargent's chief instructor, that they could do no more for her, since she was fully prepared for her chosen life work, and that all she needed to win real success in the dramatic field was actual experience. It was at the exercises which marked the close of the year's work, when the graduating pupils of the school gave several plays, that Hope Hampton's work was again noted by a number of prominent producers in the entertainment world. This time, when the opportunity was afforded her, she felt she was ready to begin on her career; accordingly, a number of motion picture capitalists and managers organized for her the Hope Hampton Productions, Inc., thus giving her her own producing organization, the highest possible tribute to any motion picture star.