Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1925)

JANUARY 1925 Picture s and Pichjre poer 13 exceptions, it takes a MM until he's forty to learn it ! Not that such men were not charming in their youth, fascinating perhaps, even then. Boyishness has a charm of its own. But it hasn't the poise, the self-assurance, the irresistible composure that only experience can bring . . . the composure of a Menjou or a Tearle. The composure that makes Conway Tearle one of the most sought after of all screen leading men . . . though he was born in 1882, and admits it ! His box office value is second to that of no other masculine lead — exclusive of stars ; he is engaged to play opposite stars much younger than himself, like Corinne Griffith, Colleen Moore, Pola Negri. . . Conway's years on the stage and screen have given him a polish, a finesse, that it takes years to acquire. Time has taught him the tricks of the trade of love-making, that trick of bis, for example, of looking bafflingly and mysteriously inscrutable ... so that no matter how often he told a woman h; loved her, she could never be quite sure. We are speaking only of Conway's screen personality . . . though it might not be amiss to mention that he has been married three times, the charming Adele Rowland being his present wife. And Adolphe Menjou. When, in a Neither Douglas Fairbanks nor John Barrymore will ever see forty again, but the faet doesn't worry them. youth of twenty, would you find the debonair charm of Menjou, the delicate life of the eyebrow, the delicious twinkle of the eye . . . half ardour, half mockery! Watching life, laughing at life . . . that has given Menjoi his gallant, irresistible charm. Lou Tellegen's forty-odd years have taught him not to take life, or himself, too seriously. He once, in conversation with the writer, laughingly referred to "my reputation, which I never live up to." . . . Lou Tellegen, Geraldine Farrar's former husband, once played, most appropriately, the title role in Don Juan. ETugcne O'Brien was born in 1884, yet still retains a large fan following. Is it the quizzical quirk of his eyes, the way, one-sided smile, that gives his personality such distinction? Thomas Meighan's charm is of a different sort. His is not the debonair, subtle raillery of the seductive lovgr. Rather he represents the wholesome, manly type, to whom experience has given a poise, a firmness of character. He is the typical American husband, not only on the screen, but in reality, having been married for many years to Frances Ring; they are one of the most contented couples in filmdom. Milton Sills is similar to Thomas Meighan in type. He, too, typifies the substantial American husband, of more or less intellectual calibre. When speaking of the " dangerous age," certainly one must not forget Lewis Stone, who played the lead in the picture of that name. He has an enviable fan following, even though, he is well into the forties. Again it is the merry tinkle, seeming to characterise most of our forty ! rear-old screen overs, which gives Lou Tellegen is forty, too Lewis Stone. Lewis Stone much of his charm. Douglas Fair banks at the age of forty one is the personification of good humour, and a happy outlook on life. In fact when one analyses the temperaments of these men in their dangerous forties ... in spite of their general dissimilarity, one characteristic stands out in every one of them. They survey life with a twinkle. Alma Talley.