Picture Play Magazine (Jul - Dec 1929)

61 Trie? Wanted, But theme song is "Give me a break — give me a chance!" and a delusion, bringing only momentary glory and a cites the fate of some conspicuous cases. Richard Mook thirteen years old at the time. Followed "The Cafe of Fallen Angels," directed by James Cruize, "Broken Laws," cofeatured with Mrs. Wallace Reid, Arthur Rankin, and Percy Marmont, and "The Chorus Lady," in which Margaret Livingston starred. On the strength of her performances in these pictures she was chosen a Wampas star in the same year as Duane Thompson. She is a good dancer, too, as she proves in Colleen Moore's "Footlights and Fools," but the fans have never accepted her. At present she is in the East in quest of a stage engagement. Her mother vouchsafes the opinion that her daughter belongs more to the stage than to the screen, adding that "Virginia has always been difficult to handle, possibly because she feels the deep emotional power within herself and is, therefore, not content to portray the silly, flapper roles that are given her." Whatever the cause, Virginia's name appears less and less frequently on the billboards, and she has never done anything to justify the breaks she undoubtedly has had. My own opinion is that she grew up about ten Duane Thompson is said to have everything the screen wants, but she languishes in neglect. •Ani^'-r^, too late. Ten years ago her blue>lond prettiness would have made fo-day her type Twice Roland Drew played opposite Dolores del Rio in big successes. years eyed, her an instant favorite is passe. Hugh Allan burst into fame in "Dress Parade" in support of William Boyd. He worked almost steadily for a year after that, among his pictures being "Hold 'Em, Yale," with Rod La Rocque, and "Annapolis," with John Mack Brown. His notices were almost uniformly good. In fact, although cast as the heavy in "Annapolis." when the picture was previewed it was found that 1 high bad all the sympathy and it was necessary to retake many of the scenes in such a way as to leave no doubt that it was John Mack's picture and not Hugh's. Many a maid spent sleepless night-, as T can testify since reading some of his fan mail, after seeing his handsome face flash across the screen. Hugh's failure to click may he attributed solely, I believe, to lack of publicity. In addition to his good look and rather pleasing voice, he has sense and refinement. Coming hack to the Wampas. Lina Basquette rode into prominence on a wave of sympathy. She was working with Adolphe Menjou, in "Serenade" — one of his lust, incidentally. During the making, her husband, Sam Warner, died. Steeped in the traditions of the stage. Lina realized only one thing. It was that despite personal grief, "the show must go on." Rather than hold up production, she continued during the time of her husband's death and his funeral. Her splendid spirit won the admiration of the producers, who were anxious to sign up girls like that. Before "Serenade" was released Cecil DeMille offered her the lead in "The Godless Girl," and on the strength of these two engagements she was elected to the Wampas coterie. Partly on account of the Wampas publicity and partly because of her connection with the two Alms noted above, neither of which had been released, she was signed for leads opposite Richard Bar