Picture Play Magazine (Jul - Dec 1929)

Wkat trie Fans Tkink What a Star's Secretary Thinks. WHY are the players charging for their photos? Just because the average fan letter is not worth spending their own money on. As a secretary to a young player for over a year, I have had the opportunity of reading some fifty thousand fan letters. And here is a composite of what ninetynine per cent write : "Dear : Please send me your photo. I saw one in a movie magazine and you are very handsome. I think I saw your last picture, and you were very darling. "A friend of mine received your picture — send me one like it — and autograph it to me in your own hand, not your secretary. We are having a contest to see who can get the most photos. I have forty and want yours for my collection. "Can you get me in the movies?" (A personal description follows.) "Write me anice, long letter in your own hand. Not typewritten. 'Love and kisses, "Any Fan." These letters are written on scratch paper, sometimes torn in many pieces. Half are in pencil, and one fourth of the words misspelled. Names of towns are chopped by abbreviations which would puzzle even a geographical expert. And strangely enough, fans sending dimes and quarters have a penchant for giving no address at all. Figure that out ! Once in a great while — probably one out of fifty — a letter that is different, arrives. Written on nice paper, in a clear, readable hand, and joy be, the address is there ! This person receives a photo, money or no. Then there is the fan who would like to be the player's friend. They write by fits and starts around twice a month, and feel injured when not replied to immediately. We appreciate these fans, but they demand a great deal from their favorite. It is physically impossible to act and answer four hundred letters a day personally, and visit all the towns, extending cordial invitations, Give the actor and actress a chance! Fan mail isn't what it's cracked up to be, after the first five hundred. Next time you write mention work and not features, stories and not photo collections, and perhaps the players will relent. At least the secretaries will ! Los Angeles, California. One of Them. Are Fan Letters a Nuisance? Having read so many letters lately concerning photos from the stars, I thought perhaps some one would be interested in my collection. Very few of the players fail to answer in some way or other, and in many instances they are most generous. There was a time when practically all the Paramount and First National players sent out photos within a week of receiving a request. Lately they send out small cards stating that they will be pleased to> send the desired photo on receipt of the money asked. Enough has been said about this matter by others, and it is only repeating to say I, for one, think it is a great mistake. We do not write to them merely because there is nothing else to do, but because we really admire them, and want them to know what we think of their work. They seem to consider these notes a nuisance, and yet don't they gauge popularity by these so-called nuisances? Besides, we don't want our rooms all cluttered up with the pictures of those we do not care for. Even though our favorites fail to answer, somehow we can't dislike them for it. I've certainly had my share of disappointment, but I've never given up hope and several times my patience has been rewarded. For example, Ramon Novarro and Joan Crawford. I had written them many, many times, but nothing ever came of it. Finally I decided I'd have one more try of it and wrote again. Ramon answered within two weeks, and sent two lovely photos. Joan answered within six weeks. I had written to Buster Collier about five times, but I guess I addressed him at the wrong studio. Well, after a while he also answered, and since then Fve received two pictures and two letters from him. Mary Frances Cooney. 1012 Throop Street, Chicago, Illinois. Why the "Take-off" Craze? In two letters in a recent Picture Play, Clara Bow was censured for undress. Now why make Clara the goat when practically all Hollywood has gone crazy to take off? [Continued on page 10]