Picture Play Magazine (Jul - Dec 1929)

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74 Photo by Autrey Though charged with selfishness, Barry Norton has been known to lend his entire pay check to a friend in need, says Don Alvarado. Skipping Widi Barry Skittish, mercurial, Barry Norton has little regard for time, order, and the approval of his fellow human beings, but he is kind, loyal, and sincere, and altogether is one of the most interesting paradoxes in Hollywood. By Madeline Glass sees and He WHENEVER a Hollywood traffic officer Barry Norton he shouts, "Hello, Barry!' automatically writes out a ticket. Poor Barry ! Poor, careless, indifferent Barry ! distresses his employers, grieves his friends, and harasses himself by disobeying traffic regulations ; yet he goes right on getting himself arrested. He doesn't want to break laws, but still he does. The odd part of it is that he usually commits the same offense — parks in a prohibited zone. He isn't reckless, he doesn't transport liquor, either in himself or his car, he doesn't knock the policeman off his box. But when he wants to park, some perverse mental trait prompts him to draw up to a curb painted a nice red, or yellow. Only recently a burly policeman nabbed him and took him to the station, where the actor was confronted with an accumulation of charges covering a period of many months. Barry paid a heavy fine, listened to a prolonged lecture, and went back to bis waiting car sadder, but not noticeably wiser. A friend was with him, and as they drove along, he teased Barry about his traffic troubles. Finally Barry, already sore of spirit, seized the other fellow's hat and threw it onto the pavement. Then, alas, he saw his mistake. The friend jumped out to get his hat, and Barry had to stop. It was by no means a good place to stop. Traffic was heavy, and the car was supposed to keep pace with the rest. The policeman from his perch in the center of the street leveled a threatening glance at the much-arrested actor. Barry saw visions of himself behind iron bars, his reputation ruined, his career destroyed, and his heart almost stopped along with the car. Luckily he got out of the scrape with nothing worse than a bad scare, but those who know him realize that, because of his peculiar temperament, the experience will profit him little. Barry is a good boy. By that I mean that he has a naturally kind and loyal nature. Also, he has courage and generosity — too much generosity for his own financial good. He seems to be continually surrounded by the people who "knew him when " Call on him when you will, and invariably some friend of pre-movie days is basking in his reflected glory. For that reason, it is extremely hard to understand why young Norton is so frequently charged with selfishness. He is capricious, too, so they say, and hard to manage. In short, if we are to believe his critics, he is the enfant terrible of the Fox studio. Well, let's see. In Hollywood, as elsewhere, people are prone to toss off vehement criticisms, without stopping to analyze circumstances, or to make allowances for youth and inexperience. Moreover, many of Barry's critics would do well to correct their own faults before sitting in judgment on him. Not long ago a well-known actor said to me, "Barry is the most selfish boy in the world." A few days later he went to the "most selfish boy in the world," and asked for a loan of money. The man had no scruples about asking a favor of Barry, after trying to damage his reputation. Naturally, Barry did not tell me of the incident ; it came from a friend who chanced to be present. In direct contradiction to the above criticism of the young Argentinean was a remark by Don Alvarado. "I have known Barry," said Don, "to lend his entire pay check to some one who was broke." The charge of capriciousness is not denied, for it is true. Barry was born with a skittish, mercurial nature, and a marked talent for tardiness. There is not a doubt that he will be late for his wedding, and in all probability he will forget to bring along the ring. Then, when he reaches the church, he will park in a loading zone, and wind up at the police station. In the scheme of social life these shortcomings aren't crimes. They reveal, to be sure, a poorly balanced temperament, but at that, Barry's many good qualities vastly outweigh them in importance. Though never vulgar or outre, he has a coltish disregard for conventional behavior, and is as unself-conscious as a child. One evening his secretary and I were walking along the corridor of the Roosevelt Hotel with him. Linking his arms through ours, he said, "Let's skip." Now, I am not at my best when skipping, but I swallowed my deep-rooted conservatism, and down the corridor we went. It is a well-known fact that stars usually are coached and drilled by paid experts in the manner which they Continued on page 116