Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1927 - Feb 1928)

28 Pola Negri, though an artist to her finger tips, owes much of her compelling individuality to her choice of clothes EVERY fan knows that personality is what puts stars at the top of the heap. And, likewise, every fan who has yearned to grace the screen is positive that she has personality in large quantities. Why, then, are fifty or a hundred fortunate youngladies singled out to take delightfully prominent roles at delightfully fat salaries, while several thousand equally nice and attractive girls are left with only the sorry solace of reading about them ? As some clever person once remarked, it's a long story, mates. There are more reasons why my prett}' nextdoor neighbor hasn't been able to break into the movies than there are rabbits in a seventy-fivedollar ermine coat. She goes to the theater, watches Norma or Gloria or Dolores or Leatrice, checks up her own charms against theirs — and still she doesn't understand why she isn't among them. But if she paid not quite so much attention to the stars, and watched very closely for a number of times the girls playing minor roles, or bits, and tried hard to discover why tJicse girls aren't billed in electric lights, she might then understand that success in the movies isn't all luck. And to help her in making this analysis she might bear in mind some of the things which Herbert Brenon says on the subject. ''Good looks," he asserts, "are more important to men than to women stars. A star is made by the women in the audience ; the opinion of the men doesn't mean a thing. And the women aren t so interested in the beaut}' of a feminine star as in her personality and her manner of wearing clothes. Abilit}' to express striking individuality by means of clothes is a woman's biggest asset on the screen." Maybe these few pointers will explain away some of the heartburnings. Do Clothes Mean Emphatically yes, says Herbert Brenon, the director. Ingood looks count more in a man's success. Read this frank By Bill They were the high lights of an interview with the dynamic director of "Peter Pan," "A Kiss for Cinderella,'-' and "Beau Geste," who not so long ago had the distinction of seeing three of his pictures playing in leading Broadway theaters at the same time. In fact, these pointers might almost be called milestones, for the first qualification of a Herbert Brenon interviewer is that he be a good hiker. Linking arms with the writer, Mr. Brenon walked him up and down the big stage, through mazes of topless sets and clustered sun arcs and Kleigs, dodging hurrying electricians, burdened prop men, and variously costumed actors. As he walks, he talks in a quick, somewhat high-pitched and emphatic voice. What he sa3's is based on years of experience as an important factor in motion-picture production. "Let me make it clear, however," amended the director, "that what Fve said about personality, as expressed through clothes, is not the first qualification which a director looks for in an applicant for picture work. She must have other good points — many of them — before she can ever appear on the screen at all. The ability to wear clothes, not just as clothes, but as a striking expression of her individuality, is one of the finer points, like talent for emotional expression, and it will decide whether she will rise to success or stay with the also-rans, until she finalhdrops out of sight." Now, casting 3-our eye mentally over the list of stars and near-stars, does that account for some of the hold they have on their audiences? Of course, the great Pola, for in Neil Hamilton typifies the ideal young American. Pola's magnetism triumphed over the rags she rvore in "Hotel Imperial "