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25
Demand
shunned publicity, is now a big-league solely because the immense demand country could no longer be ignored.
Geblnart
I have heard it said that Thomson is difficult to interview. But I have never found him so. Though resolute in his refusal to talk much about himself, he will talk for hours, with boyish enthusiasm, about the ideals that he tries to implant in young minds through his movie characters. He has humor, and a personal magnetism that catches you up on the wave of his own zeal. He believes in what he is doing with a fervor that is contagious.
Hollywood couldn't understand Fred Thomson at first. He was called successively a poseur and a nut. Wise, shrewd men, in the business to make money, smiled at his nonsensical altruism. That he has now, despite his indifiference to the financial end of the game, been shoved up into the bigmoney class, is the wonder of all Hollywood.
He has consistently shunned the spotlight and has never employed a press agent, yet is now one of the most widely known of the stars. His contention has always been that a good picture speaks for itself. However, now, with his new contract, he must accept the services of a publicity man whether he likes it or not.
Luncheons, premieres and parties bore him. He does not dance, not because \\t disapproves of dancing, but simply because he doesn't care for it. And for the sake of his health, he neither smokes nor drinks.
Once a year, sighing, he dons his tuxedo and dines at the Ambassador, to please his wife, Frances Marion. Making additions to his home and grounds, training his horses, conversing with cowboys and sportsmen, books and music — these are his interests. He is a Princeton man, and comes of a line of scientists and preachers.
His choice of
In his first film for Paramount, "Jesse James," Thomson seeks to prove that the notorious bandit was really a hero. He is shown here in a scene with Florence
Dudley and Nora Lane.
the life of Jesse James for his first big-time movie grew partly out of a desire to right a wrong.
"The popular conception of Jesse James as a desperado should be corrected," he insists. "James was a hero. Through research work in collaboration with his son, a Los Angeles lawyer, we have dug up the real facts of his life. After the Civil War, he joined a band engaged in guerrilla warfare in Missouri. When the carpet-baggers and usurers invaded the South, instituting a regime of cruel authority, this band was called in to take the oath of allegiance. Some refused, and under James' leadership vowed revenge. He led the last stand of the South, going down proudly, in tattered glory.
"He was a Robin Hood of his day, a vital personality, a dashing, picturesque, and lovable man, with chivalrous ideals. And what a marvelous i physique and endurance he
had! Shot fourteen times, his body punctured with wounds, he crawled off into the woods like a dog, and let nature cure him. Think of the drama in a character like that !
'Tt has never been proved that James killed a single man. Continued on page 108
Fred Thomson hates the spotlight, but finds it rather hard to avoid nowadays.