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12 Picture Show Annual fallowings of any picture-player. His success was thoroughly deserved, for not only was Bill Hart a fine actor, but the stories in which he appeared when at the top of his career were among the best ever screened. Hart's decline in popularity is one of the mysteries of the- movies. It cannot have been due to the public getting tired of Western pictures, for these are still popular, though the story of the average Western, and the acting in it, is far below the standard set by Bill Hart. But whatever the cause, Bill Hart's stock sank, and the screen lost one of its richest characters. He staged a come-back but failed to regain his hold on the public. There is no mystery why the come- back failed. Hart's "Wild Bill Hickok" was a bad picture. It was too subtle for the screen, too long- winded or prosy, whereas Bill's big successes had always a powerful but simple theme. AJ1 the same, Bill Hart was a great figure in the history of the films, and he certainly did his share in keeping the movies moving. Writing of screen come-backs reminds me that probably the most successful was that of Francis X. Bushman, as Messala, the proud Roman villain in " Ben Hur." Chosen for the part because of his still-wonderful physique, Bushman took the acting honours, and in the language of the films, " stole " the picture from Ramon Novarro, the hero. The Serials To Pearl White goes the honour of being the first popular serial queen, and one might almost say she was also the last, for though many other women followed in the steps of this beautiful stunt star, none of them ever captured the public as Pearl had done. One reason for this was that the serial lost its hold on the public. There was a time when it was the strongest feature in a picture programme, and entire families used to make a weekly or twice-weekly visit to the cinema to follow the fortunes of the hero and heroine in the serial. Probably one of the best-remembered of Pearl White's serials was " The Exploits of Elaine," and what exploits they were. That they were amazingly improbable did not diminish the interest of the picture-goer of the time, in fact they added to that interest. The serial still lives, but it is no longer the drawing card it was, and its box-office attraction now lies with the hero, not the heroine. Louise Fazenia does a little amateur valeting for William V. Mong. Noah Beery's career of screen villainy has been so highly successful that there is little hope of him reforming. Lon Chanty, who changes his appear ance with every film, as he appea the role of Fagin in " Oliver Twist.'