Screenland (Oct 1923-Mar 1924)

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QJune Mathis is the thousand-a-ueek pozver behind the thro-neat the Goldwyn Studios. QWho are the Silent Builders of the Big Screen Reputations? By Anna Vrophater HP J l he: HIDDEN HANDS of Fl L MD OM . here are two widespread habits in the movie business. One is the alibi habit — also known as passing the buck. When a picture fails — or to speak in plain English, when it is a flop — all those concerned with its production can spend the long winter months telling their friends that they weren't even on speaking terms with the unfortunate film. They can gather a few good listeners around the radiator and beg them to remember that, if the director had taken their advice, the picture would have been collecting government souvenirs at the box-office. The other habit of the film business is stealing the glory, the thunder and the hosannas of the public. The third assistant director of any picture that is warming the fingers of the cashiers in the box-office will tell you that he is the guy who first saw the possibilities of the story and that he, himself, developed the entirely unforseen dramatic talents of the star. Do you know who are the forces behind the screen plays you see? The hidden hands of 1923 number insane asylums may be filled with men who think the}7 are Napoleon but the studios are overrun with carpenters who think they are D. W. Griffith. However, in spite of all the noise, there are a few workers in the studios who can qualify, if not as Master Minds, at least as Hidden Hands who have helped build up some big reputations and some big pictures. Perhaps the most capable Hidden Hands belong to June Mathis, who figures on the screen as the editorial director of Goldwyn Pictures. Miss Mathis has caused more trouble in the feminine world than the woman who launched suffrage or the fellow who invented bobbed hair. Too Many Master Minds T he studios are all cluttered up with Master Minds. In fact, they are so filled with Master Minds that it is hard to get any work done. If you will believe all you'll hear around the front offices of the studios, the successful pictures are almost completely the work of lowly but inhumanly modest persons who never get their names on the credit cards. The JUNE MATHIS CATHERINE HILLIKER JOSEPHINE LOVETT MRS. RUPERT HUGHES KATHLYN WILLIAMS THEDA BAR A ETHEL CHAFIN SOPHIE WACHNER THE TIMMIE SMITHS JEAN IE MacPHERSON Miss Mathis' Capable Hidden Hand M iss Mathis thrust Valentino on a waiting world. Whereupon feeling that she hadn't quite played fair with the men fans, she pulled Nita Naldi from comparative obscurity to glory in Blood and Sand. The story of Rodolph's rise and The Four Horsemen is an old one by this time. Lots of persons claim to have recognized in Rodolph great latent talent. But he -was originally selected by Miss Mathis because he had "that look in his eye" and an undoubted charm for women. She saw him first with Clara Kimball Young in a picture called Eyes of' Youth. 47