Screenland (May-Oct 1930)

10 SCREENLAND CONFESSIONS of the FANS FIRST PRIZE LETTER $20.00 I am practically sightless, and still enjoy the motion picture, deriving from it much inspiration, encouragement and sus' tained hope. There are days when I become morbidly discouraged and feel as though it would be a blessing to abandon my work and fall beneath my despairing efforts; but instead, I choose the best motion picture in town for refuge. There I find people battling with unthinkable complexities and discouragements, many degrees worse than my own. They are strong enough to stare failure in the face with undaunted spirits. They have the same ambitions, heartaches, hopes and the same emotions as I, and win. And so for a brief period I live in my imaginary tomorrow. I begin to feel ashamed of my cowardice, and success for me seems less uncertain if I will only stick to it. The advent of the all-talkie has proven a complete solution of my problem, but I still enjoy the silent picture with the help of a reader. I never could do without the motion picture and my indebtedness to this source of inspiration can never be fully repaid. J. Marshall Parham, 1032 Greenwood Cliff, Charlotte, N. C. SECOND PRIZE LETTER $15.00 To educate the youth of this grand and glorious country is a paramount duty, and where can they receive a better education than from the movies? The sense of sight is the most poignant of the senses, and that which the sight registers on the brain is not easily forgotten. My two daughters, aged 13 and 14 years, both sophomores in high school, would rather attend a movie than the hottest high school party or dance. Any stray quarter they get always buys a movie magazine, and when they are reading this or seeing a picture, I at least know where they are! They studied "Evangeline" in grade school and were delighted to see Dolores Del Rio portray a favorite heroine. They also saw "The Ancient Mariner" some time ago, and now they are studying this in high school; and how much easier and more interesting it is, having seen the picture. Some of my friends do not approve of movies for girls. It brings them in con' tact with too much of life, they contend. Why not? The serious business of life is just around the corner for them, and they will surely profit by their make-believe experiences. Mrs. Mary Redeker, 328 South State St., Springfield, 111. This is YOUR department, to which you are invited to contribute your opinions of pictures and players. For the cleverest and most constructive letters, not exceeding 200 words in length, we offer four prizes. First prize, $20.00; second prize, $15.00; third prize, $10.00; fourth prize, $5.00. Next best letters will also be Printed Contest closes May 10, 1930. Address Fans' Department, SCREENLAND MAGAZINE, 45 West 45t/i Street, New York City. The Editor THIRD PRIZE LETTER $10.00 To one like myself, who finds more pleasure in books and nature than in any form of social entertainment, moving pictures have brought complete enjoyment. In our town we would be without such mental stimulant — for we have, no opera house — if it were not for the motion picture theater. To those who can get away for an occasional diversion it is an enlightening experience to see the rapt expression on the faces of some women from the surrounding country who make a Saturday pilgrimage to town with the 'picture show' as supreme Ann Harding came to the screen with sound pictures and, like the talkers, she's staying. attraction. What a world of fascination is unrolled before their longing eyes! What magic of sound weaves its enchantment around them! If for nothing else but the happiness it brings to these beauty-starved natures, the screen should receive highest classification. It first gave us inimitable pantomime; then, the dramatic charm of the speaking voice and the inspiration of music. Such perfect pictures as "Devil May Care," "Disraeli," and "The Laughing Lady" are the finest of the fine arts. Lilian W. Carter, Thornton Avenue, Dalton, Georgia. FOURTH PRIZE LETTER $5.00 "Of what use is a book without pictures?" asked the immortal Alice just before she fell down the rabbit hole into a Wonderland of thrills and surprises. "Of what use is a motion picture without being extraordinarily advertised?" asks the picture fan, and the answer to that question is immediately apparent. The companies vie with one another in taking beautiful adjectives and intriguing phrases out of the dictionary with which to embellish their advertisements. And, picture fans everywhere, the really amazing part about this kind of public promulgation is its truth. Alice herself didn't get any bigger thrills in her wonderland of fiction than the picture fan gets in his wonderland of movies that talk, sing, and are presented exquisitely in natural colors, making the whole a pleasing and spectacular form of entertainment. After one has seen such splendid productions as "Sally," "The Virginian," "Condemned," and "Rio Rita" he becomes convinced that pictures are all their advertisements claim them to be. George Jackson, 211 Oak Street, Ludlow, Ky. Then and Now After a hard day at school — one of those days when everything goes wrong — we are saved from a case of the blues by attending the local theater and forgetting Euclid and the kinetic-molecular theory in the fascinating characters of the silver screen. As proof of the marvelous progress in pictures I recall a game of my early childhood. When my sisters and I were very young, our father took us to the movies on Saturday night as a reward for having been good during the week. Maybe one of us had been stealing cookies or pulling the kitten's tail and had to stay at home. So the fortunate ones, on their return, acted out parts of the play. From this philanthropic practise came