Visual Education (Jan 1923-Dec 1924)

60 Visual Educatio School, Jackie Coogan and "Oliver Twist" LACKING the leisure to go to school, little Jackie Coogan has his own tutor. Therefore, instead of his going to school like most American boys, school comes to him — and stays with him all day long, too! There's no chance in the world of Jackie's "playing hooky." His teacher might, but of course she wouldn't, for "truant days are youthful days," and besides, Jackie's teacher enjoys her work too well ever to try to escape it. Jackie's "Portable" Schoolroom Whether Jackie is at work on a set or whether he out on location, it is all the same: his school is always with him, ready to be at his service whenever he is no longer needed in scenes, posing for the movie camera. In case you may not know exactly what "on location" means, perhaps it would be well to explain that whenever the picture making company leaves the studio where the scenery is set and travels out on the street for a scene on a crowded corner, or into the open country for a scene in some farm-house, or down by the ocean for a scene on board a ship, it is said that the company is "on location." And thither Jackie's devoted teacher goes, too; so you can see that she enjoys — or endures — a great deal of traveling. Concentration — Then Relaxation 1 I was about a year ago that fackii ti ai her read him the story of "Oliver Twist." For you must know that Jackie gets his full share of recreation ;ti"l play, even though it sometimes has to In taken piecemeal. Jackie has cultivated the splendid habit of attending to one thing at a time, doing it well, and then, when it is over, thinking of something else. Perhaps he has just played a scene in which the tears have flowed down his cheeks — the part of some forlorn, pathetic boy. But the instant the director says, "That's all for awhile, Jackie," he is off like a shot, forgetful of the tragedy he has just been playing, and even before the tears (they are his own and not the glycerine variety) are dry on his made-up cheeks, he is either playing with one of the other boys on the set, or being read to by his teacher, or puzzling ever some bothersome problem in his arithmetic lesson. Jackie Gets an Inspiration This time, as it happened, Jackie was being read to. The book was "Oliver Twist," and let me tell you that during the days when the last few chapters were being listened to, Jackie spent no time in play at all — or, at least, played only when his teacher absolutely insisted upon it. From the episodes in the workhouse, and through all his later adventures as apprentice to an undertaker and victim of old Fagin and his gang, Oliver's experiences were breathlessly followed. When they came to "The End," Jackie astonished his teacher by saying he wished he could play Oliver Twist for the movies. It sounded like a big undertaking — but then, who ever heard of a regular boy of seven being afraid to tackle anything? And so it came about, some time later, that a director whose youth had been spent in London and who had absorbed a genuine fondness for Charles Dickens' works, was engaged and the picture was begun. Jackie's ideas of the character of Oliver Twist may not be exactly in accord with those of grown-up critics, because, of course, Jackie isn't at all bothered about the motives thar prompted Dickens to write this great story of his. What Jackie does know, however, is that Oliver Twist was a real boy; that he was nearly starved by cruel folks who hated him; that he was set in the midst of great temptations; and that, like the noble soul he was, he came out of all his troubles clean and victorious. Like a Course in English History Jackie today knows a great deal more about English history of the nineteenth century than he knew before he started on this picture. That's another reason why he is glad it was made. He knows all about London Bridge and about London Tower, where great men perished and suffered many years ago. He knows about the poverty that infests large cities, even now; and this knowledge will never leave him, but will always keep his heart tender to those who are unfortunate. He knows that boys and therefore men are sometimes unjustly accused, just as he was in "Oliver Twist" when old Mr. Grimwig was so sure that Oliver had absconded with gentle Mr. Brownlow's bank-note. He knows that hypocrites sometimes beguile young minds as well as old, and that therefore it is not wise to trust too much, just as it is not wise to trust too little. The habits and customs of a former time — called "midVictorian" by the wise — are familiar to Jackie, for he has seen not only the kind of clothes they wore in those days, but the kind of houses folks lived in and the kind of furniture that surrounded them in the various kinds of homes — humble, poor or rich — in which they lived. Pictures Make Study a Joy All these things it is good for everybody to know. But with the average American, young or old, just as with little Jackie, education is best when it is unconsciously taken. A great writer — Robert Louis Stevenson