Camera - April 14, 1923 to February 16, 1924 (April 1923-February 1924)

Tiluary 19th, 1924 'Camera!" The Digest of the Motion Picture Industry Pmic 13 Vision and Service By LUCILE ERSKINE ■lie Mathis' rise to success is worthy of a stll in the New Arabian Nights of Holly>vd|. The teller of the tale would begin scathing like this: Ik so long ago in this very Bagdad, where alrho enter its gates poor hope to grab fame aoitfortune over night, an obscure group was <>n< making a picture. But the rest of the profcfpn called them Ingram's idiots because the boe then being -MCturized had been refused by eW Pr°ducer but one. 'light as well drop the money you're puttin into this into the ocean," was a sample of the ncouragement they received from the wiseaeS watching them on the set. Jt the eyes of the woman scenarist showed no far. They are great big eyes by the way, an* reveal that rare mental quality in a womafvision. Needless to say the picture was W Four Horsemen" that has made $6,000,000 upp date. yhen I was meditating on the book," June Minis said to me, "and waiting for it to form int pictures in my mind, the first one to come wa the scene in the grave-yard — you remembH-where the Evangelist pointing to the rows of ead, food for hate, implores the one pre-, veative of war — love. Then I knew I had caiht the spiritual appeal that made the book so reat, and that no power of man could stop thilmessage getting to the masses through the sa|n. fill on the dramatic night of the pre-view in ew York, here were three who must have fel the play on the sheet before them was deck g their own fate. fie head of the "idiots," the Irish director, ■ some memories. One of being dismissed by producer. Because, Mr. Ingram, your types have too ■ i individuality." And believing in his star toi he had flung back the answer; «et you'll send for me some day, just becaje I can picture that very quality." 'fid Valentino, if he were there, and felt iBrapture his love-making stirred in every H and woman in the audience might have co nuned thus with himself: || wonder, will my photographs be handed fl now and will I hear the casting director sa behind my back; 'That fellow can't act. H' nothing but a lounge lizard.' " lose deep-seeing eyes of June Mathis had Acted a latent lyrical power in the young ■ cognized Italian and given him his big once. The Irish dreamer was also her selec for director. I suspect that she too has iflht the stars now and then. It pays sometMs to dream. There is real money in it. ■«ld she is equally sure about the outcome of Bjl Hur," certain that its message of love will goto the millions yearning for it. ■revious to writing for the silent theatre, she H ten years of schooling for her work as ■jarist-acting. Because she learned in this HI the likes and dislikes of the capricious il ic. 1 Jut there was such terrible competition on H Stage. Prettier girls were coming along," H said very honestly, "so I cast about for a >Wtion where there was not such competition. Ilund it in what was then considered just a H above a janitor — continuity writing for y-five dollars a week." But that same quality of vision made her see its future and she stuck to the despised craft that one day was to be transformed in to a splendid galleon, laden, with gold. She worked steadily too in a profession where so many loaf, knowing that work will land you within hailing distance of your goal. There was a mother beside her to inspire. Both waited together. Sometimes when the girl scenarist was asked for a suggestion about production, she gave one. When used, it always hit. She studied interior decorating just to find out what colors photographed the best. And now she is to put practically before the world Lew Wallace's tale of the Christ, written to prove to himself that he believed in the divinity of the Nazarene. "Ben Hur" has been published in raised letters for the blind and among other languages translated into the Hindustani of India. The principal character, Esther, was name dafter the author's own mother, whom he lost when a boy, ten years old. "Dead in her fair youth," as he writes of her in his autobiography. June's guiding star has left her too — the mother whose passionate wish it was that her daughter should be a force in bringing the drops of balm that "Ben Hur" has always been to other aching hearts. "But I have the consolation of theosophy," she said, "and know that death is nothing. Age is nothing. The lives we lived" before live again in us." Did she stand once with that awed throng in Judea and see lepers healed? The world-wide popularity of Papini's Life of Christ is an index of how pitifully eager is a chaotic world for the Figure who steadied it so long. And when the screen puts before the man in the street the drama of the "little curly-haired son of a carpenter" who gave the son of Hur a cup of water, when he was thirsty, it will cleanse itself of all taint of commercialism and pass into service. For "Ben Hur" will be America's Passion Play — our Oberammergau. In the preparation of this mammoth spectacle, she has sat beside much learning, has had Oriental manuscripts read to her, yet without embarrassment, though she is self-educated. "I had to snatch my education," she said. Yet she must always have had a book in her hand on the train or when waiting for her cue, for she has read widely and knows thoroughly what she has read. And her ancestors helped For nine generat.ons, her people were professors mus.rians, lecturers, a long Iin% of intellectuals who probably made her predestined to write. This was the verdict on her first continuity by the experienced head who read it: "Miss Mathis, this is the very first piece of writing for the screen in which I have detected the ear marks of an individual style." With all people who do big things, she has that inner surety of success— poise. No Indian swami could have more, as he gazes with dark eyes under his turban at materialists busy with things, as we smile at children playing with toys. And this peace pervades even the atmosphere of the ante-room, when you wait for her. It seems more like making an afternoon call on a friend as the secretaries begin to pour the tea. The good cheer induced the group, strangers before to talk — a most unheard-of-thing, while waiting in the ante-room of the great. A slight, short woman came in with reddish hair carefully coitfured. Distinctly feminine, I thought. The face showed both strength and intellect. And her office is more like the corner of a luxurious library. Flowers and cushions, bright but harmonious give a "homy" atmosphere. In the bookcase were heavy tomes. I caught the letters Jewish Encyclopedia on one. We sipped tea and talked. More evidence of her feminity! A powder puff came out. A box of candy lay open at her elbow. There was a flash of rings as she spoke of most abstruse things. I know I ought to mention her immense salary, bigger than the President's of the I'nited States, but the method with which she moved towards it is more interesting. To so many in Hollywood, success mean-sitting tight on a bag of gold and keeping everyone else away. But June Mathis proceeded differently, the way that Lincoln, Henry Ford and now Coolidge seems to be going. Serve — and the way will be cleared for you. it'jK)ur living is in motion pictures $ovl need ever^y week*