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

' Camera!" The Digest of the Motion Picture ln<h,*tr\ Page 13 A Touch of Nature By EDITH M. RYAN CREIGHTON HALE Meighton Hale's interesting life and sir bring to the fore that truth — "a touch Mature makes the whole world kin!" He Is on the screen with friendliness and Bness registered on his open face. He is ■lly found in the role of a friend, who ftnses a ready flow of sympathy — the u>athy that heals, that rehabilitates, that lligthens. It's the kind that rings true ■so leaves the impression that it has been fed out of his own experience. feighton Hale has been characterized as It charming fellow who is the gentleman njfriend alike in silk hat and evening dress njthe well meaning chap, who is a little ■less, in his small town attire." He's the sHw in high life, who saves the country id from feeling awkward and uncomfortb when the rest of his companions are Us. He's the happy philosopher, with a ■y face, when there isn't a nicklc in his Mets. But withal is that persistent touch Mature that fairly heralds his presence. Unas played many roles on the screen, but a one is lighted up with happiness and Ipuility. There may be dark, draggy les in a picture, where the plot is murky ■ then Creighton Hale appears with his [lhalant ease and a ready sympathy, a [Irestion of humor which fixes him grate|I with theater goers as a thoughtful piece remedy relief. :e has broken up no homes. He never (Iters or raves. He has never waved a Mgage over innocent heads. Violent, he ■ never been. He is nothing that is inHal to sympathy. As a man thinketh, so jfe. Creighton Hale is too definitely the Hchap to ever be anything but a misfit in |lin hard boiled roles. He prefers char acterizations that reflect his own ideals. He would feel, he says, too much out of character, if he specialized in underworld roles, or came forth as a he-vamp, or a man that was utterly ruthless. He admires these types as creations, but in his own life, broad as his experience has been, he has not rubbed shoulders with them. They are not real people, he maintains. "The realest person is the average person, even as you and I," he laughs. "The everyday fellow, whose life is the simplest affairs'." Wide contacts, with the silk hat as one pole and overalls, the other, have been the lot of Creighton Hale, who was born in Cork, Ireland of "well to do parents" as the authorative biography always begins. His father was an actor-manager, who had considerable prestige, but who had planned to give his boy a generous college education, then apprentice him to some important London banker and when he had learned through books and experience all about banking, send him to China to establish a bank there. Creighton faithfully pursued his college courses, but before he graduated he discovered he wanted to be an electrical engineer. In some way he got a lot of practical experience, but the pay was small and when he found he could make more money at acting and newspaper reporting, he would follow these long enough until he had a little money laid by when he would go to his favorite occupation. Had he had any encouragement and help, he would probably never have entered the acting profession. This was a season of storm and stress in the way of conflict of desires, but he was laying a broad foundation for motion picture art. For he mingled with all kinds of people from the artisan and day laborer class, to the best bloods of England. As dramatic critic, he came in contact with every noted writer, as actor with the greatest artists in the profession. The struggle side, with these contacts, had its compensations, and he knows it has increased a thousand fold his sympathies and understanding of character and a feeling that a touch of nature makes the whole world kin. "Struggle and disappointment should make one more sympathetic and I believe usually they do. But sympathy is a quality more often that with which a person is born," says Mr. Hale. "One has to feel it in order to portray it. If one simulates it, quickly is it detected." Mr. Hale has joked about the number of sympathetic roles he has played, but nevertheless, he knows it is his line and so he is happy to be always consistently cast. Forgotten, almost, are the London days, when he was called the "boy stage manager." Now facts of the long ago was his own fling at production, when he went on tour with several worthy melodramatic shows which he presented in the provinces. Then his advent as actor with Bccrbnhm Tree. Oscar Asche, greatest Othello, the world has ever known and other English favorites. Later, his coming to this country with "The Dawn of a Tomorrow" which he produced and appeared in. Before this, was his ass ciation with Fred Karno, in one of whose many companies he toured as pantomitniM, dancer and sometimes singer. His first public appearance, it might he interesting to note, was as a choir boy in St. Paul * cathedral, London. He had a long run on Broadway with "The l>awn of a Tomorrow," later toured with it, following this tour with another with the Ben Greet Players. When he returned to Xcw York, he became interested in the progress of pictures and was offered his first opportunity with Pathc. This connection lasted a long time, the actor appearing in several serials in which he was co-starred with Pearl White and became known as stunt man and serial king. Before he left serials, he won a popularity contest, so that his name was a familiar one all over the world. Desirous for broader fields for his art, he made his exit from serials and began work in feature pictures. For about three years he was a member of Griffith's company. Following this, he went back on the stage and it was the Broadway successes "Just Suppose" and "Little Old New York" which brought him to the Coast. When his engagement in San Francisco was completed, he came to Hollywood to sec what the film colony looked like, as he expressed it. was offered the lead in "Tea With a Kick" and the rest is history familiar to all. One offer followed another, and the actor, whose life hitherto had been bounded by Xcw York and Great Neck, Long Island, (where he still retains his beautiful home, but which he says he will never occupy again,) is in Hollywood, (which he vows is the one place.) to stay forever. Pleasant contacts, as you look them over. Perhaps there were lean days when he was the "boy manager" and the ambitious electrician who wired newspaper offices and banks, but there was always conspicuous some high artistic venture, refined influences and the cultural things. Creighton Hale is among those actors who are solidly for their art. He loves motion pictures for their human side as they touch the public. He rejoices when a great picture makes its appearance, for he quickens to the responsiveness of the public. "The public is a part of each successful picture," he maintains. Which brings us back again to a doubled assurance that "a touch' of nature makes the whole world kin." Just now the actor whose work was conspicuous among the enconiums offered fof "Name the Man" and "The Marriage Circle" is filling the role of a small town boy, who is so well meaning, but quite unsophisticated in "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," an Irving Camming! production for Universal. Here there is comedy and heart appeal, in the kind of nature you and I and the whole world knows. There is no silk hat this time, just the "well meaning" hick clothes that the village blade wOttld pick out for his colorful adventures, but Creighton i« having his own adventure out of it, with all the small town stage, for the time being, hit world! fclllll Ildl U UU11CU I!'l<._>. -LJ.< |;i^iv.ij If 3>our living is in motion pictures $ou need CAMERA' eve rv week