Film Fun (Jan - Dec 1919)

32 elusion," Lizzie, the Silent Star By Emma-Lindsay Squier This is a story of a piece of " movie " furniture, a veteran piece which has appeared with many of the best known stars. The Players' Club, in New York, cherishes relics of Edwin Booth. Who ventures to say that properties which have appeared with screen celebrities will no(»be as highly prized ? — this chest of drawers, for instance, nicknamed by the screen-folk, Lizzie. said the movie man, "though you have interviewed many stars, your career is not complete until you have seen and interviewed Lizzie!" I came to life with a jerk. Was there such a thing, I demanded, as a star named "Lizzie"? The name itself was frightfully intriguing, I had talked with Thedas, Wandas and Colleens; interviewed Ermininies, Glorias, Lilas and Mercedeses; but never in all my interviewial career had I come upon a star with such a "handle" in the temple of the silent art; lived with it, worked with it, saw it emblazoned on billboards — LIZZIE ! "I certainly want to meet her!" I said, with alacrity. "The sooner the quicker." From the dim and cluttered recesses of the big room came a dismal creaking, a complaining screech and a grumbling rumble, and out into the light, propelled by the property man, came what looked to be a badly made chiffonier minus the mirror, or a crude cabinet put together hurriedly, with a set of drawers gaping widely like so many mouths, and on top a miscellany of humble and unlovely articles, old gloves, screw drivers, nails, assorted thumb tacks, a watering can and a bottle of glue. "This," said the movie man, with a flourish, "is Lizzie!" I stared, open-mouthed. "But I thought you said Lizzie was a star!" I managed to articulate. "Well, so I was!" came a rickety voice from the interior of the contraption. ' ' I may not have been featured in the pictures, but just the same they couldn't have been made without me. I have worked in as many as five pictures at once, and that's more than any other star can say ! And I never got fits of temperament, either, and refused to go on the set ; I didn't mind working all night, and I didn't growl if the director sat on me — which is, again, more than any other star can say! And yet, in spite '"1 ' I < "''"Ml IM'imil " Lizzie " and Katherine, McDonald. of my six years of steady service, I've never once been interviewed or had my picture in the paper ! A rotten deal, I call it!" And one of the 1 half-open drawers shut with a vicious snap. I rose nobly to the occasion and got out my notebook and fountain pen. "The first thing to ask you, " I said, in the businesslike tone which I use when interviewing celebrities, "is how do you like California?" ' ' I am a Native Daughter ! ' ' she said proudly. ' ' I come of famous old Redwood stock; my ancestors pioneered in the forests of northern California, and I may say, without undue boasting, that I am a chip of the old block." "Ah, yes," I assented politely. "And your first picture was" " 'The Squaw Man,' " she replied impressively. "That was Lasky's first production, 'way back in the year 1913, and it was my film debut. I may say that that picture made me ; or, rather, that I was made for the picture. I carried guns and whiskey bottles for the barroom scenes in my upper drawers, and tapestries and wall paper for the English manor scenes in my lower ones. "I don't suppose you know — since interviewers are notoriously ignorant persons — that in those days the studios did not have the large force of men they have nowadays to decorate the sets. No, indeed ; Bill, the property man, and I did it all. I carried almost everything that was needed for fixing up the sets, including cans of paint and vases for flowers. Bill would paper the walls, paint the floors, put down rugs, hang up pictures — all with my assistance, don't forget; then the carpenters would move the furniture in, and the set was ready. "In those days I carried satins for boudoir scenes, packages of snow for northern sets and the glittering paste jewels of the Queen ! In those days it was 'Lizzie, this,' and 'Lizzie, that' — and whatever was wanted, from a double