Majestic Monthly (Feb 1916)

6 THE MAJESTIC MONTHLY HER FIRST REAL ACTING 1TTHO of the hundreds who have seen yy Anna Held in musical comedy ever ' ' saw her in a role where she had to be taken seriously? You will be able to see her in such a part shortly at the Majestic and doubtless will be surprised at the dramatic finesse she displays in “Madame La Presidente,” the French farce which Oliver Morosco has given her to serve as a vehicle for her first screen work and in which the chic Parisienne appears as the capricious Mile. Cobette. One morning, soon after her signing a contract with Oliver Morosco for her initial motion picture appearance following her arrival from the French battlefront, the famous Anna was discovered by a friend at her New York hotel making faces at a collection of mirrors surrounding her bed. Completely taken by surprise the caller inquired as to the cause of the new whim — that of lying in bed and smiling at surrounding mirrors. “I am practicing for the moving pictures,” exclaimed the actress with her delightful French accent and displaying a worried look in her famous “naughty eyes.” At the Los Angeles studio of the Oliver Morosco Photoplay company the same troubled look was in evidence. “This is the first real acting I have ever had. People have seen me only as trying to look pretty and cavort gaily on the musical comedy stage but never in real dramatic art. Now I have the opportunity and am going to make the most of it.” And she did. At first she was not pleased with herself before the camera. This feeling, however, was not shared by more than a score of actors, actresses, directors and technical people at the studios. Far from it — they crowded around her, with the scenes over, and showered congratulations on her as she beamed and smiled in bewilderment. “Then I really can act?” inquired the doubtful Anna. It was then that she revealed an ambition, which is nothing more nor less than that she appear not only in the more legitimate comedies in the future, but in dramas as well. “I am very happy in my new work,” she sighed, as she reclined gracefully in a massive arm chair while waiting for the next scene. “I really had stage fright all over again when I first appeared before that camera. It was a most uncomfortable feeling, but it soon vanished and even while I was wondering whether I could remember the lines I had used in rehearsal the scene was being photographed and I did not know it, believing that I was only rehearsing again.” The great difference in make-up for the stage and the screen was the most puzzling obstacle Miss Held encountered. Three tests in make-up were all disappointments to her and she finally was persuaded that rouge makes one look haggard and sickly on the screen and that it is next to impossible to use too solid a “foundation” with grease paint. But Miss Held proved the worst critic and would not yield to the intricacies of making up for the screen, an art which she has now mastered to her own satisfaction. Anna Held laughed at the conclusion of the first scenes — laughed at herself — because while others, looking on, whispered in admiration of her work, she felt she was out of place. But it was not long before the enthusiastic Parisienne became used to all the strange surroundings and technical mysteries of the studio. She studied every phase of the work and saccrificed many evening suppers and parties in order to be at the studio at nine in the morning ready for work. Anna Held has discovered that she can act, but others knew it before she found it out. ANNA HELD