Motion Picture Classic (1923, 1924, 1926)

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PICTURE, PICTURE By Robert Donaldson Jean Hersholt and Ernest Torrence walked away with the acting honors in "Greed" and "The Covered Wagon" THE question is — how do they steal it ? Picture-stealing is rapidly becoming an eighth art, and one which adds spice to the business of going to the movies. Frequently it is the method by which a new star is whirled into the firmament of filmdom. Picture-stealing is always eagerly watched both by critics and theatergoers because it partakes of the element of chance, of the unexpected. One reads the advance notices and advertisements of a movie. Various well-known players are featured, and everything seems according to Hoyle thruout. Yet when one attends the picture, it is obvious — obvious to the veriest dub in the audience — that some unknown, or some minor player, whose name is frequently not even mentioned in the billing — has walked away with the show, has made the impression which is the most lasting on the minds of the audience. Not always is it a newcomer who steals a picture. Often it is a character actor with a relatively small part compared to that of tbe hero and the heroine. Such a player very frequently (in the parlance of the film business) just "rolls up the picture and puts it in his vest pocket." How do they do it ? How is a picture stolen ? The writer decided that the best way to discover the technique was to go to some of the notorious picturestealers in the business. Not infrequently producers put a confirmed picturestealer in a cast just to pep things up and spur the other members of the cast to greater effort. His Back to the Camera ! One of the classics of Hollywood is the tale of how Andre de Beranger, with his back to the camera, stole trie final scene of "Grounds for Divorce" from Owen Moore and Harry Myers, to whom (the latter two) the scene was supposed to go, and who dont love a camera lens any more than they love their own mothers. The final scene of the picture featured Beranger, Myers and Moore. Each of the three was trying to take this scene by sheer force of acting, and the battle was one of wit, cleverness, and quick-thinking. When the fade-out scene came, the honors were about even. Paul Bern, the director, arranged the grouping for the fade-out. And he placed Beranger with his back to the camera ! Moore and Myers chuckled. Beranger, they figured, was out of it. But they reckoned without the swiftthinking cleverness of a real trouper. Andre de Beranger stole "Grounds for Divorce" Roy D'Arcy stole "The Merry Widow" Adolphe Menjou stole "A Woman of Paris" 22