Motion Picture Classic (1923, 1924, 1926)

GREAT ATHLETES George O'Brien is a super-athlete in his own right. He has the physical build of a Greek Hercules, the lithe grace of a dancing-master, and the hitting powers of a Missouri mule Fred Thomson, on the right, is a natural athlete who excels in everything. At the Inter-Allied Games in Paris, a few years ago he won the decathlon in competition with most of the world's best Hal K. Wells MOVING picture audiences of the Twentieth Century have one big thing in common with their prehistoric brethren of the Stone Age, and that is an innate and undying admiration for sheer physical prowess. It is a trait as old as the race itself. It was first born back in the dim days when the world was young and such things as second-hand flivvers and radio sopranos were undreamedof nightmares of a far distant and decadent future. The several thousand years that have elapsed since then have only slightly changed our inbred admiration for physical prowess. Today, instead of the hairy Neanderthal man who could give a gorilla the first hug and then crack three of the brute's ribs without half trying, our homage is paid to the athlete, the man who combines skill with his sheer brawn, and adds the quality of a fighting heart to the glory of both. But, fundamentally, our admiration for physical prowess is as strong and sincere as it ever was. This admiration is the factor that throngs boxing arenas, football stadiums, baseball parks, causes the meeting of two girl tennis players to get first-page headlines in the newspapers of the world — and fills moving picture theaters to the last seat when such suoer-athletes as Douglas Tom Tyler shows the marvelous chest and arm development that enabled him to acquire several weightlifting records George Lewis is one of the best all-round athletes ever developed by a California high school. He stars at basketball 40