Motion Picture (Feb-Jul 1930)

He Took College Seriously (Continued from page 42) which seem due to dim their luster, and soon. Novarro and Chaney have yet to make talkies. Buddy Rogers may be in the nature of a passing fad. But Barthelmess is set. Still young, the microphone hurdle triumphantly passed, in a commanding position as to stories, casts and direction, he appears prepared to last longer than a half dozen of his rivals lumped. Naturally, things haven 't always been so smiling. He was forced to leave Trinity before graduation, due to lack of funds; and his early years in the picture racket were nothing to win him much respect at his bank. Thus, now that he is in the big money, it is not odd that he should tend it carefully. Everyone with a knowledge of theatrical life is familiar with the manner in which old troupers on the road hike for the moneyorder window of the local post-office the minute that the weekly pay checks are distributed. Barthelmess had this example of thrift ground into him early; there will be no need of benefits for him, no home for aged and . improvident actors. Shrewdly and carefully he has gone about building a respectable fortune. Now Curt, Now Courteous THIS habit of consolidating his position is at one time a virtue and a fault. Surely there can be no large criticism for a man 's wish to make his place secure in the world; but Barthelmess has allowed that wish to become something of an obsession. At present he is under the direction of the capable Frank Lloyd. But his record is spotted with disagreements with men equally gifted, of quarrels with studio officials, exhibitions of temperament or temper with fellow players, and so on down the line to his well-known flair for being snooty with people of the press. Personally, I have found him to be a consistently gracious gentleman. But that is no reason why I should attempt to disguise his arrogance with those whom he feels to lack an intelligence and background comparable with his own. It is apparent how this scion of an ancient family (the Barthlemy tree, of which he is the tenth Richard) has had encouraged those unsocial traits indicated in his failure to tell Van Vechten that they are members of the same fraternity. Until his recent marriage to Jessica Sargent of New York, he had two close friends in Bill Powell and Ronald Colman. But what is the burden of that bum, but telling, song about wedding bells breaking up that old gang of mine? Primarily for Business THE usual college man in the movies, when asked regarding what he thinks his school did for him, replies that his years in the dear old place fitted him for a better enjoyment of life, or gave him a deeper insight in human character, or something equally pallid. This, our Richard, makes no bones about holding that his educational years were valuable to him primarily because they equipped him for his business. In Hollywood a great deal of hooey is cast about art by people who wouldn 't know the dear old chap were they to meet him face to face. On the other hand, no great outcry is made about being a good business man. Yet it is almost axiomatic that the stars who last the longest are those with a knowledge of story-value, production-value, and box-office value. Attaining stardom entails a number of things; retaining it, a number of others. Dick Barthelmess will remain a star for a long time because he combines to an unusual degree the talents of artist and business executive. Why that's the strongest statement ever made about a soap. " Yet it's absolutely true!" 95