Motion Picture Classic (May 1921 - Dec 1927)

Keeping Out of the Movies GETTING past the ‘‘extra” in pictures is like wishing for a miliion dollars with a dispossess notice in your hand. You have about the same chance of getting there. There are two distinct types of atmosphere — class and near class. The former have their clothes cut a-la-modc and dine instead of eat. A great number do picture work as a diversion from their duties as charity workers, with a longing to show their many friends how they screen ; but in that they face disappointment. either because they are never seen at all, or their double chin is too prominent. The other type (or tripe) are merely “persons.” They include washerwomen, scrubbies, delicatessen keepers and the like. Their duties are to appear in mobs and dodge brickbats or gun shots as the case demands. There are numerous agents along the beaten path, most of them members of the “happiness club,” strewing deeds of kindness along life’s stormy path. Never does an agent let you think for a moment he considers you a pest. No, indeed! As you approach the gate in your usual timid way, asking permission to work among his chosen few, he takes your hand, or pats you on the back and if necessary hands you a ten spot to tide you over the three months you may be out of work; or if something is in sight, he bids you good cheer, telling you to call a week later. When you finally do land a job, for $7.50, minus ten per cent and ultra evening clothes, you begin to feel all the fools are not dead yet by a darn sight, including you. On the way home you decide your dress might be improved by a little more of this and that, or you would lookbetter in a different style earring — Bing! There goes half your salary for next day before it is earned, but you cheerfully go without your usual rations for the evening meal — for who is the wriser if your stomach is empty ? When you arrive at ytfur two by four hallroom, you find a phone message : “Picture has been postponed.” And before it does come to pass, the casting man has given your part to one of his friends. Stills are money getters (picture stills, as well as moonshine). But to get a still — there’s the rub. You cant put one over on the agent by saying they were lost in a fire or a dog chewed them up. They are well enough acquainted with that branch of the business themselves to recognize a lie when they hear one. If you go into a studio and tell them you can act because you vamped one man into paying your cloak check for life, they will tell you the cast is filled and the best they can do is atmosphere. If you look smart, you are cast for next day. This time it’s a garden party and you own only street clothes, but you are positive your dear friend Tilly will loan you her new frock, even if 'there is a chance of getting it smeared with grease (Ninetyfive) paint. It’s a trifle too long and rather large in the waistline, but you are praying the director may be near-sighted. Alas ! He wasn’t near-sighted, he simply looked past. You may have seemed ethereal and he not psychic enough to see you. Anyhow you go home feeling your first plunge was a chilling frost. By the time you cast again, you have invested your rent money and brought a “kippy” outfit. On the set, as you stand in line for inspection, some cat next to you whispers : “Dont get into the camera if you expect to get parts.” (That, Delra, is professional jealousy, which exists among the female of the species, approaching their second infant class.) But the remark makes you wonder why you dolled up at all. After hours of patient waiting — “sitting pretty” — in your regalia, some one motions. It’s the assistant director, who tells you to talk up to the star, say a word and walk back again. The thought is turning over in your cranium : “Where did I ever learn to walk?” In a vague way you perform your stunt and feel your chest expansion breaking the limit, at your close proximity to a star, while she (poor dub!) only considers you among those present. After it is over, somehow you cant feel so chummy with the rank and file, because you are sure now that the director intends to give you a chance. When you arrive home you instruct your landlady to change the color of your room to baby blue. Next day you stop everyone along the route telling them how they liked you at the studio, with variations and the compliments you dreamed you received, making you quite upstage ; but no one believes your fairy tales, for that, Dearie, is what is called a professional lie and its name is legion. Within the month, after you have remained home for days, awaiting the call that never came, you are back at the old stand, eager to take any kind of a picture for the experience and, incidentally, the money. When anyone throws the “bull” at a pretty girl telling her she ought to give up a regular job, go into the movies and let the world see her beautiful hair and eyes, let her remember that there are a thousand of her type putting the landlord off every month, waiting for work. Even if a girl thinks she can vamp the director, it’s no novelty to the dear soul ; for to him the whole world looks like a vamping ground, and who wants overripe fruit? No, Evelyn, you cant bear the game. It's already beerl hammered and flattened to a fair-ye-well. You are some star at your office because you type according to Hoyle. Then why be a background for others to shine? You have a bigger chance where you are to marry a bank president and ride in your own Rolls Royce. Get me? Gene. LETHA DERBY, 1100 VINE ST.. QUINCY. ILL. How I Lost 103 lbs* This Amazing Reduction Proves That Overweight These Days is a Woman’s Own Fault A few months ago, if you had asked what I would give to get thin I should have replied without a second thought, “Everything I possess.” I had tried so many times to reduce, and tried so hard! Fortunately, something made me try the music method — and life is once more worth living! The first Wallace reducing record played off twenty pounds for me; the complete course reduced me more than a hundred in four months. Not only that, but my state of health was so improved I can never express my gratitude. No woman who had been relieved of a mountain of fat like I carried so long would wonder why I permit this to be printed.” Wallace Tells How Much He Can Reduce You Cases of ioo lbs. overweight are unusual. But Wallace has letters from many who lost 50 lbs; and from hundreds reduced 30 and 40 lbs. If you are but 10, 1 2 or 20 lbs. too heavy for style or comfort, reducing to normal is easily and quickly accomplished. Anyone using Wallace’s records can attain these weights: Height Age Age Age Age 20 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 60 and in Years Years Years Over Inches Lbs. Lbs. Lbs. Lbs. 60 Ill 116 122 125 61 113 118 124 127 62 115 120 127 130 63 118 123 130 133 64 122 127 133 136 65 125 131 437 140 66 129 135 141 145 67 133 139 145 160 68 137 143 149 156 69 in 147 153 169 70 145 145 156 163 You Can Get Thin to Music All you need to do to convince yourself that you can get thin to music is to ask Wallace for a reducing record to prove it. This first lesson is free; with it come complete instructions for its use. Accepting this offer does not obligate ycu. There is no payment to be sent now, and nothing to pay on delivery. Results of this trial will make you eager for the rest of the course — but the only decision to be made now is to try it. Use this handy coupon: WALLACE, 630 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago Please send record for first reducing lesson; free and prepaid. I will either enroll, or mail back your record at the end of a five-day trial. [85] Name Address ... Canadian Address: 62 Albert St., Winnipeg