Motion Picture Classic (Jan-Dec 1916)

MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC SCENE FROM WORLD PICTURE MATTY ROUBERT “Sonny Jim” series of picturer, because of Bobby’s appealing personality, has been vibrant with the charm of innocent boyhood. Bobby began his work in pictures with the Kalem Company when he was three years old. Two years ago he joined the Vitagraph Company, and his first picture, “Caught Courting,” with Maurice Costello, was such a personal triumph for Bobby, that he was raised to stardom, put in stock and the “Sonny Jim” series written for him. They have included “Sonny Jim in Search of a Mother,” “Easter Lily,” “’Fraid Cat,” “Sonny Jim in Search of the North Pole,” “Bear Facts” (in which Bobby played with two bear cubs), “Sonny Jim and the Circus,” and a number of others. Robert Joseph Connelly — if you WILLIE GIBBON would call him by his official name — is a marvel at the studio, his remarkable self-possession and keen memory serving him in excellent stead. During the taking of outdoor scenes, he has never become rattled or nervous and seldom needs prompting during the course of an action. Needless to say, Bobby is the darling of the studio. Another very young man of exceptional ability is Andy Clark, of Edison fame — a comedian, if you please. Andy was recruited, in an hour of need, from a game of “one-old-cat” outside the studio. The four-foot hero made good at once. Eventually an “Andy Series” was decided upon, because of the youngster’s remarkable YALE BOSS work and large following. Andy’s favorite role was a carefree, happygo-lucky messenger boy, which was made the central figure of several bright stories of typically American boy life. It is not so long ago that the Universal Company featured little Matty Roubert as “The Universal Boy,” and that lively youngster was made the hero of a series in which he visited many prominent personages and places and was enthusiastically greeted. Matty received much of his training from his father, who is a director, now producing a feature picture entitled “The Waif,” with his son as the star. In Charley Van Loan’s story, “Little Sunset,” filmed by Bosworth, the shining light around which the plot revolves is the red-haired, freckled bat-boy and mascot of a bigleague baseball team. This role was essayed in true boyish fashion by little Gordon Griffith, a twelve-year-old “veteran” of the pictures. Gordon put his whole heart and soul into the characterization, while Hobart Bosworth, as “The Terrible Swede,” the big center-fielder who chums with the lad, shared with the boy the chief honors of the picture. It is no small task for a bov to assume a star part in a five-reeler, but Gordon emerged with flying colors. Few boys have had a wider experience in Moving Pictures than Yale Boss, who spent most of his “growing” years with the Edison Company. Yale has played practically all the characters within the range of a bov actor, and the fact that he has been for more than five years with the same company is significant. Recently, as he reached fifteen years of age and slipped into his first pair of “long pants,” Yale has been assigned to older parts, which he has been handling exceptionally well. It was Yale who discovered Andy Clark and fetched him in from the street to be almost instantly hurled into fame. There have been several married Moving Picture players who have brought their sons to the attention of directors, and after having received instruction at home these boys invariably make good. That is the case with little George Hollister, of the Kalem Company. His first appearance was more or less of an accident, but he was soon made a permanent possession of the company. When the Kalemites, several years ago, went to the Holy Land to produce “From the Manger to the Cross,” George traveled with his mother. He was selected to play the role of the child Christ in that remarkable picture, and his work elicited much favorable comment. Subsequently he was taken (Twenty-one)