Motion Picture Classic (Jan-Dec 1916)

How They Got In By ARTHUR HORNBLOW, JR. to film honors, “Where can I get experience if I cant get a job?’’ And that is a question which is asked in all walks of life, a righteous protest which is heard wherever jobs are sought after and refused. The one possible answer isn’t really an answer at all — and that is “Watch for an opportunity.’’ Sometimes a Moving Picture director just happens to need a “type,” he is on the eager hunt for a face that is “distinctly different” — if one may use the phrase without violating the copyright laws. Let us see what happens when he is in such a condition : Scene : Outer office of the film company. The principal “prop” is one wooden rail and a swinging gate. On the hallowed side of the rail sit a telephone operator with a Queen of Sheba hauteur and several office boys of neglectful mien. On the public side of the rail, ranged in two rows’ against the wall, is a small but eager crowd of hopefuls. Every man and woman of them wants a job! There is a sign on the wall : “All Casts Are Filled — Nobody Wanted.” They heed it not ; they have seen it before and they will see it again. It is always there, and only the most thanwhomest amateur would be convinced or disheartened by it. All these people save one have had either stage or picture experience. The one who has never had either sits far back near the door. She is a timid little creature with great doe eyes and a sad, sad face that makes one want to put a hand on her shoulder and say “Is there anything I can do for you?” She lias screwed up her courage to come this far, and she is beginning to feel sorry she has done that. She hasn’t seen the sign on the wall because she was too frightened to take a good look around. If she had she’d have left immediately, glad of the excuse. As it is, she lingers longingly. The others look at her, some pityingly, others snif ANITA STEWART fingly. They can tell she’s an amateur, and they know the answer she’ll get. Enter, suddenly and hurriedly, a very homely man from the inner offices, carrying a piece of paper. He is the director, and as he advances to the rail he quickly and expertly scans the faces before him. They all look, almost piteously, in his direction. He shakes his head mournfully and perhaps curses slightly, that is, slightly for a director. Ah, but who is that crouching back there at the end of the row? “You!” he shouts, as he points a stumpy finger in the direction of the girl with the doe eyes. He shouts it again and louder, before she realizes that he is really pointing at her. Then slowly she rises and comes toward him. “Thank the Lord,” mutters the director, graciously, “you’re just what I needed !” That little scene is enacted frequently in the many picture studios dotting this country. Without asking about training or anything, a director will employ a man or woman "ust because they happen to suit 1 s needs, because they are a “type" that he has urgent use for. That is how the girl with MABEL TRUNNELLE MARY FULLER In the happy days of “Laurajean” and “The Duchess” it was the young girl’s passion to go on the stage. But times have changed, and so has the girl. Today, her dearest wish is to appear on the screen as a movie star, and it is estimated by the harassed but patient movie producers that out of one thousand girls in a given area, nine hundred and eighty-four have, at one time or other, secretly or openly, craved screen prominence. Of this number, at least eight hundred and fifty-two have sent their photographs, with personal blurbs on the subject of what the neighbors think of their dramatic power, to one or more of the film companies, while of this last number, six hundred and seventy-nine have personally applied at a studio and asked for a job. What happened to them? They were told either that nobody was needed at just that moment, but they might leave their name ; or else, more truthfully, that experience was absolutely necessary, and that, until there was a dearth of trained professional talent no amateurs could possibly be taken on. Which gives rise to the pertinent question, on the part of the aspirant FORD STERLING