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ucker who
Succeeded
Believe It or Not, Tom Tyler Learned Movie Acting by Mail
HIS kid sister shrilled, "Mama! Tom's doin' it again-. Mama! Tom's got his face all painted funny, an' he's talkin' to hisself."
His mother said worriedly, "Tom, if you put any more of that nasty dirty stuff on your face. I'll tell your father and he will give you a licking. Sometimes I think' you're crazy, spending good money on such trash ! It's going to those awful nickelodeons that's done it."
His father, heavy-handed superintendent of the iron ore mines on Lake Chamberlain, said grimly, "Not another word, d'you hear me? My son an actor! Fine business for a healthy man. You're going to learn to be an automobile mechanic and make a decent living."
The letter from the correspondence school said, "Dear Sir : We are sending you the make-up kit. We feel sure you have great talent and would succeed on the screen. Kindly send the second instalment, $5, and the next lesson, 'Screen Technique,' will be mailed promptly.
Yours truly. The Correspondence School of
Screen Training."
He was seventeen, tall, gangling. Evenings he would run himself ragged carrying heavy, cans of film from one movie house to another two miles away, but he barely moved in answer to a call for a bucket of coal for the kitchen stove. He was driving a truck and saving up his money. When he had enough for his fare to California, he was going out to become a movie hero, like Eddie
Polo or Hobart Bosworth. But not like Bill Hart. He didn't like Westerns. He always walked out when the first shot of sagebrush flashed on the screen. P)esides, he was scared of horses. Always had been.
Registering Ambition
JV/Teanwhile he was learning how to be a movie actor, so's to be ready. The lessons covered everything: How to Make Up as an Old Man, How to Register the Different Emotions, Rage, Grief, Fear. How to Be a Comedian. How to Dress for Society Parts. Some of them were sort of hard to do alone, but it wasn't safe to ask the family to help. Better lock the door while you practised the lesson on "How to Make Love," and when you got the one on "Screen Fighting," where you had to choke yourself, it was wiser to do it in the barn where you could make plenty of noise without attracting attention. {Continued on page 76)
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