Motion Picture Classic (Jul-Dec 1928)

BUY DIRECT Z DIAMONDS FROM JASON WEILER & SONS Leading Diamond Importers. Save 20 to 40' c For over aO year? the house of Jason Weiler & Sons, of Boston, has been one of the leading diamond importing concerns in America selling direct by mail to customers and dealers alike all over the world at savings .of from 20 to 40' f. Here are several diamond offers — direct to you by mall — which clearly demonstrate our position to name prices on diamonds that should interest every present or prospective diamond purchaser. This one carat diamond Is of nne brilliancy and latest style cutting. .Mounted in 14K solid gold setting. It this ring can be dupllcaie<l elsewhere (or less than $200.00 your money will be returned at once. Our price ?j,r'.'° $145.00 carat, .$145.00 ISK Sohcl White Cold King in e.x qui 3 1 1 el y pierced 4 s<iuarf»-prong design inou-'-d with full cut blue white t>i«moU{l and li smaller Diamonds set In the new stepside effect. A remarkable value $150.00 .4 few welohts and price. '/, carat $31.00 a carat 50.00 '/t carat 73.00 If desired, rings will be name or anj' Express Co. with privilege of examination. O u r diamond guarantee tor full value for all time goes with every piirctiase. WRITE TODAY FOR THIS F <EE CATALOG Beautiful Solid Platinum Ring, extiulsltely hand carved and pierced. Set .■ith line, full-cut. bluewhiic Diamond In combination «. 'i 2 marquise shaped and S smaller Diamonds on(4n|\ n(\ the sides. . . <pt,UU.O»» of other diamond rings: 1 carat $145.00 2 carats 290.00 3 carats 435.00 sent to any banli you may •'HOW TO BUY DIAMONDS" This book is beautifully lllust rated. Tells how to iutlge. select and buy diamonds. Tells how they mine, cut and marl^et diamonds This hook, showing we 1 g h t s , sizes, prices and (lualiiies..S20.00 to S-'O.OOO.OO is considcre<l an authority. Jason Weiler & Sons 343 Washington St., Boston, Mass. fnrner nf ]Vii.iMnalon rind Frrinklin SIreels Diomond Importers since 1870 Foreion Agencies: Amsterdiim and Paris Be sure to read jHKje seven PERSONAL Appearance i.s now more than ever t lie keynote of eucccsit, both ill social aud buaiiie!<a life. liuw-Leuocl and Kuock-Kneed mm and women, both youiiK aixl olH, will bo glad to hear that my now appliance will aucc-eesrully alraiffhten, within a sliorl time, bow-lesKediio.>^s and knock-knoe'l I i'lTN. Kufoly, quickly and pertimiiently, without pain, operation or dinpomfort. Worn at niitht. My new "Lim-Straitner," Model IS. I'. S. Putent, in easy to adjuxt: its reaulte will soon save y<m from further humiliation, and improve your pemonal i>lM>(!itranrc 100 i>er rent. (Model IH is not like old-faa)iioned HpliiirH or brarcH.with bothor«onio Htraps. hard to adjuBt.bul II Hcieniific, modern <levi(-e of proven merit, used and refomrrii'ncle<l (or the last 7 years by physiriana everywhere.) \\'rito today fftr particutare. tCMiimoniala and my free copyritfhte'l phynioloKical and anatomical book which telU you how to correct bow and knock-kneed leifs without any obli^ittion. Enclose a dime for poBtaue. M. TRILETY, SPECIALIST 1662 L. W.U. Buildinsr Binghamton, N. Y. From Fad to Worse {Continued from page jj) will warm to the dawn of emancipation. -Men possessing all the qualities now listed on the minus side, wi-11 dash to the rescue like the proverbial boys in blue. And Brenon mentions Otto Kahn and Adolph Zukor as two who will in some way endow the feeble art with sinews essential to its strengthening. In the meantime, for a while at least, the movies will stutter along, neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring. Our International Nation HE strongly stresses the international appeal of pictures and lauds them as a medium through which the barriers of race and creed may be destroyed. And he feels that because America contains a little of the blood of all the world, our film-tales carry something for England, for France, for Germany. While their own pictures are provincial, ours are universal, all-embracing. No, the screen has developed no great actors. Then he thinks of Chaplin. And takes this back. He divides acting into two schools: the inspirational and the technical. Chaplin is inspired. Jannings a technician. He raises his voice in denoting his vast preference of the inspirational school. The publicist dips his oar to cite Sir Henry Irving as a technician who was a great actor, aiid meets with vehement denial. Brenon names Mansfield as the paragon, hnd surely the great Richard was inspired. From this stage interlude, back again to pictures. Favors Sorrell and Son THE mission of the movies is to entertain and elevate. The picture that counts is that which creates a spiritual exaltation. "Sorrell and Son" is his favorite. The Irish eyes of the man are moist with emotion, as he tells an instance of a son's letter to a father upon seeing the picture. And listens to another. "Peter Pan" and its message of youth was produced tosatisfy an ancient yearning. But he isn't pleased with it, because it can be done better. And he'd like to be the one to do it. "BcauGeste"? No, it wasn't bad, he admits. But there were obvious flaws. It creaked. Surely the public is intelligent. It likes his pictures. He is strong in his approval of costume stories for screen translation, and agrees — with Griffith — that Dickens and the rest will one day come into their movie heritage. Accused of being temperamental, he confesses temper. But this, he smiles, was in the bad old days when he used to fly off the handle. Of course, he never does that now. Of course not. But, he admits, stupidity and bad acting do irk him. Even to the point of wishing he might shoot a few of the offenders before luncheon. But a good actor! How Brenon worships him! And this leads into a little eulogy of H. B. Warner, who, says Brenon, is in the way of being a mighty pantomimist. Just a wee, leetle bit temperamental at times. But they understood one another, did "Sorrell" and his screen-father. And that understanding brought respect and admiration. Chaplin, Amateur Peacock THE acquisition of ego is the downfall of the player, so he says. And, for once paying heed to the purring publicist, he amends the statement so that the conceit must be in regard to histrionic prowess. Par example, Chaplin, mild and modest as a babe while laboring In that art of which he is the master, becomes something of peacock poseur when impressing the yessers with the attempted turn of an epigram, or floundering in a philosophical morass. But isn't Tunney? And, aren't we all? "We" Stuff THE director who takes credit for his pictures is an ass. The "I" is out. It's "we" who make pictures. It's the assistant director, the cameraman, the electrician, props. That is the secret. Team-work. Despite the fact that he may fire his entire force in the morning, they all adore him. And they know full well that they'll all be re-hired in the afternoon. One actor who plays in almost every Brenon picture is told with monotonous regularity that never, no never, under any circumstances, will he ever again work in another Herbert Brenon production. The old fellow looks sad-eyed as a kicked collie, and like as not the two will weep a bit on one another's shoulders before shooting the next sequence. Many are the yarns they spin of Brenon. He's changeable as the skies of Killarney. Quick of wit, quick of speech, quick to anger, quick to forget. Except when he sincerely feels he is justified, then obdurate as a Dublin jarvey. His first American job was as messengerboy in a vaudeville agency. The stamp of the father was on his sons. Edward St. John Brenon was a dramatic critic. Herbert never strayed far from the profession, and his brother, Algernon St. John, was long the eminent musical critic of the New York Morning Telegraph. Even the third generation bears the brand, for Aileen St. John Brenon, Algernon's daughter, is a writer of merit. From Imp to Importance FROM a messenger-boy, he succeeded \\"il!iam Collier as call-boy at Daly's theater. Then became a trouper in his own right, playing juveniles and comedy r61es. Followed vaude\ille, and his own stock company. Now pictures came, and Brenon became an exhibitor. From this he graduated into the scenario department of Carl Laemmle's Imp studios, and directed his first picture in 1910. It was ".\11 For Her." Since then he has directed three hundred photoplays, for Fox, for Paramount and for United .\rtists. A host of stars have heeded his megaphone, among them Theda Bara, Alia Nazimova, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Nance O'Neil and Forbes-Robertson are some of the personalities who have made their film debuts under his auspices. .A.nd listed with his discoveries are Richard Barthelmess, Bert Lytell, Betty Hronson, Esther Ralston and Alary Brian. Captain of His Soul HE has weathered a host of vicissitudes that would ha\-e destroyed a less vita! being. His hot-headed, hand-on-sword, often Quixotic attitude toward the world in general, has put him with his back to the wall in many a tight corner. He has been well-flagellated, and relegated to the outer darkness to seek contrition. But has always bobbed up again, independent and uncontrite. He is an artist and a gentleman, an excellent judge of beverages, ever ready for a fight or for a frolic, and through countless bufletings has remained, with a twinkle in his eye, the captain of hi^ soul. 76