Motion Picture Classic (Jul-Dec 1928)

H OW to By marquis BUSBY I If Tottie Twoshoes doesn't take criticism gamely, it's dangerous to eat in the same restaiirant with her IT is all well and good for the motion picture critic of the Oskaloosa Bugle to pub Tottie Twoshoes, the darling of filmdom, on the pan for her performance in "Hearts Aflame," her latest for the Whozis studios. The Oskaloosa scribe can spend a quiet evening at a strawberry festival on the church lawn, or playing billiards at Mike's Parlor, with no danger of meeting thefairTottie at either place. But the motion picture critics of Los Angeles, one of the largest suburbs of Hollywood, have no such assurance when they take Tottie to task in the columns of their dailies. The very evening of the day on which the review appears the critic may sit next to Tottie at dinner at the Montmartre, the Cocoanut Grove, the Roosevelt, or whatever swanky place may be basking in the favor of the Hollywood colony. Sometimes Tottie takes her criticisms like a scholar and a gentleman. Sometimes she does not. I know. I write motion picture reviews and I've had a few post-preview encounters with the various Totties of filmland. The Los Angeles critics must be calloused alike to cold glares of anger and bubbling-over enthusiasm. Otherwise they wouldn't dare say, for instance, that Tottie needed a few more gauze screens to register properly the fact that she is just eighteen. Tottie is so sensitive about her age. But we, being inherent, and oh, just awfully enthusiastic followers of veracity, tell the truth and shame Tottie. Being kind-hearted souls naturally, we would rather be pleasant than disagreeable, when the chance is afforded. 28 The Reviews Hollywood Reads T is easy to understand the par ticular interest of the stars in the Los Angeles reviews of pictures. When the grapefruit isn't in their eyes, they read the motion picture pages at their breakfast tables. What is printed elsewhere, with the exception of in New York, is not so important. Sally Simper, their screen rival, the cat, reads also the same reviews. Sometimes the reactions of these famous people to their reviews is side-splittingly funny, at other times merely side-splitting. I remember, for instance, James Young, veteran director, who dropped into the office of the motion picture department of the paper. "What do you mean," he asked, "by saying that the direction of 'The Unchastened Woman' was amateurish.? It might not have been good, but at least it wasn't amateurish." Young was good-natured about it, but crestfallen. It seems he had been directing for years. Was directing, in fact, when James Cruze was reading "Swiss Family Robinson" and C. B. DeMille had not yet invented the bathtub. I hate to draw conclusions, but the fact remains that since "The Unchastened Woman," Young hasn't been doing much. Theda Bara, the star of the picture, has retired from the screen, and the theater that housed this opus during its Los Angeles engagement remains dark to this day. Honestly, it was amateurish. Then there is the First National producer who took exception to some non-praising remarks in my review. " He's got it in for this studio," he declared angrily. "He -wants to be an actor and we refused to cast him for a picture." Compassionate Towards Charlie I DON'T know where he got the idea. I'm practically devoted to my articulation via Underwood (advt.) I don't care for the idea of location trips to the high Sierras in winter and the Mojave in summer. Anyway, 1 like Charles Rogers very much ,