Motion Picture Classic (Jan-Aug 1919)

waste of good time. I detest the casual acquaintance. In fact, I have no casual acquaintances. I either get under the skin or I get nowhere at all.” There is a very much abused, consequently cheapened expression, called “the joy of living.” If one can forget the abuse one can apply it to Eugene O’Brien and have the perfect analogy. He is redundant of the sheer pleasure of being alive. Life has been kind to him, generous, colorful. In return, he has been kind to Life, met her fairly, played the game. One gets that at once. Nothing of the snob ; nothing of the unhealthy cynic ; nothing whatever of the misanthrope. Health . . . everywhere. Living interests him. It interests a great many people, but it interests him consciously. In the scheme his work interests him most of all. When he is about to begin a picture he lives the part in so far as that is possible before he attempts to portray it. If he is to be a member of the idle rich, he dines at the Ritz and the Plaza various times, or at the Biltmore. He keeps his trained eye on the type of idle rich he is to be. He “plays the sedulous ape” to their little mannerisms, their tricks of expression and manner. Contrariwise, if he is to be a ruffian from some obscure Bowery, he dons a sweater and cap and plunges into the substratum of existence. He hobnobs with the Bowery habitues and gets their point of view. He steeps himself in the character he is to portray. {Continued on page 71) © Strauss Eugene O’Brien is a realist where his work is concerned, almost passionately. He is an idealist in his dreams, and he has them. He is an epicure in his mode of living. He “adores the women’’ he knows. And he adores particularly the smart woman, the witty woman, the woman who is professional, the woman who has lived. The lower picture is, one of Eugene at the age of eight months (Twenty-five)