The Motion Picture Director (Sep 1925 - Feb 1926)

19 26 THE MOTION PICTURE DIRECTOR 23 ltalizm y?n OJTJcreen Ursonah'iy Storu THERE comes a time in the career of every man when he pauses to take stock of himself, and deliberately seeks his proper niche in the scheme of life. And so it happened that a young man stopped to take account of his assets before embarking upon his career. Behind him lay college, athletic achievement, travel and a good deal of money variously spent. Before him lay the world and the problem of how to attack it most advantageously. Assets: Health and optimism. Cultural polish imparted by Stanford, Yale, Oxford and Heidelburg Universities, and student life abroad. Discipline from experience in the navy during the World War. Friends and connections in the show business. Capital, none to speak of except in the form of those other assets. The young man was John W. Considine, Jr., son of the John Considine known to fame in the theatrical profession as part ner in the enterprises of Sullivan and Considine. Like many young men, he had not thought seriously of the profession he would eventually enter until this particular time. His college studies, beginning with medicine, had been broad and general in their later developments, and they gave him no particular index to the choice of a career. There came back to Considine’s memory a conversation he had had with a roommate at Yale. He had said, in effect: “Buddy, if ever I need to go to work I’m going to pick out some big man I like, engaged in a line of work I’m interested in, and get a job with him with the intention of ultimately becoming his secretary.” “Ultimately becoming his secretary ?" the room-mate had said with justifiable surprise. “Yes. That’s one of the best short cuts to mastery of big business. It happens that I know, because I’ve made an intimate study of my father’s secretary, who was a master of the secretary’s art. By studying him, too, I’ve learned part of his tricks — and in my opinion, the secretary to a big, active figure in any line of business is in position to get into the executive end of that business quicker than he could arrive JOHN W. CONSIDINE, JR. by any other means. First he makes himself indispensable — ” And so on. As Considine had said, he had made a study of the secretary business, not with any thought of becoming a secretary at that time, but simply because he admired high proficiency in any capacity, and considered his father’s secretary extraordinarily proficient. “What’s the future of such a position?” he had asked himself, and instantly found the answer in the fact that aside from his father, no one knew so much about his father’s business as that secretary did. Future? All that individual ability and the possibilities of the particular line of business in question could offer. It was precisely at this point in his introspection that Joseph M. Schenck entered his career as a vital factor. Through his father’s association with the Loew enterprises and consequently with Mr. Schenck, he knew that dominant leader, and admired him immensely. The business in which Mr. Schenck’s interests were centering, motion pictures, also intrigued the interest of young Considine. He promptly approached Mr. Schenck for a position. He was in New York, and the date was November, 1921. “Meet me in Los Angeles,” said the producer, “and I’ll give you a chance.” At the appointed time and place, Considine reported for duty — any sort of duty there was to offer. “You’ll be the assistant of Sidney Franklin’s assistant director,” Schenck told him. “Now, before I turn you over to him, here’s one vitally important piece of advice. Forget that you’re anyone but an energetic young man trying to get along. Forget that you’re the product of several colleges. You’re in a business now where your personal ability will carry you as far as you make it, and nothing else will help you ; in fact, anything else is liable to handicap you. Go ahead and make good !” Considine found that his new position was, in fact, that of third assistant director. The picture was “The Primitive Lover,” starring Constance Talmadge. Following the advice of Mr. Schenck faithfully, and pouring all his energy into the new task, he succeeded in pleasing Mr. Franklin with his work. Winning the (Continued on Page 67)