Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1914-Jan 1915)

88 MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE maker. Having a great love for music, he spent many hours each day at the piano. Always possessed of an overpowering ambition for the stage, he spent his days at the jeweler's bench and his nights at the "show shops," doing extra work whenever opportunity afforded. The inevitable soon happened. The jewelry business began to lose its hold on Tom, and the boards claimed him. Theatrical experiences came fast and furious after that, and Tom always made good. One day he walked into the Selig studios and announced that he was ready for work. He was tried cut and put into "leads." Here he remained until he became leading man of the Western company, of which he was an original member. He accompanied the first Motion Picture camera man into California and has remained in that fairyland ever since. Mr. Santschi has an unusual talent for music and plays almost entirely by "ear" and "inspiration," often improvising, to the everlasting pleasure of his friends, who never tire of hearing him. His dressing-room diary, which is incomplete, shows that he has portrayed over eleven hundred different parts during his five years as a picture player. His greatest success was in "The Spoilers," sharing the honors with Mr. Farnham. LILLIAN WALKER (Vitagraph) Lillian Walker was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., the 21st of April, 18 8 8. The name Walker is a combina nrf&, JB&M t i o n of her jM own family name and a mk Jm stage nom_de mJH p 1 u m e, h e r father being Andrew Wolke, which generally has developed into Walker in English. Her mother was Caroline Petersen. Both parents were born and raised in Sweden ; three generations before on the father's side having emigrated from Germany, and her mother's family being Swedish. Miss Walker wa^ educated in the Brooklyn public schools and at Erasmus Hall High School. Her first position was as a telephone operator, but upon the death of her father it devolved on her to become the main support of the family, so she cast about for more profitable employment. At first she worked as a professional model, and as such gained sufficient local reputation to secure her first theatrical engagement, which was the ingenue part in the melodrama called "The Little Organ Grinder," in which Maurice Costello was the leading man and Mrs. Mary Maurice was the "old lady." When Miss Walker returned to New York she secured an engagement with the "Follies of 1910," in which she was the end dancer and did specialties thruout the performance. Later on she entered vaudeville and scored only a mild success, because of the fact that her voice is so light that she cannot be heard in large theaters. It was the lack of voice that forced her to abandon the dramatic stage. Preferring to remain in New York, she again adopted the calling of a model, and while thus employed many of her photographs were seen by Commodore J. Stuart Blaekton, one of the Vitagraph owners. Her photographs made her look possible for Motion Pictures, and she was given a try-out, with wonderful results, inasmuch as blondes with light eyes have an exceptionally hard task before them to succeed in Motion Pictures. Her ability as a comedienne was soon established, and since then she has generally appeared in the lighter form of Motion Pictures, her greatest success being in "Cinderella's Slippers," "The Wonderful Statue," "Love's Quarantine" and "Love, Luck and Gasoline." She is an excellent swimmer, a good rider and has made many trips in aeroplanes.