Motion Picture Magazine (Feb-Jul 1919)

A Bennison Be Upon the Screen By RUSSELL E. SMITH CREEN astronomers who congratulate themselves at being the first to spot the ascending of a new star in the cinema constellation are reaping their reward for keeping their binoculars firmly fixed upon the film horizon. Their "I told you so's" are shattering the air, for Louis Bennison is among us! Girls, clear a space on your mantle-shelves — even if Francis X. Bushman and Tony Moreno have to take second and third position of vantage ! Picture him — with eyes faintly blue from long gazing away off into dim distances across the purpling mesas. He walks with a slight limp, from long wearing of spurs, and his hair is long, to protect his neck from sunburn. He is shy, almost innocent, and quiet in manner, but oh, boy ! when he's mad those blue eyes squint sparks of steely fire. Wild Bill's "steely eyes" are the ambient orbs of "Sweet William" compared with Bennison's, and Bill Hart's well-known glafice is harmless in comparison. He has had actual experience on the range also, which aids greatly in his film work, but so genuine an actor is he that he does not need the artificial aids of experience. No actor in recent years has made more of a personal hit on the stage than Bennison has in "Johnny Get Your Gun/' in which play he starred for two seasons past in New York and "en tour." His vivid performances as the doctor in "Damaged Goods" and the socialist in "The Unchastened Woman" are also widely recalled. Distinctly a Western personality, Louis Bennison is predestined to become one of the leading exponents of Western comedy-drama on the silversheet. Bennison was born in California. People have often wondered why so many prominent Broadway stars of late years have been products of California stock companies. I asked Bennison about it the other day. He laughed at my question. "Why, the word California starts you," he said, emphatically. "All the managers know that players who have had experience at the Alcazar or Morosco's can play any part; that they are actors, not types. Do you know what Eastern actors call us now ? 'The Yellow Peril.' And rightly, too. The West has given Broadway Fay Bainter, Jeanne Eagels, Marjorie Rambeau." 'And you." I couldn't resist the temptation. Bennison fidgeted. "I know I'm going to like this movie game," he said, irrelevantly, "it's so very different from the stage — so much time is spent in the open." This new type of cowboy seemed to think it strange that any one should care to know about his life before he became a star. Yet I gleaned he joined the AnchorJ outfit, a big Californian ranch, as a boy. This ranch was located where Modoc and Lassen counties and the State of Nevada meet. For five years he rode the range on that 55,000-acre ranch, and was so light in the saddle that he could outride any other man on the place. His largest salary was $25 a month. On this ranch he learnt the life of the cowboys and acquired their dialect— the peculiar, careless, slurring way in which they speak. Bennison's venture into Filmland will be successful ; he has built a firm foundation. Some players have risen overnight on the screen — and vanished with the spotlight. Bennison is not of this material. He will last. He has built for this time. 35 PA6 Louis Bennison's first picture to be released thru Goldwyn is "Oh Johnny." His second at which he is now working is "Sandy Burke, of the U-Bar-U" P