Motion Picture Magazine (Feb-Jul 1923)

,„.,0TION PICTURT 01 I MAGAZINE r And CKarlie CKaplin Said He Wouldn't Screen Well— (Continued from page 31) every moment was perfect except the one which turned out to be an informal British function. And I wish to say that when the British are really informal they certainly are, that's all. "People in England, in all walks of life, are better informed than are Americans. Even the little bar-maids, bless theirbusy little hearts, are well read, and discuss H. G. Wells over their shoulder whilst they draw the foaming ale. It was necessary to investigate all manner of places during our period in London, and that is how I happen to know so much about the quaint places they call 'pubs.' " The cards were stacked against Richard Dix at an early age. He was supposed to become a rising young doctor. His father had decided as much. "But the sight of blood nauseated me," he said deprecatingly. Husky young men dont often take to the stage, or if they do, their very brawn mitigates against their success because they lack the finesse of the artistic temperament. "I had to make a living, so I went to New York when I was eighteen and got into the show business. I've been in it ever since. There was more money in pictures and so when I had an offer to play before the camera I took it. "One night at a party I met Charlie Chaplin, whom I have always respected, and I asked him if he thought I would screen well. He said that he most certainly did not. But here I am. The other day I met Charlie again, and asked him if he remembered giving me the razz about camera work. He'd forgotten all about it !" Richard Dix is just like the young fellow who lives next door to you. There isn't a vestige of pretend about him. He doesn't pose, and he doesn't wear his hair long. He's a devotee of the athletic clubs, and he hits a mean handball in the tournaments. But underneath the brawn and the athletic prowess, there is a broad streak of idealism. I accused him of being idealistic. "Naw," he replied, succinctly. "I dont think I am. I know too well that two and two makes four and that three and one also makes four. I have no time for this stuff you call idealism." Wait until you see him as John Storm. There is a look in his eye which gives away the more delicate side of his nature. The artistic side. His' devotion to his mother exemplifies this. I have found out an interesting fact during the time I have spent in interviewing celebrities of the screen. It is this : the more popular the player, if he be a man, the greater his desire to become a director. Some brilliant psycho-analyst might be able to explain this, but I cant. When I asked Dick Dix what his greatest ambition might be, thinking he would say "to play under D. W. Griffith," as all good little movies are supposed to say, he came right back with : "To be a director." 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