Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1926-Jan 1927)

Norman Trevor, whom Mr. Brenon was directing jnst then in "The Song and Dance Man," has a trick that his fans never see — a habit of wetting his lips with his tongue. "That's one I must watch," Mr. Brenon pointed out, "and also his way of cupping his chin in his hand." There are tricks and tricks, some as appealing as a baby's little ways, and others absolutely maddening in their cheap and obvious imitation of some other actor's or actress's natural gesture. When is a trick charming? "When it is natural," Mr. Brenon thinks, "or rather when it is natural and appropriate. Some actors are simply full of tricks, but happily in some cases the audience loves them and wouldn't do without them. Take Richard Dix. He abounds in what you call tricks. This gesture of craning his neck as if his collar were too tight, and the comical way of thrusting his chin forward and popping his eyes. But they are tricks that the audience demands and without which Richard Dix couldn't possibly be himself. "Ernest Torrence is another actor with mannerisms, but he is such an excellent artist that he > curbs them when he loses himself in a part. Mr. Von Stroheim tempered Mae's tricks when Torrence has an amused trick of expression which you have often seen in his pictures, a popping twinkle in his eye and a onesided, screwed-up smile. Percy Marmont, another superlative artist, has tricks that never reach the screen because he forgets himself in the character he is to portray. Neil \ Hamilton has a trick posture that must be guarded against, altho it is extremely graceful." \It would never do for a director to brush all the tricks from an 1 ^e^tures are what I mean by tricks ; perhaps mann e r i s m s would be more accurate. For the most part the "trick" is natural. I met Thomas Meighan and asked him whether he had any tricks. He thought for a while and then shook his head. Couldn't think of a single one. A little later I put the question to Herbert Brenon, the director, and asked him whether Mr. Meighan used any tricks. Mr. Brenon thought a while and answered affirmatively. "Tommy uses a trick motion with his right hand. I cant quite explain it, but fans all over the world know it." And the great director tried to imitate the short choppy motion. "Of course, he wouldn't know it. It's too intimate a part of him.' I could tell you about many tricks that stars dont even suspect they s, and many they must perpetually guard against. They, and we, too. That's one of the j roblems that beset a director's life, watching for a too frequent outcropping of mannerisms. As I say, they are such a personal part of the star's make-up that we must be continually on the alert to spot them. "Now, there's Betty Bronson, who has an altogether delightful trick of clapping her hands when she is pleased with something. It is a charming mannerism, and when she uses it in real life, it is as pretty a gesture as you would like to sec. lint in pictures it would be disastrous to let her er hands thru six reels of film. Betty has another trick so winning and so characteristically her own that I let her ■ wonl read what I have to say about it, for if she should deliberately use it. it would lose half its charm. She has a way of tucking her tongue against her teeth that is inimitable, and er thai fvistful, mischievous look. Anna Q. Nilsson has what might call a trick of throwing her head forward and up; very charming." 44 actor, any more than it would do for a mother to brush out a particularly whimsical curl from her child's hair. They both have a peculiar charm, but while a head full of curls is by no means objectionable, an actor with nothing but tricks is, especially bad ones. Mr. Brenon illustrated {Con. on page 82) C£.