Motion Picture Magazine (Feb-Jul 1927)

(M OT10N PICTURf hue L Crazy Quilt 9 The crowd surged when their car finally drew up to the entrance and Judith stepped out. The policemen did their best to hold them back, but the line broke and joined, blocking their entrance to the lobby. Judith was a little terrified of the swirling, seething mob. She held tightly to Harvey's coat as he preceded her, pushing their way thru the people. "Hello, Judith," voices called. "Hello, Judith. Hello." In the lobby a group were standing about her painting. She and Harvey went inside swiftly. And finally, after stopping several times to greet friends and acquaintances in the back of the theater, they reached the stage box. The theater, already well filled, broke into applause as Judith entered. "This is nothing to what they'll do after they've seen you as 'Woman' " whispered Mac. And Judith wondered why she had not realized it would be like this. She had attended other premieres. She knew what they were like. The musicians offered the overture. Across the theater, Judith caught sight of Mrs. Irving. She sat like a hen, pluming herself, with her brood of young Jewish boys about her. Mr. Irving was always being interrupted by someone who came to the curtain of his box asking for instructions about this and that. The overture ended. The dull-red curtains parted and slowly skirted the stage, finally being looped at either side of the proscenium arch with heavy silver cords. The screen was suffused with silver. Then the announcement came Messrs. Irving and Singer present The McAllister Production of WOMAN with Judith Tower More applause, rippling thru the theater at the sight of the different names. The author, scenario writer, photographer, art director, the censors were all given credit for what they had done, good or bad, to the film that was to follow. Then the story began to unreel. Judith watched the screen scarcely at all. She was fascinated by the dark sea of heads stretching in dim rows below her. They were the writers, critics, editors who could make her reputation great or destroy it. She raised her eyes and saw the two semicircles of figures filling the two balconies. "It is a much greater picture than I knew," Harvey whispered to her and Mac at the same time, "You have both made a killing." Almost as he spoke, the audience applauded a bit, but the story hushed their hands as it went on. Judith knew that Mac was terribly nervous. Mrs. McAllister whispered to her that she had had the most awful time getting him dressed. He had misplaced his studs . . . his dress shoes . . . his tie . . . everything. So an hour passed, while Judith wondered what the sea of dim personalities would think of their three months of soulgiving work. The lights went up, slowly . . . like great eyes blinking open all over the dark 78 (Continued from page 76) house. First the side lights, then the lights in the large crystal chandeliers. The applause was tremendous. Judith dared to turn her head to see them. She was trembling with excitement. Everyone was looking at their box. "Stand up, Mac dear, and say something to them," she urged. Because Judith knew how much credit was due him for the beautiful thing they had seen, she expected everyone to know. He smiled at her. "It is you they want, Judy," he said. "They dont care a hang about an old fellow like me." "Bosh," said Judith as Mr. Irving arose in his box. But it was some little time before he could achieve silence. He raised his hand, but the applause continued. It was like the ocean, rushing in and dying out a little only to rush in again greater than before. "Ladies and Gentlemen," said Mr. Irving finally when he had stepped from his box to the stage and when they had finally quieted their hands, "Your appreciation of our production fills me with a pleasure that I cannot express. "Miss Tower . . ." The applause came again. He could not go on. So he walked across the apron of the stage of Judith's box. He signaled to her. Judith was beginning to be dazed from the excitement and the applause. It was Harvey and Mac who pushed her towards Mr. Irving. She rather saw everything thru a mist when she stood with Mr. Irving before the folds of the red velvet curtain. They were still applauding. Louder. Louder. A whistle split the roar ... a whistle from the top of the top gallery. Finally they were quiet. "Allow me," Mr. Irving said, "to present to you Miss Judith Tower." He could not say more for the applause started again. He left Judith standing there and went smilingly back to his box. She was a slim figure as she stood alone against the deep red of the curtains. Her white satin gown followed the curves of her body for' its adornment. At her waist was a corsage of tiny Christmas flowers . . . tiny poinsettias and lilies-of-thevalley sprayed among them. At • her throat gleamed a large ruby, like a drop of heart's blood. And on her finger there was another, smaller ruby. She looked at the box to find Harvey's eyes. She felt she must hold on to something familiar. He was laughing with a hysterical happiness. And Mac . . . dear old Mac . . . was smiling happily and quietly. Judith wondered if this mad applause would go on into eternity. Then she discovered the house was still. They were waiting for her to speak to them. She stretched forth her hand impulsively and when she found her voice it was warmly charged with gratitude for their appreciation. "We were not sure you would like it," she said. "But we did hope you would during the months when the company, as one person, worked for the success you seem to promise us. "I stand before you very grateful, really. . . . "If enthusiasm and belief in a picture can make it great, 'Woman' should be that. Every member of the company brought both of those things to his work. Mr. McAllister imbued everyone with these things. You all know him. But it behooves me to thank him publicly for all he has done for me." Now she turned to their box and beckoned the big man who sat there blustering at the things she was saying about him. "Mr. McAllister," said Judith as he climbed over the railing and onto the stage, "let me reverse the usual custom and introduce you to an audience which appreciates your greatness." Then she left him to hold the big stage with the shadows cast by the folds of the heavy curtain and the glare of the footlights. But he finished what he had to say almost by the time Judith reached her seat. Thruout the entire intermission their box was a salon where almost everyone in the theater came to pay their enthusiastic respects. And when the house was again dark and the picture again shadowed the screen, Judith sought to remember something that had been said in the confusion of congratulations and praise of a few minutes before. Something about Goldstein of Excelsior. What was it? He liked the picture? No. He had sailed for Europe? No. That he . . .? She had it now. "Goldstein has gone into bankruptcy" someone had said. Judith remembered the scene in his office and her prophecy, voiced in reaction to hurt pride and anger, which had come true . . . dramatically enough, on the very evening of her triumph. The second half of the production ran its length while Judith's mind concerned itself with many things . . . her triumph, of course . . . Goldstein's bankruptcy. And Robert Landis' failure to come to her box as so many others had. The applause at the production's close was less than before. It is always that way. Commuters begin to worry about the last train. New Yorkers begin to worry about the scarcity of taxicabs when, the theaters let out and the possibility of having to walk a few blocks. "You're coming to supper with us," someone insisted. Judith never knew who it was who had sought to carry them off. Then another. Someone came over with the same demand. But to all of them Judith offered gracious regrets. She wanted to get away from it all . . . from the pushing crowds . . . from the confusion. . . . She wanted to think it all over. So Goldstein had failed, had he? She wondered if he would have to pawn the big diamond that had flashed on his stubby finger as he had reached out to touch her. She wondered if he had gone into bankruptcy because he had no sporting blood and wished to get out of debt with his personal fortune safely invested in someone else's name for the time being. Likely enough. She wondered if the audience had really liked the picture to the extent that their applause suggested. She and Harvey went quickly thru the lane of people still waiting. She smiled at those who called out to her. And when their car came up and she and Harvey (Continued on page 84) LAGE I