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How Those Celebrated Now Felt--and Acted-Before the Initial Glare of the Camera
At the top, Sue Carol; left, Eddie Nugent; above, Marian Nixon; and below, in order, Virginia Valli, William Boyd and Florence Vidor
Autrey
EVEN though a motion picture star may live to be as old as the combined ages of Methuselah and Fannie Ward, there is always one outstanding day in that star's career that will never be forgotten.
That day is the one when the star for the first time faced the cold, glassy eye of the camera in actual work on the set. It is a memory that usually brings very copious blushes with it.
Because they were not stars then. The most gorgeous peacock that ever strutted over a lawn had to start out in life as nothing but a small and rather dumb-looking egg, the mightiest oak that ever grew was once just a poor nut, and film celebrities are no exceptions to nature's rule of humble beginnings.
On the occasion of those momentous "first days" before the camera they were for the most part nothing but badly scared youngsters, bewildered by the unaccustomed glare of the kleigs and the utter strangeness of their surroundings, embarrassed by the curious stare of a hundred alien eyes around the set, and awed and frightened by their first contact with celebrities whose names were already world-famous.
Under such trying circumstances the newcomers naturally did not scintillate to any extent visible to the naked eye. For the most part they acted like any other embarrassed and scared young persons would have, and proceeded to do the last possible things under Heaven they should have done.
Richard Arlen, for example, shivered himself out of a chance for a small part on his very first studio appearance. Dick was one of the Nubian slaves in an Allan Dwan production at the old Brunton Studios. He was highly elated when he was picked out of the mob for a bit — that of pouring wine
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HAL K. WELLS
into a cup held by Rosemary Theby. Was he scared? It was nearly midnight on a big outdoor set and very cold. Dick's costume consisted only of a loin-cloth and a coat of dark brown paint. By the time the camera started grinding for his bit, Dick was shivering like a bowl of jelly in an earthquake. He aimed valiantly for the cup, but Miss Theby's expensive gown received most of the property wine. Dick was thoroughly bawled out and was promptly returned in disgrace to his old place with the other five hundred extras in the mob.
Where cold and nervousness spelled Arlen's downfall, it was heat and nervousness that lost Esther Ralston her chance at a bit in her studio debut. It was on a dance-hall set for a quickie Western at Universal. Esther, in cowgirl costume, was slated for a bit in a scene at the bar.
But the heat of the lights, her heavy
leather costume, and her natural
nervousness caused her heavy
make-up to melt slowly and
run like a spring snow bank.
When the time came for
her scene, Esther's streaked
face resembled that of a
Comanche brave about to
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