Motion picture studio directory and trade annual (Oct 1916)

234 MOTION PICTURE NEWS Vol. XIV. No. 16. Section 2 flillllMllllinillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllM li! llllllllllllllllllllllllllilM Lois and Roberta Wilson, Featured Leads i u I LOIS WILSON Featured in Kerrigan Subjects " The Beckoning Trail " AND " The Silent Battle " With William Garwood IN " The Double Tip " AND " The Social Caveman " ROBERTA WILSON Featured Leads Universal The Heritage of Hate," 5 reels " The Isle of Life," 5 reels 4 The Quitter " and others JOHN McDERMOTT, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSAL J [OHN McDERMOTT, Universal director, was born in Green River, Wyoming, in 1895. At the time of John's birth his father was one of the leading hotel men of the West, owning a string of hotels throughout Wyoming and Nevada. In addition to this he was Sheriff of the famous Big Horn County, Wyoming. From Green River the family moved to Ogden, Utah, and it was here that young McDermott received his early training and first evinced a desire to go on the stage. The boy persuaded the elder McDermott to advance him sufficient money to go to New York to enter dramatic school. Upon arriving in New York, he was not impressed with the quality of training offered by schools of dramatic art and determined upon the more practical preparation of actual stage work. He soon attracted the attention of Flo Ziegfeld and began his stage career under that manager's direction in " The Winsome Widow." Within less than six months he gained country-wide notice by substituting for Frank Tinney without any change on the program. The fact that Tinney had been away was not known for some six months after when Rennold Wolf, the dramatic critic, told the whole story. Mr. McDermott then entered vaudeville as a monologist and worked over the Keith circuit for two years. He was then persuaded by his father to abandon the stage and take up a business career, becoming a junior member of the firm of John W. McDermott & Son, wholesale dry goods merchants, Los Angeles, Cal. Owing to ill health, the father retired and the young man became the sole owner of the firm of John W. McDermott & Co. He soon tired of business life, however, and sold out once more, entering the dramatic field, this time using motion pictures as his medium. His first engagement was in support of Dorothy Gish in " Old Heidelburg." Later he was connected with the Lasky, Kalem and New York Motion Picture companies, playing a variety of parts. During all this latter period he was writing photoplays and the combination of his writing and acting so attracted General Manager H. O. Davis of the Universal Film Manufacturing Co. that he made McDermott an offer to write and direct a series of pictures. Under this contract Mr. McDermott has produced " The Red Head," " The Modern Cain," " Married a Year," " His Harmless Hobby," "The Woman and the Wife," "The Fight Within" and " She Knew." In his private life John McDermott is just the plain, normal, energetic young American, extremely fond of a good time, but with a keen sense of limitations. He spends most of his time, when not at the studio, writing and otherwise preparing himself for the work to come. Studio address, Universal City, Cal. II IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM Be sure to mention " MOTION PICTURE NEWS " when writing to advertisers