Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

848 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. XIX, No. 18. Mae Marsh Tells Psychology of Kisses Sentiment Clings Despite Fact They Are Regulated by a Director and Are Only Make-Believe TO every girl, even a popular screen star, kisses mean a great deal. Even when it is not from the heart, but regulated by the all-seeing director, a kiss is a kiss and as such is critically looked upon by audiences and cannot fail to be regarded with a certain amount of sentiment by the star. Mae Marsh is no exception to this. The slim heroine of a hundred screen successes has received and given quite as many kisses as anyone before the public. That they have been the kisses of a sweet young girl does not mean that they have been without enthusiasm. Persons to whom the Goldwyn star means the utmost in screen heroines need only recall her as she appeared in "The Birth of a Nation," "Intolerence," "The Cinderella Man" and "The Beloved Traitor" to visualize a succession of kisses, each different from the others. In "The Cinderella Man," for instance, she was Marjorie Caner, daughter of a millionaire, much-traveled and not without worldly experience for all her appealing ways and tenderness of heart. The kissing scene in this play evoked a great deal of comment. The episode in the garret of Tom Moore, the poet, where the millionairess obligingly assists at a rehearsal of the composer's opera, directing his kisses and asking for more, was unanimously declared to be one of the most irresistible bits of acting ever seen on the screen. The kiss was not without calculation. Marjorie wanted the kiss and told the poet how it should be served. "That," said Miss Marsh to an inquisitive visitor at the Goldwyn studios, "was an artificial kiss. It did not come spontaneously. It was not the call of youth, though the girl was calling to the man with all her heart. Still, he did not realize she was anything but a figure standing to receive the kiss, so it was far from the true lovers' salute." Asked to explain the psychology of Mary Garland's kiss in "The Beloved Traitor," the star replied that in the girl of the fishing village there was the soul of all women. She typified the patient, waiting woman, offering her love silently, hopeful that it would one day be claimed. "The kiss in that play," Miss Marsh continued, "was not born till the very last scene — -the last moment — in the story. It was a beautiful, exquisite kiss and was significant of the awakening of Judd Minot's soul. He left me, you remember, to seek his fortune in the city and fell into the toils of a vampire. When finally he caught me in his arms and kissed my lips it was because he heard the call from my heart. He knew that after all the old love was the true love." Urged to tell of other kisses, Miss Marsh said: "You must see 'The Face in the Dark.' It has all the freshness of youth and innocence and unsought love. It comes to a child and makes her a woman. It is the loveliest kiss I have known." Miss Marsh is Jane Ridgeway, the motherless daughter of a retired secret service man. She is ignorant of her father's connection with a gang of counterfeiters, believing him an honest man. She is visiting the home of a wealthy school chum when the interesting kiss occurs. Out in the snow, frolicking with a lot of youngsters, Jane coasts down a steep hill straight into a soft bank. She is all but buried in the snow when along comes the rescuing hero. He is, in fact, the hero of the play. He pitches in and digs the girl out, laughingly uncovering her damp face half hidden by her rumpled hair. Thinking he has found a child, the young fellow gives the grown-up Jane a hearty kiss full upon the lips. It is that simple, boyish kiss which stirs the heart of the girl and causes her to realize that her father is not the only man in the world. From the kiss de velops the great love which causes the heroine to fight for the freedom of her sweetheart even at the cost of her father's disgrace. She becomes a woman, imbued with all the depth and passion of a primitive creature — and all, as Mae Marsh said in her quaint way, because of a little kiss. Katzenjammer Kids Start Riot As a special feature at leading theatres this week is a picture whose objective is unadulterated laughter and the complete success of the undertaking is evidenced by the screams of unrestrained mirth greeting its every showing. It is a release by the Educational Films Corporation of America of an International Film Service Black and White comedy, featuring those famous little comedians of newspaper comic sections — the Katzenjammer Kids. "Vanity and Vengeance," is the title of the feature. It has to do with a dog in a fox's skin, a cat in a muff and the Katzenjammer family in church. Unfortunately the fox's skin, which the kids annexed to camouflage their dog, happened to be Mamma Katzenjammer's neck piece, and the muff in which they hid the cat was Mamma's muff, and Mamma, being late for church and not as discerning as usual, placed the neckpiece and the muff in their customary positions on her person without noticing the presence of the household pets. Apparently this particular dog and cat were not in the habit of attending church and a discordant note was in the at A deep moment in "The Face in the Dark," Mae Marsh's latest Goldwyn production.