The Moving Picture Weekly (1916-1917)

-THE MOVING PICTURE WEEKLY -13 All About the Prettiest Nestorette Yet I HEN the Nestor comedy, "All Bets Off," was run for the first time in the New York projection room of the Universal Film Company every one asked simultaneously and concurrently, also persistently and continuously, "Who is the girl?" Eddie Lyons and Lee Moran were their familiar and well-beloved selves, Marcia Moore was easily recognized by her chaiTO and her mass of brown curls. But who was the mysterious beauty who played the part of "Grace?" Priscilla Dean, we were told, and then we knew just as much as before. But fate was kind for once. Right in the New York office was discovered a young lady who was a schoolmate of the newest Universal beauty, and she was prevailed upon to divulge all the dark secrets of her past, that is, Priscilla's, of course. Priscilla is her real name, and she is twenty years old. "Dean" is just a reel name, for her own is too long and too Irish for the films, she says. "Not that I want to go back on the Emerald Isle," she is reported to have said. "I am proud of my ancestry. But for pictures I thought I had better have something a little more cosmopolitan." Miss Priscilla is an only child and was bom in New York City, where her father still lives. In that self-sacrificing Miss Priscilla Dean An appreciation obtained through tended to return to the stage as soon as she could, for she was determined to be an actress, and nothing but an actress. She was a lively little thing, very popular and simply devoted to dancing. She was, at that time, sweet-looking rather than pretty, and it was a surprise to her friends when she grew into the beauty which is hers in superlative degree today. There is an old Scotch proverb which says, "Ugly in the cradle, pretty at the table," which, being interpreted, means that the prettiest children do not always get their pictures into the Sunday supplements when they grow up. Priscilla is an instance of the truth of the old saying. At fourteen she decided that she had learned enough from books, and that it was time toset about the career. Father and mother, who could refuse her nothing in reason, gave their consent, and she returned to the stage in the company of James A. Heame in his play,. "Hearts of Oak." She had not time for much stage experience, however, before she heard and obeyed, like a wise little girl, the call of the camera. She followed it to California in 1911, and mother went, too, to act as efficient dragon to the rest of the world, and as guide, philosopher and friend to her pretty daughter. Priscilla appeared successively in the Biograph, Pathe, World and Vogue way of American fathers, he ScrCCn AcQUaintanCe atld a talk films.' . Some of the better puts the career of his daugh .fw "i r» nMit r>w ' know pictures m which she had ter before his own wishes and With her chttm, Sv Mile ChlC ^ ^^^^ Richard Carle comedy series, "Mother" and "He's In Again," for Vogue. She came to the Universal from the Kalem studio and was assigned to general stock. Then came the new codirectors of the Nestor comedies, Eddie Lyons and Lee Moran, and Louis Chaudet, looking busily through the big Universal lot for the prettiest girl available to play opposite them. Just one glance in Priscilla's direction was enough. They looked no further, and she became a Nestorette on the spot. Priscilla is a brunette beauty. She is five feet five in height, one hundred and thirty pounds in weight, has brown hair, eyes to match and a dark complexion. But all that does not tell you anything much. See her for one second on the screen and you will have a better impression of her charm than pages of description from the pen of a poet could give you. And Priscilla would serve as inspiration for the most exigent poet. But she can do a good deal more than look pretty. She is a fine sportswoman, a good swimmer and a super-motorist. She drives a Buick car, and she drives it well. "The idea that women cannot be trusted with high (Continued on Page 43.) reluctantly allows her to go off to the other side of the continent to make a name for herself in her chosen profession, and, what is still more heroic, to take her mother with her. He agrees with his better half that his daughter is much too young and far too pretty to be there by herself. Priscilla has always been determined to go on the stage and she accomplished her desire at the age of four years. She made her first appearance with no less a personage than the late and still lamented Joseph Jefferson in the classic, "Rip Van Winkle," with which he delighted so many millions of playgoers, and which no one who saw it has ever forgotten. Perhaps Priscilla will have an opportunity to exchange reminiscences of the great actor with his son, Thomas, who is a featured player for the Universal at the Pacific Coast studios. Priscilla had to pick up most of her education while she was on the wing. Fortunately her mother could help her here. She played as a child actress vfith Ben Greet's Shakespearean companies and loved her work. For a time she went to school in a convent, and while there she always took a leading role in all the entertainments. She confided to her particular chums that she in