Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

January 8, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 115 Adventurer Qlobe Trotter And Artist By TOM WALLER West Coast Representative NE morning recently a man arose from his bed in Hollywood. He read the newspapers. He answered the telephone. He opened telegrams. He forgot his breakfast. He stepped into his car. Billboards glared at him. Window cards literally shrieked. He stopped. People whom he had never met called him by name and wildly shook his hand. In twenty-four hours was fulfilled the ambition of this man’s life — an ambition which had colored his characte with Kipling tints and which hues had enabled Hollywood to satiate a hunger in the soul of this man which had oni been increased by traveling the seven seas, prying into the Australian Bush, the nooks of Burma, the mysteries o India, the darkness of Africa and the tragedy of the World War. The man who can lick any man in Hollywood and charm the most exacting hostess by his intimacy with Hoyle can thank these qualities, as well as his brawn and the years devoted to satisfying his wanderlust, for scaling Hollywood’s highest peak within the meteroic time of one sunset to the succeeding sunrise. When An Adventurer Surprised The Sophists Feverish for adventure, fortune and fame, Victor McLaglen obtained them all right in William Fox’s Hollywood studio. Weeks before the world’s premiere of “What Price Glory,” it was murmured that Hollywood critics and sophists would witness the birth of a new star on the screen of the Carthay Theatre. There were doubts and a few smirks within the Beverly Circle known to outside proletarians as filmdom’s constellation. The picture went on the screen at nine in the evening. At 10:30 during a half hour intermission, the most brilliant assemblage of Hollywood’s worthwhilers were buzzing actually excitedly in the lobbys, the dressing and smoking rooms. At midnight the picture was over. We devoted an entire page in this department some time ago to describing that scene and the reaction. Victor McLaglen was introduced. He passed his severest test with honors as have been seldom accorded others who have undergone it. It was the morning that brought full confirmation of his success. Since then Victor McLaglen has been flooded with requests from women’s clubs to advise them confidentially on what influence the army would actually have upon the younger sons of the land. He has, of course, been besieged by interviewers. We tried for two hours to reach his home on the telephone. The busy signal was flashed back each time until we had to be satisfied by the impatient reply of the telephone company that his telephone was “functioning normally” and that the receiver was off the hook. McLaglen also verified the company’s report. In fact he wants to get out of the limelight, away from handshakers, back slappers and telephone congratulators for a couple of months. The man who wrestled and fought professionally in Canada traveled as a strong man with circuses in the United States, police-chiefed 50,000 men in Shiek Saad, Was poisoned and knifed by swarthy natives in Bagdad — wants to rest up. Vacation Due To Be Cut To Meet Work With his wife and daughter, McLaglen, at the time of this writing, is just setting out in his new Pierce Arrow car for a brief stay in Arrowhead, a nearby mountain resort colonized and frequented by the wealthy and socially prominent. McLaglen’s chances for anything more than a brief rest at the very most are at this time is very slight, we learned at the Fox Studios. There they are naturally all up on their toes to get McLaglen before the camera as soon as possible on another “What Price Glory” bonanza. The uniform of the Marine Captain, however, will be discarded when McLaglen gets into the harness again. Having utilized his experience as an officer in the World War, the Fox executives now plan to get McLaglen to be himself as the adventurer. The secret of McLaglen's success in the cinema world lies mostly in that one phase : “Be Yourself.” He is the unusual type of actor ; so unusual as to be unique. He doesn’t have to have a director describe how a captain gives commands. He knows because he was a captain. He doesn’t have to read a book on how an Arab wields a lance because he has felt that knife between his ribs. He knows how a Forty-Niner panned gold, because he learned all about the hardships associated with the obtaining of that metal when he nearly died of thirst in Australia. McLaglen is unique because he has been most everything, and traveled most everywhere. He has worn overalls, fighting togs and a dress suit, so he does not have to make himself all over again when the picture calls for his wearing certain of this apparel. McLaglen is almost a prodigy as an actor because — he has so many selves. Again McLaglen Will Be The Bold Adventurer Thus McLaglen will be the adventurer when Director Victor Schertzinger picks up the megaphone a few weeks from now and work begins on Gaston Leroux’s “Ballyho.” How Victor McLaglen happened to build a home in Hollywood is particularly interesting after we know the hand which Hollywood is playing in the destiny of its most versatile star. It would seem that in London after the World War, McLaglen decided to train for a diplomatic position, believing that his knowledge of the colonies and especially his linguistic capabilities would fit him for such a berth. He had in mind a certain office in Arabia. He tried his hand at the fighting game again, but found that he had been too long away from it to get anywhere. Then chance interfered : One day at the National Sporting Club he was approached by an English motion picture producer, who saw in him “just the type” for a picture he was about to make. This was “The Call of the Road,” which proved to be a big success in England. Before the picture was released, McLaglen met J. Stuart Blackton, the American producer, while at the Oxford and Cambridge boat races. As a result of the meeting he was given the principal male part in “The Glorious Adventure” opposite Lady Diana Manners. In this picture, a romance of the sixteenth century, he played the part of a convict and murderer, who is married to the heroine in prison and then is released when the fire of London destroys the prison. Starred In British Pictures For Four Years During the next four years he was starred in a number of British productions, chief among them being “The Romany” and “The Sailor Tramp.” Having returned to America, J. Stuart Blackton cabled McLaglen to come to the States to play the title role in “The Beloved Brute.” He followed with the “heavy” role in Charles Ray’s “Percy.” Later he played a similar role in “The Hunted Woman” for Fox, and almost lost his life when on location with company at the Yuma dam. He then played one of the strange triumvirate in “The Unholy Three,” with Lon Chaney, then he returned to Fox for “The Fighting Heart.” His next part was that of Poleon Doret in Frank Lloyd’s “Winds of Chance” and according to a concensus of critics, his was the most outstanding performance. His role won him a contract with First National. Later he played “heavy” in “Man of Steel ” an epic in the steel industry; appeared in a strong Russian character role in James Hogan’s “The Isle of Retribution,” and in Herbert Brennon’s “Beau Geste” company. New Star Wins Plaudits of Critics