Moving Picture World (Jan-Jun 1910)

420 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD ON THE SCREEN By Jbvxx raphLciLS. When lovely woman makes up her mind to do a certain thing my experience of the charming sex has taught me that if you do not wanl her to do it, try and persuade her out of it. And then she will '40 and do it. Encourage the dear creature in the particular course upon which she has set her mind encourage her by all your arts of oratory and perSUasion, and it is ten to one that she won't do it. * * * About the most determined specimen of femininity mere man, especially mere journalistic man. meets ill his experiences, is the stagestruck young lady. The stagestruck young lady, clear brother and sister, has entered the moving picture field. A stagestruck young lady called upon me the other day with a letter of introduction from a friend. Mere cold printer's ink is inadequate to describe the personal charm of my fair visitor. She came, she saw, and she meant getting a letter of introduction to a producing friend. She got that letter of introduction, and off she sailed, proud of having secured her end. * * * Mere man being quite a clumsy tactician where lovely woman is concerned, f tried to dissuade my fair visitor from going on the stage. Whereupon she became more than ever determined to go on and f had to confess myself beaten. I see the error of my way now. What I should have done was to have taken the opposite course. Then there would have been some chance — and only some chance — of the honor of victory resting with me. On the other hand, it is probable that the man is not born who can successfully persuade a charming girl from going on the stage if she has made up her mind to do so. T.ike the officer who delivered the message to Garcia, she will "get there" at any cost. For sheer determination in having her own way when she has made up her mind to it, lovely woman easily outdistances mere man. * "¥ * I was much interested in reading the other day the experience of the Vitagraph Company in regard to stagestruck aspirants. I can confirm the company's experience in a small way. The man who is connected with a newspaper which concerns itself with public amusement, is beset by many requests from youths and ladies, and even older people, for assistance in getting on the stage. Stage life looks so beautiful from the front of the house. Paint the discomfort of behind-the-scene work; rehearsing, traveling, dress changing, disappointment, failure, drudgery; paint it ever so grimly and luridly, it seldom has the desired effect of deterring the "stagestruck" from getting on the boards, or at any rate from making the attempt to get there. Even such a powerful man as Mr. Relasco may publish, as he has done many a time, deprecatory advice; even such famous players as Mary Anderson and Clara Morris, who have tasted the sweetest sweets of success, mav issue warnings to their sisters not to think of going on the stage. They do not seem to have much effect. The string of aspirants shows no diminution. Applause and the glare of the footlights seem irresistible in their attractions to certain minds. * * * So I think T will reform my ways, and if any further applicants come to me, T will not venture to take up an attitude of opposition. What is the good? Rut can one legitimately hand out encouragement to the inexperienced — the merely physically qualified? Good looks and physique are. of course, useful equipments in stag" work but T fear that actors and actresses after all, like the poet, are born, not made. The records of all successful public performers seem to show that they had a natural bent for the work. This manifested itself in a natural way, and so success came. Which leads up to the reflection that the thousands and thousands of minor performers are merely intellisrent mechanics, nothing more nor less, who respond to the exigencies of rigorous training and rehearsing. * * * Moving nicture acting, so far as f have seen it. is very hard work. Just as hard as acting on the regular stage. without the added encouragement of applause and public recognition. Point this out to the stagestruck aspirant, and it docs not seem to have anv effect. T suppose it is that the love of playing is. in itself, of sufficient reward to these would-be stars of the silent stage. And certainly there is ething attractive in the idea of a man or a woman playing a congenial part. But not all part art or can be congenial. li everybody only played that which was congenial to him or her, some parts would never be played. * * * As there are about twenty film producing companies in the I nited States just now, it will be seen that the number of actors and actresses employed on the moving picture stage amount to quite a respectable total, constituting a considerable section of those who make entertainment work the business of their lives. That number is steadily on the increase, and it is tolerably sure that while these pictures attract the public they will also attract the stagestruck aspirant. There are probably many would-be imitators of Miss Lawrence, who has recently been so adroitly advertised in the newspapers. * * * Nothing appeals to the feminine heart so much as the wearing of nice dresses, and the opportunity of displaying them on the stage or elsewhere. Where there is the possibility of a girl being photographed in a moving picture and her portrait shown to millions of moving picture patrons, what wonder that the feminine heart aspires to have the opportunity? Here we are striking at the very root of feminine human nature: the love of finery, the love of display, the love of admiration. So it goes. So it will always go. * * * There is no doubt that the training which some of the young members of moving picture film companies are receiving will be valuable to them in after life if they decide to go on the regular stage. At present, however, we are without any direct evidence that such a result has been brought about. The game is too new. But I can quite imagine that as time progresses and the personalities of moving picture actors and actresses become fixed in the public mind, the excellence of their work will attract the attention of the great Broadway managers and others whom we are told are constantly on the lookout for exceptional talent. Perhaps this is another inducement to the stagestruck aspirant to seek a chance of appearing on the moving picture stage. * * * Consider for a moment what varied work the companies that were acting this Winter in the West and South — consider what very valuable and varied work these actors and actresses were doing. Here they were acting amidst natural surroundings — an opportunity which seldom falls to performers on the regular stage. If this policy of the film makers is to continue Winter by Winter and much outdoor acting to be done. I would not be a bit surprised if the moving picture stage did not. in the course of a few years, send some very valuable recruits to the ordinary stage. * * * After all. if there were no stagestruck boys and girls there would be very few actors and actresses. Successful stars now before the public had to go through the drudgery of hard work and disappointment before reaching a high rank. Reaching it. the sweets of success are very sweet, and as they are fond of talking about their successes, the newspapers give them publicity, and big bank balances and automobiles are amongst the rewards of their efforts. Perhaps. on the whole, it is not to be wondered that there is an unfailing stream of bovs and girls who want to go and do likewise. T was successful once in my career in persuading some young people from going on the stage, bv introducing them to a crowd of performers after a show. All the bright dresses, elegant costumes, wigs and the like had gone, and tin performers were just plain, matter-of-fact men and women wrapped up for their homeward journey at night. They looked verv unromantic as compared with what tliev Hid on the stage And the lesson was not lost upon whom it was offered. They were not stagestruck. but T believe I am correct in saying that this little sight of the seamy side of stage life prevented their minds from ever becoming fatally influenced by the glare of the footlights. So you see there are some deterring influence? at work. If it were not so, half the population would be stagestruck.