Photoplay (Apr - Sep 1918)

42 Photoplay Magazine year on clothes for my professional work. In making out my income tax report, if this sum stands with no counterbalancing entry, it must be recorded as an investment. So when I am through with my gowns I have them sold and get back as much of the money as possible, and the difference stands as a loss to be deducted from my income. It is the only way I can do if I am to provide the kind of costumes my roles require. It is impossible to fake fine fabrics. The shimmer and the manner in which a gown hangs, immediately tells whether it is made of the real or the imitation material. Furs show exactly what they are, in a picture. It is out of the question to use such expensive things and get no return from them after they have served their purpose. The income tax item alone would be a heavy burden, as I have shown. So since I am my own business manager, among other innumerable things, I sell my picture clothes." Neither romantic nor philanthropic nor thrilling; just the truth. And isn't she sensible? Pauline Frederick's maid is exactly the same stature as the star — just exactly. So if you were to see her at the studio, in a Lucile frock, perhaps, fastening Miss Frederick into a simple little gingham gown for her next scene,— you would believe that Polly Frederick gives all of her gowns and things to her maid. But not quite all. "I like to keep some of my favorite gowns," Miss Frederick remarked. "I like to pack them away; and then, when they're oldfashioned, to take them out and look at them, and recall the happy times I had wearing them." Emmy Wehlen was, you know, a musical commedienne before she "went into pictures." She still takes an interest in chorus-girls, and very often in would-be chorus girls. She knows that many of them have the voice and the talent, but not the clothes. She believes that the best thing she can do with the clothes she has worn in pictures is to give them to deserving girls so that they may have a Pauline Frederick likes to keep some of her favorite gowns; and this one of gold brocade must be a favorite. Alice Brady wearing the Bendel gown for which she paid $900. chance to secure work for which they are qualified. Miss Wehlen is always very smart — and they are fortunate chorus-girls who get her picture-gowns. Agnes Ayres is the feminine lead in Vitagraph's once-a-week comedies domestique; and she has to have a complete array of new clothes for each comedy. She is another clever camoufleur; and that chiffon dinner frock you saw her wear in one picture may make itself over into a negligee in the next. But some of her pet gowns she simply could not abide having done over. She claims these for her own private wardrobe. \nd by the way — frivolous bride she may appear in pictures, but Miss Ayres is in reality a very practical young business woman. When she first commenced her comedy series, she purchased at the first shop that offered what she fancied. Now she makes a thorough tour of all the elect places of the Fifth Avenue section. The proprietor who makes the best terms for the best modes secures the weekly contract. Oftentimes, too, they offer to loan their latest creations, which they are particularly eager to show to women at once; and usually they offer to buy them back after the picture is finished. Miss Ayres has on several occasions agreed to such bargains, and has always received for them more than she paid. What do you suppose diminutive Marguerite Clark does with her clothes? Yes, of course, — she gives them to children. She plays so many child roles that most of her stage costumes can only be given to youngsters, when they have served their screen purpose. To the disposal of these dresses Miss Cora Clark, sister of Marguerite, turns her attention. She has long been notable for her c h a r i t a ble works and as a matter of fact devotes much of her time to work of this nature. Gladys Leslie, like Marguerite Clark, usually wears little girl's clothes: and she always gives them to some of the children on the list she has — the "rotary kiddie" list, Gladys calls it. But in her new picture, "The Wooing of Princess Pat," little Miss Leslie wears a gown with a train — a Lucile model, it is, and her very first train! When asked what she thought of the story for "Princess Pat," Gladys said, — her mind on the intricacies of costume rather than plot. — "It's a regular Lucile creation." red Cheney Johnston