Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1924)

Photoplak Magazini Advertising Si i new only white man in tin Royal Hawaiian band. Then * amc a few month* oi newspapei report ing, followed by a to -lI prospecting and min ing in tin Alaskan gold rush This left him on the beach si Nome with nothing but an earnest desire for the comforts ol home. Back home at San Jose in California young Jesse Lasky ami hi sister Blanche went in for nui-.ii' as .1 ju\ enile team, furnishing vo< a] and instrumental harmonies. They appeared .11 benefits -mil like performances. Thi suited in .in offer from a vaudeville agent which brought them East. It was Lasky's iir-t glimpse of vaudeville. Tiny took an ement with Leon Herrmann's company to supply a musical act between tin magj< ums numbers, ["his Herrmann was a nephew ol tin famous Alexander Hermann, an. I. on the death of 1 1 i — uncle, assumed the title of "Herrmann the Great, Napoleon of Necromancers." The next season Lasky became Herrmann's advance man ami the next found him Herr inann's manager. Lasky's $1,000 a Week Magician When tin vaudeville loom came Lasky 1 ooked the magi< ian at a thousand a week, an amazing salary for the time, and then looked about for more things to do. In Utica Lasky met B. A. Rolfe. a cornetist, in whom he saw possibilities, and booked him into vaudeville. This encouraged Lasky to produce acts and. when Rolfe's tour ended, the partnership of Lasky & Rolfe was formed. Followers of the vaudeville stage will rememl er some of their acts, a for example "Colonial Septette" and "Military Octette." Henry 1>. Harris, then managing the Hudson and Harris theater-, became interested in the activities of the young men and suggested he would like to finance them in -ome 1 igger efforts. Presently Rolfe drew out and Lasky went it alone, with Harris hi 1 aiker. From this period came Lasky's "Pianopbiends," "The Redheads" and similar acts of fame in vaudeville history. Lasky was on his way up. He had a fortune of $150,000 and a clear track. lasky was looking for new worlds to conquer. He went to France and discovered the cabaret as the reigning novelty. He came back and interested Harris in giving New York a real Kuropean music hall, and cabaret. From thi came the ''Folies Rergere," which burst on Xew York like a rocket with a great electric sign on the night of Monday, April 24, ion. It was a sensation of the amusement world — for a minute. The admission price was $2.50, outside of the Metropolitan Opera house the highest in Xew York. A hot wave came on and New York left for the seashore. The "Folies Bergere" came down like the rocket stick The Collapse of the "Folies Bergere" Harris and Lasky dissolved partnership. Harris had sustained large losses and Lasky was broke, flat and wide. The world had collapsed about his head. Again, just like on the beach at Nome, he thought of California and home. But he had to go to work. There are always two things a young man can do, either go to work or go to California. California thoughts suggested an operatta and at once Lasky was afire with a new idea. He went looking for someone to write the libretto around his theme. He consulted Mrs. H. C. DeMille, who then conducted a large dramatic agency. Lasky wanted to interest William De Mille. But William was 1 usy \\ ith the problems of "Strongheart" and various Belasco affairs. Mrs. DeMille suggested that Cecil, her younger son, was not so busy. Lasky was dubious. He did not know Cecil DeMille. But anyway, out of courtesy, he had to meet the >oung man and talk the thing over. Cecil DeMille and his winning ways talked Lasky into a one hundred dollar advance 1 \7 Things you believe in BELIEF has tunneled mountains, fought diseases, carried tons on columns of air, spun advertisements, telephones, telegraphs, radios to web the world together. You believe in belief and what it achieves. You believe in advertisements, for they are evidences of belief. You believe in advertised goods, for they are the things other men believe in. When you see a widely advertised lace curtain, you see a curtain that hangs in thousands of homes ... a widely advertised lead pencil, a pencil that thousands carry. You don't try advertised wares to test them. You try them to bring yourself fresh satisfaction. Read the advertisements in these columns regularly. They help you recognize wares that justify belief. Don t buy in the dark — spend your money for advertised goods