Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1919)

<)0 Photoplay Magazine Her characterization of the vicious mulatto in "The Birth of a Nation" will always be remembered as one o£ the dramatic high spots of that Griffith masterpiece. In make-up Mary Alden has few equals. Give her half an hour and she'll add ten vears — or twentv! "The (lay of the physically equipped moving picture actress is about over," said Miss Alden, overlooking my stare with the easy indifference of one accustomed to such things, "It was the fig tree that put forth beautiful leaves but bore no fruit in spile of that promise that withered away, as you will discover if you study the original Greek of the New Testament. So with the physical gifted actress, who can present a charming design within narrow limits. but who offers no substance. She can by her loveliness, well devised and well dressed, heightened, of course, by sex attraction, satisfy in the romantic the sensual, the shallow. But let this actress face a part where the understanding of humanity is the only keynote and she is childishly inadequate. '"During the years of its infancy, the moving picture industry has set the standard of actinsr too low. The key to success has been physical rather than artistic. This has necessarily limited plays and star> have been either sugary ingenues or sticky vamps. ''The mature woman, whose life makes great act ing parts, has been practically eliminated. Why has the screen almost without exception produced no heroines, no star parts, such as Mrs. Dane, Camille, Madame X, Mrs. Tanqueray, Mrs. Alving, Magda, The Girl of the Golden West, Mrs. Bumpstead-Leigh, Mrs. Arbuthnot, Mrs. Ebbsmith and Becky Sharp? Because there have not been actresses possessing the terrific ability and understanding these roles demanded calling for them. The screen actresses who could fill any one of these roles can be counted on three fingers, and those recruited from the stage. •'Drama seldom happens to extreme youth. The period of young love is fleeting — and generally uninteresting. Its comedies and tragedies are callow. But the public has been treated to endless processions of youthful heroines because there are literally thousands of young and beautiful actresses ready to play them. An actress like Marguerite Clark, who to youth and beauty has systematically and at the expense of much time and labor added the art of acting is rare. "It is true of course that in the silent drama the pictorial conception is a temptation, so that one is apt to give it too great attention. Beauty, the art of being beautiful, is a string any actress may gladly add to her bow. Miss Ellen Terry had both beauty and picturesqueness. But she did not offer them as a substitute for acting. There must of course be the beautiful school. But may we have nothing else? Must our diet consist of peach Melba. whipped cream and nut sundaes? After a while, even a plain ham sandwich looks good. "The body must of course be well cared for, well conditioned. Exercise, regularity, normality, are essential, since the body is the channel through which you reach the audience. It becomes, under the stress of playing, a mere dramatic instrument. It must be in tune and nothing jars it so quickly as abuse or dissipation. "But as anything but an instrument, a meanto an end, it is beneath notice. The actress who desires to triumph must be as reckless of beauty as an author of paper. Could Dorothy Donnelly (Continued on page 127) A scene from "The Unpardonable Sin," in -which Miss Alden as the youthful mother gives a human study unsurpassed in any production, silent or spoken. From left to right, here, are Bobby Connelly as the little Belgian, Wesley Barry as the kid from Kansas, Mary Alden as Mrs. Parcot. Blanche Sweet as Alice; and the two little refugee?.