Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1919)

'J*hc intriguing assortment of footgear and the shimmering ankle expanses belong, individually, to the five leading ladies — five — in *The Admirable Crichfon" — the Barrie play which Cecil DeMille has converted to celluloid. Left to right — Julia Faye, our own little vampette; the careless pidgeon toes are Lila I.ee's, Gloria Swanson's are the buckled slippers and the hosiery ad. to match; at her left, Bebe Daniels, \vho left Harold Lloyd for Lasky's; and the openwork arguments on the extreme right are Mildred Reardon's — Mildred, like Bcbc, used to be a comedienne. Something seems to tell us that the "The Adnriirable Crichton** — Tom Meighan is Crigbton^ by the way — is ■! -e, just sure, to succeed. K>C C L^i ays an cf\J^/G oyer's Real news and interesting comment about motion pictures and motion picture people. ■ By Cal York MARY MILES MINTER has signed a three and a half years' contract with the Realart company, a corporation presided over by Arthur S. Kane. Behind Mr. Kane is Adolph Zukor, of Paramount and Artcraft. When Miss Minter and her mother, Mrs. Shelby, arrived in New York from a long picture sojourn in Santa Barbara, they were not definitely headed in any direction. The American Film Company, long the httle blonde's employers, are in the highly unique position of abandoning their quest for her further services on the ground that she was too expensive a proposition for them to make any money on — only to see other concerns frantically eager to offer her much more money than they themselves were willing to give her. And many firms were in on the Minter figuring. One made three rising offers before the Zukor gait got too swift, and the lowest was much in excess of the American company's former salary to her. It is alleged that .she will, for the term of her three-year contract, receive $1,300,000. The pictures are to be divided into four groups of five; for the first five $50,000 each; for the second fi\e $60,000 each; and the third five, 870,000 each; and for the last five, $80,000 each. But the most interesting part is that this contract is alleged to concern itself with the star's intimate life and mode of living. She is not to become a "public figure" except in the ways thr.t the Zukor evangelists direct. She can be interviewed seldom, if ever — except as a part of the said evangelism. She must be seen ver>' little in public, if at all. She is to be a real "home body" with an existence only in her work. And she must not marry I 100 CONSTANCE BINNEY is to be starred. By Realart, the same company which has Mary Miles Minter under its managerial wmg. The little Binney — the Plymouth Rock Chicken of the leading essay in this month's Magazine — has been seen heretofore on the screen as a featured player. Her first stellar vehicle, "Erstwhile Susan," a popular legitimate play. JUST as this department goes to press, there's a rumor that Bill Russell has signed with Fox. In fact, it is a ver>' likely rumor, more than tinged with probability. The rugged William has been occupied making many Americans for the past year; then he came east to look over the field and form a new affiliation. THE two newest candidates for screen honors are Mary Marsh Arms and Richard Stanbury Bushman. The former made her very first appearance on Friday, the thirteenth of June, at the Lying-in Hospital in New York — weight seven pounds. Her father is Louis Lee Arms, sporting editor of the New York Tribune. The child fulfilled all prayers and predictions by being a girl — and a blue-eyed girl at that. Mae Marsh has been the subject of many new contract rumors, but Mae Herself isn't worrying about business: she's too busy admiring this wonderful child of hers. The Bushman baby was born at the Bushman home on Riverside Drive. He had his name all picked out for him beforehand; and in this case, too, the new arrival pleased everybody as to sex, eyes, and disposition. Beverly Baync-Bushman is said to have been responsible for the selection of the name; and Richard Stanbury Bushman does seem to augur rather well for a future film hero. THERE has been nothing more interesting in the month's events than the signing of Pearl White by the William Fox organization. This means the passing of Pathe's Pearl, for Miss White has declared herself against the serial. She is to come into her own at last, as an actress of ability. Fox is not to present her in outre thrillers, but in real plays, all adapted from well-known books and stage successes. Not that the Pathe company. Miss White's sponsors these many seasons, does not recognize an actress and know real plays. It does — but Pearl White has been the greatest serial queen that ever lived, and earned for herself and Pathe several fortunes. She has a city and a country home, many motors, an army of servants, and now she is to have adequate and appropriate vehicles. The first of the White series of eight productions was partially filmed at her own country place at Bayside, Long Island. ELSIE JANIS, immediately upon her return to these shores from England and France, signed a j'ear's contract with Selznick. She hasn't done anything in the films since her Morosco pictures, several years ago — no — wait a minute — she posed for the Photoplay Magazine Screen Supplement camera man, with her mother, at their home; you'll see it soon. Selznick at first had a war story for her to act in, but apparently changed their minds. By the way, the same company secured Owen Moore's signature to a year's contract. Moore is coming east to work at the big Selznick studios in (Contimied on page 102).