Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1926)

Photoplay Magazine — Advertising Section ytyBaby _ rwisTi/M isthe cutest thing infheworld (ist Naciooal Star, in "The Lose World") I am theTwistum Kitten that stands, sits, reclines, gambols and begs, — with an intriguing, twisty tail. But — best and most exciting of all, I have— Luminous Eyes and Claws that shine brightly in the dark. I am a Good Luck Mascot, the newest thing out— and a splendid Christmas present! I come in attractive colors, in a circus cage direct to your home. I am durable and washable and safe. Price $1.25 each with packing and postage 25 cents — complete $1.50. • Orders promptly filled (by Air-mail if accessary) "ACE" EDWARDS, JJJ£ 1085 Monadnock Bldg. San Francisco, Calif. (for Twistum Toy Factory, Inc J "Ace" Edwards, 1085 Monadnock Bldg., S.F. Please mail me your Kitten Mascot as advertised, ($1.50 enclosed) Insomnia? A Bodi-Rubc/ouJn before bed — sleep like a log. It's a genuinely good rubbing alcohol. Try it! Service Laboratories, Inc. Chicago DPI RUB CALLOUSES Quick, safe relief for callouses and burning on bottom of feet. At drug mid shoe stores everywhere DXScholTs -pads The problem of how to spend a safe and sane Oiri.-,tmas and yet be merrie is becoming more difficult every year. It used to be the Fourth of July that elicited warnings, but since Volstead won the war the spirit of independence has been reduced to such a small percentage that there isn't enough kick in it to set off a firecracker. The only practical solution that I can offer is to spend it in Europe where Christmas can be merrie and yet be dry — Imperial Dry 1906 is the best. Bon voyage, and if not, at least be merrie and face the inevitable with a brave smile, so that when friends file by they'll say. "A smile on his face — how lifelike! Oh, well, he's probably better off." The Girl Who Kept Step CONTINUED PROM PAGE 63 ] with Richard Bennett and Charles Cherry in "Passersby," a Charles Frohman production. She next played many little boy parts in the Hudson Stock Company in Newark, X. J., for over a year. Finally she went home to her mother and she says, "Mother," says she, "this is getting terrible. I'm playing so many boy's parts. I'm acting like a man . . . the first thing I know I'll be swearing like some of the stage directors or scene shifters. I've got to get out of this — why, Mother, I ain't worn girl's clothes since Rip Van Winkle woke up." And the mother says, says she: "I got it all figured out, daughter dear. Us three, you and Vi and me, are going into pictures. We'll settle down in a nice little home and I'll cook nice things for you — and be the silent partner in the firm of Dana, Mason & Co." At these momentous and stupendous words Vi ran in from the other room to hug her mother — but Shirley had beaten her to it. "Mother," they both says in unison, "this is grandiloquent. We'll do our darndest to knock'em all dead in pictures." "We'll start in the spring," says the mother. That winter Shirley played as understudy to Viola in "The Poor Little Rich Girl." Instead of starting in pictures in the spring, it was really two years later. They stayed together in the same company, then Viola went into pictures and Shirley played Gwendolyn (the part Vi had left) in "The Poor Little Rich Girl," for another year. Then Shirley followed her sister into pictures. Within a year, Shirley was offered the lead in seven pictures called "The Seven Deadly Sins." They were not Shirley's sins — as them were the days when a lady was a lady — a gent was a perfect gent — and pictures were not what they ought to be. In each of these pictures she played the lead for a different star. In 1918 Shirley Mason joined Paramount as a featured player. She co-starred with Ernest Truex in "Come On In" and "The Winning Girl." She has played in scores of pictures since — really they are too numerous to mention. Among them are "Shirley of the Circus," "Treasure Island," "My Husband's Wives," "Curly-Top." "Merely Man Ann," "The Stardust Trail," "The Ragged Heiress," and reams of others. Recently she followed Viola into the ranks of free-lance players, so that she may have her choice of roles. .Among her successes since leaving the list of contract players are "The Talker," with Lew Stone and Anna Q. Xilsson, "What Fools Men" with Lewis Stone, and "Lord Jim" with Percy Marmont. She became the wife of Bernard Durning. He was a great, naive, kindly and magnificent young Irishman, who has a year or two since gone to pastures rich with rest. He was a director when I knew him — and I was a struggling writer. He encouraged me to keep on keeping on. He was one of the first to congratulate me when my first book was accepted. When I talked to the splendid little Shirley she said, "Bernie, my husband, was a great friend of yours — and of mine." "Yes, Shirley," I replied, "Bernie was the greatest encourager in the world to all the people who try to keep step." I talked to both girls yesterday. They are going along the road of picture fame together. They have learned to keep step. re I Wouldn't Wish It On a Dogj rut one on — the pain is gone For Free Sample write The Scholl Mfg. Co., Chicago [ CONTINUED FROM PAGE jl ] my money on such a hazardous venture — I would substitute for Heaven a four-letter word ending in double 1. It seems to me that the Devil dangles the purple limousines as baubles to tease our Hollywood children. The girl who started me off on these meditations by saying that she wouldn't wish the life of an actress on a canine, not even a Pomeranian, is now an actor's agent and comes in contact every day with dozens of girls who are making their living in the films. She had in mind the physical hardships, the long hours, the risks to life and limb, but more particularly she was thinking of the disappointments, the heartbreaks and the soul bruises. I know a number of actresses whom the fans must envy and consider successes h ho have the bitterest attacks of despondency. I cannot believe that the business woman ever teaches such a state of despair. A girl may play a big part and feel that her future is assured. Then she will be idle for three months. 1 know many such cases. The higher she has climbed, the harder the fall. She sets her heart on getting a certain part. She is encouraged to believe that she will get it. Then the producer decides she isn't the typeOne of the toughest things about being an actor is that you have to be looking for a job all the time. Of course, many of the successful players have contracts and get paid whether they work or not, but I am speaking of the great majority. As soon as the free-lance player finishes a picture, he must start out to find another part. That means that he's job hunting every two or three weeks. That fact alone would keep me from ever trying to steal Bull Montana's honors. I hate to ask for a job. I hate to have to tell people how good I am. I just want them to admit it without argument. The business manager of a studio said to me recently: "You'd be surprised at the well-known actors and actresses who come into my office and tell me that they are dead broke— people whose names are known everywhere, who are regarded as eminently successful." There are several reasons for this. The most important is that employment, for most of the performers, is irregular. An actor may Kvory adrcrttsemenl in I'lhvrori.AY magazine i> piusntoed.