Photoplay (1923)

A Tribute Kansas City, Mo. Editor Photoplay Magazine. Dear Sir : The newspaper folded beside my breakfast plate this morning headlined the announcement that last night Wallace Reid shot his last big scene. And all day long, with millions of other men and women, I have grieved over the passing of something we can ill afford to lose. Once, long ago, before he ever saw a moving picture camera, I knew Wallace Reid. I was a tiny girl, and he was the handsome boy who played juveniles in the stock company in our town that season. Also he was one of the youths who clustered about my "bestest friend's" big sister. And afternoons when he came to see her, he would stop by Nancy and me with our dolls to chat a bit and pull my curls. His name meant nothing then. No one dreamed that his face would ever be recognized and loved all over the world. But somehow I never forgot this boy with the whimsical smile, who wasn't too busy or important to fish my unfortunate dolly out of a very wet mud puddle. Years later I found him again on the screen. I never wrote him a fan letter. No one even knew that with every picture I smiled again over that lovable, a little wistful, boyish, clean cut lad. And last night the last scene flickered out. So tonight I slipped away alone to the little neighbourhood theater where "Clarence" is playing and said goodbye to my shadow friend. I shall never see him again. And now my smiles over the story of the picture are a bit twisted, and my eyes are brighter because they are wet. R. H. B. In Defense of Norma Brooklyn, N. Y. Editor Photoplay Magazine. Dear Sir: If every star of the silver screen would use Norma Talmadge as a model, the fickle public would never press the button of the trick stairway while he or she is on it. Never once does she impress her audience with a feeling of her importance. She lives her part in the pictures. Men, oh how many, have said that Norma Talmadge makes one feel she is delighted to see them, delighted to work for them and one goes away satisfied their money is well spent. Marilynn Miller, now Mrs. Jack Pickford, is quoted as having claimed she could marry any man in New York. I know one she couldn't have married but I would be a little afraid of that one with Norma because he has an awful crush on her. But who could be jealous of such a feminine, womanly woman? Yet I know of one young woman who would have all Norma's pictures eliminated if she could simply because her husband adores her. And on the sly she studies Norma to imitate her, in manner and clothes! Gertrude Laurene. From a Mother Hoboken, N. J. Editor Photoplay Magazine. Dear Sir : May a busy mother of three little ones throw a bouquet at Photoplay? I have been a reader of your magazine for a long time and open each new copy with the wild delight of a child who breaks a toy to see what's inside. The kiddies enjoy the pictures. They know Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Jackie Coogan, as well as they know their prayers. Their dad is all for Thomas Meighan and Brickbats Bouquets LETrERS FROM READERS The readers of Photoplay are invited to write this department — to register complaints or compliments— to tell just what they think of pictures and players. We suggest that you express your ideas as briefly as possible and refrain from severe personal criticism, remembering that the object of these columns is to exchange thoughts that may bring about better pictures and better acting. Be constructive. We may not agree with the sentiments expressed, but we'll publish them just the same! Letters should not exceed 200 words and should bear the writer' sf nil name and address . Wallace Reid, while my favorites are Elsie Ferguson and Jack Holt. Even as I write my four-year-old daughter is cutting out Rodolph's pictures. She has seen him in "Blood and Sand" and feels that she knows him very well. In conclusion, we wish that "Hollywouldn't," as it hurts us to have any "Brickbats" thrown at our idols — so good-luck to Photoplay and Photoplayers. Theresa C. Grossmann. Honorable Mention New Castle, Ind. Editor Photoplay Mag.j^zine. Dear Sir: If I could have the power of draining from the actor colonj' the parasites, I would leave the following and guarantee a sufficiency of capable artistry. First, I suggest Lillian and Dorothy Gish, IMary Pickford, Norma and Constance Talmadge, Alice Terry, Pola Negri, and Mae Marsh (as she has been, can be, and will be) ; then as supplement Virginia Valli, Carol Dempster, Lois Wilson (sweet example of clean, fine endeavor), Leatrice Joy, Lila Lee, Alice Calhoun, Corinne Griffith (possibly), and May McAvoy (but only as a Gr/:c/-character). From among the men, I would choose: Richard Barthelmess, Lewis Stone, James Kirkwood, Nigel de Bruliere, Monte Blue, Theodore Roberts, George Fawcett, and Harold Lloyd; and then secondly, Thomas Meighan, Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Ogle, James Morrison, David Powell, Ralph Graves, Gareth Hughes (for his Sentimental Tommy) and Rodolph Valentino (but only as JulioGallardo-cha.Ta.cter) . How I wish I might add Bobby Harron to this list! Thank you, Photoplay, for your wise awardment of your Honor Medal. It was a just one, better than the first, and your choice was mine. Doris Utterberg. Miscasting Kirkwood Chicago, HI. Editor Photoplay Magazine. Dear Sir: For as long as two weeks I have held it in but now I really must complain to somebody. I have recently seen two pictures with James Kirkwood and I feel it's time somebody protested. In "Pink Gods" Mr. Kirkwood did a really fine piece of acting, creating a manly, likeable man of the world; and in "Under Two Flags" he utterly ruined, for me, an otherwise enjoyable picture. The wildest stretch of the imagination could not conceive of him in the part of Victor — his bearing was far from soldierly as one would e.xpect from an e.x-member of a crack regiment, and from his struggle with the part, he e\-idently realized that he was sadly miscast I heard so many comments on this performance that I feel I must register my protest at least. Miscasting like this spoils a whole picture, to say nothing of hurting Mr. Kirkwood's reputation, although I think everybody realized it wasn't his fault. Dorothy F. Curkeet. The French Public's Favorites Paris, France. Editor Photoplay Magazine. Dear Sir: A French newspaper ("Eve"), in a recent issue publishes the results of an important popularity contest conducted in France, during the three last months. I am not mentioning here our own actors and actresses who figure among the selected favorites as I suppose they are not yet known to the American fan, with the one exception of ]Max Linder; but here are, at least, all the great foreign artists coming also in prominence in that honor roll, which ascertains the names of the cinema stars who rule in the hearts of Paris and other French towns. They are: Mary Pickford, Pearl WTiite, Nazimova, Mae Murray, Lillian Gish, Norma Talmage and Mabel Normand, And: Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Sessue Hayakawa, William Hart, Wallace Reid, and Thomas Meighan. These stellar players are not only greatly admired, but indeed dearly beloved by the French public. .\s to the productions which are being shown in our capital, here are some of the most successful ones: "Humoresque," "Over the HiU," "The Old Nest," "The Street of the Fhing Dragon" (or "Five Days To Live"), "A Connecticut Yankee" and "The Four Horsemen." M. A. Epstein. Make Your Own Star Honor Roll Kansas City, Mo. Editor Photoplay Mag.\zin"e. Dear Sir: The honor roll of the ^Motion Picture News of the twelve people who have contributed most to the advancement of the screen proves interesting to patrons of the motion picture because it presents so many gentlemen of whom we know nothing! I dare say that Mr. Zukor and Mr. Williams and Mr. Johnston have all done their bit. but we of the public care nothing about them. To credit them is like crediting the men who provided the paper on which Beethoven wrote [ continued on page 14 ] 8