The Photo-Play Journal (May 1916-Apr 1917)

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THE PHOTO-PLAY JOURNAL FOR JULY, 1916. PAGE 27 not only a resident there, but a voter as well. Party? Straight Republican. Then came the call to grand opera from New York, and the pretty, little singer cancelled everything and hurried to the City of the Bright Lights for the event she had been working for and dreaming of for years. Three clays after arriving in New York a heavy cold temporarily put her voice out of commission and the opera plans had to be postponed. It was at this time that Miss Grant met Sidney Olcott, one of the best-known motion picture directors in the country. Olcott was looking for a leading woman, and he offered the position to the little singer, explaining to her that the picture he wanted her for would be completed by the time her voice had recovered. "But I know nothing about acting for motion pictures," she told him. "That's the reason I want you,'' Olcott replied. "You take the job and I'll be responsible for everything else." Miss Grant agreed to take the job, more for the fun of the thing than anything else ; and Olcott immediately cast her for the lead in his "A Mother of Men," in which she was called upon to play a girl, a married woman, a middle-aged mother and a grandmother — and this, please remember, her first experience before a movingpicture camera. Miss Grant, however, had ability and was adaptable ; and Olcott, who has directed many of the best-known stars of the screen, is a genius when it comes to getting results from people. "A Mother of Men" was a success, and so was Miss Grant ; and shortly after the picture was completed Olcott persuaded her to sign a long-time contract with him as his leadingwoman. When the Olcott Company started its two years' picture-making tour of the world Miss Grant was the leading woman. The company spent many months in Ireland, filming Irish dramas and comedies, and then the war began, and the players were forced to return to this country. Those months were big months for "Saint Valentine," as the Irish peasant called her, for she studied Ireland and the Irish with her marvelous gift for understanding ; and in exchange for the many concerts she gave her Irish friends they taught her the dances and songs of the "ould counthry," how to play the Irish harp and the Irish pipes, and innumerable other things that have been of great help to her, not alone in her screen work, but in making her interesting life even more complete. Miss Grant has created all sorts of roles on the screen, but she is best loved for her characterizations of Irish colleens, for these peasant girls she knows with an intimate knowledge, and she can live their lives before a motion-picture camera with Q& Any Weather All Seasons THE ALL-YEAR Car /\ — VE A U? in either its smart and ■» V..LJJ.J X l^JX 11 \-/ Gar The Original Convertible Car stylish open form or as a beautiful closed coach will serve you in any weather and all seasons. Take off the top for pleasant weather; replace it for fall and winter driving. KisselKar. Eyery Inch a Car With the original and incomparable Kissel Demountable Top you are prepared for comfortable driving twelve months in the year. Decide upon an ALL-YEAR Car; you'll be glad you did so later on. Prices $1050 to $1750 for the open cars alone;$1450to $2100 for the ALL-YEAR Car. F. O. B. factory. a naturalness which is remarkable. During her engagement with Mr. Olcott, Miss Grant was "borrowed" to play the leading feminine role in the screen version of "The Melting Pot," with Walker Whiteside. The first part of the present year Miss Grant returned from an extended trip through the West and joined the Famous Players. Her first picture was "The Innocent L,ie," in which she played the leading role of Nora O'Brien, an Irish lassie, who comes to this country and unexpectedly walks into all sorts of adventures. The play was directed by Sidney < )lcott, who up until that time had been directing Mary Pickford. In her screen work Miss Grant, fortunately, has had a voice in the selection of her scenarios, and she insists always on having plays with wholesome plots. "There is so much in life that is clean, beautiful, and at the same time dramatically interesting," she said recently, "thai I always impress on photo playwrights who write for me that that is the type of scenario I want. We have been surfeited with sex plays, domestic infidelities, vampires, and cheap sensations in general, and I believe the picture-going public thinks so, too. Wholesome plays are in demand, and they can be made just as interesting; and, for that matter, more so than the sordid, cheap and sensational melodrama. I always want to feel that any screen play I am in can be shown to an audience composed entirely of children."