The Photo-Play Journal (Jul 1919-Feb 1921)

October, 1 920 11 personality is the biggest factor, I'll go even further and say it is the one fundamental factor, in a film actress's work and success. It governs everything. To achieve maximum results you must keep that factor in mind and let it guide you in approaching every knot that requires untangling." "And flattery?" it was suggested. "Of course, that plays its part in getting results ?" "Not in my company," said Mr. Selznick, "if by flattery you mean the sort of praise that is not absolutely sincere. Remember, please, that no actress can be successful unless she possesses very keen intelligence. I've never tried it, but I am sure I'd never accomplish anything in directing the professional destinies of Selznick stars if I resorted to flattery. When a thing is well done I believe in going the limit in praising it. It is then that praise rings true ; it is only then that it counts." Mr. Selznick laughs at the myth that surrounds the picture producer's work with glamor and mystery. "That opinion has no circulation in the motion picture business," he laughed. "It is none the less a business because it deals with an artistic product. I have talked with film fans and I know that the average devotee of the screen imagines that a director has but to wave a magic wand and presto ! a full fledged picture appears. "It is hard work, this making pictures ! Personally, I put in from twelve to fifteen hours a day at it. There are stories to be considered, authors to be interviewed, technical experts to be consulted on the building of sets, interior decorators to be seen, conferences with carpenters, arrangements to be made for exterior locations, difficult lighting problems to be worked out with electricians — these and scores of other matters must be handled before and during the making of a picture." "And, of course, there are beautiful women to be bossed," I observed. My observation was brushed aside with a gesture of disdain. "During a trip I made to Los Angeles a short time ago," said Mr. Selznick, "I fell into a conversation with a fellow passenger on the train. He was a shoe manufacturer. After we had disposed of the weather, politics and other stock subjects of the smoking car, we drifted into a discussion of our respective businesses. My neighbor had his troubles to relate — strikes, leather shortage, freight congestion, and such things. When he had finished I told him my little tale of woe. " 'You don't mean to tell me,' he said, 'that making motion pictures is hard work ! What is there to it ? You get your story, hire your actors and a director, turn the camera crank, and there you are !" " 'Well,' I said, 'let us consider the factors you mention. Take the matter of 'getting a story.' For every good story written there are scores of producers to bid for its screen rights. Worth while scenarios don't grow on bushes. You've got to get out and hunt for them. You've got to persuade authors to write. In fact, you must beg them — offer them tre Myron Selznick, who has realized his boyhood ambition mendous sums for stories. " 'As for hiring actors — that isn't as easy as it may seem. With hundreds of photoplays being produced every month, actors are in constant demand. Certain parts require certain types, and types are always more or less difficult to find. " 'Then there is the little matter of hiring a director. Good directors work under long-term contracts. You can't stand on a street corner and shout through a megaphone, "I want a director!" and expect the heavens to open and drop one at your feet. You've got to go out and look for him — hunt for him, and when you get him, grapple him unto your organization with hooks of steel. " 'If one of the workers in your shoe factory should be taken ill, you can replace him without any great difficulty. If an actor is taken ill during the making of a picture, work must be stopped on the production until he recovers. Meanwhile the other members of your company must be paid their salaries — and your production schedule is shot to pieces. " 'Well,' said Mr. Shoeman, 'if what you say is true, why do you and so many other men stay in the picture business ? " 'Because it is fascinating,' " I replied. " 'The element of chance, of gamble appeals to a basic instinct of human nature. Almost any man likes to race against luck. I'll wager that's why you stay in the shoe manufacturing business. There is the gamble of working against your competitors — ■ (Continued on page 60) Mr. Selznick with Olive Thomas and Louise Huff