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

October, 1 920 39 mured. "But when are you going to give us a complete-inone-evening entertainment — a feature, so called?" "After this serial," he replied promptly. "I expect to make a special production dealing with Spanish and American life. It is my ambition to show Spain and Spanish people as they are. America doesn't know Spain — the beautiful traditions, the poetic ideals, the fine passion and romance of Spaniards. I expect to go to Spain with a cameraman, a director and two or three players to film that part of the story which pertains to the country in the real locale. I am promised the co-operation of prominent Spaniards." I tried to verify, without success, a story I once heard to the effect that Tony has a regular correspondence, with certain of the European nobility. He evaded by saying he didn't write many letters — and only to his friends. He is the idol of Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of Mexico, Central America and South America. There his serials are not advertised by their titles, but as "The Adventures of Moreno." I saw copies of newspapers from Mexico City. Virtually every theater featured the "Adventures." "I like serials," Tony said earnestly. "I don't want to play in them forever, of course, because they do not offer as much chance for real characterization as condensed dramas. On the other hand, they have a cosmopolitan following that feature pictures do not. Because their action is physical — you know," he gripped his fists and made an energetic thrust to signify the "punch." "They are understood by people everywhere. A feature picture with phases of life which are understood only in America or some countries of Europe. They deal with politics, labor and capital, marriage relations. And what do such subjects mean to Spain or Japan or to polygamous East Indians ? Yet these people understand serials. I know by the number of letters I receive that I have many more friends now than I had when I appeared in feature pictures. Just the same — for my personal satisfaction — I want to play in all sorts of pictures and all sorts of characters." Tony is a curious blend of the old world and the new, of the cavalier and the modern man, of romanticist and practical worker. The United States Government had little trouble in persuading Tony not to hoard. He looks upon money as something to be circulated, the faster the better. He has no ambition for wealth, but he has for success, which, as he argues, is not to be judged by bank accounts. At times he is naive and tender as a child, again he is as resolute and tempestuous as his soldier ancestors of Spain. "I am always bursting out in a second with what I happen to think and then spending hours regretting it all," he said dolefully. "Really, it is terrible the things I say sometimes." He told me of such an incident that had transpired that morning. An advertising solicitor of a local pamphlet had called to sell Tony a hundred-dollar cover. Tony knew the advertising was not worth the money. He exploded. "I said terrible things," he remarked penitently. "I called the fellow a blackmailer, a grafter — and a lot of things I can't repeat. And then" — he shrugged his shoulders — "I bought the cover. What else could I do to make amends for insulting him?" The incident is the key to the character of this fiery, sympathetic, mercurial and lovable young Spaniard — this Adonis who would play Proteus. When Don Adonis finally does go to Spain to produce his own pictures, he will be taking a step in a new direction in films. The international picture has yet to be made, and it is Tony Moreno's ambition to be the pioneer in that field. Tony is thoroughly American, but he cannot help feeling some kinship for the mother country. "Spanish motion pictures never come to America, and although American pictures are shown all over Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries, they do not reflect the traits in American life for the Spanish people. The motion picture ought to be a medium of intercourse between nations. Pictures showing the national characteristics of Spain, created in the American fashion, with the art and efficiency of American directors behind them, should bring to Americans a true perspective of life in Europe. "I think there should be a nucleus of American players in such a picture, so as to establish the sort of acting to which American audiences are accustomed. But the locale must be fixed as in real life, or the pictures won't get over." As for character parts versus the leading man, Tony believes that the dominating role in any picture is the role which counts, and not the so-called lead. "The leading man in the average production gets the highest salary, which is the reason that young and good-looking actors prefer to stick to leads. But 'trouping' is more often required in the more difficult heavy parts. One has a chance to step out of one's own skin in a character role, to become someone else for the time. It is fascinating, far more fascinating than merely playing in pictures."