Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1920)

46 Photoplay Magazine Charles Chaplin says he has a horror of the smell of a cigarette or gasoline in the forenoon. tion is soon to leave the company. Just before Miss Pickford left the Famous Players-Lasky organization to make a series of pictures for First National someone whistled while in her dressing room, she declares. This was all very interesting. We found that Miss Pickford's sense of humor is marvelous, and while she does not believe in every fad and foible, superstition and suspicion about the studios, she respects those who do because of the psychology of the thing. She does not wish to bring chaos or confusion into her organization. Therefore, she does not take issue with those who do believe. And then it came to pass that we called upon Charlie Chaplin. Did the famous comedian believe in ghosts? Was there something in this world, seen or unseen, that he feared? Well, we would see. "I do not believe in superstition," was his rejoinder, also. "But I have no use for that bird they call 'jinx.' " He grinned amiably through his white teeth and adjusted a trick cap he was wearing. It was a trick cap because he had been out horseback riding. Chaplin has a favorite horse and when he is not motoring or mak ing comedies he goes for a canter. "I have a horror of the smell of a cigarette or gasoline in the forenoon," he said. "Whether that is a superstition or an aversion, matters little. ~ "I will not attempt to explain it. But if I start to the studio and get a whiff of cigarette smoke, or the pungent odor escaping from my motor or someone else's motor rises up and invades my nostrils, I turn right around and beat it. It reminds me too much of the night before, so to speak. Anyhow, it's my 'jinx.' "You see, if someone should puff cigarette smoke in my face about Q o'clock in the morning I am liable to fall in the ocean before sundown. If I get gasoline on my hands or my clothes before high noon comes along, then I do not make comedies in the afternoon. The episode might spoil my entire picture. Not that it would be saturated with gasoline — but the comedy would be worse that that — it would be tragedy. "Oh, no, I am not superstitious— but I am careful!" Alia Nazimova will not wear jewelry and she will not touch a violin. All because of a dream that later became a superstition. "It was during my early youth," she said. "My father insisted on my studying the violin. One night I dreamed a weird dream. A violin figured in it. Every time I would reach for the musical instrument a hand would come out of the shadows and snatch it away. When I awoke I had the conviction that if I ever played the violin again — or even^ touched one with my hands — something terrible would happen to me. abandoned a nlusical career and went on the stage. Now I am having the time of my life playing in pictures." When I called on Douglas Fairbanks he was making a quick circle just outside his dressing room, having adopted a weird step that reminded one of a young Indian about to hit the warpath. , : )• "I have just been whistling," he said. "I whistled in there. That's my dressing room. You see this path — see this circle — see those footsteps. There's where I leave much expensive shoe leather every day. I just can't keep from whistling and when I forget myself and start a joyfest in there" — (again pointing to the room) — "then I come out here and execute a few circles — say about three or thereabouts." So we got a firsthand glimpse of the athletic comedian in one of his superstitious moods. Speaking further Mr. Fairbanks iaid: "I have no love for a rabbit that hops up along the roadside and crosses the highway to my left. I immediately turn around and either call off the trip for the day or take another road. The rabbit may know what it is doing, but I would rather see it turn to the right." Houdini — magician, handcuff king and man of mystery — admits that _he is the most superstitious man in motion pictures — and out. Everything, to him, is a sign of good luck or bad luck. "I would not think of carrying a lock of hair," he said. "To me that is the surest sign of the hardest of hard luck. Once I bought a collection. In it was a letter written by the Duke of Wellington to an artist who had painted his portrait. In the letter was a lock of the Duke's hair. All the time I had it hard luck pursued me. "Finally I tossed the thing into the fire. The very next day bad luck and Houdini parted company. 'T once had a lock of Edwin Booth's hair that I bought in another collection. Hard luck seemed to creep upon me again. I gave that away — and once more hard luck left me. "The numeral '13' does not J. \Varren Kerrigan has a horror for the numeral 7. It al^vays brings him bad luck, he says. bring bad luck. It is merely the sign that bad luck is coming. "Now I'll tell you my good luck sign. If I forget something when I leave home in the morning and have to go back for it, I am sure to have wonderful success during the day. I try to forget something every morning. I must admit that this is reversing an old superstition — but that's the way it plays with me — and I am thoroughly in favor of the new version of the adage." And then there is Tommy Meighan's peculiar superstition. He, strangely enough, has a powerful aversion to accepting checks in a poker game. His pal, Major "Bob" Warwick, has a peculiar dread of walking in front of speeding autos. It is a combination of superstition and dread that worries Mary Miles Minter, one of our most youthful stars. She will turn her face when she sees a hunchback coming. "It's an ill omen to me," she said. "I once lost a pocketbook after looking at a hunchback. On another occasion I fell in a lake and almost drowned, "Oh, no, I was not frightened at the men. But I had an instinctive Nazimova will not wear jewelry or touch a violin. A spooky dream scared her off the instrument, she declares.