Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1922)

JUST BEFORE THE CONTEST CLOSES The contest has been narrowed down to one hundred girls and screen tests are now being made THE New Faces Screen Contest is almost over. The race has been run — and in a few weeks the fortunate winner, or winners, will be notified. The young woman who measures up to the Judges' requirements will soon be informed of her good fortune, and her career as a film actress will, before long, begin. The selection has narrowed down to one hundred girls — the most personable and intelligent of the thousands who sent in their photographs to the Photoplay-Goldwyn contest. The winner may not be among the first one hundred; she may be a tardy entrant whose arrival will sweep all previous decisions aside. In any case, the contest is practically closed; the Goldwyn exchanges throughout the country are working overtime making screen tests of the candidates; and in countless American homes, girls are anxiously awaiting the Judges' decision. The business now at hand is the final selection. Photographs of ten or twelve entrants are now being selected. The final choice out of the one hundred is being made. These candidates will be asked for further information about themselves — you must remember that a photograph, and occasionally a letter, is all the Judges have to work on. The final twelve will, if they pass all the first tests, be given tests by the cameras at the various Goldwyn exchanges. This will be their real trial. The Judges will then select the actual winner from these camera tests, as well as from every other angle. This Screen Opportunity Idea, launched by James R. Quirk, Editor and publisher of Photoplay Magazine, and the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, has attracted more attention than any other competitive idea ever inaugurated. It became much more than a Contest. It assumed tremendous importance, for it appealed to the highest type of American young woman — and it also appealed to her mother and her father, her brothers and her friends. More than a Contest, because it made no startling, glittering promises; held out no sparkling awards of immediate stardom and fabulous fortune. What it did guarantee to do was to give the ambitious girl an Opportunity to make good on the screen. Just that — and nothing more. But that was more than enough. It attracted the sincere, the intelligent, the far-sighted girls it meant to attract. It gave them all they wanted; simply a chance. A chance to make good in the most interesting profession in the world: motion picture acting. More young women have dreamed their dreams of screen success than of any other career. Never before have they been offered such a legitimate, straight-forward and honest opportunity to achieve their ambitions. The predominant feature of the New Faces contest was its sincerity. The Photoplay Magazine and the Goldwyn Company stand behind it with their vast resources of judgment, business sagacity, financial success, and artistic ideals. It was no mere publicity scheme. It was an honest attempt to give to the American public New Faces for its screen. Indeed, the public itself has given its staunch support. It has pledged itself in many ways to uphold the best traditions of the American home and family by supporting a young representative of American womanhood, who will endeavor to her best ability to present, in the films, (Continued on page 46) u MUj