Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1922)

(S3 WHY'D OT H EY D O'lT Title Ren. U. S Pat Off ' I 'HIS is YOUR Department. Jump ~igbt in with your contribution. ■*■ What have you seen in the past month, that was stupid, unlijelike, ridiculous or merely incongruous? Do not generalize; confine your remarks to specific instances of absurdities in pictures you have seen. Your observation will be listed among the indictments of carelessness on the part of the actor, author or director. MISTAKE IN MAKEUP IN "The Som: of the Soul," starring Vivian Martin, the first appearance of the hero, played by Fritz Lieber, shows the scar which he received while rescuing the little girl from the burning building, on the left side of his face. The next time he appears, and all the way through the picture, the scar is on the right side. Henry S., Newark, N. J. WE ARE BAFFLED WE know that William Farnum was splendid in "Perjury," but we wonder how he managed to retain that excellent crop of hair, through all his years in prison. It is customary to shave convict heads, we believe. Why this error? Agnes Bowman Miller, Jackson, Mich. CONTINENTAL KIDDING T'LL admit that the old native medicine ■^ man in the second chapter of the madein-Germany serial, "Mistress of the World," was a tricky individual, but he pulled one that I couldn't let go by. The natives were chasing our hero and heroine and their Chinese friend, both parties being in canoes and paddling for all they were worth. The old medicine man, in the rear boat, remember, takes out his bow and arrow and shoots. Whereupon we see the arrow pierce the chest of the Chinaman, who keels right over. A little added touch of humor was, that having killed the yellow man, he announces that the black man's magic was stronger than the white man's. George M. Nye, New Haven, Conn. MAYBE MORAN WAS A WEATHER PROPHET TN "Moran of the Lady Letty," the good -*• ship Lady Letty is shown sailing along under a cloudless sky. All the crew are on deck, in their shirt-sleeves. Dorothy Dal ton as Moran appears on deck muffled in a full "sou'wester." including the hat, just as if a terrific storm were raging on the calm Pacific! D. W. S., Greenwich, Conn. THIS REQUIRES PRACTICE T SAW a picture called "Whistling Dan" ■*■ sometime ago in which Tom Mix was dragged through miles of dirt and brush, yet when he was released he looked as fresh and clean as when he first appeared, in a spotless shirt. In the same picture, the heroine has a wild ride to the rescue of the hero. After riding miles and miles, apparently, she looks as if she had just emerged from a beauty parlor — not a hairpin out of place. Viola A., Los Angeles, Cal. A HIGH CLASS COPPER CINCE when do policemen on a beat ^ wear patent leather shoes? The one who arrested Lionel Barrymore in " Boomerang Bill" did. J. C, Cincinnati, Ohio. OH, MOLLY TN " Molly O," I caught seve -al incon ■*■ gruities. The wash-woman-neighbor had her finger-nails perfectly manicured. Molly herself wore one wig to the ball and had another one on when she came home. H. A. J., California. SHOWING UP THE SHEIKS TT IS amusing to one who has been ■*■ brought up in the desert to see pictures such as "The Sheik" and "The Sheik's Wife." Permit me to criticize: One does not see an Arab with glasses, and still less with pince-nez. Arabs fight on horseback, and if they come off-saddle it is either that they are badly wounded, or to fight in barrage. The horse is made to lie on one side and the man shoots from between the four legs of the animal. Much of the philosophy of the nation is founded upon the purity of blood of their .Horses and all true Arabs will look for the welfare of their horses first. An Arab does not part from his faithful mount during combat. The Araos only use camel's oil burettes for light and not the candle to light the rohalas. Achmed-Ali-Berez, late of Oran, Algeria. WE BITE— WHY? ' I 'HE director who made "The Glorious ■*■ Fool" let his imagination run away with him. Mary Roberts Rinehart, who wrote the story, used to be a nurse, so why did she let these things hapten? Why was Hclene Chadwick on "special" with a patient in a dying condition while she was a probationer? Why didn't the head nurse wear a cap? Where did Helene get her method of taking a temperature? She put the thermometer under her patient's arm, then took a nap. A Nurse, Bluefield, West Va. HAIR-DRESSING NOTE TN " Back Pay," when Hester leaves her ■*■ home and husband and goes to a boarding house, she h in a hurry and pushes her hair up under her hat. Later she removes her hat — and her hair is neatly brushed and becomingly coiffed. Ruth McAllister, McKeesport, Pa. DATES— AND DATES TN "Pardon My Nerve," with Buck — ■*■ pardon me, Charles Jones — we are told via the subtitle that this is "a story of the old-time West, when men used horses instead of flivvers, fists instead of law-suits, and posses instead of traffic cops." But later when the crooks are fixing the papers to get possession of the ranch, one of them reads "Bill of sale, February 14, 1922." In Thomas Meighan's "The Bachelor Daddy," Tom reads a letter from his friend which is distinctly dated 9-13-22. At that rate, the story hadn't happened yet. N. B., Atlanta, Georgia. NUMBER? AGNES AYRES, as the telephone ■* *■ operator in "Bought and Paid For," leaves the switchboard when she goes off duty, carrying the headpiece, or receiver, with her. She stops to talk to Jack Holt — still holding the receiver — and then walks off with it. This isn't done. I'm an operator and I know. E. R., New York City. ABSENT-MINDED MAN! FRANK MAYO, as John Morton in "The Man Who Married His Own Wife," has his cigarettes monogrammed "J. M." His wife, Sylvia Breamer, had raised considerable objection because John persisted in throwing his completed cigarettes into the flower pots. After Morton had changed his name and is in hiding, having disguised himself, he smokes a cigarette, follows his habit of putting the butt in flower pot, and when his wife, who is present, looks at it she sees that it is monogrammed "J. M."! I laughed and laughed. N. T. H., Salisbury, Md. PERMANENTLY WAVED TN the serial, "Winners of the West," * Myrtle Lind in crossing a creek fell in, after the fashion of film people. When she reached the bank her hair was straight and dripping. An instant later it was dry and fluffy, and still later it was beautifully curled and marcelled. In another episode of the same serial, the villainess stuffs a note into a crevice in a fence. It is seized from the other side and made off with. When the girl is again shown on the other side of the fence, the note is still there. Elizabeth Dawson, Brooksville, Fla. THE LATEST MIX-UP IN "Chasing the Moon," with Tom Mix, the star carelessly picks up an instrument in a chemical laboratory. It is covered with a deadly acid which burns his hands, and he drops it. Then the chemist appears, picks up the instrument and holds it for some time, while explaining the deadly nature of the acid, with no visible ill effects. John G. K., Indianapolis, Ind.