Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

10 Picr\jre s and P'crure Qver JANUARY 1924 ressir\5fc Above : Two diverse studies of Kate Price. Right oval : Norma Talmadge in " Siuilin' Through." here is just sufficient of the child in all the movie stars to make them delight in the good old game of dressing up. It isn't only personal vanity either, though it is certain that the gorgeous panoply of olden days affords greater opportunities for display than the more comfortable garb of to-day. With many, the opportunity of sinking their own individuality in that of some fair lady or gallant knight of long ago proves an irresistible lure. Others again cannot lose their modern selves in an ancient role, they play " costume stuff " because it is the fashionable game at the moment, but they do it perforce, and therefore unconvincingly, sometimes. One of these times, is. to my thinking, Norma Talmadge in Ashes of I'enj/eance. For Norma is essentially a modern type, the twentieth-century girl at her best, and though she always looks and acts delightfully, her Yoeland " did not somehow, convince me for a moment. Neither did her " Duchessc De Langais ' in The Eternal Flame, though Conway Tearle's work, appearance. mannerisms 'n' everything in that play were faultless. Norma does not fit into every period, versatile though she Left : John Stuart and Fay Com f ton. Above : Doug and Mary take kindly to the fashionable game. Yet, oddly enough, her " Moonyeen " in Smilin' Through, a distinctly " costume " role was altogether perfect as every Talmadge fan will agree. Which augurs well for Norma's forthcoming film Secrets, which is one of the most anticipated events of this New Year. In " Smilin' Through, Norma achieved a complete characterisation, which had all the sweetness and fragrance of the age of valentines and crinolines. Douglas Fairbanks, hnc fencer and athlete that he is, never quite successfully wafts himself into another century. He came nearest to it as '"Zorro " in The Mark of Zorro, but neither his Robin Hood nor his newest masterpiece show us anybody but Doug. Fairbanks. However, this signifies little, except to disprove the old saw anent clothes making the man for once. In Doug.'s case they do not make the manner either. With Mary Pickford they do, to a great degree. Although retaining most of her salient mannerisms, there's a vast difference between the Mary of Rags, and the " Dearest " of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Her " Rosita " reveals a new Mary in the making, and her " Doll Vernon " (the first photograph taken of her period costume in this play appears above) shows that our best beloved screen-child is really out of her teens at last. It is strange but true, that whilst so many stars can and do assume the manner that goes with the gorgeous period clothes they sometimes adopr, others only succeed in looking exceedingly uncomfortable. The men are the worst sinners. Eve is more adaptable, usually. Dozens of names leap instantly to the mind in connection with this subject. Valentino, Lewis Stone. Novarro, Novello, Lytel' Roberts. ll.iuon, Hugh Miller. John Stuart, Gerald Ames, the Barrymores, George Arliss. Seastrom, Schildkraut and Jackie Coogan ar emphatically amongst the masculir.s who can wear