Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

60 Pictxire s and Picture pver MAY 1924 SALE OF INDIAN BEDSPREADS Direct from INDIA. Quaint Historical INDIAN SPREADS genuine hand printed in curious old nr-tive Eastern Chintz colorings on Cream color. PUNJAB COTTON. SIZE SALE 2x2* yards Usually 8/1 1. 2* x 3yds. Ifl/C Us. 12/11 lw/0 We Pay Post. MATTHEW ROSE & SONS, LTD. " Shown in our Linen Dept." MARE STREET, HACKNEY, LONDON, E.8. 6/11 BARGAIN for HOLIDAY MAKERS 500 Week-end SUIT CASES Extraordinary Offer. Size. Usually. Sale. Brown Fibre, Unbreak e/1 1 «bl6... 22x12x6 in. 7/11*'/ * * Metal-bound Edges .. 24xl4x6Jin 8/11 6/1 1 Leather Handle, 2 Brass Locks and keya>ith 8 reinforced block corners, neatly lined] striped calico Size 26 x 16x7 In. «t/ii Usually 9/11 I J 1 * Packing* po=t 1/ ex. Delivered by return of po» t MATTHEW ROSE A SONS, LTD.. "Famous for Trunks, Wsek-end Cases," MARE ST., HACKNEY, LONDON. N THE NEW WORLD" ByG. E.SCOTT. A beautiful art reproduction in colours. PRICE O/ mounted "•/ — When Mary and John set up house. YY/HEN Mary and John set up ** house there was the usual difficulty to make both ends meet. " We haven't much left for Pictures," said John. But Mary, who had a wise little head had been seeking here and there for pictures which would be a credit to the home without making a big hole in her purse. One day, she wrote off to a shop which offered pictures at a fraction of the prices usually charged. " Don't worry," said Mary, I know where we can buy really lovely pictures — modern art plates by famous artists — for as little as Two Shillings. I have their Catalogue here." If your dealer does not stock this fine series of pictures, you should write direct for particulars — • ODHAMS PRESS FINE ART DEPARTMENT, 91, Long Acre, London, W.C.2. llllllllllllllllllllll THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF AGNES (Con tinned from page 44). " You've had a very fortunate career," I remarked — and knew almost before the words were out of my mouth that I had said the wrong thing. For Agnes Ayres, for all her bright eyes and winsome face, does not really look happy. Her face tells of a natural trust somewhere shattered; of a naturally retiring disposition which has been forced to come out into the open and face all sorts of trials and difficulties. I remembered then the constant epithets of ' wooden,' and 'brainless' that had been hurled at her from time to time. I remembered the sharp criticism so often levelled at her work, and realised how much these things had hurt her. Agnes Ayres has had to fight every inch of the way to stardom, and she is not a fighter by nature. She responds readily to atmosphere and treatment and, with her, good work cannot be done under adverse conditions or in a spirit of criticism. I remembered what one director had told me about Agnes' work before the camera. " If you shout at her," he said, " she breaks down, and if you swear at her I honestly believe that she'd quit the studio. We took a closeup of her once and it was all going splendidly, when suddenly Miss Ayres went to pieces. She said that some antagonistic force was against her ; that someone behind the camera was discussing her and pulling her acting to bits. She just wouldn't go on. It would have been no use if she had, for her face reflects disappointment and depression as clearly as though she had voiced it. But treat her with understanding and sympathy and she will work for you like an angel." " Everyone has a right to the secrets of her life," she says, " and for myself I believe in keeping them seciet. They are not interesting to others. They cannot be improved by talking. Their only use is in leading through experience to sincerity in portrayal. I'm glad that my career has been a hard one because it gives me a bigger chance of succeeding in the end. They have prevented me from growing narrow. and from looking out on the world merely through the studio window. So I suppose it is luck in a way." Yes. Agnes is different. . . . THE SEVEN AGES OF OLD BELL (Continued from page 37.) Strange, though, how the smallpart boy has progressed. To-day he is the screen-genius, and I'm looking forward very much to shaking hands with him." Syd Walker writes all his own " funny stuff," his humour is direct and forceful without being knockabout, and he has very wisely been allowed to follow out his own ideas on the screen. He was appearing at the Metropolitan, London, in one of his own song-scenas when he was offered the part of " Old Bill." " I suppose," he said, " that my makeup made me look like him. I was wearing a moustache something like ' Old Bill's,' and that, and the fact that I ha.d'er'graduatcd from Karno's influenced the producer's choice." It was a good choice, anyhow. Screen comedians are, alas, so few and far between, and this one is a real find. " ' Alf ' and 'Bert' are well in the film, too," he continued. " Come to think of it, there are plenty of B's. ' Bill,' Bruce Bairnsfather, Bentley, ' Bert ' and others. But no Army language, because of the army of lipreaders." Like most comedians, Syd Walker is altogether serious at times. We dissected comedy, from slapstick to satire very thoroughly. " It isn't only knockabout that people want," he said. " Though of course everyone likes a good laugh. But it is th.e fun with a hint of pathos behind it that folks remember. And that is the kind I shall have in my own productions. Domestic comedies they will be. It'll be more difficult than my own stage work because there the voice and the words help so. Not to speak of the audience. But comedy gestures that are sure-fire on the stage would be wild exaggerations and distortions in a studio. I soon learned that." The main object of his visit to America is to visit as many studios as possible, studying technique, trick photography, and the latest thing in " gadgets " and possibly collecting an American director. Then he is coming back to make his own comedy films this side. For he can have his own company as soon as he pleases. He means to write his own stories, but not to direct them. " In my studio," he concluded, " I shall always have an audience when I'm ' on the floor.' I remember how bucked I felt the first time I heard one of the boys working the lights chuckle •over something I did. I used to strive, half unconsciously, I suppose, for more of those laughs, and when I got them I felt I was really making good." I volunteered immediately for a post in the laughing chorus, but the matter is still in abeyance. By this time Syd Walker's address is no longer Walker, London. He's in the heart of Movieland. and he's probably achieved his desire and shaken hands with Chaplin. It seems a long way to go for a handshake, but to one who has traversed centuries in a few weeks a few thousand miles more or less must be a mere detail. JOSIE P. LEDERER.