Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

OCTOBER 1924 Pictures and Picf\ire$uer 43 Above: With the "Perfect Flapper" doll which is really a vanity case. " I knew you played beautifully," I answered. " I play a lot. I love it. But I've given up all my ambitions that way. You see I never finished my training. I was in the middle of it when I and my mother were staying with relatives in Chicago, and we happened to meet Mr. Griffith at a dinner party. I was crazy to meet him, for I had always been fond of acting and of the movies, and had an immense admiration for the stars and the big directors. But when Mr. Griffith began to talk to me I suddenly went shy, and I must have acted like a fool. However, to my great surprise he suddenly asked me whether I would like to become a motion picture actress. I told him I would love it better than anything in the world. jWTother nudged me — but I didn't care. 1V1 Mr. Griffith said that if I would leave for California the next day he would give me a chance to make good in one of his films. I spent half that night arguing with mother. She didn't want me to go at all, nor-did-^addy. They both thought me crazy. However, I got my way. I usually do," she added with a smile. " People with one blue eye and one brown," I began. Colleen interrupted. " Oh yes, I know they're supposed to be pigheaded, perhaps it's Irish. Pigs and potatoes, you know," she said, waving her hand airily. I felt a little lost. One does feel a little lost with Colleen. Her conversa tion kind of sizzles. She gives .1 remarkably good imitation of an electric spark. I got more bewildered the more I tried to think of a suitable retor. I fell back on the business in hand. " And what happened to little Kathleen Morrison in California?" 1 asked. " She arrived in Los Angeles on a Friday. On the following Monday she began work in her first picture. It was in The Bad Boy which Mr. Griffith was making with Bobby Harron. She — I, I mean — spent a year with Griffith playing in The Old-fashioned Young Man and Hands Up. Then I did a lot more serious films. Pathol vas my line in those days. I played opposite Monroe Salisbury, Scssue Eiayakawa, < "hari< s Ray and Tom Mix, and did quite a lot of work for Selig. l'.ut 1 didn't really care for tragic parts. I have always believed that laughter is SO much greater than tears. It is easy enough to make your audience cry by mere experience and ability, hut the gift of humour conns spontaneously and to few. I have always coveted it for myself. That is why I was glad of the opportunity to put my ambitions to the test under Al Christie, and I enjoyed every moment of my time with him, as a pure comedienne. It was while I was there that I made So Long Letty, with Walter Hiers. People seem to remember it," she added naively. " I'm sorry," I answered, " but for my own part I always think of you as a second Lillian Gish. I never remember that you have been a comedienne at all. My first impression of you came from your wonderful work as a Hindu girl with Hayakawa in The Devil's Claim. I have never forgotten it." " You and Mr. Neilan would agree then," said Colleen with a ripple of laughter. " I think it was my Hindu girl that really gave me my big chance. Mr. Neilan tells me that he had his eye on me for a long time, and The Devil's Chains decided him. He sent for me one day when I was playing in comedy, and told me that he wanted me for a long-term contract. I jumped at the chance and decided that it would be better to resign myself to serious acting for the future. That was the beginning of my real career." I remembered a rumour that I had heard that Colleen Moore was considered one of Neilan's greatest dis Reading downwards : Colleen's new Chipmink coat, a gift from her husband. Small circle : In her " Wall Flower" make up. Large circle : With Mihon Sills in a love scene from " Flaming Youth