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22
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NOVEMBER 1924
StudTcb
You've doubtless seen Yvonne Thomas on the screen, in " The Money Habit," " Sally Bishop," and " Owd Bob." Come into the studio with her as you read her reminiscences
It will doubtless seem strange to those who are interested enough to read this article, that as an artist, I should know anything much about the technical side of the screen; therefore, it behoves me to explain that when I was very young (Yes, I must have been very ' young ' !) my ambition was to become a " Movie star." With much optimism, practically no money, and still less influence, I set forth as many others have done, confident of winning through.
Alas ! after weary weeks of trying,
Smiles
YVONNE
THOMAS
Left : Yvonne Thomas (Photo bv Ernest Mills).
but owing to the still more broken state of my pocket, I was forced to accept, and it was whilst with this firm that I obtained my first " peep behind the scenes " in a film studio.
It was during the filming of (Ibsen's) "Pillars of Society " that I was initiated into the gentle art of " faking." It happened that the leading man, owing to his stage "work, was unable to accompany the rest of the cast to Norway for exteriors, and this necessitated some of the outdoor scenes in which he appeared being " matched up " in England, with the scenes taken abroad.
A 11 went well, until a certain part was reached where the leading lady had to walk from her house into an orchard to meet her lover. The walk into the orchard was taken in Norway in May, whilst the actual meeting in supposedly another part of the same orchard had to take place in England. Imagine the producer's dilemma, upon returning to England in the middle of July, when he suddenly remembered that apple trees do not bloom in this month ! The producer and staff sat up well into the night trying to solve the problem of how to match up the scene. Dawn came, and found the entire company with a ladder apiece, tying paper flowers on to the apple trees, arranging them carefully to hide the already growing fruit ! The artists arrived for the day's work, and found a beautiful orchard in full bloom, and, let me
Below: A garden scene from "Land of Mv Fathers."
Above : Yvonne Thomas and John Stuart in " Land of My Fathers."
usually quite unsuccessfully to obtain interviews with producers, I was faced with overwhelming defeat. Disillusioned and in despair, I turned my attention to a story I had been writing during these unhappy weeks, and decided as a last desperate plunge to send it to a firm, and see if I could sell it as a film story.
A I'tt'c later to my utter astonishment 1 received a letter from the firm asking me to call, and upon doing so was offered a job on the scenario staff. Of course this meant giving up all thoughts of acting, the fact of which nearly broke my heart,