Pictures and the Picturegoer (October 1915 - March 1916)

6, 1915 111 PICTURES AND THE PIC'IUKlv. Jhe greatest Joreign J'ifm Jlrtistcs THE SIX PLAYERS WHOM OUR READERS HAVE PLACED AT THE TOP OF THE POLL WITH A TOTAL OF 911.475 VOTES. AT I isl the registration and counting of Bevera] million rotes in the Pic i 1 i;: 1 \i n-!,' Con have been completed, and >\e 1 1 1 luj h 'f< a e our expectant readers full results of the ballot-boxe: The amazing success of the Contest, con« sideling that the nation is deep in the \<-i i \ ol the World's greatest \\ a r. I testimony to the interest -till being taken bj British picturegoers in those w ho plaj for pictures. The Contest was organised by us to Bhow who in the opinion of our readers are the cleverest mate and female pictare artistes exclusive of British-horn artistes, who bad their chance in out previous contest. To what extent com« petitors have obosen players for their irtistic talents only we are unable to determine, but we take it for granted that the majority hai e done so. h is possible, of course, that some competitors have voted on the score of popularity or good looks. In any case, the list of names and votes polled by each on page Ul' is extraordinarily interesting when it is remembered that voters had probably two or three hundred " Btars " to choose from. No finer evidence than the result of this contest is needed to indicate the public's real enthusiasm for motion-pictures, and its appreciation of publicity, without which picturegoers would not have known the nam. of their favouril THE FIRST SIX PLAYERS. MARY PICKFORD, the world's tori-most motion-picture star, lias again proven her right to this supreme distinction by winning the Ladies' Section of our Contest. Never before has there been such a genuine and overwhelming tribute to the abilitie and charm of a young girl, who. in the space of a few brief years, has risen to the topmost peak of her art. If Miss Pick ford had been in a contest among less capable artistes, the result would not have been so surprising; but when one considers the character and abilities of the other contestants it i some proof indeed that little Mary is really in a sphere of supremacy. The ■ Worlds Sweetheart " is young, but not so young as some people think. She is twenty-one. and was born in Toronto. Her parents were bothconnected with the stage, so there is little wonder that " Mary should have been born a genius. m the age of five she appeared at Tvals on the stage, but she had ■hed "sweet sixteen" before she made her debut in film-plays. Then it that this blue-eyed, brown-haired Biograph actress was known to the picture-going public as Dorothy Nicholson. When she began to play for the Famous Players' Film Company, under the directorship of David Belasco, she insisted on using her real name, and as "Mary Pick ford ": she has since re ,M ARY PICKFORD, who has received the huge total of 250.515 votes. mained. Her husband, by the by, is Owen Moore, who also plays in pictures. His brother is Tom Moore, husband of Alice Joyce. Miss Pickford is devoted to her mother, who usually accompanies her to the studio where she is playing. She has a brother, Jack, and a sister, both of them clever film-players, and Lottie is being starred in the coming American film-serial A Diamond from th< Sky. The most recent Famous Players productions in which Mary Pickford appears are The Dawn qf a To-morrow, J. ill h Pal, both now showing, and Rags, released this week. This last is. in our opinion, her greatest success since Tessibel of tht Storm t It most be nice to play ''lead" opposite Mary. Harold Lockwood was the last handsome young man to do so; now it will be Mat-shall Neilan. who has already played lead with her in fi MAURICE COSTELLO, the Vita* graph star whose portrait appears as our frontispiece, has once more proved his popularity with British picturegoers by winning first place in the Contest. Maurice Costello was born in Pittsburg, on Washington's birthday, February 22nd, 1877. Although thirtyeight years of age, the public have lost none of their admiration for this curlyhaired, blue-eyed screen hero. He was educated in the public schools at Pittsburg. He left school at eleven and worked in a printing-shop. He entered filmland by obtaining a position in a stock company. Seven years ago he joined the Yitagraph Company, and. climbing quickly to the top, has mained there with the same company ever since. In addition to acting Mr. Ci Stello also directs his own picture-. He has played practically everything 113.)