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67
To HimWho Waits
Failing in go-getter tactics to crash the movie gates,
Paul Page settled down to stage work — and the
movies eventually came to him.
B? William H. McKegg
STAY away from Hollywood! If you are talented, Hollywood will find you!" With a cynical, unpleasant grin I read B. P. Schulberg's advice to all aspirants to screen fame. I took it that Paramount's production manager was just talking. Yet after meeting Paul Page, a newcomer from the stage, and listening to his story and philosophy, it seems there is some truth in Mr. Schulberg's generalization.
"While I tormented myself day and night trying to land in pictures, I never got a thing from them." Mr. Page related. "No sooner had I stopped chasing after them, than they sought me out and things came my way."
There you are! Account for that, if you will. I can't. Nor can Mr. Page. It's just one of the phenomena of the films.
Paul was on the stage, but always wanted to get on the screen. And why not ? He possessed all the reputed attributes for screen success. Dark, with a suggestion of the Latin in him and quite presentable in every way, it seems hardly credible that casting directors should have been indifferent to the eager, young applicant.
Eventually he was given a test by Paramount's Long Island studio. In preparing for it, Paul set about with many ambitious, go-getting gestures.
"To this day, I don't believe there was any film in that camera," is the young man's suspicion. "It's funny to think of now, for I was very dramatic, and acted for all I was worth. But I had been given the test through knowing a man 'high up.' I have since learned that studios will exert themselves to accommodate the influential fellow, but they never do anything for the person introduced by him.
"I was never given a glimpse of the result. When a test is good, they let you see it, but keep it on file. If bad, they let you take it away as a memento of how ridiculous you look on the screen."
Mr. Page struck a match during the middle of his monologue. He was just in time to light a cigarette with it before it burned his fingers. His gestures were slow. And, after all, he was in plenty of time.
Paul has the physical requirements for screen success, plus a long-standing determination.
Photo by Bull
A couple of Pages, Anita and Paul, discuss his early chasing after screen work, and decide that the dark chapter has ended.
To-day, applying his recently discovered philosophy, Paul isn't in a hurry with anything — not even with matches.
Going back to his test he said, "It seemed too bad. I was almost broken up over the fact that I had been a failure — as I took it that I must have been. The stage was my only calling. It seemed best to stick to that. But I wouldn't abandon hope altogether. I still continued to chase after films."
Mr. Page spent most of his time being very ambitious. He went tearing to this manager's office, then to that one's, applying for roles in screen productions. The young man's life was full of action. He believed in the go-getter theory.
While we leave Paul racing after film fame and not getting it, we can glance at his bi raphy. He is a SoutherContinued on pace 114