Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1920)

Advertising Section 85 What the Fans Think Continued from page 76 we have a cluttered mass of stuff, realistic, no doubt, but not impressive. "The Red Lantern" and "The Virgin of Stamboul" offered wonderful opportunities for suggestive backgrounds and lightings. Instead, we have just the ordinary "sets" seen a thousand and one times. The screen seems bound by convention. Griffith may produce some bad pictures, but at least he gives us everything that is new. Witness his fuzzy close-ups. They are all using it now. "Broken Blossoms" was a step in the right direction so far as poetic expression in setting, lighting, and atmosphere are concerned. Can't some one invent something new besides Griffith? Mrs. J. K. — Chicago, Illinois. Let the Leading Men Alone. To the Editor of PicturePlay Magazine. Here's something that strikes me as peculiar. Why is it that as soon as a leading man has shown himself entirely capable, his producer takes him out of his natural and proper environment, and makes him a star? Here are Eugene O'Brien, Elliott Dexter, and now Conway Tearle, doubtless three of the most popular leading men that ever graced the screen. O'Brien is a star, Dexter will be seen in his own pictures, Tearle is now working on his first starring picture. Wouldn't a boxing promoter be censured if he took a champion lightweight and called him a heavyweight just for the additional publicity such an act would receive? Not that all our screen leading men are lightweights in any sense of the word, but they often are not "heavy" enough to stand alone without the support of a feminine star. To cite a case in point, I have seen all the pictures in which Eugene O'Brien has starred, and not one of them even approaches anything he ever did when he was appearing in support of Norma Talmadge. Of course, there is a distinction in being a star instead of merely a supporting character. But when better performances are given in support, why make pictures weaker by separating a cracking good team like the Talmadge-O'Brien combination? And good leading men are all too scarce on the screen to-day. Wouldn't a way out of the difficulty present itself by having the producer costar his feminine luminary with his masculine lead. Or won't most of the famous ladies permit it. A. Fan — San Francisco, California. A Plea for the Screen Father. To the Editor of PicturePlay Magazine. There is a certain thing in pictures that strikes me as being rather peculiar, and I've never heard it explained. Why is the screen father so old? While the heroine is invariably depicted as being eighteen or twenty, her father is generally shown to be sixty or seventy. In real life all around us we find daughters of that age whose fathers are only forty or forty-five — which is not considered old these days. Why do we not see them on the screen ? Is the screen father shown aged just to give the character actor a chance? Respectfully, G. D. — Lake Forest, Illinois. How well it pays To beautify the teeth All statements approved by high dentat authorities Millions of people are cleaning teeth in a hew way. They are getting new results — results you envy, maybe. In every circle nowadays you see pearly teeth. Find out how folks get them. Try this method for ten days and see what your own teeth show. They combat film Dental science has found a way to combat film on teeth. And film causes most tooth troubles. Film is that viscous coat — you feel it with your tongue. It clings to teeth, enters crevices and stays. It is this film-coat that discolors, not the teeth. Film is the basis of tartar. It holds food substance which ferments and forms acid. It holds the acid in contact with the teeth to cause decay. Millions of germs breed in it. They, with tartar, are the chief cause of pyorrhea. 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