Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1925)

Advertising Section 13 Turner, just a few of the pioneers who have made the film industry what it is today. London awaits Griffith's "Isn't Life Wonderful," a welcome oasis in a desert of marriage and divorce, mush and giant sets. Dicky Barthelmess is one of the biggest favorites over here, but we don't get half enough of him. There seems to be no room at present for any one but Valentino, Novarro, and the endless stream of Latin lovers. In conclusion, I should like to say that Von Stroheim did one good thing with "Greed." He made Zasu Pitts and Jean Hersholt put across some wonderful bits of acting, and the picture, in spite of its low appeal, is hard to forget, I'm sorry to say. Robert Greaves. 26 Chaucer Road, Walthamston, E. 17, London, England. A Tribute to Constance. What a challenge to all Constance Talmadge admirers in "the April PicturePlay ! It certainly made one Talmadge fan, anyway, feel pretty cheap for having to be reminded by another one that Constance was still the undisputed queen of screen farces. We know she is funnier than any one else in her line, that her eyes are a lovely distraction, and her acting is clever and entertaining — but why don't we write in to the fan department and say so? It is, I think, that we take Constance and her art too much for granted. She is an established institution — a necessary one, but taken simply as a matter of course. We like her to cheer us and make us laugh, we chuckle over her antics at mention of her name, we may even be crazy about her and never miss one of her films, but we give no serious thought, whatever, to her or her acting. Not because she isn't appreciated, but she just does not arouse bitter differences of opinion, weighty discussion, and grave strife, as do some stars. She is like a beautiful varicolored soap bubble, dancing and sparkling. She is a light gay little melody tapped out on a xylophone. W e think we have forgotten the fleeting charm only to discover that it serves to brighten the heavier and more serious phases of pictures that gain our consideration and lengthy criticisms. For my own part, I have never written a letter about Constance — Norma, to be sure — but not Connie, who has been one of my favorites since I was a little girl in grammar school. My crush on her dates back to a thunderstorm I was caught 'in one hot summer afternoon. I rushed into the first movie I came to, and there, unintroduced and unceremoniously, I met Constance for the first time on the screen. It was a picture called "Romance and Arabella," and I remember very little about it except that I was wholly and completely fascinated. A new world opened before my childish imagination and I left the theater with a wonderful aim in life — to be very like Connie when I grew up. . . . After that, my days became a cycle of Talmadge pictures, those dream-come-true comedies, Talmadge scrap books, Talmadge dresses I had copied from those imported models, and most of all Talmadge fusses — violent disputes with older people who maintained she was only silly, and senseless. So, in a sense, I grew up with Constance— and just as I loved her as the flighty-flirty heroines of Emerson-Loos stories and as the adorable Chinese girl of "East is West" and as the little gold digger in "The Goldfish," I will continue to love her in this year's or next year's pictures or anything she may make in any year to come, simply because it's Constance. And I hope that the pretty bubble will keep on dancing and sparkling and that we shall always hear the gay little melody on the xylophone — those bright entrancing things that mean sunlight and laughter — and Connie! Trix MacKenzie. A Debate Continued. I have just read in the May issue of Picture-Play the letter signed by Marion Delahey, and to say that it made me furious is putting it mildly. Just what does Miss Delahey mean by "merely public entertainers?" Is there anything discrediting about them? Are not our lawyers, teachers, physicians, ministers, men and women in every walk of life, public servants? Instead of knocking the stars, I think the majority of them are to be commended in overcoming the obstacles encountered in attaining the enviable positions they hold to-day. I would also like to ask the harm in idealizing certain stars, which practice Miss Delahey considers disgraceful. Can she name any finer ideal for the young girl than Mary Pickford, who stands symbolic of clean, pure American girlhood? To my mind, no greater ideal exists. In the same issue, Elaine Thompson writes "the fans are perfectly content with the present class of stars who have won their prominence, with very few exceptions, by mere sensationalism." That statement is not true! If Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, Norma Talmadge, Lillian Gish, Thomas Meighan, or any of the really popular stars have relied on sensationalism or indecent costumes to put over a picture, it is news to me. As to the actors' morals, I consider that a strictly, personal affair. What right have we to question their characters when we ourselves are not above reproach? Roy F. Frazier. 204 East Tenth Street, Topeka, Kans. I want to write and thank Marion Delahey for her letter in the May number of Picture-Play concerning the absurd idealizing of the movie stars. She has expressed my sentiments exactly and I have been an ardent fan for years. I have taken Picture-Play for three years, and I must say I think that some of the fans and magazine writers rather overdo the boosting business in their endeavor to impress upon us plain folks how very superior our movie actors and actresses are. But really, why should we know or care a rap about their many qualities outside of their ability to entertain us? I might even add their chance to entertain us, for I have rambled enough over this planet to know there are thousands and thousands quite capable of taking the place of the Mary Pickfords, the Gloria Swansons, and all the others. We don't really know a great deal about their private lives, but from what little has leaked out it appears that they are quite human, and have plenty of spite, envy, jealousy, and catty traits. To say the very least, it is aggravating to have fans and other writers attempt to make us believe they are not of common clay. The only respect in which I'll admit they are my superior is in the contents of their pocketbooks. I think their manners and dispositions could be improved by taking items from the plainest of us. As for the Fairbankses and Pickfords, they would have no need to barricade against the public if all felt as I do. 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