Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1925 - Feb 1926)

94 When Should a Star Be Born? Continued from page 92 Are positive, executive, and determined, and apt to be recognized as the head of whatever you are in. You have an extremely high ideal of love, harmony, beauty, and social intelligence. Are a lover of literature, art, and education. The women among you as a rule are not apt to make very domestic wives unless they have thousands at their command, and even then they want more. You will work for yourself without stop or stint, but are restless when harnessed to work for others. Do the horoscopes truthfully picture personalities ? Under the sign of Pisces, Gloria Swanson is told that she has good judgment and a discriminating mind which will place her in high positions of trust. Didn't Famous PlayersLasky find this out when they began negotiating with her for a renewal of contract? Under the sign of Aries, Mary Pickford is told that her brain is always busy ; that she is an independent character and has her own idea of right and wrong ; that she must do things her own way. Douglas Fairbanks, born under the zodiacal sign of Gemini, found that he was of a restless, anxious nature, apt to be an extremist in all he did. Yet he found true the prediction that he wouM make a success in any line of business where he had control or direction of the efforts of many people. Do the horoscopes picture them correctly ? Judge for yourself ! From the Pupil's Point of View Continued from page 49 big productions all being made here in the studio at the same time, and I've been snatching glimpses of all of them ! And when we of the school aren't watching the stars, and getting pointers, they drop in to watch us — not, however, to get pointers ! I was surprised at first to find how friendly they all are — not a bit upstagey, as I had thought they might be. They are full of fun, most of them, and have a grand time together when thev aren't working. The other day, we heard a big uproar over on the set for "The King on Main Street," and I sneaked away and ran over to see what was going on. During a rest period, Adolphe Menjou, the suave and dignified, in very correct full dress, was doing a clog dance to the accompaniment of a blaring jazz band, while the darky leader of the band sang-at the top of his voice, and everybody on the set stood about and applauded. Then, Bessie Love joined in with a demonstration of the Charleston, and Menjou sat down and clapped time, whooping and yelling to spur her on. But the one thing about this movie life that has impressed and surprised me most of all, is the good moral atmosphere that seems to exist. After the usual ugly tales that every one hears, I certainly never expected to find things as they are. And my mother, who came North with me, has confessed that on the trip up, she had no intention of letting me really stay, but that after she got here and saw how things were conducted, she changed her mind completely, and quite happily went off and left me. So I did stay, and am surely glad I did. There were lots to learn at first, and of course, we all made idiotic mistakes. There are so many technical things to know that just don't occur to the beginner. For instance, one of the first things we were told was to move much more slowly than you would in real life — the director said that coming from the South, I ought to find that easy ■ — and to underact rather than overact. For the camera exaggerates everything. Now, on the stage, it's quite the opposite, for there, it's you who must do a little exaggerating, because if you moved and acted at a perfectly natural pace, the play would be inclined to drag. The usual rule, on the stage is to speed up and act up, be it ever so little, in order to get your stuff across the footlights, but in the movies, no — you must linger over every little point, or it will appear slurred in projection ; and you must hold yourself in a little in a dramatic scene, or the camera will turn it into melodrama. Another thing we found hard to grasp was just where to direct our acting in reference to the camera. You shouldn't play entirely toward the person with you, for then your facial expressions are lost, nor on the other hand, should you turn entirely away from him and stare straight into the camera. Learning to strike a happy medium was difficult. Also, we were taught never to turn the head without first turning the eyes. Otherwise, the motion, when seen on the screen, loses its effect. Some one, by the way, asked me not long ago if I hadn't found it hard to act with so few spoken lines to guide and inspire me. I had expected to, but on the contrary, Fve found that it's really much easier, for with no set words to worry about, you can concentrate so much better on just the acting. One thing that is sometimes difficult to manage, however, is to save your best acting for the camera instead of wasting it on rehearsals. After j^ou've rehearsed an emotional scene four or five times, you're apt to find, unless you've been careful, that when the camera begins to grind, you've used up all your inspiration and shed all your tears. The problem of make-up is a very trying onew6fir the camera is certainly cruel. You think you have at last discovered just what combination of grease paint, powder, and so forth, makes you look best, and you labor over your face, eyes and lips for an hour, then go onto the set and act as you never have before, and when the scene is later projected onto the screen, you take one look at your face, and are ready to quit. Many funny things have happened, of course, as we've gone along. One day, in the early stages of the school, I had to do a bit with a boy in which I was supposed to lose my temper and pull his hair. Unfortunately, I really did get mad, and pulled his hair so hard, and yanked him so far away from the camera that the director had to stop the shot, and the boy swore that he would never act with me again. 'Tor Pete's sake," shouted the director, "don't be so realistic! Remember, there's a camera here. This isn't just for fun." And another time, one of the girls spent ever so long rehearsing to perfection a part in which she was to be very sweet and lovely and gracious, and just at the height of the. actual shot, when everything was going beautifully, she tripped and fell flat on her face. We are growing more and more proficient, however, every day, and hope by Christmas, when the course comes to an end, to be full-fledged actors and actresses. We're to finish off with a big, complete production, in which we will all take part together. What will happen to us after that, remains to be seen, but nobody can say that we haven't been given a chance. If we don't succeed after these six intensive months of preparation, it will be because we just haven't it in us, that's all. But of course, we don't think about that side of it, because we all have great hopes that we shall succeed.