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Great Directors
in which some of the prominent girl rectors under whom they have worked.
Wooid ridge
way he tells the camera man to 'Cut !' Invariably he adds, 'Thank you !'
"But if the scene is not to his liking, he abruptly stops proceedings, points a finger straight at you and says, 'Let's see you do that over again. I think we'll have a little less heaving of the breast. Tone that down !' "
Slowly, carefully, painstakingly, De Mille drives each scene to what he believes to be the point of perfection. The whole story is in his mind. He visualizes the play in its entirety before he starts. He knows what he wants and sticks at it till he gets it.
Vera Reynolds once said to me, "When I was cast for the leading feminine role in 'Feet of Clay,' I had played only ingenue parts. Frankly, I was scared when I started as the lead. All I could see were those two eyes of Mr. De Mille staring at me as though from out of the darkness. Always looking ! Always watching ! I was upset by those eyes. I thought I would be thrown entirely off my balance. But I did my best, and each time a satisfactory scene was finished, Mr. De Mille said, 'Thank you!' It was that 'best' he wanted — and got."
However severe all this may seem, I happen to know that
Olive Borden makes up to represent John Ford, of the Fox company.
Thomas Meighan went to Mr. De Mille with moisture in his eyes and thanked him for the training he had given him. I know that Gloria S'wanson sat at his feet and told him of her gratitude. I know that Leatrice Joy heard him tell her that she was "terrible" in "Saturday Night" — that she had exhibited no light nor warmth. And I know that once he called her in and told her that she was "fired," and that as an actress she was thoroughly impossible. And I know that she threw herself upon the floor and cried, beautifully, bitterly; and that Mr. De Mille helped her into a seat and said to her, softly, kindly, "Leatrice, that's what we want. That's what we try to put onto the screen. We want your soul in the things you do." a hard, severe lesson ? Leatrice Joy is now under contract to De Mille and is being starred. All because he drove home to her the fact that she must get realism, heartfelt realism into her portrayals.
Making picture plays is a serious business. Extra girls, beginners, may get employment at first, because of their pretty faces or shapely figures, but when it comes to enacting roles worth while, they must have "something to sell." They must exhibit real talent along some line. Hollywood is full of "beauty-contest winners" who know nothing of acting. They are still extras. Most of them always will be extras— at seven dollars and fifty cents a day instead of five thousand dollars a week. However, a great many of the present stars were taken from the ranks of the extras because, even in their lowlv roles, they gave flashes of latent talent. Valentino was discovered that way. Norma Talmadge was "found" that way,
Mary Pickford was similarly singled out. JettaGoudal shows how Directors find much of this hidden talent. Cecil De Mille appears A story often repeated in Hollywood, in a tense moment. is this :
Bebe Daniels, in a character study of William De Mille at work.
Was it a lesson,