Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

The Return of Sheriff Nell 59 and said, 'By gosh, I'll see Tod puts you to work pronto.' " Charming, cultured Alice Browning said nothing of the kind. Most likely, she said, matter-of-factly, "My dear, this is ridiculous, your not being in the movies, where you belong. I will speak to Tod about it tonight at dinner." At any rate, a part was written into "The Black Bird" for Polly, and she was called back to the movies that she used so to enliven. "Good grief, how they've grown !" Her eyes rounded with wonder at the new tricks displayed by the infant industry whose baby years she had nursed and whose prodigious talents in young maturity astound her. "Who'd ever have thought that the movies would turn out so grand? "They're so swell I hardly know 'em. All toned down, an' elegant. I've got to stop havin' such a good time. It's not done by actresses any more, I see. They're ladies that watch their manners, an' act bored an' serious. Guess" — humbly — "I better go back to the vaud'ville sticks, where I been playin' all the littletime crossroads. Six a day, hardly time to wash your face 'tween shows, telephone booths for dressin' rooms, that you share with the rats, livin' out of paper bags. "What'd I do? Oh, just came out an' told the folks about the girls an' boys I used to work with in the old days before the movies got fashionable. Bebe Daniels, partic'ly. Say, I could rave about that sweet child for hours, an' they ate it up, out front." The strident voice softened to a maternal pur. "She's just a baby, but she's got a heart. You should see the swell big picture she sent me, and the letter she wrote me when somebody told her I was back in Hollywood. Asked me to come to see her, too !" Others in Hollywood, with whom Polly had worked shoulder to shotilder, tiding the movies over their colic days, were not so kind, however. Executives were too busy to see her ; stars who had once played as foils to her comedy failed to recognize her, or else spoke cooily. Used to companionship, and thriving on conviviality, this thing of being shut out and ignored galled. Of all the things human beings can do to each other, perhaps the most cruel is to turn the shoulder. True, some one was kind enough to take tests of her. But how charity can err if not accompanied by intuition ! In keeping with the present trend, this person thought that Polly, if she would return, must emote As she appeared in "The Black Bird." Make-up removed, Polly Moran is a personable young woman, but not so vivid as when surrounded by her comedy props. in tragic vein — must be dignified and calm. Because other comediennes aspired to and succeeded in the serious drama, there too, he took it for granted, lay Polly's dreams. Bewildered by the new efficiency, she submitted to the costumer's ministrations. Under stern direction, she riveted her face into what she thought was the new order of soul expression. "The)' took tests of me as the Madonna, as a grande dame, as a vamp! When I saw 'em, I hid my face with shame an' crawled out as fast as my shakin' legs could take me. 'You see,', the director said, as kind as he knew how, 'you just don't seem to fit in now.' " But Tod Browning perceived that it was Polly's natural self that had delighted her public, and that the natural Polly, toned down ever so little to the tempo of present-day action, might again evoke chuckles. So he brought her back to the studio. As we had crossed the lot, a boyish figure had stopped, turned to look after her, and then had approached her deferentially. "Pardon me, but aren't you Polly Moran?" asked Ramon Novarro, costumed for the "Ben-Hur" finals. Continued on page 109