Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

97 Here is the retired corn king from Kansas, giving the world the once over. At the left, you have Isidore Cohen, who would like to sell you a suit of clothes. At the right, you see Steve Hogan, the big city politician, leader of the first ward. How a Hat Can Change a Character STUDY these pictures and see how so small a part of personal apparel as a hat, and the angle at which it is worn, can alter a person's entire appearance ! Without a change of make-up, Robert Edeson, now playing in De Mille productions, presents a series of separate characterizations, each distinctive and easily identified. Edeson is one of the veterans of the American stage, a matinee idol of a generation ago. He began his career in 1889, and was starred in the original stage productions of "Classmates" and "Strongheart," to name but two of his successes. He has appeared in many motion pictures, including "Foolish Wives," the Metro production of "The Prisoner of Zenda," and the Goldwyn production of "The Spoilers." The beard that he wears in these pictures was grown for his role in "The Volga Boatman." All the hats shown in these varied characterizations are from the private collection of Edeson. Throughout his long career he has collected different forms of headgear, and he has, in all, more than seventy different hats which he has worn in stage and screen productions. No need to caption the man on the left. You know at a glance that he's from the West. Nor this bleary-eyed fellow on the right — a discouraged down-and-outer, despite his nifty necktie. Beneath the shiny silk hat, the Wall Street banker looks out coldly at you.