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All is Not Gly.ii that Glitters
45
separably connected with things cinematic. And I gathered that she maintains a certain well-defined aloofness in her hours of leisure.
It was by way of a surprise to hear her speak enthusiastically of her work. After seeing Aileen Pringle as passion's plaything and fate's toy in a succession of simmering Cinderella dramas cooked by la Glyn, I had always felt that, inwardly, the brunet prima donna must be more than amused at the pictorial bunk she was engaged in manufacturing. If she had a sleeve, she would laugh' up it, I fancied. The silly trappings of royalty, she wore with a fine disdain that was its own defense ; even when she climbed aboard the bed of roses in "Three Weeks," she had suggested a lovely, cynical martyr rather than a stock-company Nance O'Neil. And who shall manage this in "Three Weeks" deserves acclaim.
But my impression had been wrong, she insisted. (And when Aileen insists thus and so, you change your impression. Indeed, she need not insist : she need only wonder how you could have thought of such a thing, and you begin to wonder, too.)
"When I was given the opportunity to play in 'Three Weeks,' " she said, "I realized that it would establish me more than ten ordinary pictures. It was my first big chance, and I prepared for it as seriously and as sincerely as though I were about to do Ibsen or Eugene O'Neil. I read the book — for the first time — and studied the character of the Queen with an eye to reality rather than to sensationalism. I grew to understand her, planned how I should play
her, then did the picture with all the honesty in the world."
If Aileen were not such a bitterly frank, utterly convincing creature, I should be tempted to question that bit of autobiography. But she has set her hand and seal to it.
Though regularly employed in the temporal drama, from "His Hour" on down to the eventual "Split Seconds," which I predict will be filmed in slow motion, Aileen has constantly shown promise of better things. Here would be a fine running mate for Barrymore in some adult scenario, an adept pupil for Lubitsch or Bell or St. Clair, an engaging possibility for Mrs. Cheyney, say, in film form.
After appearing in two or three pictures (including an early pre-sheik lollipop with Valentino called "Stolen Moments"), Aileen made her stage debut in support
Photo by Arnold Genthe
Aileen Pringle is well up in the first flight of the screen's most beautiful women.
of George Arliss in "The Green Goddess," gracing the same role, The Ayah, that introduced Jetta Goudal to the footlights. In the course of the road pilgrimage, Los Angeles was reached, Madame Glyn met the impressive Pringle at a dinner party, remembered her eyes, and two months later, when Aileen was a member of the Goldwyn stock company, drafted her to be The Lady in the picture we have already mentioned too often hereinbefore.
No higher tribute can be paid her sense of humor than this : she played Glyn ladies with a straight face !
"A sense of humor is fast becoming a recognized necessity," she said. "Yet we all seem perfectly willing to shelve it sometimes. It seems so odd. Think of the publicity stories that go out and find, audiences. The tendency in this country, of course, is to overrate. Continued on page 115