Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

51 Vidor's hillside home offers a sweeping view across miles of country. The swimming pool and tennis court, in the foreground, indicate his keen interest in sports. The Man who Made "The Big Parade" From the outset of his career, King Vidor has shown himself to be a master craftsman, though his remarkable talents are only just now receiving popular acclaim. By Edwin Schallert TEN years ago, a chap with a round, good-natured, boyish face sat on a curbstone opposite the Astor Theater in New York, and watched the sun come up mistily over Broadway. He was without a shekel in his pockets, and he had spent the night riding in the subway for want of better sleeping accommodations. He had journeyed to the Eastern metropolis to learn about the movies. To-day, from the same Astor Theater, flaunting its nightly electric rays athwart the thronging crowds of Times Square, there glows a legend of remarkable film achievement. It tells the news of a picture production magnificently successful, and emblazons simultaneously the recognition of a newly triumphing director. The picture has been seen bv tens of thousands, and will perhaps be viewed by millions ere its passing ; the director has been saluted as a rival, if not an actual successor, of D. W. Griffith, than which there is perhaps no higher honor in the land of the movies. That briefly is the story of King Vidor, the maker of "The Big' Parade." The chap who sat on the curbstone, and the director whose name has been on the tongues of all who have seen the glorious war drama at the theater within whose shadow, almost, he had watched the sunrise ten years ago, are one and the same person. And the story of his rise to outstanding success is one of the strangest ones that has ever been told in moviedom. First of all, though, let's estimate his newly acquired place of celebrity, and see how far he has actually traveled since his name first registered itself as important in OF ALL THE GREAT DIRECTORS of motion pictures, there are a few who so effectively put the stamp and seal of their own personalities on their work that the public become interested in them. Every fan is familiar with the work of D. W. Griffith, for instance, and recognizes in his pictures certain qualities that are to be found only in his productions. A Von Stroheim picture is as distinctive as a Maxfield Parrish painting. Cecil De Mille has certain characteristic effects which only he seems able to achieve, and to the discriminating fan there are subtleties about every Lubitsch picture by which the work of the master craftsman from Germany may be detected. King Vidor has recently reached a posi= tion of distinction which entitles his work to be given the thoughtful consideration of every fan; for his work, too, has certain outstanding qualities which you should be able to recognize, after reading this article; and, by having a better understanding of the peculiar qualities he achieves, you will find greater enjoyment in his future screen masterpieces. the domain of pictures. For the favor with which King Vidor is now regarded is nothing new to that very discriminating group who recognized his talent even when he made "The Jackknife Man" some years ago, though that was far from being a widely popular achievement. The fact that Vidor has seldom made a bad picture has long been realized by those who know his work. From "The Turn in the Road" on — and that production was made all of seven years ago — he has been considered a significant figure. Time and again, he has been mentioned bv his more devoted admirers as possessed of an unusual intimacy and humanness in his direction, and has at the same time been credited with a rare and distinguishing virility. He has been known for his dependable virtues as a craftsman, and for the fact that he could adapt himself to the most difficult of conditions in carrying out the requirements either of a star or of supervision. In this connection, he is the only director to have effectually maneuvered the talents of Laurette Taylor — this in "Peg o' My Heart" and "Happiness"— and to have appropriately met the radical demands of an Elinor Glyn, in "His Hour." Also, a certain sensational attention has been directed toward his personal life — through the fact that, suddenly and without any apparent reason, the seemingpeace of the Vidor hearthside, which had been considered one of the happiest in Hollywood, was broken, a few years ago. No clear-cut explanation has ever been proffered for this separation of Vidor and his former wife, Florence, and for all practical purposes, it re