Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

96 Do Two Careers Endanger Matrimony? Continued from page 23 'Broken Barriers.' 1 was ill for a few weeks. During that brief illness, I was able to balance in my mind the true worth of my husband and home against the value of my career. "Just before I went with Warner to Porto Rico, I had another good offer. I was tempted to take it, but I declined. The engagement would take me from home for possibly four weeks. I would be unable to accompany my husband ; and that would mean we would be separated for at least three or four months. I could stay back and accept — for it offered me a splendid part which would possibly establish me on a firmer footing with the public — or I could refuse it and go with my husband. I refused. "The illness that I referred to came at a fortunate time. It forced me to think over many things I was beginning to forget. Therefore, I feel that, in choosing my husband and home, I have done best, for I really couldn't do without either — certainly not the first!" This is the wife's version. It clearly explains why the Baxter home, instead of running the risk of being vacated, has had extra parts built onto it. Now permit Mr. Baxter to finish the discourse. "To begin," he said, "I never wanted my wife to work in pictures. After leaving the stage, I was lucky enough to get sufficient work at the studios to keep us both. Besides, say what you will, a man — I'm speaking from my own point of view and from that of men of my type — likes to be the breadwinner. "When we first entered pictures, we always had some time to ourselves. We used to drive to the desert once in a while, and have a good day's outing. Later, when bigger parts came along for Winifred, I began to see less of her than I liked. "One evening, some friends came. Just before they arrived, Winifred had a call to appear in some night scenes for a picture she was making at Universal City. When asked where my wife was, I had to say she was out working. Naturally, it was quite all right, but to me it seemed all wrong. I felt annoyed. "Husbands, in many cases, are more to blame than wives when families break up. Many a wife, I might add, has good cause for seeking a career of her own. I have noticed that various actors, after achieving a little success in pictures, take on ab surd poses for everyday life. They assume the roles of sadly misunderstood supermen. "Many contend that they have to live certain parts in reality in order to play them well on the screen. To me, that is not acting. Imagine what home life must be with an actor who is always living a part ! I pity the poor wife who has to put up with him ! "One thing above all which perhaps best explains why we were able to avoid a break is, that we both have a great love for home life. "No one appreciates my wife's sacrifice more than I. I would not have urged her to come to Porto Rico with me, when I was sent there to play in that South Sea story, if she had not wished to come ; but if she had chosen the film offer made her, I should have realized that she preferred her career to me and her home. "So you see, two professionals can live happily as husband and wife if only the husband does the work ! It is all right for a wife to have a career if it does not separate her from home life. As for an actress giving up her career after marriage — well, once again, I maintain that it all depends on whether she prefers her career to her home, doesn't it?" Million-dollar Housewarmings Continued from page 21 Corporation ostensibly controls only one hundred and eighty theaters, of which nine are playing these revues at present. But any move made by the sensationally successful Sam Katz, who is the president of Publix Theaters, is bound to be widely imitated. And viewed by the picture world at large as Venfant terrible of the theater business, he is fondly suspected by many people of controlling the destinies of thousands of theaters. On the success or failure of the John Murray Anderson revues in these nine Publix Theaters, and in four others where they are playing, hangs in a way the fate of theaters all over the country. At the Rivoli Theater in New York, where the first five of them have played, in connection with pictures, both good and indifferent, they have played to good business, and out in Detroit and up in Boston, they have jammed the very aisles of the theaters. Apparently, a great part of the public like them. To a jaded New Yorker, surfeited with seeing all the "Follies" and "Scandals" and ambitious vaudeville offerings of the last five years, the revues themselves offer little that is new. And to the person who goes to picture houses in search of quiet, they are sometimes disturbing. But to the bargain hunter in entertainment, they are immense. Handsomely staged, and combining all the vocal and terpsichorean revue tricks of the last few years with tumbling acts from vaudeville, they offer variety, to say the least. As yet, they have not shown the swift pace and gusty humor of vaudeville, nor the luxurious ease of resplendent revues, but that may come in time. Even as they are, they ' offer a lot for the money. But — the longer the program, the less importance the picture seems to have. In many cases, according to letters from all parts of the country, the picture is hurriedly run in order to finish the program on schedule time. And this brings us to the peculiar cycle that pictures have traveled in. Some ten years ago, they were used as a sort of chaser offered at the end of vaudeville bills. Then, pictures by themselves began to prove profitable, so theaters were built where they alone could be shown. Then, as profits grew, theaters grew. Added attractions were put in, until now we have almost reached the stage, in many of our theaters, where pictures once more occupy the position of chasers at the end of bills, differing from vaudeville only in that they are called "revues." Tremendous, luxurious theaters are the golden eggs that films have laid. And so movies, like the famous goose, seem to be facing a horrible fate. There is one swelling note of cheer, however, in the current march of the theater business. A few of them are being operated which show nothing but pictures. The jewel-box little Embassy Theater in New York operated profitably for many months, running "The Merry Widow" and nothing else. Theater owners all over the country are considering opening similar small theaters for patrons who like pictures and pictures only. But the admission price is high. Psychologists say that one reason for the tremendous popularity of films is that we live in a noisy age, so that it is a relief for people to rest their ears with soft music while quiet entertainment is offered to their eyes. It is putting a severe strain, however, on the picture fan to charge him two dollars to see a good picture, and only eighty-five cents to see a pretentious revue with a fairly good picture at the finish.