Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

What the Fans Think A Fan Who Changed His Opinion. FOR some time I have been thinking of writing this letter for the page in Picture-Play, "What the Fans Think." I am going to say what J think and I don't care who likes it or who does not. Some time ago I saw a picture featuring Norma Shearer and Lew Cody. The title of the picture was 'His Secretary." Now, when I saw Miss Shearer as the weedy-looking girl who was the secretary. I felt like going out of the theater and getting myself a nice basket of overripe tomatoes and slamming them all at the screen. But my better judgment prevailed and I did not dirty up the screen. But in the last part where she changed from homeliness to beauty that hurt you to look at, why, I was the one who was ready to receive said tomatoes, and you can tell her that for me. Any one who can change a person's viewpoint from disgust to admiration is a star and worthy of being called such. For to change my viewpoint is like a person throwing a lump of sugar in the ocean and expecting to sweeten said ocean. I guess it's because Fm red-headed. Anyway, Fm honest about it. H. van Mortimer Hunter. 400 First Avenue, Altoona, Pennsylvania. Come Back, Clara! There is only one thing I cannot fathom — maybe the fans will be able to help me out. Why doesn't Clara Kimball Young come back to the screen ? Hers is a magnetic personality and she has both beauty and the ability to act. She's a real actress — no sham about her., She makes you feel her part. Isn't there some way the fans could conspire to bring this adorable woman back to the screen ? Clara Kimball Young is the type that the screen has great need of at the present time. John T. Barr. Cincinnati, Ohio. Save Your Old Copies. I have just read in "The Observer"-of the May issue of Picture-Play the article about saving the old copies of the magazine. I am writing this as a "Thank you," because since the numbers were indexed I have found myself so benefited that I hardly ever see a poor picture these days, as I always look them up and read the reviews on them. It is so interesting because it reminds one to look out for certain things in a picture that otherwise you'd not notice. For instance, before seeing "The Merry Widow" 1 read all the reviews and articles about it and consequently remembered to look for Don Ryan whom, of course, I shouldn't have recognized otherwise. Yes. every day in every way Picture-Play gets better and better. Vera Parsons. "Newry," Hale, Cheshire, England. The Bernhardt of the Screen. I wish to say that I sat through — or rather wept through — "La Boheme," and I call Lillian Gish's interpretation of Mimi perfect ! And I think those critics who do not agree with me simply are not able to appreciate Miss Gish's fragile beauty and pathos. I had not seen this great artist for ten years (since "The Birth of a Nation") and it overawes me to think what heights of greatness she will have reached ten years from today. Yes, I fully believe Lillian Gish is to be "The Bernhardt of the Screen !" Boston, Massachusetts. A. L. S. From an Emphatic Fan. This is a very emphatic letter from an emphatic fan. I cannot understand why people like to see pictures with an unhappy ending. There is enough tragedy and sadness in the world. People go to the movies to be amused and entertained, not to come out of the theater crying. Far too many pictures have sad endings. I cannot see "La Boheme" because it ends unhappily. Isn't this hint sufficient for the directors? I hope they profit by it. I have just passed my fifteenth birthday, but the future is no easy thing to consider if life is as sad as most of the movies make it out. Newark, New Jersey. An Emphatic Fan. Sweetly Virtuous Roles. Conrad Nagel and Lois Wilson — the good boy and good girl of the screen. How they must hate that adjective— good ! It has deprived them of many a colorful role. "No," remonstrated the producers. "Mr. Nagel and Miss Wilson should play in nothing but sweetly virtuous roles. They are so well bred and unassuming. Let Mr. and Miss So-and-so play in that special. You know it calls for an out-of-the-ordinary character." So Lois Wilson and Conrad Nagel kept on playing simpering roles and the John Gilberts, Norma Shearers, Leatrice Joys, and Ramon Novarros were acclaimed idols by the public because they got the roles that those two did not get. The fault with Lois and Conrad is that they did not protest any sooner. The public have come to associate them with conventional roles. Continued on page 10