Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

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53 Present ^ teresting things about some you may not know so well. known appellation, "a ridin' fool," and he soon was working in Westerns with Hoot Gibson at Universal. Then, an independent producer, who was looking for a leading' man for a series of two-reel Westerns, grabbed him. He is more than six feet tall, quiet, courteous, and one of the handsomest young men recently to come to the screen. . "You're too thin!" a casting director at Universal said to him once. "Put on fifteen pounds more weight, and then come to me." So Gary Cooper went into temporary retirement with cream puffs, juicy beefsteaks, and other things which, he said, would make him appear "stall fed." What an assignment for a twenty-five-year-old range rider ! Predictions are being freely made that this jurist's son will go far in pictures. The Smallest Movie Hero. As proof that movie heroes don't all have to be towers of strength and brawn, there arises Little Billy, the screen's smallest leading man, whom Al Lichtman recruited from vaudeville and the legitimate stage as a demitasse film find. This half-pint actor, with his half-pint name, makes his bow to you in "Oh, Baby!" a feature-length comedy written especially for him and affording him all kinds of chance to display talents which many full-grown actors might well envy. Little Billy is forty-two inches high, weighs fifty-seven pounds, and is twenty-eight years His story is the legend of Peter Pan come true — the history of a little boy who never grew up. Shortly after his seventh birthday, Bill, then a newsy in Lynn, Massachusetts, suddenly ceased acquiring height. This prank of nature, which his parents at first viewed as a calamity, turned out to be the proverbial blessing in, disguise. A member of the local stock company, who was a regular customer for Bill's "special wuxtras," took a fancy to the wistful youngster and got his family's consent to a stage career for him. So, for eighteen years, Billy has trouped in vaudeville and has been featured in many legitimate plays. He hopes, however, to devote his future to pictures. Little Billy Marie Mosquini. Marie Mosquini Is Back. Those who recall seeing the brunet Marie Mosquini in Hal Roach comedies may be astonished to behold her as a bright blonde in Pola Negri's starring production, "Good and Naughty." Such transformations are, however, not unusual in Hollywood, and it may be assumed that this one is not permanent, but merely made to provide contrast to Pola's raven fascination. Miss Mosquini has had her share of misfortunes since she was last seen in pictures — principally because of matrimonial troubles. Also, few opportunities came her way, after her departure from short-reelers. Her Latinesque type of beauty was very familiar on the screen several years ago, while she was associated with "Snub" Pollard and Will Rogers as leading woman. It was a fortunate chance that led to her engagement recently in "Good and Naughty." Her representative called at the casting director's office, and displayed a set of her photographs, including one with a blond wig. The c. d. recognized immediately that she was just the type for which he had been looking.