Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1926 - Feb 1927)

07 Why They Appeal character studies by a leading scenario of the great screen favorites attract us. Beranger Ben Lyon. Ben Lyon, who rose to quick popularity in the hearts of the film fans, has the clean, happy personality that is so typically American. When Ben smiles, you just cannot help smiling with him. And when he laughs, you want to join in. He is the embodiment of optimism and he radiates good cheer. Add to that a dash of spice, a tablespoonf ul of humor, a heaping cupful of masculine strength, and you have a recipe for a sure-fire screen personality. We Americans are fundamentally optimists. Not all of us love without reservation the Pollyannas and the Rollos, but we do love to have in our heroes and heroines a little of that happy quality that those names represent. And because he has that happy quality in a strong and not insipid way, we all of us are attracted to the boy Ben Lyon, idol of fans both old and young. Colleen Moore. Colleen Moore has gained her greatest popularity in flapper parts. She has all the pep, the dash, the dynamic vitality that characterize the younger generation. But she is not the post-war flapper, who mistook freedom for license. She is the new flapper who, being used to freedom, uses it cleanly and honestly. She is modern to her finger tips, by which I mean, she knows and understands life, and faces it with wide-open eyes. Girl of to-day Happy personality. The modern girl. It is a beautiful type, this New No longer is she bound by Victorian traditions and deceit ; no longer does she gain her ends by playing up the weakness of her sex. She is man's pal as well as his mate. No obsolete, false ideas of chivalry guide her actions. She is man's equal and as such, needs his respect as strongly as she needs his love. Because she suggests more than any one else on the screen this newest type of girl, we have made Colleen Moore one of our favorites. John Barrymore. John Bai'rymore, who reigned supreme as the matinee idol of the stage, threatens now to become the matinee idol of the screen. And the analysis of the cause is not difficult. He is without doubt the greatest actor of the day, and he brings to the screen the perfection of his stage technique. He has the face of a Greek god, and much of the paganism that goes with it. He has The romantic lover. within himself a dual personality — he can be god or devil, and portray either one with equal force. Who that saw him in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" will ever forget the hellish quality of his Mr. Hyde, or the angelic sweetness of his Dr. Jekyll? But, unless I am greatly mistaken, his audiences love him best as the romantic lover. By this, I do not mean necessarily the "pure" hero of fiction. He could be a thief, a rogue, or a devil, but if he were a romantic thief, rogue or devil, his audiences would go mad over him. They worship his romantic quality, and in truth it shines through almost every part he plays. He himself loves the grotesque. And how he can play fantastic, monstrous parts ! Once having seen him portray the role of Shakespeare's Richard the Third, you can never forget it. No more can you forget any of his long line of characterizations. But why let Apollo play Vulcan? He is Apollo, of the godlike beauty and the pagan charm. And we idolize him — our John Barrymore. Lewis Stone. Lewis Stone has a tremendous appeal with the women fans of all classes. Is it because he seems so cold and unattainable? He is the high-class gentleman of good manners, good clothes, good breeding, and good looks. He has a certain austerity of character which never quite conceals a capacity for warm, perhaps even sensuous, emotion. You feel that it would be a difficult task to make him fall for your charms, and yet you feel almost certain that if you were to succeed, you would find fire behind the marble mask. Is it a mask, or is it the real man ? This very uncertainty makes him attractive to women. Just what is he, this repressedlooking man? Of just what human elements is he compounded? He never quite reveals himself. He rouses our curiosity and tantalizes us with his inscrutability. And perhaps it's because he is a mystery, and because we all love mysteries, that we are fascinated bv Lewis Stone. Continued on page 107 Inscrutable.