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21
Von Stroheim
Plays Aladdin
And picks the comparatively unknown Fay Wray for the leading feminine role in his new film, "The Wedding March," thereby bringing a miracle into her hitherto unexciting life.
By Katherine Lipke
ERICH VON STROHEIM, with an Aladdinlike gesture, has rubbed the magic lamp for one of Hollywood's young players. And, in the subsequent flare, we see Fay Wray really for the first time.
Before Von Stroheim chose her recklessly, without even a screen test, for the role of the lovelv heroine in his new picture, "The Wedding March," Fay Wray was just one of many pretty girls playing in pictures. Her long brown curls, which she always wore down her back, distinguished her only slightly from others in an industry addicted to pretty girls. And also, she was a 1926 Wampas Star.
But aside from these small points of variation, Fay was just one of the crowd. She had played in Hal Roach comedies and in Universal Westerns, and hoped that some day she would emerge into the realm of deeper drama. But all the rest were hoping also.
Now, Fay Wray is seen in a different ' light. She is Von Stroheim's leading, lady. Nay, she is much more than that. She is the girl on whom he has banked to a great extent, ' the success of his new picture — a girl who was chosen with the impetuous finality so characteristic of A'on Stroheim.
YY h e r e others saw Fay Wray as just a pretty girl with a wealth of fluffy curls, he glimpsed what he calls the perfect
Miss Wray has about her a suggestion of one of Von Stroheim's previous "discoveries" — Mary Philbin.
It had been the dream of Fay Wray's life that she might some day be directed by Von Stroheim, but she little thought how soon it was to be realized.
combination of "spirituality and sensuousness." He saw a woman on the eve of awakening to life and to love. In the slightly immature, face of an eighteen-yearold girl he discovered his ideal Tor the role of Mitzi, the little Viennese harpist in "The Wedding March," who loves Prince Nicki, played by Von Stroheim.
With such an extravagant recommendation as this, Fay immediately becomes a person of interest. Von Stroheim's tongue may be turbulent, but his hunches are apt to be uncannily correct. It was he who saw in Mary Philbin the sensitive, spirituelle type for "Merry-go-round." And well do we know how, in the midst of the* thunder and lightning of conflicting temperaments, he brought forth a vision of Mae Murray for "The Merry Widow" such as had not been seen of her on the screen before.
Not long ago, out at old Selig Park, where Kathlyn Williams used to film her serials, I watched Von Stroheim film the wine-garden love scenes for "The Wedding March."
There was witchery afoot. An orchard of apple trees in full