Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1927)

28 Photo by Richee It was by adding comic touches to heavy villain roles that Beery first attracted attention to himself and won his reputation for "stealing " pictures. THERE isn't another like him in the whole realm of the cinema. If there are any dissenting votes to this appraisal of Wallace Beery, they may as well be cast in the wastebasket, for they will be outnumbered by those in favor. I warn you in advance that this article is based on the premise that Beery is not only one of the screen's greatest personalities, but also — and here is where the loud pedal goes down and the band begins to play — one of screendom's greatest characters. Wally Beery — the mere mention of the name is enough to bring a twinkle to the eye of any man in Hollywood. And though he may never have won a prize for being handsome — boy ! what a lion he is among the ladies ! Now, while a story about Beery might start at any period of his career — beginning with the clays when he used to train elephants for a circus — and turn out to be both colorful and glamorous, it is more to the point just now to deal only with the present. And what a present it is for Beery ! An erstwhile death-flinging villain crowned king of comedy ! One of the biggest box-office bets among the monarchs of merriment ! What a transformation, or transmogrification, or anything else that you happen to have on your radio ! Play a tune, at any rate, and let it be a blending of "Hail the Conquering Hero" and "Sing a Song of Shekels." "Behind the Front" started it and "We're in the Navy Now" carried on his triumphant march in comedy — both big money-making successes. "Old Ironsides," in which Beery plays a featured comic role, has now been added to the list. And these are to be followed Hail the Con Wallace Beery rises to prove that a character actor ular on the screen as the handsomest matinee idol, success in his recent feature comedies, is now being one of their most By Edwin by "Casey at the Bat," already completed, "Looie the Fourteenth," now under way, and the film about the life of Barnum — all starring pictures. In the lastmentioned picture, Beery will essay a more serious characterization, but one with a rip-roaring ballyhoo, no doubt, of merriment. In any case, Beery is here. He is reckoned overwhelmingly important by the Paramount organization, with which he is under contract. He is one of the few character actors to have achieved so brilliant a distinction. His name is big in the posters that announce the films in which he plays, and he receives a salary running close to the $5,000 mark, which is one of the higher goals in the movies. In a recent vote taken among the theater owners throughout the country by one of the trade journals, he overtopped his nearest competitor, Ernest Torrence, in the list of character actors by nearly two to one. He ranked next to Gloria Swanson on the general list of stars, and ahead of Bebe Daniels, Corinne Griffith, and Jack Holt. Among the men, he was surpassed in popularity only by Tom Mix, Harold Lloyd, Douglas Fairbanks, Thomas Meighan, Reginald Denny, Milton Sills, Lon Chaney, and a very few others who are red meat to the exhibitor. And if Beery himself isn't the actual porterhouse, certainly he is the sirloin, and full of increasing calories. The Beery career, which may now so definitely be said to have reached a high objective, opened with only the most meager sort of glitter. Beery himself knows that it is something to have reached the height that he now has but, though he takes credit for it, he realizes that one needs the "breaks" to do it. "Climbing up toward the top is one thing, getting there is another," he says. "You can get just so far, and then you're stuck for the means to go further. That's the tough part about it." He illustrated the process on a huge finger, using said digit as the symbol of a mountain one supposedly was attempting to climb. He was speaking at the moment about his brother Noah and his success in "Beau Geste," which Wally believes has turned the trick for his brother. It is no secret that Wally began his own tortuous ascent on the screen in a very small way, as a comedian in the short-reelers. He was the Swedish servant girl — imagine it — of the old Essanay comedies made in Chicago, but his name is hardly even recorded in film histories for this first effort. While the "Sweedie" comedies may have been regarded as very good in their dav, the most noteworthy thing that Beery seems to have done at that early time was to marry Gloria Swanson. Marshall Neilan was really responsible for his discovery— that is, his first discovery — for, owing to the upheavals and shakedowns in movie reputations, many plavers have been both discovered and rediscovered. Neilan gave Beery the chance to do a villain in "The Unpardonable Sin." Then for Wally there began a series of "horrible Hun" roles, and other snch, that lasted