Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

20 Oyez! Oyez! thing possible for both the lovers. They had had their great passion, and there would have been all kinds of explosions if two such people had tried to marry and live together. "Of course, there was a subsequent ending — somebody knitting, I believe, and a demure flapper to solace Jack Gilbert's loneliness. But that did not count. The story was over when the lady fell through the ice, and the bubbles came up. "Of course, if you can really wring tears from people — give them a good, thorough, old-fashioned cry, as Emil Jannings does — that is a luxury which is worth fifty cents ! That is making them happy ! " 'Romeo and Juliet' has a happy ending, really. Two lovers have their great moment, and then die. That is rather glorious, even though it would be considered a tragedy on the screen. "Of course, the story of that play is an absurd one, according to present-day standards. It could not be taken seriously now. In the first place, its initial premise is one that no one in the world would believe to-day. These two young people obeyed their parents ! "That simply is not done. One's first impulse is to say, 'Why doesn't this bird, Romeo, get himself a good horse and elope with the lady?' And so he should." He discussed the difference between screen and stage "technique." "It is much more difficult to sustain an illusion upon the screen, than upon the stage," he said. "On the stage the chambermaid, or somebody, says, 'Here comes the Prince of Denmark.' You enter, looking as Swedish as you can. The audience plays the game with you. They pretend, for the time being, to believe you are the Prince. You make a few remarks in a synthetic Swedish dialect, and exit. "On the screen you are before the camera almost every minute — at least, if you are a star. "The damn camera is like an X-ray machine. It shows everything about you — all the things inside your mind. After two hours of constant inspection of you, the audience begins to be skeptical. They begin to think, 'This guy never saw Sweden in his life!' And they cease to believe in you. It is very much harder. "I did Peter Ibbetson on the stage. He was a dreamy sort of bird — not so difficult to characterize. But I should never try to do it on the screen. I could not make him real. "On the stage an actor, who is an actor, can play Photo by Albin John Barry more as Hamlet, his most famous role. almost anybody. You can portray Romeo when you are sixty. You can't do that in pictures ! The camera gives you away. That is why we always have young girls play young girls, and old men cast for old men's roles in pictures. You cannot take liberties with appearances ! "Your stage character is before the audience such a short time, compared to the time a screen star occupies the center of attention. "Hamlet, for instance, is on the stage more than almost any other character in Shakespeare. And yet his time before the footlights is short — compared to the time he would spend before the camera. "I have always thought that Shakespeare liked the chap who played Hamlet, and arranged the play so he could come off stage now and then, for a chat — and maybe a drink — with the author!" Mr. Barrymore speaks familiarly Shakespeare, as one would speak an old friend, metaphorically, if t actually, calling him "Bill." T like pictures," he averred, ear;tly. "I like them so much that I have bought a house out here, and am preparing to spend the rest of my life in Hollywood. "I am anxious to find a 'type' to play on the screen — something which will strike public fancy, and which I can continue to do, over a long period. Chaplin, you know, and Harold Lloyd, have each created a character the public likes. And they can present this same character in various situations, enduring various vicissitudes, times without number. I should like to do that. "Don't think for a moment that it is easy to play one character over and over, and make him interesting. Chaplin, I am sure, could play any role he chose to play, with equal success. He is a very fine actor. "People said that my uncle, John Drew, played just one character all through his career. He was a capable actor, for all that ! "I hope I can hit upon something similar — some time!" Mr. Barrymore has not always been an actor. He asserted, with pride, that he was once a newspaper man, and a cartoonist. To prove the latter, he drew a cartoon of himself, as he appears in "Tempest." It was not very flattering, but James Montgomery Flagg strolled into the bungalow just in time to do Mr. Barrymore real justice, with a sketch. [Continued on page 110]