Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

26 Who Will Be Stars in 1938? Nancy Carroll was studying geography and writing fan letters in 1918. validecl back to England following: wounds received at Ypres, and he was cogitating on the possibilities of a stage career. Loop-the-loops were being done by Richard Arlen for king and country, as a member of England's Royal Air Force. Another British soldier bore the name of Victor McLaglen, and very important he was as chief prpvost marshal of Bagdad. As hard-boiled a captain as a rookie could dread was Adolphe Menjou, who did not pursue the polite tactics of a Lubitsch drawing-room when he wore his United States uniform. And can you picture Fred Thomson as an army chaplain? Well, he was. Yes, even RinTin-Tin was doing his bit for the wounded in the trenches, as a Red Cross dog. Some notable stars were also to be found on the other side of No Man's Land. There was Conrad Veidt, for instance, wearing the green uniform and spiked helmet of imperial Germany. And Michael Curtiz, now a distinguished director, was serving in the Austrian forces. On this shore of the Atlantic were patriots, too. S. L. Rothafel, whose fame was later to be carried to_ millions when he became "Roxy" to the then-nonexistent radio audience, was in 1918 producing propaganda pictures for the United States government, in an improvised studio in Florida. If you saw Buster Keaton's picture, "Steamboat Bill, Jr.," you'll be interested to know that its director, Charles F. Reisner, was the composer of many popular war ditties, among them "Good-by Broadway. Hello France." Looking backward ten years, we naturally see that a great number of present celebrities were already in the movies, but they were far from celebrities at that time, Wallace Beery was a Sennett comedian, longing in vain to be a dramatic actor. John Gilbert was di Laura La Plante was a candidate for honors at the San" Diego High School in 1918. recting for Fox at a very small salary. He shared a hall bedroom in New York with Rowland V. Lee, and was trying his darnedest to edge his pal into a job, any kind, on the Fox lot in New Jersey. Little did they dream that heroing would be the eventual vocation of the handsome John, and that Rowland V. Lee would direct some of Pola Negri's best pictures. Jean Hersholt was another actor who was then manipulating a megaphone. American Lifeograph Company of Portland, Oregon, had his name on their payroll before they passed out of the film picture. Things were indeed different in 1918. Charlie Chaplin's art was only partially discovered. His line was still two-reel comedies,, his best-known release of that year being "A Dog's Life." Syd Chaplin, incidentally, unaware of his own comic abilities, was his brother's manager and attended to all business details. Lon Chaney was another unappreciated artist. He only had one face and was hoping against hope that it would win him the role he coveted in "The Miracle Man." We know that it did, and that it led to a fortune and 999 disguises. The outlook wasn't what it is to-day by any means. Think of Monte Blue playing a bit in "Tarzan of the Apes," when he was capable of a performance like his in "White Shadows in the South Seas" ! Think of Raymond Hatton doing heavy dramatics in pictures like "The Whispering Chorus," when he could just as well make us laugh as cry ! Of course Doug and Mary were in the limelight then, to a certain extent, but not as Hollywood's most distinguished couple. Their romance was just budding when Mary was making "Amarilly of Clothesline Alley," and Doug was about to begin work on "He Comes Up Smiling," his last picture for Famous Players. An interesting side light on that was the fact that the whole world stood aghast when Famous paid the unheard-of sum of ten thousand dollars for the screen rights to the stage play. Many of Doug's pictures up to that time had been the work of an almost unknown writer named Anita Loos, who received all her early training as a scenario writer. But that was long years before the lucrative hunch that inspired "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." Speaking of big stars, take a look back at Harold Lloyd working in one-reel comedies for Hal Roach. Imagine it, if you can. And he was just as funny then as he is to-day. And take that comedy queen, Louise Fazenda, who is way up in the big-money class to-day, and only appears in features of the outstanding variety. At that time she was only doing tumbles for Mack Sennett, but the public was noticing her, for the pigtails and the ungainly dress she wore made them laugh the minute she appeared. The stage was claiming several well knowns then, who since have given the footlights a stand-up in favor of the Kleigs. Conrad Nagel was among them. He was making stage love to Alice Brady in "Forever After." George Bancroft was on Broadway the same season in "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine," and the hit of the year on New York's main stem was the lavish stage production of "Peter Ibbetson," in which John Barrymore appeared. Hollywood must have been a drab place indeed. Even Elinor Glyn hadn't arrived with her "It." That season she supervised the making of the first picture Continued on page 116