Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

86 Stardom Can't Last — This is the problem of every star, for not even the and remain forever youthful. In this article a By Helen Photo by Louise Leatrice Joy plans to write when she says good-by to stardom. STARDOM— and then what? The business of becoming a successful screen actor is an intense one. It requires a terrific amount of energy and' determination. And when the goal — stardom — is reached, its duration is very short. When an actor has gained sufficient experience to handle difficult roles — just as he reaches his prime — youth begins to fade. He finds that he does not photograph as well as he once did. He must be more and more careful about makeup and lighting. He is on the downgrade. He faces that time when he ultimately will be passe. Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree used to say that no woman had sufficient intelligence to play Juliet until she was forty. The stage actor reaches the zenith of his career at middle age. And he may go on and on — sometimes until he dies. But the screen is the domain of youth. Beauty, personality, and charm are of paramount importance. Esther Ralston expects to open a dressmaking shop. Immature maidens, under twenty, are given the responsibility of carrying leading roles in the biggest pictures of the year. Callow youths — oh, very callow, sometimes ! — become leading men, exponents of the drama of the silver sheet. The world of the "legitimate" stage has a certain loyalty. Crowds will flock to see old favorites when they are long past their prime. Sarah Bernhardt made a very successful tour when she was old and ill, and had lost one of her legs. She was still the "Divine Sarah," and her followers thronged to the theaters to do her honor. "We have hardly had time really to test the loyalty of picture audiences. Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Norma Talmadge — our first crop of idols — are still extant, though they are all some years from the age of Beerbohm-Tree's ideal of Juliet. Former stars, it is true, have disappeared from view. But, in almost every case, there seems to have been some definite reason for their disappearance, aside from the fact that their youth had departed. It seems to be understood — tacitly, at least — in the picture business, that a star's life in the profession is doomed to be a short one. One hears uneasy murmuring among the established luminaries. "What am I to do when this is over ? I shall still be young. My time is so short !" The recent upheavals in Hollywood have indicated that many careers of present stars will indeed be short. "What hurts me most about this business," Ramon Novarro told me once, "is that so much depends upon one's physical attributes. Were I a very great actor, I could not play the roles I play now, if I grew fat or bald or old! No matter how great my ability, if I did not look the part, I could not portray these characters. "I want to play Sir Galahad — and The Christ — and I am so fearful that, by the time I have g a i n e d sufficient experience to play these roles as I should like to play them, I shall be too old. "The thing for which we give all our efforts, spend our youth — suffer — hangs, almost, upon an eyelash ! That thought hurts !" "And what will you do — afterward?" I wanted to know. "I shall go back to my music. One can sing in concert for a long time, even if one is bald or fat !" -^That, I had to admit, was true. Ramon Novarro looks to music for his future work.