Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

28 Photo by Cliidnoff Bessie Love is impatient to begin the picture she is to do for M.-G.-M. A LL is forgiven," Fanny announced in the grand manner, as she flounced in and sat down beside me. "I begin to understand, now, why sound pictures came into the world. They really have a mission. They have struck a blow at beaded evening dresses on the screen !" At a great and decisive moment like that, when one learns something of importance, one's throat is all choked with emotion. I could not speak. It was just as well. Fanny would have gone right on talking anyway. "When they talk about 'loud' clothes in a studio now, they really mean noisy. Beaded dresses, sequins, all those old joys of the showy costumers, have gone in the discard because they sound so funny on the articulate screen. With really sensitive sound apparatus on the set, a girl in a beaded dress walking briskly about, sounds like the beginnings of a storm at sea. I only wish that beaded eyelashes could be done away with, too." Fanny wants too much. For my part, I'd be satisfied if there were some good reason why middle-aged leading women could be forbidden to wear collegiate coats with high belts. "And sound pictures may bring Nazimova back to the screen. There is talk of her signing a contract soon. That would be marvelous. I've never understood why Hollywood let her go." "A trivial reason," I granted. "Her pictures didn't make money." cr fjhe3 Fanny is jubilant over the success of Josephine Dunn. Fanny glared at me. She loves to quote figures about other people's idols, but just try to speak disparagingly of one of hers ! I didn't have the heart to mention Lillian Gish, and the troubles of the Metro-Goldwyn sales force in disposing of her last picture. They tried to sell it by leaving out all mention of her name and boosting it as a rip-roaring Western. "I shudder to think of all the broken hearts dialogue films will be responsible for. So many girls who have enjoyed huge salaries and fame of a sort, are headed for the discard. Only the ones with good speaking voices will survive. And several have already learned to their sorrow that their voices are all wrong." It seems to me that Fanny is unduly excited. I doubt if many players' voices could sound worse than Dolores Costello's and May McAvoy's, yet they are making pictures as usual. "There will be an entirely new line-up of stars," Fanny announced belligerently, "and I'm willing to lay bets on who the leaders will be. Mary Pickford's voice is charming; it has already been tested. And I am sure Gloria Swanson's will be interesting, because whatever she sets out to do she does well. I've never seen such bulldog tenacity in a person." How soon our dear Fanny has forgotten "The Loves of Sunya." "Colleen Moore's voice, when recorded, has lots of personality and is very individual. A trained, cultured voice would be ridiculous with the kind of roles she plays. But for the most part, players with stage experience are sure to romp off with all the honors. Ruth Chatterton is slated to be a bright, particular star of dialogue films. They say her work in 'Half An Hour' is marvelous. Pauline Frederick is coming into her own again, of course, and Mary Duncan's voice is superb. Lila Lee's stage training makes her a natural candidate for honors " You might just as well know that at that admission I broke down and girlishly clapped my hands in the manner of Betty Bronson. People who know Lila get so attached to her,! that her welfare is terribly important to them. "Evelyn Brent is bound to be awfully good in dialogue films, and a lot of people like Doris Kenyon. I haven't heard her yet. But as for the others, all you can do is hope for the best. "I was terribly disappointed in Josephine Dunn and Betty Bronson, in 'The