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89
Tke JuVenile Elite
This uncommonly interesting article throws new light on some of the principal children in the
movies.
By Margaret Reid
AND a little child shall lead them " by the nose, too, and steal the scenes, and hog the notices, and get the breaks. I refer to the infant prodigies of the movies, the diminutive Bernhardts and Barrymores, who can sometimes be depended on to resuscitate a bad picture and walk off with a good one. Producers realize full well the value of baby feet going pitter-patter across their films, and profit comfortably thereby. We. as a people, are notably susceptible to infant influence in our drama. This trait in the national character, concretely evidenced at the movie box office, has established a distinct and unique class in Hollywood — a juvenile social stratum.
This is composed of small wage earners — if we 'umble folk may call stars such a name — who are as important to the industry as their adult contemporaries ; who ride in grand cars, own Spanish homes and fat bank accounts, receive fan mail — and also become temperamental on occasion. They are significant factors in the business and, though destitute of sex appeal, elicit from audiences quite as many an "Oh!" and "Ah!" as Gilbert or Garbo. And — Elysian state of childhood ! — if the picture is bad, there are no protests directed at them from irate fans, no barbs from critics. All the fun and none of the worry is their happy lot.
Consider the wonderful world open to these children — the inexhaustible field of discovery in the studios, the superb fun of making movies, and dressing up and pre
tending to be some one else. To grown-ups the studio and its mechanics seem artificial and unreal. To children it is fairyland —and not a fairyland that recedes into vapor when r"~ the book is closed," f or the game ended, f but a tangible place to visit every day, and whose magic can be explored fa ^ miliarly.
There are, of 1 course, regrettable exceptions among the children, though more in evidence among the extras than the betterknown starlets. These are the pathetic babies whose
Jane La Verne, with her adored Reginald Denny.
The approach of adolescence has not marred Philippe De Lacy's ideal beauty.
hair has been peroxided and curled, whose little faces, even on the street, are powdered and rouged, and who are always dressed as if for a party. They have been coached in "cute" smart-cracks, taught to roll their bewildered eyes, and to dance the Black Bottom. They are, naturally, insufferable, and one's impulse is to scrub their small, painted faces clean, and send their imbecilic mothers to bed without supper. Mercifully, this type of child is much less in favor with directors than the simple, wholesome type, so we are
spared a preponderance of these poor, appalling babies. Most of the children who have attained prominence are really children — happy, healthy, and natural.
For example, Big Boy," of Educational Comedies. Big Boy is a very young person with fat, red cheeks and dimples and serious, brown eyes. He is not a prodigy, nor unique among babies. He is just a nice, lovable, little boy. His fan mail reaches a mini