Picture Show (Nov 1919-Apr 1920)

10 NEWS, NOTES, AND OPINIONS, BY FRED K. ADAMS. When Stars Grow Old. GEORGE TERWILLIGER, the wellknown producer, who is in charge of the Alice Joyce company, thinks the 1 ime will come when elderly men and women and strange types will become stars. For many years, he says, the public has demanded beautiful young women and handsome men for stellar roles, but in lime this "fetish" will disappear. Mr. Terwilliger is confident that in future years " There will be many film productions centreing, around different types than the young, beautiful, and handsome creatures. Of course there is a certain logic in the demand for beautiful women and handsome men. The spectators and audiences of screen and stage like the refreshing idea of romantic young love. Yet there is a world of romance that exists and can be '•reated around other typos. The spoken •Irama has often presented big productions witfi mature age in the central figure. These plaj-s have been great successes. It will be the screen's turn to do that systematically. Our present stars, almost all of whom are young, can retain their iremendous hold upon the public for years to come, by assuming the gradually progressive roles that fit their advancing age." Glory Still Ahead. A WOMAN star need not attempt to bo perpetually youthful," continues Mr. Terwilliger. "If she possesses frank good sense and broad mind she may. as the years pass, assume roles of gradually increasing age. There are lots • »f fine stories to be had to focus on such roles. But the span of youthfulness for a woina'.i or man covers many years. Thus, such a star as Miss Joyce, whose beauty is distinctive and of a permanent type, may look forward to many seasons of success in }uung parts. After that she has new CARL LAEMMLE, tne President of the i/reat Universal City Studios, where any locality from a Sahara desert to a Spanish village can be built at will to form a background for films. decodes of screen glory ahead of her in ii, ore mature roles." This news will no doubt comfort those, who dreaded to think of the time when their especial favourites would know no more the glare of the studio lights. Mr. IVrwilliger is directing Miss Joyce at present in a picture whose working title i« " Pride." The exterior scenes arc taken i t Lung Beach, on Long Island. The Mark of Real Artistry. REPRESSION is one of the most effective factors in forcible and pleasing acting for the screen as well as the stage," said Frank Lloyd, the well-known director. Lloyd has already begun work on the preliminary details of the filming of the great' stage play, " Madame X." " At an earlier period." continued Lloyd, " it was generally believed that more 'acting' was necessary before the camera than behind the footlights. Bereft of the power of the voice, a groat many intelligent actors fell into the error of thinking that tho handicap must be overc&me by painting with heavy strokes. Few of us failed to be affected by that heresy. But with the progress of screen acting we have found that greater power accompanies reserve in method, just as in the spoken drama. The stage artistes have learned this, if they are observant, and in easting roles calling for the exercise of restraint I often prefer them in photoplay work for this reason. You can't get repression out of poor actors. As a rule, if you try it, they are apt to be wooden, or, finding that they are unable to register well by such method, they swing to the opposite, and act all over the place, as the profession phrase it. The natural school of acting, which has sharply distinguished the twentieth century stage from the nineteenth, does not indicate a loss of power or technical resource on the part of the actor, as many seem to think. It is the result of an improved command of the fine points. In other words, it is not so easy as it looks. It is the result of being able to apply technique with such accuracy and nice shadings that it is not observable to the spectator. " The easier an actor makes his points the more he knows about the rules of his vocation ; you may depend upon that. And I maintain that in screen acting this just as true as in work on the stage, for have had experience in both branches. Lessons We Learn From the Films. One drop cf joy will be remembered where a gallon, oj pain can be forgotten. • * » Ambition is the right-hand partner oj fame. • * • All a woman wants is to be wanted. » * * When a man sits and looks in the fire and sighs, he is either thinking of the woman he married or the one he didn't. » » * He who hesitates is bossed. The Week's Best Films. THE following is a list of the best photo-plays which are being released for exhibition at the "emas during this week, and the names the star artistes : loll .. . . "A Perfect Lady " Madge Kennedy. Ideal . . . . " The Chinese Puzzle " Leon M. Lion. Lilian Braithwaite. H'. it F " 5,000 an Hour " Hale Hamilton. Yilagraph "The Wishing Ring Man" Bessie Love. To& "A Girl in Bohemia" Peggy Hyland. ■ Walturdnin '" Forgive us Our Trespasses " Mary Marsh Allen. F. L.F.S. "-The Lady of Red Butte" Dorothy Daxton, Walturdatt) .. .. " Cheating (.'heaters " Cl MtA K. Youno. Western Import '"Fraivmg Kramers " Charles Gunn.