The Picture Show Annual (1928)

56 Picture Show Annual The Youngster with the Yodel Just a little thing it may be, but it alters the whole course of one's life. And Rod La Rocque's particular attribute was a strange one indeed. He has a gift for yodelling. When he was a kiddie he was known as the Youngster with the Yodel. He has a very fine falsetto voice, and at the age of six organised the " Newsboys' Quartette," with three other boys. The little band became very well known through tinging in hotel lobbies in the evenings. Rod being star turn with his yodel. Through this the smiling brown-eyed boy eventually achieved fame, for the quartette came to the notice of Willard Mack, then well known on the New York stage, who asked the lad if he would like to go on the stage. Rod's delight knew no bounds. Almost from babyhood he had cherished stage ambitions, and there and then managed to procure the assent of his parents — who were busy hotel managing — to appear before the footlights in " Salomy Jane. ' From this timt forward his yodelling was kept entirely for the benefit of the stage hands after the show, but soon showed that he had talent for acting as well as singing. After appearing in two or three more child roles. Rod was packed off to High School, and though he worked hard and diligently his ambition did not stray from the stage. However, he never appeared before the footlights again, for on leaving school he discovered that big strides were being made in the motion-picture field. His fine appearance soon gained him a job at the old Essanay Company, and in three years he had worked up to leads. For Rod had the art of " putting it over," and in the few years m which he has aopeared in pictures he has gained hundreds of thousands of ad nirers who never fail to be captivated by his merry smile.