Picture Show (May-Oct 1920)

Picture Show, Jul;/ Vtth, 1920. THE EXPRESSIONS OF GEORGE BEBAN. (Special to the "Picture Show. "J GEORGE BEBAN. Tke Greatest Impersonator of Italian Character Parts on Stage or Screen. GEORGE BEBAN was among the first of the really successful stage stars to enter the cinema world. He began his stage career at. the early age of eight. As the " Boy Baritone of California," lie toured the country in concerts. He was a star madrigal singer with a famous old minstrel troupe before" he was out of his teens. From ballad singing, the youthful Bcban worked into the position of " end man," and then, ambitious for bigger things, he turned to stock, and played the principal comedy role with a company in San Francisco. His next venture was in musical comedy. From Comedy to Drama. UP to this time, Beban had devoted lumseK exclusively to corned}'. His GEORGE BEBAN. It yon want to write to him, address your letter— GEORGE BEBAN, The Studio, 904, Girard Street, Los Angele3. entrance into the more serious side of dramatic art came about through one of those little circumstances that so often change the whole course of a man's life. inspired by Elsie Janis. BEBAN had heard Miss Elsie .Tanis recite a little story in verse about an Italian child called " Rosa." The simple story appealed so to Beban, that he found himself telling it one night in dialect. It was his first bit of serious acting, and the hit it made caused him to include it in his |t repertoire. 11 Beban wrote the sketch, and called it " The H Sign of the Rose." It was an instantaneous hit, and for five and a half year? Beban starred all over the United States, Canada, and in London in this miniature drama. Afterwards he prepared the play for the screen — and " An Alien " has become one of the marked successes of the film world. He is unquestionably the greatest impersonator of Ttalian character parts the stage and screen has yet had. A Tempting Picture. IT was this that gave him his first part on the screen. 1 Thomas Ince had a story which called fur. an Italian character study, and travelled from California to New York, where Beban was starring on Broadway, to persuade him to take the part. At first Beban refused. He had worked hard for his position on the New York stage, and he meant to keep it. At this .time an actor was likely to suffer in prestige by appearing " in the movies." Do you know what persuaded Beban ? Mr. Ince pictured the wonders of California — told him it would be a beautiful holiday, a home all waiting for him, a saddle horse waiting outside his dressingroom when they were taking scenes away : a land of glorious sunshine, with forests, sea, boundless prairies, and grand mountains at the very gates of the city. Beban consented, and has never been -back to the stage — save to appear with one of his pictures. George Beban Junior. GEORGE BEBAN is married, and is the proud father of a tine little boy. who is now appearing with him on the screen. When George Beban first contemplated having George Junior act with him, he was warned that if the public knew that he was married they would no longer care for him, and it was suggested that he should change the boy's name. In an interview George says, " I was foolish enough to consent, and my boy made his debut in the name of Bob White. But now in 'Hearts of Men ' he appears under his own name, and I don't care how many hearts are broken to learn that I am the father of that talented young man." His Love for His Boy. PART of his love for pic ture work is due to the fact that George Junior is with him in California. "When we are at home," says George, "I love to watch my boj% dressed in rompers, playing on the lawn, and we eat fruit right out of the garden for breakfast." George gave a great sigh of contentment, the sigh of a man who has achieved what he has fl been working for for years — a home, a family, and work he loves. I make you laugh. Do you like me ? Just a poor Italian. It's a grand The brilliant Beban smile. Off the stage.