Picture Show (May-Oct 1920)

15 THE FILM PUBLIC FICKLE? MAGGIE ALBANESI SAYS THAT IT IS. IN the theatrical world, where, according to popular imagination, every hero is handsomo, and every leading lady lovely, beauty is rather a banality than otherwise. And yet I must call Maggie Albanesi beautiful, because she is. Really and truly ; like a red rose which is just opening from the mere prettiness of its bud-dom into the full-blown beauty which is the glory of June. With her black hair, vivid mouth, and large brown eyes, she is, I think, one of the loveliest young things that ever happened. An Unassuming Personality, AND she is sincerely modest about herself. I have a letter from her, written in a hand remarkable for its character and firmness — as befits a daughter of a famous novelist — in which she reminds me that she is " stiU_only at the start v of her stage career, and that therefore her " opinions and views must of a necessity be unimportant." (The dear !) And when she found that the subject which I wished her to discuss was the screen rather than the stage (this being a picture paper), she was just as unassuming about her film work as the really splendid success which she has already achieved — and at so early an age — on the boards. " The first professional thing which I ever did was in a film," Miss Albanesi told me the other evening at the St. Martin's Theatre, " and that was the role of a maid in the screen version of Pinero's play, ' The Professor.' I was studying at the Academy of Dramatic Art at the time. Since then I have appeared in ' Darby and Joan,' and 1 Mr. Wu,' but you see that my film experience has not been extensive. I revelled in ' Mr. Wu,' especially in the scenes which were made in a garden down at Kingston. And of course I consider it a great compliment to. have played with Mr. Matheson Lang. He i the nicest man you could possibly imagine. I love him!" Character versus Personality. YOU will remember Miss Albanesi's fine performance in this film as " Nang Ping," the daughter of the terrible and all-powerful 'Wu." Thinking of it, I asked her whether she preferred character roles to "straight" parts. " Well," she replied, " at least there is far more credit due to those who take character roles than to people who rely solely on their own personality to ' put across ' their performance ; a character part demands more of one's abilities, and from that point of view I enjoy such work. I am taking part in ' The Great Day,' which is being filmed down at Islington by the Famous Players Lasky British Producers Company, and my role in that is on character lines — though not an ' old clothes ' part, you understand," she said with a laugh. An Intimidating Reflection, WE next discussed the respective merits of stage and screen acting — from the artiste's point of view. Miss Albanesi thinks film acting the more difficult of the two. " There is far less freedom about it than, stage work," she said, " and one feels far more of a puppet. An actress, for instance, is portraying an emotion before the camera, and is for the moment lost in her part, when suddenly the director calls out : ' Hold that ! ' — with the result that all feeling of spontaneity is lost, however well the emotion is registered eventually. " Personally I always feel rather selfconscious before the camera, especially when I think that my scene, which has perhaps been rehearsed but five times, is fixed for life. On the stage, if one makes some littlo falso move there is always the comforting reflection that one can do better tho noxt night, but on the screen the character one is portraying remains for good or ill. Can you wonder that this is an intimidating reflection ? " 1 could not but own that it was. A Warning to Screen Aspirants, BUT do not think," continued Miss Albanesi, " that I dislike film acting. I don't, on the whole. For instance, I should love to go to America and make some pictures there, even do some ' stunts ' of a mild description for them, but I should never be tempted to desert the stage entirely in their favour, because " All ye screen-struck ones, listen ! " Because," said this level-headed little lady, " the life of a film star is short I In filmland the public are more fickle than the public of the stage ; they are always on the look-out for fresh stars. On the screen one may twinkle in stellar dignity for — how long 1 Three years, let us say. And then where is "one ? — unless, of course, one happens to be a genius of the Pickford type. And there are very, very few Pickfords. At the best, one lasts a much shorter time on the screen than on the stage. " But though I shall never be a screen actress exclusively, I certainly do hope to make some more pictures, particularly when I am less tied by theatrical engagements than at present. At the moment I can give only three days a week to film work, which precludes my taking any leading parts in pictures." Miss MAGGIE ALBANESI. (Photo : Bertram Park.) Although Miss Albanesi thinks the screen star's artistic life is short, she consider? the possibilities of the screen itself infinite, and its scope, in many respects, broader than that of the stage, especially, of course, as regards scenery. " And," she added, " the pictures are proving a most paying concern to the actor, while they are providing the public ■ with one of the most delightful entertainments they have ever enjoyed at a minimum cost. What more would you have ? " What indeed ? Only that we should see more and more of your beauty and brains, dear child of the stage — on the screen I May Herschel Clarke.