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SCREENLAND
How ^Beauty ^Breaks Ifl — Continued from page 33
famous masterpiece, but much more probable is this; if she has true beauty and grace of body and posture she has taken the first brave step toward developing these precious gifts. The successful artist's model has talents which will bloom in many other fields, but beauty is rare and scattered in this careless age, and the studio is the garden in which it is most abundantly found and cultivated. It is not surprising, then, that the movie producer comes to this garden to seek its choicest flowers. He does not even wait until he is sure that the beautiful girl he picks is a potential star. Perhaps she will never be more than an extra. As everybody knows, many a charming girl cannot act, but he is willing to take a chance, and here he has his best chance of finding young women with that elusive and inexplicable magic that makes you want to look at them and not at others who may be just as lovely. You may call it personality, but even that is not enough. Rather it is the power to enchant. And a beautiful face is not the only secret of this spell. Especially on the screen, it is movement, expression and grace of bearing that fascinates the eye and awakens the imagination. The loveliest features in the world are not more desirable than a classic figure. A pretty smile is not more enticing than a lithe figure, and no vampire makeup can compete with the curving line of a slim waist. »
In the records of the Art Workers Club on 57th Street you can find names of now famous ladies of the cinema who once came to rest in these secluded rooms between long hours of posing for sculptor or painter. Simple attractive furnishings and the refinement and charm of the lady in charge give the club a tranquil and artistic atmosphere. You would envy the model member who spends her time here and in the studios where she works, continually surrounded by beauty, herself a living instrument of art. But the model is not satisfied. She longs to leap from the pedestal on which the artist has so carefully posed her. She wants to create her own moods. She is tired of standing still and yearns to act in the mov
ing drama of life, to put her own personality "over", not through the medium of clay or oils but with beautiful clothes and costumes; to be admired not only in a few exquisite attitudes, but in all the graceful movements of her young body. Made to interpret the quick sparkling emotions of photodrama. So it is no wonder that with the eager casting director waiting outside the door the truly gifted model will not linger long in the studio.
Consider the stars who have risen out of the artist's workshop. Haskell Coffin remembers many a shy girl who came to pose for his inimitable magazine covers before she had publicity to label her "beautiful". He painted Anna Q. Nilsson for a Red Book Cover when she was hardly more than a child and gentle as the flowers she wears. A young girl now posing for him, Zoe Page, has already been a court beauty in "A Kiss for Cinderella" , and so attracted the attention of Allan Dwan. And who can tell but that five years from now she may be in the front ranks of movie aristocracy.
Take the case of Josephine Norman. She first posed for Neysa McMein, the famous illustrator, who painted her in this delightfully informal costume on the beach. She typifies the fresh charm and health of an American girl. Any young man would be tempted to look over the rim of her parasol, and even a vaeary director would feel inspired to bring his camera down on to the sand in front of her. The same young model posed for the statue which the sculptress Sally Farnum made as a memorial for Vernon Castle. It is indeed appropriate that this ideal feminine form should express something of the rhythm and grace that was in his dancing. Look at the sensitive muscles of her back. It is bowed in repose, but still quivering with life and youth. You can feel rhythm in the moving curves of thigh and leg. The languid, delicate arms fall like long, soft notes of music. Her whole body breathes with emotion, suddenly hypnotising the casual glance, so that we stop, filled with wonder, longing for more
of this beauty. — And we are glad to know that Josephine Norman has just signed a contract with De Mille.
Another artist who can offer the fair voyager a passage to the glamorous land of Films is the photographer. Men such as Baron de Meyer, Arnold Genthe or Alfred Cheney Johnston take pictures that are really works of art and enterprising advertisers are looking more and more to these magicians of the camera to carry out their startling ideas. Mr. Johnston is famous for his film portraits of beautiful women who allow themselves to be photographed in Dobbs hats or Bergdorf Goodman gowns for purposes of advertisement. His pictures are really "stills" of some pleasant incident in social life. An elegantly tailored lady is caught by the lense as she raises a tea-cup to her lips. Or a handsome girl in evening dress lets her wrap slip off one shoulder as she turns to talk to her escort. Obviously the girl who "takes" well in these miniature scenes has already more than promise of success "on location". Mr. Johnston, appreciating the ability of his charming subjects often personally introduces them to directors who know that his studio is a rendez-vous of beauty. Billie Dove and Jacqueline Logan both started their careers in the movies after having qualified before Mr. Johnston's camera. He proudly considers them his "finds". Norma Shearer also came to pose for him and found encouragement for her first successful flight in the star-bright sky of the cinema.
And so there is a harvest of beautiful girls to be reaped in these many fields of art. The movies not only offer the young model a chance to develop the many facets of her charm, but give her the promise of eternal youth. The camera can in an instant crystallize her young grace. Just as Victor Records or Reproducing Pianos have been developed to the point where they can immortalize the touch and tone of the Masters of Music, so the art of the cinema can today recreate the inimitable lure and loveliness of a woman and make her live a thousand lives to delight a thousand hearts.
Douglas Fairbanks parta\es of the sacred rite of tea with Elinor Glyn and ]ohn Francis Dillon.
((cThe Young Jjj
overs
August nights and love! August number and lovers!
Screen land in its August issue will have a portfolio of masculine, youthful heart-breakers.
There is a crop this season of remarkable young men who are the finest lovers and the best looking lads that the screen has ever harvested.
In rotogravure, in the August
SCREENLAND
See
(fcThe IToung Sjj
overs