Screenland (May–Oct 1927)

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J. going from studio to studio seeking work. The papers all carried the story that a novice had been signed by Metro-GoldwynMayer and Joan Crawford was the envy of half a million girls! But Joan, herself, was not content to fall into a career so easily. She might have had parts at once, but she chose to do extra work and mob scenes for a few months. However, it is much easier to spend the long hours on a noisy set when one knows that the weekly check is coming in, then it is to go from studio to studio with a day one week and half a day the next. And all during the time that Joan was an extra at the studio that would eventually give her leading roles, her life was made pleasant. Everyone helped the new "find". They advised her about make-up and camera technique and all declared that she was a "comer" and that eventually her name would be in electric lights. When Joan felt that she had seen the difficult side of picture life, the extra girl's side, she took a role in "Sally, Irene, and Mary". And her work was of such excellent quality that the fan letters began pouring in and the public took under its wing another potential star. She was made a Wampas baby star in the early part of 1926 and immediately afterwards was given leading roles. She had served a certain apprenticeship, her fan following warranted the faith that the executives had put in her and her career and success were assured. By rights, that should be the end of the story. But it isn't! That should have been the end of Joan Crawford's troubles and stardom should follow as the night follows the day. Stardom will follow for Joan Crawford. Nothing will keep that girl down, because she has the right stuff, but her troubles have just begun. "More than anything else in all the world," she said. "I want to be sincere. I want my work to stand for something on the screen. I love to dance, of course, I like to go to parties and to be admired like every other girl, but most of all I want to do the best work I can on the screen. "There is not a single minute when I don't have to be right on my toes, right at high tension, both at the studio and away from it!" said Joan. "Then trouble doesn't end when the contract is signed?" I asked. "End?" she said amazed. "Why it just begins! And how!" Her story reminds me of the southern mammy who said she had heard "there was happy. old maids, once they quit a-strugglin' ". But the point about Joan Crawford is that she will never quit "a-struggling", because she's just not that kind of a girl. You cannot look into those deep gray eyes, that hold hidden secrets of cosmic things, without knowing that hers is an earnest, sincere soul. The girl who is known as Hollywood's most abandoned Charleston dancer, has something more than a pair of winged feet. When she gains stardom it will not be an easy gain and even then I feel very sure that she will not have achieved her goal. Joan Crawford is the kind of girl who will never have a set goal to reach. In her own words, she must, in fact she cannot help but, go "on and on and on!" The Serious Business of Being Funny (Continued from page 66) A photographic department which is drilled religiously in the finer points and equipped so that the comedy photography can be on a par in general quality with the very best in the industry. The casual observer of a short comedy running on the screen may not be particularly struck by the fact that he is looking at a well photographed picture, but there would be some thing unsatisfactory in his reaction to the picture as a whole if the photography were slipshod or bad. So they make it the best they can. Then — in addition to the studio itself — there were forty acres of street scenes and woods and barns and houses, a part of an ocean-going ship, and a boneyard of props which are too big to be stored in the studio, including everything from old-fashioned buggies and autos to a queer-looking aeroplane in the shape of a bird. I found that this has been Animal Month or Back to the Farm Month in the Christie studios for in the past thirty days nearly all of the comedians have been sharing honors with an animal or so. Billy Dooley has been acting opposite a guinea pig; Jimmie Adams has been in a picture in which a parrot has one of the leading roles; one of the chief props* in the new comedy in which Neal Burns is featured is a live turkey .and Bobby Vernon has had a flock of trained (more or less) ducks appearing with him in a stage act. Which calls to mind one reason why comedies take so much patience and so much time in the filming. I watched the crowd fiddling around with Neal Burns' turkey for an hour. It will be just a few feet of film, but the boys had to very carefully fasten two wires to the turkey's neck with tape, one to guide the turkey's head under a park bench where the lady of the picture sat, and one to hold the turkey back so he wouldn't go too far; in other words, so he would duck back out of sight when Burns enters the scene. It all sounds simple, but try to juggle the wires so they won't show, time the action so the wire-pulling takes place at just the right second, do this a good many times and you've killed a nice sunny morning, besides perhaps wearing out the patience of at least the turkey. Do the folks who make the comedies have a lot of fun making them or do they sweat and work? I'll say they do. I mean work. Maybe they enjoy it. But personally I should think the strain of wondering what would swat them next day would be too much for a steady diet. They would be daily wondering whether they were going to be swatted with a tan of water or an iron safe. Maybe they are like the little boy who was hitting himself on the head with the hammer — because it felt so good when he quit. HAROLD LLOYD'S OFFER OF $300.00 at least, for the privilege of photographing a dog will give every dog an ambition to act. See page 30