Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

for June 19 3 1 Marie Dressier, screen sensation at sixty, at home in Beverly Hills. Right, Marie, at her desk, catches up on some of that heavy fan mail. Below, Miss Dressier in an early movie with Mabel Normand . eyes and to the disposition. Xo other trying details are needed, but there are always plenty of them. Before one gets round-shouldered carrying around bank-books, there is much to be suffered and learned. To begin with, it is necessary to memorize the scene which is to be played. Expertly written material is so cued that it is fairly easy to get, but sometimes there are jawbreaking combinations and word arrangements which are very trying to an experienced actor just as a singer must have a proper arrangement of vowels in order to get the best tones. Well, whether the stuff is good or bad or whether we like it or not, we recite it to ourselves and everybody who will listen, until we are perfect in our own estimation. Then we start to rehearse and everything goes like a train on rails. We are on our tip-toes. We know this is going to be the best picture yet. We are extremely careful because although words can sometimes be slurred and slips covered on the stage, the talkies have a way of exaggerating any fault. As a result the work of a movie actress must be much more polished and finished than that of any performer on the legitimate stage. Few realize this and it will be news even to many actors. When we are ready and "just rarin' to go," the director says, "Now we'll take it." We feel at our best, our costumes are fresh, our make-up right on the spotted line, our voices clear, our bodies as glowing as morning tubs can make them. Men are hurrying about us, big electric light wires are trailing here and there. The air is pervaded with so much anticipation that you could put gravy on it and eat it. First, the camera is focused. For this procedure the principals either stand within range or have somebody stand for them. I usually do all my own standing. Before the picture is over I will have to stand for a good deal worse. Well, after I begin to feel slightly less peppy, the announcement comes, "Camera. (J. K." Whereupon, we all brighten and look like the prize Sunday School class. "That's over," we think. But that's not the half of it — oh, no ! Next come the lights. It is necessary to stand again while the lights are tried out, for it is absolutely essential that they cast no shadows in the wrong places. It takes from three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a half to get the lights behaving as they should. If the movie characters are supposed to be young and beautiful, the light men have a more difficult time, and the harder and longer this process is. Gosh, I ought to be popular with the light boys ! It may interest you to know that there is always a good or bad side to one's face or figure. It is, consequently, necessary to find out and exploit this selling side. I know you are already surprised because you can't believe that we don't go gaily about allowing the cameras to catch as catch can. As Al Jolson says, "You ain't heard nothin'." When the lights are pronouncedsatisfactory, the lines are next said for the sound. It is important to know how the voice is registering. The intricate mechanism of the sound ma(Con't. on page 117) In the old Sennett days Marie Dressier was a riot as a slapstick performer. Today she is acclaimed for her portrayals which combine pathos and comedy with inimitable artistry.