Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

Ill Phillips Holmes' Own Story Continued from page 61 concern a picture. It was about a play, the first of a series to be produced by the Los Angeles Civic Repertory Company in their effort to establish a western Theatre Guild. The play was Sidney Howard's "The Silver Cord" — one of the big hits of that season in the east — and Nance O'Neil, Kay Johnson and Philip Strange were already signed for it. And Mr. Cromwell gave me the role of the younger brother, one of the most dramatic parts in the play. You know that old expression about "walking on air." Well, as a matter of fact, it isn't nearly so silly as it sounds. I literally couldn't feel the ground under my feet when I came out of that office, having read the part for Mr. Cromwell and gotten his definite approval. All the circumstances were with me, this time. The Repertory group spared no money on production, the play was a brilliant one and Mr. Howard himself was on the coast and supervised ; Miss O'Neil, Miss Johnson and Mr. Strange are all fine actors ; and, of course, Mr. Cromwell is one of the very best directors. Because of his careful rehearsal, I managed to evolve a pretty fair performance. During our run, all the studio executives and directors saw the show at one time or another. And, all at once, my stock rose. Big plans were made for me. As soon as the play closed, they told me I was to do "The Genius." This was a script by one of Professor Baker's students at Yale — a really marvellous story and I was to have the lead, virtually a star role. That script was as vital a part of my daily routine as breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I steeped myself in it, I learned every line and every scene of it, and I continued to probe still deeper into the nuances of character in the leading role. It was the part of a violinist and I religiously studied fingering and bowing, so that that detail, too, would look authentic. This intensive work followed directly on the nervous strain that had carried me through "The Silver Cord." I had been totally unprepared, technically, for the demands of a role that would have taxed the ingenuity of an experienced, seasoned actor. Because I had lacked technical equipment, my one resource had been a complete immersion of myself in the character, a resource which experienced players are never forced to employ by itself. On top of this had come the weeks of study and practice and rehearsal and excited concentration on "The Genius." It was just then that the story was shelved. I was left hanging in mid-air. Because I had been living and working on my nerves, they inevitably snapped. I went to the hospital with a nervous breakdown. As I see things now, from the superior vantage point of my present experience and common sense, an overabundance of earnestness, so misdirected, is certainly the better part of futility. Even granting that life really is real and earnest and all the rest of it, one human being is a pretty small part of the general machinery. Flying into a lather about the little disasters — or, on the other hand, good fortunes — that drop into one's path strikes me now as quite a bit sillier than beating the head against a well-made concrete wall. But, two years ago, I was still idealizing the importance of things in relation to me, and me in relation to things. So I had a nervous breakdown. Nozv will you all troop upstairs and relax? It was bound to happen. I had been Greta Garbo talks on Love Would you like to know how the greatest siren of them all feels on the greatest subject in the world? The answer in Garbo's own words is in the August Silver Screen— this and fifteen other startling features. 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