Screen Mirror (Jun 1930 - Mar 1931)

I Young Mt° /XJbe'rb9on. m a J e Ini? first sgu<3wf.ie a t t In e tender age of tk ree • "A FOOL THERE WAS,” a Fox Films picture, featuring the new screen sensation, Theda Bar a, was the current attraction at the town hall in Fergus Falls, Minn., one pleasant spring day in the long ago pre-talkie era. With a group of her friends, a beautiful young mother decided to attend the matinee. Her blue-eyed baby boy accompanied her. She became so engrossed in the enfoldment of the story that she did not notice the youthful “fan,” sitting at the end of the row, had slipped from his moorings and crujsed up the aisle and up the short stairway to the stage for a better view of the voluptuous vampire. The closer he got, the more frightened he became. He reached the center of the stage — terror-stricken — the lady was so big! and she wasn’t real! And so much confusion with things moving like that — and everything! So he pulled himself together— all three years of him — turned toward the audience, stretched forth two chubby arms and called: “Mamma! Mamma Mary! I want you!” And, thus, Frank Albertson made his debut in a picture theatre. The original “mammy” singer. “Before I could get to him,” said Mrs. Albertson, recently, while her talented son looked on sheepishly, “he had made a veritable chant out of his appeal. Everyone laughed when they realized what had happened, so I made the best of the situation. It taught him the value of remaining in his seat, however, and from that day on down to the present, Frank has been a picture ‘fan.’ He always wanted to be in pictures. He has never waivered in his determination — never even thought of another objective.” “Do they ever give Hollywood-raised boys and girls an opportunity at the studios?” is a question frequently asked of people in the film industry. Frank Albertson is an answer to that question. He is a Hollywood High School boy and took an active part in school dramatics. Meanwhile, he worked in his first motion picture as an extra. The picture was Paramount’s “Hollywood.” He was just a little boy then and there were more school days ahead before he could think seriously of becoming an actor. Breaking into pictures, Frank knew, was not as easily executed as it might sound. Besides, he wasn’t born with the traditional gold spoon in his mouth. And he was not afraid to work. While waiting for his opportunity he went to work in a tailor’s shop on the boulevard, pulling basting threads and running errands. It is of interest to note here that this Photo by Fox Ppglg! • WILL ROCERS and Frank Albertson are again seen together in “A Connecticut Yankee.” They appeared as father and son in the highly amusing 'So This Is London.” Frank's Career Started by Loud and Lusty Vocalizing d. "ranees' deanev same tailor is the one who makes the immaculate formal and other clothes Frank Albertson wears in his pictures, ordinarily. He has an entirely different type of costume, as you will observe, in “A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court.” “I don’t care much for that wig or those medieval clothes,” he said, “but it is always such a picnic playing in a Will Rogers picture that I am glad to wear anything they ask me just to stick arou.nd with him.” “Do you look forward to stardom?” we asked Frank. It was quite an exhilarating surprise to learn that he does not. At last! One picture actor who does not crave to be a star! “It is like this,” he explained. “I want to stay in pictures. I’d rather act before the camera than eat. I love the work and I would rather be assigned to good parts in a production in which some other player is starred than to be a star myself. I know enough about the business to realize the terrific responsibility of stardom. "It is not that I wish to shirk responsibility, you understand. But there is a lot of grief attached to the honor of being a star. If a player confines himself to good featured parts and puts the best that is in him into their delineation, he becomes pretty well known. Audiences remember him and want to see him again. He can keep going for years. I want to keep going on for years.” VF u.