Silver Screen (Feb-Oct 1935)

58 Silver Screen for August 1935 BRIGHT Probably your face is a picture in your mirror at home — but how does it look on the beach in the sun? You have only to look at your friends to know! You can't trust nature unadorned! Sunlight makes eyes, especially, look pale, small and "squinched up." But that's easy to remedy! Slip your eyelashes into KURLASH! (It costs only $1.) A few seconds' pressure curls them into lovely fringed eye frames which catch entrancing shadows making eyes look far larger and brighter. iuri So much color and sparkle in the sunlight! What can you do to keep your eyes from looking faded and "washed out" in contrast? This: apply a tiny bit of green or blue SHADETTE ($1) on the upper lids to reflect the colors of the landscape! So subtly, it restores the lovely color, depth, size of your eyes 7/nd Shadow Beauty on the beach is simply the art of looking natural. Certainly eyelashes that disappear in the sun must be darkened! Liquid LASHTINT (it's waterproof ) does the trick so convincingly! Use it more heavily in the evening. Black — brown — or blue. $1. Peter Lorre [Continued from page 22] Jane Heath will gladly give you personal advice on eye beauty ij you write her a note care oj Dept. D-8, The Kurlash Company, Rochester, N. X., or at The Kurlash Company oj Canada, Toronto, 3. than any great writer could set down on paper. They express his state of mind, his philosophy, his feeling . . . and feeling, to Lorre, means Life. To glance at this young Hungarian, you would never suspect his record. Jovial to meet, rosy-cheeked as a school boy and chubby both in face and body, an infectious, yet shy, smile lighting up sparkling and bulbous brown eyes, he is the very soul of geniality. You might imagine him a German comedian, perhaps, but never, NEVER a character star of the most brilliant illumination. Gay one moment, serious the next, you realize before long that you are in the presence of an extraordinary personality. Even then, you cannot fathom how so youthful a man could have rendered so dynamic a performance in "M," that in Europe he is more like a hunted criminal than an actor of rare attainments. It does not seem possible that the Continent could have been terrified at very sight of him. Yet facts do not lie. Lorre was an established name in the European theatre when Fritz Lang, the noted German director, summoned him for the leading role in "M," based upon a series of unholy child murders in Dusseldorf. In Lorre, the famous director saw the one actor in Europe who could portray the part satisfactorily and give it the proper shading of understanding and comprehension. Lorre studied the character, came to realize the reason for the crimes and the working of the criminal's mind . . . then gave his own interpretation of the murderer. That power of understanding is the keynote of his success as an actor. More than any other artist I know, he throws himself heart and soul into whatever characterization he is attempting. That his work was appreciated may be seen in the fact that nearly every motion picture producer in the world— in America, England, India, throughout Europe— offered him a handsome contract, which would have netted him a fortune. But Lorre is canny as well as artistic. "I knew that they would want me to make another, or possibly a series of horror pictures if I accepted," he explains, in his very precise English. "This I did not wish to do, for then I would become typed . . . and for an actor to be typed is to lose his power of characterization. He is then but another player. Thus, Peter Lorre turned down what would have amounted to several fortunes. He wanted to go to Hollywood ... it would have fulfilled his dearest ambition . . . but he was wise enough to know that he would immediately be cast in a bloodcurdling thriller, which, though it undoubtedly would enhance his prestige for a time, would eventually result in the termination of his screen career long before he was ready to retire. "I need acting as some other men need drugs and stimulants," he says. "It is my life and I would lose all interest in existence if I could not devote my entire time to it." Strangely enough, Lorre, when he decided to turn actor, had never even so much as been inside a theatre or seen a play. But the urge for expression coursed through his veins with the speed of a raging torrent. With other ambitious young men, he improvised a theatre of his own. The group had no repertoire of plays, but even that did not matter. Peter, as the director and the leading player, would evolve a situation, describe the characters to the amateur actors and then permit them to "ad-lib" both the action and the lines. All of this happened in Vienna, when Peter had reached the ripe old age of seventeen years. Born in the Hungarian village of Rosenburg. high up in the Carpathians, he had moved to the Austrian capital with his family at the age of six. There he obtained his elementary and secondary education. But the day after graduation he ran away from home and shortly afterwards organized the small theatrical group. In the theatre he found his forte, his life, although at first he wasn't quite sure what goal he sought! So that he might eat regularly, a year later he secured a job as a bank clerk, at the same time working with his actorfriends every night until four o'clock in the morning. The management of the banking institution finally learned of this and persuaded him that' they could struggle along without his services. Through the offices of a friend, he received a contract to do bits with a theatrical company in Breslau. Evidently Peter improved, for a year later the company's leading man went to Zurich and took him along. Upon this actor's recommendation he found an important role in John Galsworthy's "Society" and immediately registered as an attraction. Back in Vienna once more, he remained for two years, playing a wide variety of roles and making the name of Lorre significant in the annals of the theatre. Going to Berlin, he arrived with exactly forty marks in his pocket. But his reputation had preceded him. He was given the leading role in "Pioniere in Inoplstadt." So striking a success was his appearance in this play that he skyrocketed to instant stardom. A star at twenty-four! While rehearsing for another production, Fritz Lang became so impressed by his talents that he asked him to hold himself in readiness for a starring role in a screen play, as yet unchosen, which he planned to make sometime in the future. Looking forward to this good fortune, Peter promised. A year later, Lang found his story. The picture was "M!" In the Spring of 1934, Lorre went to England to portray a leading role in "The Man Who Knew Too Much." Although he knew very little English when the call reached him, several weeks later he had mastered enough of the language to be able Beginning young. Freddie Bartholomew escorts Cora Sue Collins to a benefit performance in Hollywood.