Talking pictures : how they are made and how to appreciate them (1937)

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Stars in demand and producers avoided her. She was financially insolvent when talking pictures came in. In fact, completely discouraged, she had gone to New York with the intention of making her future home in Paris. She was called back for one part, "Marthy" in Anna Christie. Then, when more than sixty years of age, she became overnight the greatest single "drawing card" the screen has known. In Marie Dressler's case the accident of the arrival of talking pictures was the major cause for her startling comeback. She had been a very great stage comedienne. Her training in the comic speaking and timing of lines had included that greatest of all training grounds, the immortal company of Weber and Fields. In silent pictures, her personality had not "caught on." But in Anna Christie fat, sloppv, disreputable "Marthy" wanders into a dingv waterfront cafe. She opens her mouth, and from the moment of her first line we take her to our hearts. The sudden rise of this woman — tired, worn, and more than sixty years old — is one of the most interesting stories of Hollywood. In a year a woman who had sought in vain for tinv "bit" parts at every studio was the greatest monev-maker the screen has ever known. She did not possess glamour, that much overworked word, but she did have a far more important asset, heart interest. She could enter our hearts with a quick lift of her massive, homelv face, with a quiver of her big lips, and there she remained enthroned. Then there are stars who "fade out" after a short success under one management, but who rise into the [143]