Universal Weekly (1923-26)

Vol. 22, No. 14 Universal Weekly 13 Florence -Alle/V Teddy Criswell vauftee Grace 2%vent * Z>e£rott OMAHA BEAUTY CONTEST WINNER TELLS OF LIFE AT STUDIO Blanche Fisher In Omaha Daily News DEAR READER FRIENDS: At last I have worked before the camera, and my dreams of what I should do in Hollywood after I had won the "See America First" beauty contest have come true. True, I only played an "extra" bit. It was in a western picture directed by William Crinley, and starring Fred Humes, the marvelous gorilla of "Lorraine of the Lions," which you will soon see. I was one of a half dozen girls who appeared in a scene in an exterior "set" representing a typical western town. Mr. Humes is just a new western star, developed by Universal. He is in his early twenties, very nice-looking and agreeable, and a superb horseman. Like Jack Hoxie, Art Acord and many other western stars, he is a real product of the plains, and comes naturally by his ability at riding and roping. Mr. Crinley is a very good director, who has been in pictures both as actor and director. I think Universal City is the friendliest place I have ever seen in my life. Everyone imagines that motion picture studios are full of jealousy. If that is true I have failed to see any of it. Every one seems sincerely happy at the success of a friend. Margaret Quimby, the Universal actress who is now playing in a picture called "What Happened to Jones," with Reginald Denny as the star, taught me how to put on make-up the first day I arrived at the studio, and when she heard I was doing my first day's work before the camera, she came to my dressing-room to see that I was made up properly. Speaking of Reginald Denny, I was permitted to watch the company work on the set one day last week, and it is more enjoyable even than seeing Mr. Denny on the screen. He is a very clever comedian, and is one of the few screen comedians who are as funny in making their pictures as they are on the screen. Watching most comedy companies at work is a dreadfully "unfunny" affair, no matter how clever they may be on the screen, for the actors, the directors and the "gag men" (who invent the situations in the comedies) sit about the set seemingly for hours while they are planning out the next scene. The Denny company, however, under the direction of William A. Seiter, works very rapidly. The picture has a wonderful cast of players. Marian Nixon is Mr. Denny's leading woman and Zasu Pitts, Otis Harlan, Margaret Quimby, Nina Romano, Emily Fitzroy and several others are in the picture. My hopes of really becoming something on the screen were heightened last week. I was introduced to Mary Philbin, the beautiful Universal star, who has just finished "Stella Maris." Miss Philbin was introduced to the movies through a beauty contest in Chicago. Universal signed her up and brought her to Universal City. She told me she at first thought she never would advance. She played "bits" and small parts for a long time. Finally she came to the attention of Eric von Stroheim, who declared she was a wonderful actress. He gave her the lead in "Merry Go Round," she she has been a star ever since. She told me a great many other girls now on the screen, including Virginia Brown Faire, Lois Wilson, Gertrude Olmstead and others, started in pictures through beauty contests. 1 spent almost all of last week on the various sets about the studio where the different companies, or units, as they are called, are working. Possibly the most interesting one is Harry Pollard's set. He is directing a picture called "The Cohens and the Kellys." It is a comedy of an Irish and Jewish family living side by side. George Sidney and Vera Gordon and Charley Murray and Kate Price are the two families, and these four wonderful character players alone should make it a very funny picture. Hollywood is a land of surprises and overnight successes. That is what keeps hundreds of people here year after year, struggling for one big chance which will "put them over." Some of them never get on; others win their opportunity immediately; some only after years of waiting. Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro, Ernest Torrence and others worked for a long time, then made a tremendous success suddenly. Laura LaPlante, that bewitching young Universal star, who is the heroine of "The Midnight Sun," a million dollar production which Dimitri Buchowetzki has made, rose from extra work to stardom in less than two years. And even more sudden success is found in the same picture, however. Raymond Keane, just out of Denver high school, came to Hollywood a few months ago. He knew nothing of pictures — not even how to get into a studio — but Dimitri Buchowetzki saw him, declared he was a wonderful discovery and now Keane is playing the leading romantic role in "The Midnight Sun" opposite Miss LaPlante. I want to thank everyone who helped me get this big opportunity over and over again. The Daily News and the people of Omaha have given me the chance of a lifetime, and my only hope is that in time I shall merit their belief in me.