I
California
gional
nlity
SCREEN ACTING
COPYBICHT, 1921
PHOTO-STAR PUBLISHING CO.
Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
The Author and Daughter Mary
SCREEN ACTING
BY
MAE MARSH
OF
"THE BIRTH OF A NATION," "INTOLERANCE," "POLLY OF THE
CIRCUS," "THE CINDERELLA MAN," ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
PHOTO-STAR PUBLISHING CO.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUILDING
All Rights Reserved
FOREWORD
IN her travels and through her amazing
to put it mildly correspondence, the mo-
tion picture star finds that there is every-
where a great curiosity about screen acting.
What does it require? What, if any, are its
mysteries? What system of detail is there
that permits fifty-two hundred feet of celluloid
ribbon to spin smoothly past the eye to make
an interesting story ?
I look upon this book as an answer to the
thousands of letters I have received in the past
several years asking as many thousands of
questions. A motion picture star's most inti-
mate audience, after all, is her correspondence.
There comes to her sometimes the vague re-
alization that in a dozen different countries
little children, their sisters, their brothers and
their parents may be, at one moment, viewing
her image upon the screen in a dozen different
plays. It is all too stupendous ; too impersonal.
But. though she cannot be a breathing part of
these audiences she learns often what is in the
hearts of many. This message comes through
the mails; that is her broad point of contact
with her international public.
IX
Five years ago these letters were largely to
request photographs and the star could tell
something of her popularity by the number of
pictures mailed out. But, as the screen has
grown in importance and merit, the star's cor-
respondence has indicated a lively curiosity in
the art of camera-acting. So much ambition ;
so many questions !
I have often thought that to make a satis-
factory reply to the thousands of questions I
have been asked would be to write a book, and
well, I wrote it. I have tried to outline the
important steps in the building of a screen
career. In doing this I have evaded technical
phraseology. It is not indispensable to a
knowledge of screen technic and might tend to
confuse.
I believe that anyone desiring a career in
motion pictures can profit by that which I have
written out of my experience; that others can
learn from it something of the work-a-day life
of the screen actress.
In conclusion I would take this opportunity
to thank the tremendous number of children
and grown-ups who have at one time or an-
other written me. They serve always to re-
mind me that those of us upon the screen have
an influence and responsibility that go beyond
a mere make-believe.
MAE MARSH.
Contents
Chapter Page
I. The Universal Impulse 15
II. Stars and Meteors 23
III. Seven Qualities 33
IV. Beauty and Expression 43
V. Story, Make-up, Costuming 51
VI. Noses, Chins and Eyes 61
VII. Camera-Consciousness and Such 73
VIII. Emphasis and Repression 81
IX. Long Shots, Intermediates and Close-ups. . 91
X. About Atmosphere 101
XL Mr. Griffith 109
XII. Home Life of the Star.. , .121
XI
Illustrations
Page
The Author and Mary Frontispiece
Lillian Gish and the late Robert Harron 27
Charles Ray 37
Mary Miles Minter 47
Mary Pickford 55
Madame Nazimova 65
Blanche Sweet and Wallace Reid 77
Norma Talmadge 85
The Author and Some Beginners 95
Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan 105
Mr. Griffith 113
The Author at Home . . . . 125
JUII
MAE MARSH, MOTION PICTURE ACTRESS
'T'HE arts are old, old as the stones
From which man carved the sphinx austere.
Deep are the days the old arts bring:
Ten thousand years of yesteryear.
II
C// is madonna in an art
As wild and young as her sweet eyes:
A frail dew flower from this hot lamp
That is today's divine surprise.
Despite raw lights and gloating mobs
She is not seared: a picture still:
Rare silk the fine director's hand
May weave for magic if he will.
When ancient films have crumbled like
Papyrus rolls of Egypt's day,
Let the dust speak: "Her pride was high,
All but the artist hid away:
"Kin to the myriad artist clan
Since time began, whose work is dear."
The deep new ages come with her,
Tomorrow's years of yesteryear.
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay.
From "THE CHINESE NIGHTINGALE
and other Poems" by Vachel Lindsay.
Published by The MacMillan Company.
XIV
CHAPTER I
The dilemma of a casting director A Hood of letters
and their four objectives What every-
one wants to know.
WHEN MR. ADOLPH KLAUBER, former dra-
matic critic of the New York Times, was cast-
ing director for a big picture corporation I
chanced to meet him one day in the Fort Lee
Studios.
"Read this," he said, tendering me a letter.
It was from a young girl in Columbus, Ohio,
as I remember, who wanted to know how she
could get into motion pictures. It was not so
much the letter as a small snap-shot photo-
graph of herself which she had pinned to her
missive that took my attention.
The picture showed a girl in a sitting posi-
tion, who was plump to the verge of fatness.
She had thick legs and ankles, straight hair,
probably brown, and dark eyes. So far as a
front view divulged her features were fairly
regular. It was not in any way a remarkable
picture. Nor did it promise any particular
animation in its subject.
15
16 SCREEN ACTING
She had written to ascertain "what chance
she would have in motion pictures."
"What are you going to answer?" I asked
of Mr. Klauber.
"That's a poser," he replied. "I was about
to write her that she didn't have any chance;
that she probably would be happier if she re-
mained home; certainly so until she obtained
her parents' consent for plans of a career.
Looking at the picture I should say she had
one chance in a million."
"That is probably true," I said.
"But do you know," continued Mr. Klauber,
"that the more I think of it the less I believe
that I am endowed with authority to tell any-
one that he or she has no chance in motion
pictures. How can I know? We see about
us every day celebrated stars who, perhaps,
began their career with apparently no more
chance than this little Columbus girl."
Mr. Klauber paused.
"For that reason I have not sent the dis-
couraging letter which it was on the tip of my
pen to write," he continued. "Instead I am
going to send her a letter telling her that her
chance of screen success is altogether proble-
matical ; that everything depends upon circum-
stance, hard work and the native talent that
is developed before the camera."
"I should like to see a copy of that letter,"
I said.
SCREEN ACTING 17
I never happened to see Mr. Klauber's reply
to the girl in Columbus. But I am sure it was
interesting.
In the past eight years I have received hun-
dreds of thousands of letters from motion pic-
ture fans in every part of the world. In an-
swer now to a question I have often heard
asked, "Does a motion picture star immediately
read all her mail?" I can say for myself,
"Bless you, no."
A single mail has brought as many as a thou-
sand letters and I shall leave it to the reader
to determine how one could possibly read one
thousand letters and arrive at the studio at
8:30 o'clock. Personally, my secretaries are
instructed to attend to such fan letters as re-
quest a reply which practically all of them do
and then preserve the letters that I may read
them in leisure moments.
In that way I have managed I think to per-
use at one time or another the majority of the
letters that come to me. I find the reading of
them a great pleasure.
It is nice to receive pleasant compliments on
one's hard and honest effort to do something
worth while. I have on many occasions found
helpful criticism in my mail. Almost anyone
can dismiss a picture with a "I liked it" or "I
didn't like it." There is the exceptional one
in a thousand who will tell you he didn't like
it and why, placing his finger upon a real de-
fect. Often that is a help.
18 SCREEN ACTING
To get back to my point : The letters I re-
ceive seem to be written with one, and some-
times all of the following objectives
1. To request a photograph.
2. To request an autographed photograph.
3. To ask for "old clothes."
4. To find out how "I can learn to act for
motion pictures."
As for Numbers 1 and 2, the many of you
who are making a "collection" know that a pic-
ture, autographed if requested, is sent you in
due time. Up to very recently the star has
considered it a matter of good advertising to
remember those friends who are kind enough
to ask for photographs. But the demand for
pictures has become so tremendous that some
of the stars are now making a flat charge of
twenty-five cents for their photographs. This
barely covers the cost of production and post-
age.
It was Miss Billie Burke, I believe, who was
first to establish a cost charge on her photo-
graphs. She did this during the war and
donated the receipts to charity.
The most of us have feared to risk offending
those picture fans who have been at the pains
of writing us by asking them for a photo-
graphic fee. We have spent from $10,000 to
$25,000 a year out of our own pockets unless
by our contracts our producers agreed to bear
this expense and have trusted that it was
money well expended. In the amount of pleas-
SCREEN ACTING 19
ure brought to the little ones I, for one, am
sure it has been.
But, as the demand for pictures grows
greater and letters pour in from all parts of
the world, the cost of materials has been stead-
ily climbing. In 1915 I could send out three
photographs for what it now costs to send one.
That means something when thousands of
photo-mailers each month are being sent to a
dozen different countries.
Recently a well known star, a particular
friend of mine, declared that it was but a mat-
ter of months before all the more popular stars
would institute a photographic fee.
As to Number 3, regarding old clothes, I am
sure that while the requests emanate from
worthy sources no star could possibly satisfy
these many supplications.
To begin with if the story calls for clothes
that are actually old old enough to be consid-
ered "costumes" they are usually supplied by
the producer and belong to him after produc-
tion. In the case of modern clothes meaning
new ones most stars are very pleased to wear
them themselves when they have finished be-
fore the camera.
Such is mine own case. Whenever there is
any danger of my reaching a point of clothes
saturation I have several growing sisters who,
so far, have been able to handle the situation.
After that our clothes go through certain pre-
arranged channels of charity.
20 SCREEN ACTING
I make this point in the hope that many
young ladies who have written me for my "old
clothes" will understand that I have few or
none, as much as I should like to accommodate
each one of them.
Which brings me to Number 4.
"How can I learn to act for motion pic-
tures?" Six years ago in "The Birth of a
Nation" days my mail brought me many such
inquiries. Since then, with the motion pic-
ture steadily gaining in favor, I have been
swamped with this universal request.
"Do brown eyes photograph better than
blue?" "Is it necessary to have stage training
to act before a camera?" "Can a girl with a
big nose succeed in the movies?" "What is
the accepted height for a motion picture star ?"
"Are the morals of motion pictures safe for
the average girl?" "If I came to Hollywood
and got work as an extra how long would it
be before I am featured?" "Do you know any
director who will star a small girl, of blond
type, who has played parts in high school come-
dies?" "Are the star salaries we hear of the
real thing?" "Does Charlie Chaplin make
$1,000,000 a year?"
I have picked at random these few questions.
I think I could go on and on, farther than Mr.
Tennyson's charming brook, with others of the
same kind. Sometimes I am given to the
thought that every young girl in the United
States wants to go into motion pictures.
SCREEN ACTING 21
Possibly I am right. You know as well as I.
Receiving so many of these letters I have be-
gun to feel as Mr. Klauber felt. I don't know
exactly what to say.
But since there are undoubtedly many thou-
sands of boys and girls not only in the United
States but in foreign countries the Japanese
boy, for instance, is particularly keen on know-
ing the how of motion picture acting who
would like to get into motion pictures, I feel
that such information as I have acquired
through a wide experience will interest many
and perhaps prove of value to those others
who are destined to be our cinema stars of
tomorrow.
As for my qualifications I was about to say
that I am one of the motion picture pioneers.
Yet when I say pioneer I think of Daniel
Boone. And Mr. Boone, had he lived, would
have been an old, old man.
CHAPTER II
The myth of the "overnight" star An instance of
success after long sustained effort
What the beginner faces.
To BECOME an artistic success one must as-
suredly be in love with the art he has elected
to follow. In business or finance a so-called
lucky stroke may make of a man or a woman
a success without there being those qualities
of esteem and enthusiasm for the thing itself
that are so essential to artistic endeavor.
Such lucky strokes are rare in pictures. Ap-
pearances to the contrary, notwithstanding,
motion picture stars are not made over-night.
Every now and then some actor or actress be-
gins to assert his or her right to cinema star-
dom. But if one will take the trouble to ex-
amine the records in such cases he will usually
find that the privilege of stardom has come
only after a slow climb.
There have been cases where producers have
tried to "manufacture" stars. But, in the
main, it hasn't worked.
23
24 SCREEN ACTING
To recall one example : One of the shrewd-
est of our producers not long ago signed a
young, beautiful and talented vaudeville act-
ress to a long time motion picture contract.
Screen tests proved that she photographed
beautifully. She had the grace of carriage to
be expected of the professional dancer. Her
face was expressive. That a capable director
would find in her all the qualities necessary
for stardom the producer never doubted.
Thousands of dollars were spent in an ocean
of advertising ink announcing the debut of this
star. Her name was flashed from one end of
the country to the other, indeed, around the
world, in electric lights and on bill boards.
Her photograph was published in the metro-
politan dailies and small town papers. So far
as the campaign was concerned it was an un-
qualified success. By the time the little star's
first picture was ready for release there had
been built up about her a tremendous curiosity.
I own I was as curious as the next. I think
the majority of us, who had attained stardom
only after years of rigorous training, self
denial and hard work, were interested, even
anxious, to know if motion picture stars could
be developed after the formula of this pro-
ducer. It meant something to us.
If the magnitude of the motion picture act-
ress was to be in proportion to the size of an
introductory advertising campaign then our
own position was none too secure.
SCREEN ACTING 25
As a star this little actress failed. Thanks
to some natural talent her failure was not so
disastrous as it might have been. But as a
star, she was soon withdrawn. The fortune
spent in exploiting her was gone, but not for-
gotten. As a proof of the impossibility of
"manufacturing" stars under the most favor-
able of circumstances it probably served a pur-
pose.
Why did she fail ? Why would a baby, who
had never walked, fail if she were told to run
a foot race ? She simply didn't know how.
All the little important things that one can
learn by nothing save experience, things which
mean everything to successful screen acting,
were missing in her work. She was like one
trying to paint without knowing color, to com-
pose without a knowledge of counter-point, to
write without having learned grammar school
English. Contrary to a tradition which exists
in some localities the best swimmers are not
developed by throwing the child into the water
and telling him to sink or float.
There is another interesting point in the case
which I have cited. When the plans to make
this young lady an over-night star failed she
became a featured player in a group. Sur-
rounded by experienced, capable screen actors
and relieved of the responsibility that stardom
entails she has developed splendidly and is, in
point of fact, a better actress today than she
was when she was. advertised as a star.
26 SCREEN ACTING
It has been simply a matter of training. If
sometime in the future she is again starred she
will be prepared to make a better job of it.
I have brought up this case because it has
been my observation that there exists a feeling
that in motion pictures anybody can be a star
anytime. There is talk of influence, mana-
gerial favoritism, luck and, goodness knows,
what not? There may be truth to some of
these assertions.
But the year in and year out stars Mary
Pickford, Dorothy and Lillian Gish, William
Hart, Mine. Nazimova, Douglas Fairbanks,
Charles Ray ,etc. are those who stand solidly
on the ground of genuine merit.
And the solidity of their stance is usually
determined by the amount of their natural tal-
ent, plus the excellence and length of their
training.
I believe many people have the habit of fall-
ing in love with an idea. The idea of becom-
ing a motion picture star is appealing. But
like many other general conceptions the idea
of the star's life as gathered from a smoothly
displayed picture drama or a magazine article
portraying the artist's home, her automobile
and her pets is misleading.
Robert Louis Stevenson wept in despair over
the composition of many of his stories. A
great many of us have had occasion to weep
over our own more modest efforts. We have
found, indeed, that the most beautiful roses
Lillian Gish and the late Robert Harron in a love scene
from "The Greatest Question."
SCREEN ACTING 29
are very often those with the crudest thorns.
It has been proved that motion picture stars
cannot be made over-night. It is equally true
that many promising actresses do not become
stars in the accepted professional sense of the
word even after long years of work.
I suppose if I said that nobody can succeed
in motion pictures and that the star is the ex-
ception to the rule I should be accused of being
a pessimist. Yet that is more nearly the truth
than may appear on the surface.
Consider, for instance, the thousands of act-
ors and actresses who have appeared before a
camera in the past decade. After you have
done that count the number of genuine stars
now before the public. You can name the ma-
jority of them on the fingers and thumbs of
four hands.
Yet in the heart of each of the thousands,
who have stepped before the batteries of mo-
tion picture cameras, there was undoubtedly
the hope that natural ability, circumstance or
hard work would bring success.
It is well to take this into consideration when
one looks toward the screen for a career.
But sometimes this law of average is de-
feated by that exceptional person whose faith
is undiminished, whose confidence in one's self
is boundless and whose capacity for work
never flags.
Let me cite you the case of one of the best
known young actresses on the screen who, as
30 SCREEN ACTING
this is written, has never enjoyed the full priv-
ileges of stardom though she has shared most
of its disadvantages.
She began her screen career more than a
half dozen years ago. She was frail, and slow
to absorb the lessons of the screen. Even her
dearest friends never imputed to her a great
natural acting talent.
But this young lady was dauntless. She
kept everlastingly at it. By systematically ex-
ercising she gradually built up strength and
endurance. When she was given a part she
read everything she had access to which would
help her in the development of her character
portrayal.
She over-came any tendency toward self-
consciousness while before the camera. She
became adept in the matter of thinking up busi-
ness. The fact that she did not attain star-
dom, in its generally accepted sense, never de-
terred her. Year after year she gave to the
screen and to her parts the best that was in
her.
Her courageousness has been rewarded. It
is my opinion that in the past two years she
had contributed to the photographic drama two
of its most distinguished characterizations.
She is a motion picture star in the true sense
of the word. Her name is Lillian Gish.
If I seem to be gazing on the darker side of
a screen career I assure you that it is not be-
cause such is my habit. Quite the contrary.
SCREEN ACTING 31
But it appears to me that since there seems to
be such a universal impulse to gain fame
through the medium of the moving picture
drama that it is as well to consider some of its
difficulties.
Trained actors and actresses from the
spoken stage to their sorrow have found these
difficulties. The established star finds some-
times that success has seemed merely to double
her troubles.
The beginner will discover, therefore, that
when he or she sets his or her face toward a
screen career there will come moments when
it will seem much easier to give up than go on.
Those who give up will be those who should
never have started. They will have wasted
time that could have been otherwise more
profitably spent.
Those who go on well, there is always hope
for such.
I am always interested in and can sympa-
thize with the young girl who yearns for a
career. It seems but yesterday that I was in
short skirts and Miss Marjorie Rambeau was
the most talented and beautiful actress that
was ever permitted upon the face of the earth.
After a matinee at the old Burbank theater in
Los Angeles a young girl friend and I often
followed Miss Rambeau discreetly and at what
might be called a worshipful distance.
32 SCREEN ACTING
Then there was Mr. Richard Bennett.
What a masterful, handsome man was he!
My goodness! he was one to occupy one's
dreams; to make one wonder if somehow it
might not be possible to grow up and become
his leading lady. I am sure that the very par-
agon of modern-day leading men could not
come up to my childhood estimate of Mr. Rich-
ard Bennett.
CHAPTER III
Seven qualities that indicate fitness for a screen career
Why they are important An illus-
tration of vitality.
As I HAVE said, I have been asked by thous-
ands of correspondents for the formula for
screen success. I have never felt able to an-
swer. I don't believe there is any such
formula.
Putting the proposition another way :
If I were requested to choose from among
ten beginners the one who would go the farth-
est in motion pictures I should unhesitatingly
lay my finger upon the one who possessed the
following qualifications :
(1) Natural talent.
(2) Ambition.
(3) Personality.
(4) Sincerity.
(5) Agreeable appearance.
(6) Vitality and strength.
(7) Ability to learn quickly.
33
34 SCREEN ACTING
I am sure that I should not go far wrong if
I were to place my trust in one endowed with
these qualities.
A natural talent for acting implies more
than a mere desire to act. It is the art,
usually discovered during childhood, of mim-
icry, and the joy in that art.
How many of us have been convulsed in our
earlier years at some school girl friend's take-
off of our teacher ? How many of us, indeed,
have played the mimics ? I seem to remember
that in my grammar school days I was called
upon more or less to take-off one of our
teachers.
If not called upon I volunteered. None of
my school chums got more enjoyment out of
my "imitation of Miss Blank" than I did. I
never dreamed at that time or, if I did, they
were vague dreams that I was to become an
actress. Since then I have come to the con-
clusion that I was actually taking my first steps
toward what I chose as a career.
Natural talent, as I have called it, is no more
than a tendency toward, or an aptitude for,
some form of endeavor. In youth my first
artistic loves were for mimicry and painting
the latter of which took the form of sculptur-
ing and both of these loves have been en-
during.
For that reason unless my candidate for
screen success had previously shown some love
for acting or mimicry I should come to the con-
SCREEN ACTING 35
elusion that he or she was intoxicated merely
with the glamour of the profession, with no
especial love for the fundamental thing itself.
This is an important point. If its signif-
icance were duly impressed upon the thousands
of girls and boys, who would like to choose the
screen for a career, perhaps, some of them
would abandon their dreams and turn to things
for which they have displayed some natural
aptitude.
Ambition must, of course, go hand in hand
with natural talent. In any form of vocational
training it is assumed that the student has a
feverish desire to succeed in the particular line
that he has elected to follow. It is the same
on the screen.
Possibly I might have written down enthus-
iasm in the place of ambition. After one has
attained stardom and thus, perhaps, achieved
his or her ambition the ability to sustain en-
thusiasm in one's work becomes more import-
ant than ambition. But ambition and enthus-
iasm are closely correlated.
They mean that one has an ambition to gain
the top, and that to reach that position one has
the enthusiasm to practise all the forms of self-
denial, discipline and study that are important
to artistic success in any line.
Personality is important for the reason that
the camera has a way of registering it un-
erringly. It is keen in detecting the weak or
vapid.
36 SCREEN ACTING
In my eight years before a motion picture
camera I have never met a person of inferior
fibre whose inferiority was not accentuated by
the camera. For that reason to sustain suc-
cess on the screen I believe there is nothing
more important than clean thoughts and clean
living. They do register.
It is precisely the same with sincerity. In
any line there is probably little hope for those
who lack this salient quality. But a motion
picture camera seems especially to delight in
exposing insincerity.
I think considerable of the success of Mary
Pickford and Charles Ray to name but two
stars is due to their absolute and abundant
sincerity. The camera, finding so much that
is clean and real, has jovously reproduced it.
It is the love that Miss Pickford radiates from
the screen and the obvious manliness of Mr.
Ray that are among their biggest assets. This
is sincere love and sincere manliness, or it
would never be so emphasized by the camera.
My candidate for screen honors, therefore,
must have the God-given quality of sincerity.
Only that kind can feel deeply, think cleanlv
and develop the sterling traits without which
neither a camera or a public can be very long
deceived.
I now come to the matter of personal ap-
pearance. This is a topic in which every man
under 65, and every woman under 100 vears
seem interested. I sometimes wonder if it is
o
as
"a
5
I
I
e
8
SCREEN ACTING 39
not the desire to see how they would look on
the screen, rather than how they might act,
that fills so many boys and girls and men and
women with an ambition for a screen career.
I have found the subject of such universal
interest that I believe it deserves a chapter to
itself. Therefore I shall dismiss this matter
until the next. I may say, however, that in
my candidate I should rank agreeable appear-
ance and an expressive face as superior to mere
beauty.
To paraphrase, nothing succeeds like good
health. Of itself it is the most valuable thing
that we should own. Good health can be
translated into terms of capacity for work.
Therefore since a screen career means both
hard and trying work I should insist that my
candidate possess or develop the qualities of
strength and vitality.
I am aware that in many forms of art such
artists as Chopin, Stevenson and Milton, have
become famous in spite of great physical hand-
icaps. I do not believe the same can be done
in pictures.
It seems to me that healthy persons like to
see and be among well people. Motion picture
audiences being invariably in first-class phy-
sical shape themselves, desire that those who
appear before them on the screen be likewise
fortunate. It is my belief that an audience
is usually bored to tears by a convalescing hero
or heroine. If I were in charge of all the
40 SCREEN ACTING
scenarios played I should cut such episodes
very short. They beget more impatience than
sympathy.
But it is not only because good health rad-
iates from the screen that it is important. In
point of nervous and muscular strain, and the
often long studio hours that are necessary
when production has begun, good health is
essential.
To illustrate : While we were filming "Polly
of The Circus" in Fort Lee one morning I re-
ported at the studio at nine o'clock. We were
working on some interior scenes that were
vital to the success of the story. My director
at that time was Mr. Charles Horan. Mr.
Vernon Steele was playing the male lead.
That day we became so engrossed in playing
some rather delicate scenes that before we
knew it or at least before I could realize it
it was six o'clock, and we weren't half done.
"What do you say to continuing?" asked
Mr. Horan.
"Good; we're right in the spirit of it," I
replied.
We had a bite to eat and worked on until
midnight. In spite of our hard and earnest
efforts there were several scenes with which
we were dissatisfied.
"Well," said Mr. Horan ruefully. "Tomor-
row will be another day."
As he spoke it dawned upon me how one of
SCREEN ACTING 41
the scenes on which we felt we had failed could
be done with probable success.
"Why tomorrow?" I replied. "Let's make
a night of it if necessary. We simply have to
get that scene."
Mr. Horan grinned. That had been his
wish. But he had feared breaking the camel's
back.
We worked until four o'clock that morning.
Things went swimmingly. It was broad day-
light when I ferried across the Hudson but if
I was very tired I was equally happy.
Several times during "Polly of the Circus"
we had experiences which, in the number of
hours put in, were similar to that which I have
related. But in the end it was worth while.
We had a picture.
At that time I was feeling in the best of
health but, even so, the long hours had been a
severe drain upon my none too great vitality.
For anyone lacking strength and vitality such
hours would have been impossible.
It is not my intention to write a booklet on
health. But all of us should be very careful
of our most precious possession. I know of so
many young girls in motion pictures who have
let their health get away from them. And
some of the cases are so pitiful. . . .
My candidate, then, will have strength and
vitality and, equally important, he or she will
cling to both, whatever social sacrifices may
have to be made to preserve them.
42 SCREEN ACTING
The ability to learn quickly will save anyone
going into screen work so much trouble and
possible humiliation that it may well be listed
as an essential qualification.
The screen is no place for the mental lag-
gard. The beginner, particularly, must be
alive to learn the new lessons that each day
will bring, and learning them he must remem-
ber.
During the course of production in a studio
things are at high tension. Time is money.
Each of us constitutes a more or less impor-
tant cog in a great machine. Those cogs that
inexcusably forget to function are eliminated.
CHAPTER IV
Beauty and the measure of looks upon the screen
Expression most important Tragedies of
doll-faces Photographic "angles."
WHAT FOLLOWS happened during the Na-
tional Convention of Motion Picture Pro-
ducers in 1917 at Chicago. The convention
was held at the Coliseum. There were jazz
bands, gay and costly decorations, and motion
picture celebrities from both Coasts. The car-
nival spirit ran high and thousands of motion
picture fans squeezed into that huge old build-
ing.
The opening was called "Mae Marsh Day."
I shall not soon forget it. That night as our
party entered the Coliseum through the mana-
ger's private office I espied in the center of the
building a newly erected platform draped with
bunting and decorated with flowers.
"You will make a little speech," the manager
said.
I gasped. I think I almost fainted. I had
never made a formal speech. The idea of it
43
44 SCREEN ACTING
was as foreign to me as becoming Queen of
the South Sea Islands.
"All right," I gurgled weakly.
My voice has never been strong. As I
walked to the platform the Coliseum was a
bedlam of sound. I was introduced with diffi-
culty. With sinking knees I stepped forward.
"Ladies and gentlemen I am sure I am
pleased to "
A jazz band, which seemed to be located
somewhere immediately beneath my feet, began
to loudly play. I didn't know whether to dance
or sing. It was a medley in which "The Star-
Spangled Banner" was predominant. I blessed
the band. I doubly blessed our national an-
them. Looking about me I saw a small Amer-
ican flag. I grasped it and stood waving it to
the strains of our national air. The conven-
tion was duly opened.
Afterward, when I stood upon a small table
giving away carnations until my wrist ached
smiling like a chorus girl meantime a wom-
an informed my mother that she wished to see
me on an important matter. In the press of
those thousands of children and grown-ups I
was virtually trapped.
"Tell her," I suggested, "to call at the Black-
stone Hotel tomorrow morning."
She came. She was a plain woman with an
honest eye. She brought along two small
SCREEN ACTING 45
daughters aged, respectively, ten and twelve,
I afterward ascertained.
"Miss Marsh," she declared, leaning for-
ward expectantly in her chair, "I think my two
daughters should succeed in motion pictures.
One of them is very beautiful, and the other
looks like you."
I told this honest lady, with as straight a
face as I could command, that while her
daughters were still too young to think of play-
ing in motion pictures that some day, perhaps,
I could do something for them, particularly the
one that looked like me.
In approaching the matter of screen faces I
am strongly reminded of that Chicago lady. I
believe her logic was essentially sound. There
is no measure of looks for the motion picture
screen. If there is a yardstick it applies to ex-
pression, or animation, and not looks.
No one admires a beautiful face upon the
screen more than I. If it so happens that this
beauty is allied with ability then I am often
given to the thought that they are not a con-
genial combination. For beauty, ever a queenly
quality, is diverting and manages in this way
and that to steal some of the thunder that
rightfully belongs to ability.
If, as sometimes happens, I see mere beauty
being exploited on the screen with no sem-
blance of acting talent, I am ready to give up
my seat to the next one along about the third
reel. Nothing palls upon one more quickly.
46 SCREEN ACTING
Therefore, I am at odds with those who be-
lieve that beauty is necessary for the screen be-
ginner. Say for beauty that it has the merit of
more quickly attracting attention to the one
who possesses it and you have done it full jus-
tice. But even then, if it is unaccompanied by
ability, it is just another tragedy of a doll-face.
Acting is primarily the ability to express
something. If the face that conveys that feel-
ing is not disagreeable then it becomes a matter
of not how much beauty is in the face but how
much expression. That was certainly the case
with Mme. Sarah Bernhardt. All of us know
plain appearing persons whose faces, when
they have something to say, become interesting
and expressive.
They impress us as individuals whose beauty
is inside or spiritual. That is a lovely quality
for the screen. On the other hand we know,
all of us, persons who are generally considered
beautiful whose faces, under any circum-
stances, have no more animation than a mask
These people strike us as spiritually barren,
lacking in humor, or something.
If my candidate for screen honors has sim-
ply an agreeable appearance and good eyes
which I consider most important of all facial
features I shall be satisfied provided his or
her face, and particularly the eyes, are expres-
sive.
It has been my observation that while beauty
or good looks is largely a matter of opinion
A beautiful young star and her director, Mary Miles
Minter and Chester Franklin,
SCREEN ACTING 49
which has furnished many lively debates the
quality of expression or animation is seldom
denied those who possess it. For that reason
my candidate, if he or she has an expressive
face, will have a more valuable and certain
stock-in-trade than mere good looks.
In spite of this logic most of us stars go on
wishing to be thought beautiful, or to have it
thought that we could be beautiful if we
wanted to be. I recollect that it took time and
courage for some of us to brave our publics in
other than our pet make-ups.
There are, for instance, two stars who had
always regarded their curls as indispensable.
After many years of stardom one of them de-
cided to take what she thought was a desperate
chance. She skinned her hair back and played
the part of a little English slavey. The result
was that she turned out one of the most suc-
cessful pictures in her career.
Another, a dear friend of mine, we used to
call "The Primper." She never appeared upon
the set without her curls just so. I think at
that time she thought they were the most im-
portant part of her career.
She has reformed. As her art developed she
became less particular about her hair dress.
One night in a little theater in Jamaica, Long
Island, I dropped in to see one of her photo-
plays. It was an excellent picture. Her hair
was drawn back tightly over her head into a
knot. That night I wired her congratulations.
50 SCREEN ACTING
No ; eurls, Grecian noses, up-tilted chins and
rose-tinted cheeks are not the measure of suc-
cess upon the screen. It is something that
goes deeper than that.
It is something that goes deep enough to
over-ride facial defects. There is one excel-
lent little star, for example, who, because of
a nose unfortunately large, must always work
full face when near the camera. I think she
is charming. Another, for an odd reason, per-
mits only a one-way profile to be taken. There
are many such cases.
Indeed, the majority of us have our "an-
gles." By "angles" I mean the full, three-
quarters, one-quarter or profile views in which
we think we appear at our best. Each star has
studied that point out for his or herself. And,
since we are taking largely our own opinion for
it, it is possible we are mistaken. But our
vanity upholds us.
In my own case I was hauled into motion
pictures while sitting rather forlornly on a
soapbox waiting for my sister Marguerite.
Since at that time I was without curls, having
never had any before or since, and looked as I
look, so to speak, it has never been necessary
for me to expend any great amount of time in
make-up. That has been satisfactory to me.
CHAPTER V
The story, make-up and costuming Rouge riots and
their disadvantages The blond
and the "back spot."
IN ANY ART or profession the ability to seize
opportunity when it presents itself is impor-
tant. This is especially true in motion pictures.
Things move very fast there. It is like a game
where the knack of doing the right thing at the
right time determines one's value.
After the beginner has done his extra work,
or small bits, if he is of the right stuff, he will
some day be given a part. He may be unaware
of it, but that will be the biggest moment of his
screen career.
When doing extra work or small bits the
critics, the public, and the profession have paid
little attention to the beginner. But once the
beginner secures a part he comes instantly into
the eye of everyone interested in the screen.
We are all diverted by new faces.
Thus the impression that the beginner will
make in his first part is one that will for a long
time endure. It comes very near making or
51
52 SCREEN ACTING
breaking him. This may seem hard. Often
it is unjust a beginner may have a part forced
upon him for which he is unfitted. But it is
true. And we have to deal with conditions on
the screen as we find them.
For that reason when the big moment comes,
and the part is secured, the beginner must do
everything within his or her power to be as
well prepared as possible.
There are in this respect three important
mechanical details that must be looked after. I
should list them as follows :
( 1 ) Studying the story.
(2) Studying make-up.
(3) Studying costuming.
The beginner will be given the story or
script typewritten in continuity form. Con-
tinuity means t he scene by scene action
through which the story is told. Ordinarily
there will be some three hundred scenes or
"shots" to the average photoplay.
The beginner will first look to the plot and
theme of the story. We want to know what
the author is telling and how he is trying to tell
it. We find the big situations and the action
that precedes them. More important, we lo-
cate the why of it.
When I have established the idea of the play
I immediately go over the script again with an
eye alert for business. By business I mean the
tricks, mannerisms, and the apparent unex-
SCREEN ACTING 53
pected or involuntary moves that help to sus-
tain action.
The value of good business cannot be over-
rated. It goes a long way toward making up
for the lack of voice. Without clever business
any photoplay would drag. The two-reel com-
edy, which I have observed is popular with
audiences of all ages, is usually but a sequence
of business.
If the business that is planned upon seems
natural to the character the wiggling of a
foot when excited, the inability to control the
hands, the apparent unconscious raising of an
eyebrow, etc. I am sure there can be no real
objection to it. The audience, who are the final
critics, love it.
Just the other night I saw Mr. Douglas Fair-
banks in a play the final scene of which de-
picted him in the act of making love to his in-
tended. That there might be some privacy to
the undertaking they were screening them-
selves from the view of the guests and the
audience! with a large silken handkerchief.
The girl might have stood still. If she had
there could have no criticism. Neither would
there have been much of anything else, as her
face was hidden from view. She laid her hands
over a balustrade and wiggled her fingers. The
audience roared.
These are the things which keep a photoplay
from dragging. They give the action a piq-
uancy and charm.
54 SCREEN ACTING
Now while the audience may believe that
these things are done on the spur of the mo-
ment the facts are very contrary. These bits
of business must be planned in advance and it
is only an evidence that they have been well
planned when they appear to be done uncon-
sciously.
While it is true that we have all discovered
very telling bits of business during the actual
photographing of a scene, we can count this as
nothing but good fortune. To leave the matter
of business until the director called "Camera !"
would be fatal.
Thus in going over a script I look for busi-
ness. I think of all the business I can, knowing
that much of it will prove impracticable and
will have to be discarded. Nor is that all.
When the scenic sets upon which we are to
work are erected at the studio or on location,
I look them over very carefully in the hope that
some article of furniture, etc., will suggest
some attractive piece of business. An odd fan,
a pillow, a door, in fact, anything may prove
valuable.
I should suggest to my candidate that he
or she be just as alert for good business as the
star is. The good director is always open to
suggestion. Business may make all the differ-
ence between a colorless and a vivid portrayal
of a part. Thus for the beginner who, in ob-
taining a part, has reached the most vital mo-
ment of his career, the value of keeping an eye
SCREEN ACTING 57
open to the possibilities of business is apparent.
Make-up, like much of everything else on the
screen, is a personal matter. There are, how-
ever, some general rules that can be followed
to advantage.
I should instruct my candidate not to make
up too much. It seems to me that I have ob-
served a tendency in this direction recently.
Some actresses have laid on lip rouge so
thickly that their lips seem to run liquid. Rouge
photographs black. The result has been that
this riot of lip paint has given them the appear-
ance of having no teeth. Others have used too
much and too dark make-up about the eyes.
Nothing more quickly ruins expression. Such
eyes have the look of holes burned in a blanket
and for dramatic purposes are only slightly
more useful.
Since my candidate will have youth, good
health and vitality he or she will not have to
resort to tricks of make-up. There are many
such. I recall the case of one actress who is
considered a beauty on the spoken stage. On
the screen she discovered that the motion pic-
ture camera is not very kind to some people.
The lines and flabbiness which were in her face
were accurately reproduced. She thought, of
course, they were exaggerated.
She was in despair until she found that by
laying heavy strips of adhesive tape over her
ears and behind her neck she wore a wig
these lines and flabbiness were overcome. The
58 SCREEN ACTING
tape pulled her face into shape! But, I am
sure it must have been painful.
Another actress, it is an open secret, under-
goes periodic operations for the removal of the
flabby flesh underneath her chin. Others af-
flicted with the hated "double chin" rouge the
guilty member heavily with more or less suc-
cess. Still others wear collars and necklaces to
thwart flabbiness.
None of us need laugh ; that is if we are in
motion pictures. If we stay there long enough
we mav be driven to similar measures.
m
In make-up, to begin at the top, is to consider
the hair. Let me say, first of all, that this
should always be kept very clean. The camera
has a way of treating us unpleasantly if it
isn't.
Some actresses have set styles of hair dress
which they seldom vary. I think of Madge
Kennedy's "band of hair," Dorothy Gish's
black wig and the Pickford Curls.
Dorothy Gish had tried many styles of hair
dress and found none of them to her liking.
She experimented with a black wig and was
delighted with the result. It contributed some-
thing to her expression brought it out, as it
were which she felt had been lacking. Since
"Hearts of the World" she has never stepped
before a camera without her trusty B. W.
But while most of us have a favorite style
of wearing our hair most of us are forced often
to lay aside that style to suit the character we
SCREEN ACTING 59
are playing. Playing a child we let our hair
hang. The length or abundance doesn't seem
to particularly matter.
If enacting the daughter of a well-to-do
business man then we may have our hair plain
or marceled to suit our fancy. Plain hair
seems to suggest sweetness. If playing a saucy
character we must contrive some dress that
will convey the desired effect.
Blonds, in motion pictures, are traditionally
fluffy-haired. There is a very good reason for
this, by the way. Some years ago Mr. Griffith
who usually does everything first discov-
ered that by leveling a back spotlight on
Blanche Sweet's fluffy, blond hair it gave the
appearance of sunlight showing through.
On the screen it was beautiful. Since that
time the "back spot" has been worked to death.
In spite of the fact that it is an old trick it is
one that is still very much respected by the
actress or us blond actresses, as it were.
The back light shining through the hair has
a tendency to take away all the hard lines of
the face. It leaves it smooth and free from
worry. How often in a motion picture have I
heard the involuntary expression, "How beau-
tiful !" when such a shot usually a close-up
is shown.
Many of you may have wondered why a
blond seems to have dark hair in many interior
scenes and blond hair out of doors. Here is
one fault, at least, that we can shift to other
60 SCREEN ACTING
shoulders. If a blond's hair is dark indoors it
is because the cameraman has failed in his
lighting arrangement.
But even with the most expert manipulation
of lights there is no rival in motion pictures for
the sun. For blonds and brunettes alike he is
Allah.
And now since this matter of make-up re-
quires more space and this chapter is growing
long we shall skip to the next.
CHAPTER VI
More about noses and chins Costumes as important
to the star as a story to the director
Rags and riches.
IN THE MATTER of face and make-up we sel-
dom think of the forehead. Yet I personally
admire a pretty forehead very much and think
it is as important as a good mouth or nose, if
secondary to the eyes. Comprising as it does
or should one-third of the face it is noth-
ing if not conspicuous.
If to be deep and learned is to have an ex-
tremely high forehead then to be deep and
learned on the screen is to labor under one defi-
nite handicap. For the girl with a too high
forehead cannot skin her hair back without ap-
pearing ugly.
Those of us with medium foreheads are
more fortunate. Whatever may be said for
our mental capacity we can, at any rate, skin
our hair back and thereby add very much to
our expression.
The girl with the high forehead compro-
mises by trying to keep some of it covered but
61
62 SCREEN ACTING
it never gives quite the effect of hair drawn
tightly back.
I should particularly admonish my screen
beginner against too much make-up about the
eyes. For blue or gray eyes, a light gray make-
up is used; for brown or black eyes, a light
brown make-up.
We frequently hear it said that brown eyes
photograph best for the screen, but I have
never heard anyone whom I would accept as
an authority say that. I believe that all colors
are equally good. It is far more important
that a screen actress's eyes be expressive than
it is that they be either brown or blue.
Thus if we have expressive eyes and evade
the error of making them up so heavily as to
create the "burnt hole" aspect we shall have
nothing to worry about. Generally speaking
the more prominent the eyes and eyebrows the
less of make-up should be used. There are ex-
ceptions.
A nose is something we can do nothing
about. We either have or haven't a good nose.
If the nose is so badly out of symmetry with
the face as to be unsightly its possessor will
probably have to confine himself, or herself,
to character parts. There are some who have
attained stardom, even with ill-shaped noses,
but I think of very few. These by devious
practices conceal the defect as well as possible.
Make-up for the nose is usually for charac-
ter and not star parts. A spot of rouge at the
- SCREEN ACTING 63
tip of the nose will give it a turned up or pug
appearance. When playing a mulatto in "The
Birth of a Nation" Miss Mary Alden inserted
within her nostrils two plugs that permitted
her to breathe and yet had the effect of greatly
widening her nostrils. The late and beloved
"Bobby" Harron broadened his nose with
putty in the same play in one of the scenes in
which he doubled as a negro. The screen lost
one of its sweetest and most lovable characters
when "Bobby" Harron died.
But these cases were characterizations. For
star purposes a nose is a nose. The pity is
that sometimes even well-shaped noses seem to
lose something or gain too much when they are
reproduced on the screen.
The lips and chin require a light make-up
for the very good reason, again, that to overdo
in this respect is to stifle expression. It is my
opinion that those who are becoming addicted
to an extremely heavy make-up of lips are mak-
ing a mistake. It is unreal. It is not art. Such
thick, sensuous, liquid lips as I have beheld on
the screen during the past year have never
been seen on land or sea.
The chin is a good deal like the nose. Very
little can be done about it. If it protrudes too
much, or is abruptly receding, its possessor
will probably find himself chosen for character
parts. Here what are otherwise considered
facial defects will be no handicap at all. On
the contrary they may be a decided help.
64 SCREEN ACTING
As in the case of the ill-shaped nose there
are stars who have succeeded in spite of an
absence, or too great presence, of chin. They
have learned the photographic angles at which
they appear to the best advantage. In one way
or another, when working close to the camera,
they keep always within these angles. Thus
they prove that there can be an exception to
any rule.
If in the matter of make-up I can convince
my candidate that he or she will be better off
by using as little as possible of it, I shall be
willing to pass on to the next topic.
Hands, too, must be kept clean and are
usually made up with white chalk.
I often think that costumes are to the star
as important as the story is to the director.
Whatever may be the case in everyday life
clothes do make the man, or the woman, in
motion pictures. They establish character even
more swiftly than action or expression. No
where so much as in motion pictures does the
general public accept people at their clothes
value. There are the over-dress of vulgarity,
the shoddiness of poverty, the conservatism of
decency and so on, each of them speaking as
plainly as words of the person so attired.
Now if mere over-dress, shoddiness, con-
servatism, and so on, were all that were neces-
sary the process would be quite simple. But
the art of costuming is more subtle than that.
Madame Nazimova, one of the few dramatic stars who quickly
mastered the art of the screen.
SCREEN ACTING 67
In each costume there must be something
original and personal. In other words, some-
thing that is peculiarly suited to the precise
character that is being portrayed. There must
be also a color contrast or harmony that will be
favorable to good motion picture photography.
In addition, the costume in a broader sense
should harmonize with the scenic setting. The
costume, more than anything else, will estab-
lish the fiction of age. To appear very young
or middle-aged is to dress young or middle-
aged.
In addition to its value in suggesting char-
acter the costume has attained a new impor-
tance in that the screen has become a sort of
fashion magazine. The thousands of young
ladies who live outside of New York, London
or Paris have come to look more and more to
the screen for the latest fashions, and are ac-
cordingly influenced.
With this phase of costuming my candidate
need not particularly interest herself beyond
remembering that women love to see pretty
clothes and that those who give them the op-
portunity occupy an especial niche in their af-
fections.
The beginner who learns the knack of dress-
ing for the screen in a manner that is sharply
expressive of the character being played, and,
in a way to bring out what the actress herself
has come to regard as her strong point, will
find her pains rewarded.
68 SCREEN ACTING
Mr. Griffith has always been extremely
painstaking about screen clothes. Even in the
early days of the old Biograph two-reelers we
had screen tests for costumes. It was no un-
usual thing to hear him say, after one of us
had been at much pains to select a costume
which we thought did justice to both our part
and ourselves, "No, that won't do!" Possibly
we were trying to do too much justice to our-
selves.
Anyhow we often had as many as four cos-
tumes made before Mr. Griffith was suited.
Then he invariably suggested a ribbon, a fan,
a bit of old lace, etc., the effect of which upon
the screen was always pleasing.
I have been told that one of the sweetest and,
at the same time, most pathetic scenes done in
motion pictures occurred in "The Birth of a
Nation" where I, as Flora Cameron, the little
sister of the Confederate soldier, trimmed my
cheap, home-made dress in preparing to wel-
come home my big brother.
It was Mr. Henry Walthall, himself a south-
erner by birth, who suggested this bit of busi-
ness.
You will remember the situation. The Cam-
erons, an old and distinguished Southern fam-
ily, had been impoverished by the war. They
were preparing for the return of the big
brother played capitally by Mr. Walthall
with the mixture of emotion to be expected
under the circumstances. I, as the youngest
SCREEN ACTING 69
member of the family, was least affected by
our cruel poverty. The joy of being about to
see my big brother again overcame any other
feeling.
I begin to dress. The sadness of my stricken
family cannot affect my holiday spirit. I have
but one dress. It is of sack cloth. I find that
its pitiful plainness is not in keeping with my
happiness or the importance of the event.
Looking about for something with which to
trim that dress I find some strips of cotton
"southern ermine," as it was called. With these
I trim that homely old dress, spotting the "er-
mine" with soot from the fireplace, in a man-
ner that I think will be pleasing to my big
brother.
Mr. Walthall suggested the "southern er-
mine" and it was Mr. Griffith, always kindly
in the matter of accepting a suggestion, who
built the drama about it. I have had many
women, from the North as well as the South,
tell me that to them this scene is the most af-
fecting they ever have seen in the picture
drama. I know I have played few, if any, in
which I have felt more deeply the spirit of
the action.
In "The Birth of a Nation," by the way, all
of us were forced to do a great deal of research
work upon our costumes. This is a good thing.
It gets one quickly into the spirit of the drama
that is to be played.
70 SCREEN ACTING
As I say, I have always appreciated the ad-
vantages of modish dress upon the screen even
though I have had in my eight years of acting
only one "clothes" part. By clothes part I
mean one in which the star dresses in modern
garments in every scene. I began my career
as a screen waif with the result that the liter-
ary men who have to do with the stories picked
for me, have kept me at this style of part.
There is never a story written in which a
poor, little heroine conquers against great odds
usually after much suffering and not a few
beatings but that many friends rush to tell
me that so and so is "a regular Mae Marsh
part." Such is the power of association.
Yet I very much enjoyed my one dressed-up
part. That was "The Cinderella Man." I un-
derstand that there was great doubt expressed
by the scenario department that I should be
able to play such a role for, since the heroine
was the daughter of a wealthy man, there was
no occasion for her appearing in rags.
Miss Margaret Mayo, the well-known dra-
matist, who wrote "Polly of the Circus,"
"Baby Mine," etc., was here my stanch advo-
cate. Both she and Mr. George Loane Tucker,
one of our greatest directors, insisted that I
could do the part. It was decided to make the
trial.
"Go to Lucille," suggested Miss Mayo, "ex-
plain the story to the designer and let her show
you the kind of costumes she would suggest."
SCREEN ACTING 71
Expense was to be no object. Mr. Tucker
and I met one afternoon on Fifty-seventh
street and, entering Lucille's, we went into a
clothes conference with a designer. The result
was a mild orgy of beautiful gowns.
It was decided that Lucille should make two
dresses of a particular design, one green and
one gray, as the gown which I was to wear in
a great many of the scenes.
Showing that cost does not indicate fitness
I remember that the gray dress which was
$100 cheaper than the green was the one
which we decided to use. My costume bill for
"The Cinderella Man" exceeded $2,000. There
are many actresses who spend far more than
that for clothes on every picture. But com-
pared with the amount that I had been spend-
ing in my "poor girl" roles that $2,000 was as
a mountain to a sand dune.
"The Cinderella Man" was a great success
and we were happy; particularly Miss Mayo
and Mr. Tucker, who had never doubted that
I could do a dressed-up part.
The matter of costumes, then, is one of the
important things that the beginner must con-
sider. On the screen clothes may be said to
talk ; even to act. The male artists, I am sure,
also realize this. But the actress, particularly,
must always dress in a manner to get the maxi-
mum of benefit from her clothes whether they
be cheap or expensive.
72 SCREEN ACTING
In "The Birth of a Nation" during the fa-
mous cliff scene I experimented with a half
dozen dresses until I hit upon one whose plain-
ness was a guarantee that it would not divert
from my expression in that which was a very
vital moment.
CHAPTER VII
Camera- consciousness and a way to cure it Why it is
fatal to imitate Some scenes
in "Intolerance."
THE SEVERAL qualities most likely to succeed
upon the screen having been discussed, and the
importance of knowing the story, make-up and
costuming having been established, my candi-
date is now ready to go before the camera.
All that has been done before is but to build
up to this vital moment. The camera tells at
once and usually in no uncertain terms whether
one is possessed of star possibilities.
It is a sort of court from which there is no
appeal. For that reason everv exoression,
every movement, every feeling and, I verily be-
lieve, every thought are important once the
camera has begun to turn.
Now the actress or actor is standing entirely
upon her or his own feet. Previously they
have had the benefit of all the advice and help
that the many departments of a studio could
proffer. In a word they have been able to
73
74 SCREEN ACTING
lean upon someone else and to correct mis-
takes at leisure.
It is different before the camera. The be-
ginner will at once feel very much alone and
terribly conspicuous. This tends toward self-
consciousness, or camera-consciousness, which
must be immediately overcome or success is
impossible. Camera-consciousness is the bane
of the beginner. I think most of us have suf-
fered more or less from it. I have known
actresses who possessed it to such a degree
that, finding they could not rid themselves of
it, they left the screen. By extreme good for-
tune this never happened to be one of my trou-
bles.
Self-consciousness on the screen is much the
same thing as stage fright in the spoken drama
and proceeds, I suppose, from the same source,
which is the inability to forget one's self.
When a dear friend of mine first began play-
ing small parts she found that she suffered
from it. She also saw that it would certainly
be fatal if she didn't cure it.
"For that reason," she said to herself, "the
best thing to do is to think so hard about the
part that I am playing that I won't have time
to think of anything else."
She gave herself good advice. Anyhow it
worked and I am sure it will be successful in
the case of the average beginner. If so, then
camera-consciousness will really be a blessing
in disguise, for it will have taught the actress
SCREEN ACTING 75
concentration upon her part and concentration,
in every fiber of one's being, I believe, is the big
secret of screen success.
I remember the case of one young actress
who came to me in tears saying that when she
rehearsed her part in the privacy of her own
home, or dressing room, she felt every inch of
it, but once under the gaze of the director, the
assistant director, the cameraman, possibly the
author and perhaps a number of privileged
persons about the studio, she seemed to wilt.
"Look at it this way," I advised. "When
you are acting the director has his work to do
and is doing it. So has the assistant director.
Likewise the cameraman and the assistant cam-
eraman have their work to do and are doing it.
So are the other actors. As for the lookers-on,
request that they leave. Then imagine you are
in a big schoolroom where everyone is busy at
his or her lessons. You have your lesson to
get which is concentrating upon your part. Go
ahead with it."
It helped the girl in question. She has be-
come a very excellent and charming star and
while she still prefers to work upon a secluded
stage she does not find it positively necessary,
as do some actresses. In any event there is no
trace of camera-consciousness in her acting.
Camera-consciousness having been elimi-
nated the beginner can now throw himself or
herself entirely into the part being played. By
throwing one's self into the part I do not mean
76 SCREEN ACTING
forcing it. Nothing is quite so bad as that. I
mean feeling it. If you do not feel the particu-
lar action being played then the result will cer-
tainly be a lack of sincerity. We have already
decided that that is fatal.
Let me illustrate :
While we were playing "Intolerance," one
cycle of which is still being released as "The
Mother and the Law," I had to do a scene
where, in the big city's slums, my father dies.
The night before I did this scene I went to
the theater something, by the way, I seldom
do when working to see Marjorie Rambeau
in "Kindling."
To my surprise and gratification she had to
do a scene in this play that was somewhat simi-
lar to the one that I was scheduled to play in
"Intolerance." It made a deep impression
upon me.
As a consequence, the next day before the
camera in the scene depicting my sorrow and
misery at the death of my father, I began to
cry with the memory of Marjorie Rambeau's
part uppermost in my mind. I thought, how-
ever, that it had been done quite well and was
anxious to see it on the screen.
I was in for very much of a surprise. A
few of us gathered in the projection room and
the camera began humming. I saw myself
enter with a fair semblance of misery. But
there was something about it that was not con-
vincing.
."S
I
SCREEN ACTING 79
Mr. Griffith, who was closely studying the
action, finally turned in his seat and said :
"I don't know what you were thinking about
when you did that, but it is evident that it was
not about the death of your father."
"That is true," I said. I did not admit what
I was thinking about.
We began immediately upon the scene again.
This time I thought of the death of my own
father and the big tragedy to our little home,
then in Texas. I could recall the deep sorrow
of my mother, my sisters, my brother and my-
self.
This scene is said to be one of the most ef-
fective in "The Mother and the Law."
The beginner may learn from that that it
never pays to imitate anyone else's interpre-
tation of any emotion. Each of us when we
are pleased, injured, or affected in any way
have our own way of showing our feelings.
This is one thing that is our very own.
When before the camera, therefore, we
must remember that when we feel great sorrow
the audience wants to see our own sorrow and
not an imitation of Miss Blanche Sweet's or
Mme. Nazimova's. We must feel our own
part and take heed of my favorite screen
maxim, which is that thoughts do register.
It is true that we have good and bad days
before the camera. There are times when to
feel and to act are the easiest things imaginable
and other occasions when it seems impossible
80 SCREEN ACTING
to catch the spirit that we know is necessary.
In this we are more fortunate than our broth-
ers upon the spoken stage, for we can do it
over again.
It is also very often true that even when we
are entirely in the spirit of our part, and be-
lieve we have done a good day's work, that
there will be some mechanical defect in the
scenes taken which makes it necessary to do
them over, possibly when we feel least like
so doing.
In this event it is a good thing to remem-
ber that it doesn't pay to cry over spilt milk.
We must learn to take the bitter with the
sweet. Fortunately the mechanics of picture
taking are constantly improving.
The hardest dramatic work I ever did was
in the courtroom scenes in "Intolerance." We
retook these scenes on four different occa-
sions. Each time I gave to the limit of my
vitality and ability. I put everything into my
portrayal that was in me. It certainly paid.
Parts of each of the four takes some of them
done at two weeks' intervals were assembled
to make up those scenes which you, as the audi-
ence, finally beheld upon the screen.
Therefore, when first going before a camera
it is well to resolve to put as much into one's
performance as possible. We cannot too
greatly concentrate upon our parts. If we do
not feel them we can be very sure they will not
convince our audiences.
CHAPTER VIII
Over-acting and a horrible example the value of
repression and emphasis How we
act with the body.
GOOD SCREEN acting consists of the ability to
accurately portray a state of mind.
That sounds simple, yet how often upon the
screen have you seen an important part played
in a manner that made you, yourself, feel that
you were passing through the experiences be-
ing unfolded in the plot. I imagine not often.
If a part is under-played or, worse, over-
played for there is nothing so depressing as
a screen actress run amuck in a flood of sundry
emotions it exerts a definite influence upon
you, the audience.
You begin to lose sympathy with the char-
acter itself. You are interested or irritated by
the mannerisms often hardly less than gym-
nastics of the actor or actress. You never
identify such an actor or actress with the part
they are playing for the very good reason that
they are not playing the part. They are play-
ing their idea of acting at a part.
81
82 SCREEN ACTING
In any event your interest in the story crum-
bles. What the author intended as a subtle
character development flattens out. An inge-
nious plot is ruined by its treatment. You in-
dex that particular evening as among those
wasted. I know. I have done the same.
For those who would like to take up the
screen as a career, however, such an evening
may prove very profitable. For it is the learn-
ing what not to do that is important. There
never was a character portrayal done upon the
screen that could not have been spoiled without
this knowledge.
I have in mind a photodrama of 1920 that
because of the excellence of its plot gained
quite a success. But for me it was ruined by
the ridiculous overacting of the heroine.
She had beautiful dark eyes and seemed to
think it was a melodrama that the proper
way to display screen talent was to dilate and
roll those eyes as though she were constantly
in terror.
She had added to that trick one of dropping
her jaw which I understood to be her idea of
the way to register astonishment. I cannot
begin to describe the effect upon me of those
horrified eyes and open mouth. At the end of
six reels I felt like screaming. There was no
time when I should have been surprised had
she wiggled her ears.
Either she was unfortunate in her choice of
a director or he, poor fellow, was powerless to
SCREEN ACTING 83
stop her once she had decided upon her pro-
gram of mouth and eyes.
One of the first things that a screen actress
must learn is the value of emphasis. In the
case that I have cited above the actress threw
herself emotionally (?) so far beyond the
mark in little moments that when a big situa-
tion in the development of the plot occurred
she had nothing left. The impression conse-
quently was one of a strained sameness. Than
that there is no quicker way to wear out one's
audience. It is like shouting at one who has
sat down for a quiet chat. The shout should
be used at no distance less than a city block.
No screen actress makes a shrewder use of
emphasis than Norma Talmadge. She seems
invariablv to hold much in reserve with the re-
*
suit that when she does let go in a big emo-
tional scene the effect is brought home to the
audience with telling force. There are other
actresses who play with reserve. But it is im-
portant that with Miss Talmadge her repres-
sion seems ever illuminated by the fires of po-
tential emotion.
The student of the screen will do well to
study these matters of emphasis and repres-
sion. They are all important. Our manner
of life itself is an accepted repression, outlined
by laws for the streets and conventions for the
drawing room. From the screen viewpoint re-
pression is a vital thing, if for no other reason
than the fact that it gives the audience a
84 SCREEN ACTING
breathing spell. After a breathing spell it is
the better disposed to appreciate emphasis.
Whenever I study a scenario or story it is
with an eyev for the contrast of moods and the
situations that call for emotional emphasis. I
plan in advance of the actual camera work the
pace at which I will play various stages in the
development of the story. By shutting my eyes
I can almost see how the part will look upon
the screen. If there is a sufficient contrast of
moods and opportunity for emphasis I feel that
I shall, at least, be able to do all within my
power to make the story a success.
The physical strain before a camera is a pe-
culiar thing. At no time is the motion picture
actress or actor called upon for a sustained
performance such as is true on the spoken
stage. For that reason we should theoreti-
cally be in condition to put forth our very best
efforts on each of the short scenes or "shots"
averaging not over two minutes in photo-
graphing that we are called upon to do. The
ordinary director is well satisfied if he aver-
ages twenty "shots" a day during production.
But here, I should say, appearances are de-
ceiving. Genius has been described as the
ability to resume a mood. In the case of mo-
tion pictures it is necessary that a mood be re-
sumed not once or twice, but possibly twenty
times during a day.
This is no less important than it is at first
difficult. There may be an hour or two hours'
Nortna Talmadge whose acting is notable for its
admirable repression.
SCREEN ACTING 87
interval between scenes often longer than
that and picking up the thread of the story
where it was dropped, the actress must resume
the mood of her characterization.
I can suggest no better aid to this undertak-
ing than retiring to one's dressing room and re-
maining quiet. Absolute quiet is an excellent
thing for the actress during the working day.
It gives her a rest from the turmoil of the
studio set. It provides her a chance to do a
little mental bookkeeping on the part she is
playing. I have found it a great help.
This ability to resume a mood, however,
soon becomes something that is subconsciously
accomplished and for that reason need not be
too much worried over by the beginner.
There is one quality on the screen that the
audience always likes. That is vivacity, and
by vivacity I mean both of the face and the
body.
Vivacity in this respect is a lively and likable
sort of animation which goes a long way
toward establishing that mercurial quality
which is known as "screen personality."
I have never heard anyone give a very good
definition of "screen personality." The most
that can be said is that some seem to have it
and some don't. Certain it is that it is valuable
quality, for it will not stay hidden.
In the news weeklies that are so popular on
the screen I can, in a group of men or women,
88 SCREEN ACTING
almost instantly pick those persons who have
screen personality. It makes them stand out
sharply in contrast to their companions. Ex-
President Wilson, for instance, has screen per-
sonality while President Harding, I am cer-
tain, will make a better President than he
would an actor.
The movement of the body contributes to
this sought after animation. The body is al-
most the equal of the face in expression and
the way to talk and use the hands and feet are
things that must be sedulously studied.
Many stage directors have advised famous
actresses to "learn how to walk" and before a
camera one not only has to learn how to walk
but how to walk in many different ways.
We would not, for example, expect a little
girl on New York's East Side to employ the
same body carriage as a society girl walking
down Fifth avenue. There seem to be so many
schools of walking!
Thus in going over a part it is of the utmost
importance that we decide upon the way our
heroine is going to carry herself and then
throw our body, as well as our thoughts and
expression, into our role. I have often used
this matter of walking I was about to say art
of walking to very good effect. I should ad-
vise the beginner to observe the many different
SCREEN ACTING 89
ways in which various persons accomplish ex-
pression through the movement of the body.
It was in the early days. It was in Yonkers.
We were making "The Escape." It was a
street scene and we were working with a con-
cealed camera. Mr. Donald Crisp was playing
the brutal husband. He drew back his fist to
strike me. I was the forlorn wife.
"If yu' touch that lady I'll knock yer block
off," said a threatening voice.
It was a young Yonkers bravo. Absorbed
in the scene he had forgotten that it was acting,
particularly with the camera concealed.
I often think of that incident when at a pic-
ture play I hear someone say: "People don't
act like that in real life."
90 SCREEN ACTING
If I were a director there is nothing I should
rank as more important than rehearsals. I do
not mean merely running over the scene before
it is filmed. All directors do that. The ideal
rehearsal is one which calls together the lead-
ing parts perhaps a week before production
and meticulously works out every vital scene
in the story.
No director of the spoken stage would
think of producing a play without doing this.
Yet in motion pictures a production that may
cost twenty times as much as the average
spoken drama is often put on with twenty
times less of care in rehearsal. It is illogical
and costly.
Working with the director of the type who
leaves everything until the last minute the
actor or actress feels a strain that takes away
from the performance rendered. On the other
hand where painstaking rehearsal is practiced
the actor acquires a poise and deftness of
touch that justify the preliminary prepara-
tion, say nothing of the labor spared in editing.
CHAPTER IX
Long shots, intermediates and close-ups "Hogging
the camera" and ingenious leading men
Keeping one's poise under fire.
WHILE THE actress will exert herself in
every "shot" or "take" as the separate ex-
posures of a scene are called she comes to
know that the result of her acting upon the
screen is greatly influenced by the distance
from the camera that she has worked.
There are, for our present purposes, three
different distances which we work from the
camera. There is the long shot, the interme-
diate and the close-up or insert. With the gra-
dations of these we need not now concern our-
selves.
The long shot is usually taken to establish
the atmosphere and setting of a scene. In this
the actress finds herself ordinarily so far from
the camera that her facial expression registers
indifferently. For that reason the body move-
ment, with which she is playing a character,
substitutes for facial expression. She is known
91
92 SCREEN ACTING
to the audience by her costume and carriage
and makes her appeal largely through these.
Most of the dramatic action is now played
at three-quarters length ; that is from the face
to the knees. As we weave in and out of a
scene, very often the entire body is shown and
the feet have their opportunity for expression
they assuredly act ! but the majority of the
intermediate shots through which the dramatic
action is conducted cut off the lower part of
the body.
Here, in brief, is the combination of facial
expression and bodily movement that estab-
lishes the actress. It will be through the inter-
mediate shots that my candidate will make or
break. All our preparation for a part and our
fitness for it are here brought to the test.
An important item in this phase of screen
acting is the effect that those playing opposite
will exert upon one. The good actor or actress
helps one. Things seem to swim along. Work
becomes a pleasure!
But very often the actress will find that she
is forced to work opposite other actresses or
actors whose style is disagreeable. If they are
too loud or too full of antics it has the effect
of taking your mind off your work if you let
it! In such a case very often the director
will observe the difficulty and a word of cau-
tion spoken in private to the offending actor or
actress will improve conditions.
SCREEN ACTING 93
But sometimes the director is not observing
and you are forced to make the best of condi-
tions. I recall one rather well-known actor
who, to use a frank expression, "spits as he
talks." If I should ever be compelled to play
opposite him again I should prepare myself
either with an umbrella or a bathing suit. I
think it was only his total unconsciousness of
this habit that made it possible for me to con-
tinue.
We women are told that we are very vain.
Perhaps we are. But if my experience with
male actors may be taken as a criterion I should
say that vanity has been pretty well distributed
throughout the world.
With a few notable exceptions, I make bold
to affirm that the leading man counts that day
lost when he has not stolen the camera from
the star (poor girl!) not once but several times.
In the profession we call this "hogging the
camera."
The tricks that some of these amiable gen-
tlemen will play to keep themselves in the im-
mediate center of the foreground deserve
nothing less than a volume. This leads to many
amusing experiences.
I remember one leading man who had a habit
of falling back from the camera during the
progress of a scene. The result of this, of
course, was to turn me toward him, leaving
my back exposed to the camera. He was very
94 SCREEN ACTING
ingenuous. I thought, at first, the habit was
unintentional.
But as work upon our play progressed he
repeated this maneuver often enough to con-
vince me that I was dealing with a rather
clever artist in his way. I began to anticipate
him. When he started to drop away from the
camera, instead of turning toward him, as I
had previously done, I stood still and practiced
talking over my shoulder.
This had the value, at least, of showing my
face and not my back to the audience. In addi-
tion it gave me an unequal prominence in the
picture, since he was standing three or four
feet behind me. Realizing his disadvantage he
quickly resumed a position beside me and
thereafter abandoned his little trick.
Since that time, however, I have seen him
in other plays and he is quite as original as
ever.
I might go on indefinitely with such in-
stances. Enough that the artist must be on
her guard for it seems to be acting-nature to
want to "hog the camera." But as the stars
and directors are aware of this tendency its
accomplishment has become more difficult.
It is particularly trying, too, to play opposite
one of your own sex who insists upon over-
acting. This is a common case. This kind of
actress generally realizes that she has but a
few important moments before the camera and
is determined to make the best of them even if
Q
tt:
"2
5
SCREEN ACTING 97
she has to "act the star off the set." I have
actually felt sometimes as though I were being
pushed from the stage by some actress, who,
without any particular reason, has come in like
a whirlwind.
The beginner will find himself best off if he
does not let the style of those playing opposite
him affect him too much. If the style is good
take advantage of it. It will be real help. If
it is bad one should the more concentrate upon
his part and thus maintain his own poise under
diffculties.
If in these important intermediate shots
where the most of the dramatic action is sus-
tained we remember the various points that we
have discussed we should come off acceptably.
The silent drama is silent only in its com-
pleted product. Before the camera lines are
spoken and it is of utmost importance that
they be pronounced clearly and with feeling.
In spoken sub-titles that are expressively
mouthed and well-timed in the cutting, the sub-
title seems to blend in with the voice though
it be unheard of the speaker, particularly so
to the spectator who is clever at lip-reading.
While it is not necessary to memorize a great
number of lines, as on the spoken stage, it is
necessary that those lines which are read be
given with the correct shade of feeling, just as
they should be on the dramatic stage.
Lines are particularly important to many
persons who show a maximum of expression
98 SCREEN ACTING
while speaking. Here the silent voice is a gen-
uine asset.
Most close-ups, or inserts, as we call them,
are of the face alone. Sometimes there may
be a close-up of a hand, a foot, etc., but the
most acceptable style of direction these days
seems to be not to overdo in this respect.
In the close-up the face of the actress is
usually about 24 inches from the camera.
Every line of her face, every thought, indeed,
her very soul, will now be more or less regis-
tered. Nothing, in the whole range of screen
acting, is more effective than the close-up.
The insert is always to depict a particular
emotion. In a single scene, in the intermediate
shots, we have perhaps expressed several de-
grees of feeling but in the insert it is a matter
of one emotion at a time.
Here we are not aided by the action or ex-
pression of any brother artist. It is entirely
a matter of imagination or feeling. The lens
of the camera, like the eye of a Cyclops, is
staring sheerly at us and it is not necessary to
feel its breath to believe that it is a living thing.
When called upon for an insert we know
precisely the emotion that we are supposed to
express and will bend every effort to concen-
trate upon it.
To begin with there are two important
things to remember in the insert. One is that
the make up should be very much lighter than
SCREEN ACTING 99
in the long or intermediate shots; the other,
that the action will be slower.
The reasons are fairly obvious. If the same
make up that is used in the dramatic action is
continued it becomes immediately too con-
spicuous. Slower action is necessary because
at the distance of two feet the camera is lim-
ited in the speed of movement that it can faith-
fully record.
In the insert we are ever reminded of the
value of repression. The mere expression of
the eyes may be all that is necessary to convey
to the audience the emotion of the player. The
truth is that the effectiveness of the close-up
seems to be in inverse proportion to the amount
of facial action in it.
When we behold an insert in which there is
much grimacing and contortion of the face we
realize that there is no real depth of feeling.
It is playing at feeling.
On the other hand I have seen vital emotion
so delicately expressed in the insert that its
effect was haunting and beautiful. Observe
in "Broken Blossoms" and "Way Down East"
the close-ups of Lillian Gish.
Much as the good old "back spot" is popular
among the fluffy bonds, so is the insert wel-
comed by all screen actresses. We believe that
it shows us off at our best and brings us nearer,
as it were, to our audiences.
Yet there are some actresses favored over
others by the insert. One whose features are
100 SCREEN ACTING
naturally coarse, or hard, loses something
when in close contact with the camera. Others,
like myself, who have small features, and be-
lieve, therefore, that we are often at a disad-
vantage in the long and intermediate shots, are
only too glad of the opportunity to prepare for
an insert.
Indeed, our directors sometimes make a jest
of saying that we seem to want a drama of
inserts. But it is never quite so bad as that.
CHAPTER X
Atmosphere and studio morale Where best work is
done Importance of story Value of
'Observation Tours."
THE BEGINNER has learned that he or she
must at all times stand solidly before the cam-
era upon his or her own feet. I mean this in
a metaphorical sense. So much depends upon
courage and self-reliance.
If it is well not to let the style of supporting
artists affect one, it is equally well to steel one's
self against the conditions under which one
must sometimes work.
The motion picture, after all, is a commercial
proposition. It is very much so to the pro-
ducer. For that reason the beginner will find
that different studios create and maintain their
own atmosphere. Here one will discover a
wide range. But since we may consider our-
selves called upon to work now in New York,
again in California, and sometimes in Florida,
passing from studio to studio, we shall win a
big battle if at the outset we will determine to
101
102 SCREEN ACTING
let conditions and studio atmosphere affect us
as little as possible.
It is here, again, a case of taking advantage
of conditions if they are good, and trying to
ignore them if they are distasteful.
I know from experience that this will be a
hard thing to do. If the actress finds, in the
very air of which she breathes, unpleasantness
and intrigue, she will be normally inclined to
resent it hotly. Yet such resentment only
takes away from her acting, for it diverts her
mind, and she will be the greater loser as be-
tween herself and her producer.
I have worked under such profound systems
as considered studio spies and time charts upon
make up, etc., as necessary to production. I
will leave it to the reader to decide how much
morale one will find in this sort of studio.
Fortunately such a studio and such a morale
are the exception. But, if encountered in the
many vicissitudes that an actress will face, it
will be well to make the best of it ; to steel one's
nervous system against odds. Self-reliance in
such a case is no less than golden.
But in the majority of studios the manufac-
ture of motion pictures is not put upon the
same level as the making of gloves or brooms,
and the beginner will find a kindly and friendly
atmosphere both charming and helpful.
In those studios that glow with a warm,
friendly atmosphere there is always a good-
natured rivalry and spirit of fellowship which
SCREEN ACTING 103
is certain to reflect itself in the finished pic-
ture. For that reason it is a genuine asset.
Here hours are buoyant minutes and the actors
and directors find their reward in the excel-
lence of their endeavor, as well as somewhere
in Heaven.
Another point that the beginner must re-
member is that it is much harder to make good
in pictures now than it was when I started.
That, of course, is because of the greater com-
petition.
Where ten years ago there was one boy or
girl ambitious for a screen career there are
now a thousand. I often think that the screen
has been very kind to those who had faith in
it in its babyhood. It has brought to so many
of these fame and fortune.
And sometimes, when I observe some fairly
competent actress or actor thwarted in an at-
tempt to reach stardom, I wonder if the screen,
after its own fashion, is not asserting itself for
this lack of faith in those early days.
At any rate those who got in first secured a
big advantage over those who wondered if a
multiple-reel picture could be a success and
doubted it for, as some said, "It would be too
great a strain upon the eye."
But if there are more aspirants now there
are assuredly more opportunities and my can-
didate need have no fear. Sooner or later
merit may be counted upon to assert itself. All
104 _ SCREEN ACTING
about us in motion pictures we every day per-
ceive the truth of this.
It is also true that the screen is in a state of
constant change. The methods of acting
change ; the methods of direction ; the methods
of presentation ; the methods of story selection
all is continually in flux.
No one knows what another five years will
bring. But we do know that some of our
prized pictures of five or more years ago would
be instantly pointed out as old-fashioned by
the average theater-goer. That is because
there is no fundamental point about them that
has not been somehow affected by time.
Yet no pictures I ever will make will be
dearer to me than my "The Sands of Dee,"
"Apple Pie Mary," "The Little Liar," "The
Escape," "Hoodoo Ann," "The Wharf Rat,"
etc.
This constant evolution is a matter to be
reckoned with. To stand still is to be lost. We
must always be pushing ahead. For that reason
the beginner and the star will find it greatly to
their advantage to follow everything that is
done on the screen.
In unexpected places we discover new devel-
opment. Some unheard-of player in a boister-
ous two-reel comedy may disclose some little
trick, or expression, or bit of business, that
can be easily interpolated in the more serious
drama with good effect. And so on.
A pair excellent in its screenic balance Gloria Swanson
and Thomas Meighan.
SCREEN ACTING 107
We must read widely. Try as they may,
we can be mortally certain that no scenario
editors can always supply the vehicle which we
feel is suitable for us to play. There will come
a time when the actress will be thrown upon
her own resources, either in the matter of re-
jection or selection of a story. She must be
able to put her finger on what she considers a
vital defect in some narrative that appeals to
the editor, or discover for him good points in
some other story against which he is preju-
diced.
In any event it will be extremely hazardous
not to participate as much as possible in the
business of deciding upon the play.
Nothing is so vital as a good story. Even
when poorly acted it will be of greater appeal
than a well played scenario of no merit. Mo-
tion picture actresses prosper almost in exact
ratio to the inherent worth of their scenarios.
At first this story matter will not greatly
concern the tyro. But as the beginner finds
himself or herself slowly crawling up the lad-
der to stardom he or she will do well to think
often upon the type of story to be preferred if
given a chance to star.
By this process the beginner will be visual-
izing himself in a role. Of a certain his most
pleasant visualization will be the role in which
he feels that he would be at his best. In such
a way, when the chance comes, the star may
108 SCREEN ACTING
know exactly the story he or she will fit per-
fectly.
Once the story is decided upon there are
many ways to bring to it genuine color. In
several of my early plays Mr. Griffith sent me
down into the New York slums on an "observa-
tion tour." We all made such tours. In "In-
tolerance" I visited sick and stricken mothers
in baby hospitals. We spent a half-day once
in a jail observing the characters therein.
It is always important in acting to show a
thing as it is, not as we think it ought to be,
and for that reason these "observation tours"
are of great benefit.
CHAPTER XI
Mr. Griffith and some of his methods of direction
What everyone associated with the screen
owes to him About patience.
I HAVE planned all along to dedicate this
chapter to Mr. David Wark Griffith, and now
that I have arrived at it, I find that my pen is
unequal to the task. No mere chapter, nor
book, could undertake to tell Mr. Griffith's im-
portance to motion pictures. The things that
he has accomplished in the past ten years, in-
variably in the face of great odds, almost pass
belief.
For Mr. Griffith I have the strong and mixed
feeling that the child has for its benefactor, or
the student for a beloved preceptor. At an
age now where I can more appreciate the many
trials that he endured I look back fondly to
those days when Mary Pickford, Blanche
Sweet, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Robert Har-
ron, and myself were beginning our careers
and at the same time founding what has come
to be known as the Griffith school.
109
110 SCREEN ACTING
Nor were we all. If the list of actresses,
actors and directors who spent the formulative
days of their screen careers with Mr. Griffith
were compiled I believe it would be found to
include many of those who have reached the
heights. Mr. George Loane Tucker, Mr.
Thomas Ince, Mr. Marshall Neilan and Mr.
Raoul Walsh, to name but four, were directors
that he started on the road to success.
Those were the days of the old Biograph. I
am sure they were of the happiest that any of
us ever have spent. We made two-reelers then.
But we made good two-reelers. And the guid-
ing genius of the organization was Mr. Griffith,
tireless in his quest for something new, some-
thing big, something that would expand and
elevate this new art to which he had pledged
his very soul.
His energy in those days, just as it is now,
was astounding. Traveling from New York
to Los Angeles not long ago, I happened to
meet aboard the train Mr. Griffith's private
secretary.
"He seems never so unhappy," she said, "as
when he is taking a day off. He mopes around
the studio, hands in his pockets, with an air
almost comical. It is as though he were
silently resenting such foolishness as days off."
With this energy I remember those early
days best for Mr. Griffith's infinite patience.
I can truly say that he had the patience to make
us succeed. He never despaired no matter how
SCREEN ACTING 111
backward we might be. He kept at us con-
stantly to bring out the best that was in us.
And even on those extraordinary occasions
when he seemed to lose patience usually when
we had worn his nerves to a frazzle we al-
ways had that wonderful feeling that he was
intensely loyal to all of us.
Those were the days when in addition to
schooling us to pictures Mr. Griffith was con-
stantly experimenting with such things as
close-ups, fade-outs, etc., that were to revolu-
tionize the entire picture drama and lift it
above the atmosphere of the nickelodeon.
For he did lift it. And he is still lifting it.
Not only those privileged few of us who con-
sider ourselves of the Griffith school are in-
debted to his genius. Every actress, or actor,
or director, on the screen today, who has a
weekly salary that runs into three figures, can
thank Mr. Griffith for making motion pictures
big and prosperous enough to so recompense
them.
It is not the money that Mr. Griffith has
made possible, but the dignity that he put into
this new art for which we are most beholden
to him. Motion pictures were lightly held until
"The Birth of a Nation" shook an entire con-
tinent and showed the deep significance and
possibilities of the screen art.
It took the courage of the born fighter and
worlds of confidence to put on such a picture as
"The Birth of a Nation." For here at one step
112 SCREEN ACTING
he was doing the unheard of thing, the thing
almost everyone in the profession said was im-
possible. But it wasn't impossible to Mr.
Griffith. He did it.
He has continued to do things just as fine.
And if there is one fault to which the most of
us are addicted it is that we have come to ex-
pect more than is humanly possible of this
patient, humble genius.
In my correspondence I am often asked
many questions regarding Mr. Griffith's man-
ner of directing. Wherein is it different from
other directors ? Wherein does it excel ? How
is it possible to become associated with him?
Can he make anyone a star? And so on.
These questions are, in a way, difficult to
answer. So far as I know Mr. Griffith pos-
sesses no magic lamp by which he makes a star
out of anyone. It is not any one quality
unless it be patience but a combination of
many that make him the foremost of our
directors.
Mr. Griffith is extremely human. There is
no unnecessary flourish, or blowing of trum-
pets, about his manner of direction. That has
the simplicity of true greatness. He never
lords it over his players as I have seen some
directors do. He is kindly, sympathetic and
understanding.
Perhaps we are about to do a very vital
scene. Mr. Griffith tilts back in his chair he
Mr. Griffith, at the left, directing a scene in
"Intolerance."
SCREEN ACTING 115
has a manner of directing while seated and
may say to the actress :
"You understand this situation. Now let us
see what you would do with it."
Here is a direct challenge. The actress is
put upon her metal. After giving the matter
careful consideration she plays the scene after
her own idea. If she does it well no one is
quicker in his praise than Mr. Griffith. If
otherwise, no one is more kindly in pointing
out the flaws.
In other words, Mr. Griffith gives the actress
a chance. How different from other directors
I have seen. They might say under the same
circumstances :
"You understand this situation. Now here
is the way to do it. Follow me closelly."
With that the director will proceed to act
out a scene according to his notion of how a
woman would conduct herself under given cir-
cumstances. The flaw in this is obviously that
a man and woman have a way of acting differ-
ently in the same situation and Mr. Griffith, by
letting the actress show what she would do, is
shrewd enough to profit by Nature. Our self-
sufficient director, on the other hand, wants us
to act only as a man would think a woman
ought to act in a given situation.
In this way Mr. Griffith draws out the best
that is in his players, and, by seeming to de-
pend upon them to stand upon their own feet,
maintains an enthusiasm among his players
116 SCREEN ACTING
a sort of big family spirit that I never have
seen equalled in any other studio.
I hope no one understands me to say that the
actress, under Mr. Griffith, has the say of how
she shall act. Quite the contrary ! No one has
a way of bringing a player more abruptly to
his or her senses when he or she is unquali-
fiedly in the wrong.
And no matter how well we think we have
outlined a scene Mr. Griffith may entirely
change it. When he does change it we know
it is for a reason other than a fondness for
showing authority. In other words, he has
built up among his artists a great and abiding
faith in his ability to do the right thing at the
right time, or, as importantly, have it done.
For another thing, Mr. Griffith is big enough
not to be small about receiving suggestions.
His people know that, with the result that they
are always thinking up something to put into
a scene that has not been written there. He
listens attentively to these suggestions, even
though he knows in advance that he probably
cannot use one in a hundred of them. Yet that
one may be important enough to balance the
patience expended in listening to the other
ninety-nine.
To illustrate:
In "The Birth of a Nation," when the Cam-
eron house was being mobbed by frenzied
negroes and the family had barricaded itself
in the cellar it was a matter of some moment
SCREEN ACTING 117
how the little sister, which part I was for-
tunate enough to play, would be affected.
I can hear your average director :
"Roll your eyes," he would say. "Cry! Drop
to your knees in terror."
In other words, it would be the same old
stuff. It is this same old stuff that makes so
many pictures positively deadly. The least
that can be said about this conventional style
of doing things is that, if it cannot be criticized,
neither can it be applauded.
Mr. Griffith, when we came to the cellar
scene, asked me if there had ever been a time
in my life when I had been filled with terror.
"Yes," I said.
"What did you do?" he inquired.
"I laughed," I answered.
He saw the point immediately.
"Good," he said. "Let's try it."
It was the hysterical laugh of the little girl
in the cellar, with the drunken mob raging
above, that was, I am sure, far more effective
than rolling the eyes or weeping would have
been.
Mr. Griffith is quick to appreciate the invol-
untary action of one of his actresses while a
scene is being played or rehearsed. As for
instance, in the court room scene in "Intoler-
ance" ("The Mother and the Law") when I
began unconsciously to wring my handkerchief
and press it to my face.
"Good," he said, "keep it up!"
118 SCREEN ACTING
We are gratified when Mr. Griffith accepts
any suggestion for business, etc., for we know
he has a fine sense of distinction and, for every
idea we give him, he returns a hundred.
This system of suggestion extends beyond
the players to the mechanical department with
the result that camera men and assistants, as
well as assistant directors, are always on the
alert for something new. They know their
suggestion will be given due consideration.
And for that reason to Mr. Griffith and his
staff we owe credit for most of the new inven-
tions of telling a story by pictures. This di-
rector is as expert in the mechanics of his art
as he is bold in story conception.
We are familiar with that smoky, hazy,
beautiful close-up that Mr. "Billy" Bitzer in-
vented by using gauze or placing the camera
slightly out of focus. In some recent pictures
bearing the "D. G." stamp I have seen some
beautiful blue values that I have not elsewhere
observed.
I find the space allotted to this chapter begin-
ning to dwindle with a sense of having left
unsaid so many important and interesting
things about this wonderful director and his
methods. But someday someone will set down
the true estimate of the man who has done so
much for the picture drama. And Time will
write it even larger.
Many of us are deeply indebted to Mr.
Griffith and none of us owe that which can be
SCREEN ACTING 119
repaid. For he gave us of his genius and per-
sonality and for these there is no return coin.
Other directors I have had of many experi-
ences and varied training. Sometimes we have
succeeded and sometimes we have failed, and
success is made only the more sweet by taste of
failure. But whether we failed or succeeded
we know, all of us, that we did our level best.
That is something.
In the matter of public acknowledgement
the stage has never been so kind to its directors
as the screen. We think of Belasco, Hopkins,
Cohan, not forgetting Mr. Oliver Morosco,
and are almost done.
But on the screen, to name a few of many,
there are the De Milles, with their uncanniness
in seeming to make the screen talk; Tucker,
with his painstaking thoroughness and ability
to limn the separate values of a story ; Neilan,
with his quality of gay, unexpectedness ; Tour-
neur, with his grand manner of picturization ;
Dwan, with his workman-like comprehension;
Fitzmaurice, with his ability to make every
scene beautiful as a painting; Walsh, with his
all-around cleverness all these are famous,
and there are more.
No medium has equalled the screen in its
kindness to those who do creditable work.
Witness, for instance, our camera aristocracy.
While I have ridden faster than seventy
120 SCREEN ACTING
miles an hour in an automobile, have been
"ducked" in lakes, rivers, and oceans two of
them have braved the wintry blasts of New
England until I thought I was frozen, and
done scenes with tigers, bears and lions, I have
never feared greatly for my personal safety
nor need the beginner.
In really dangerous scenes "doubles" acro-
bats, trick jumpers, bareback riders, animal
trainers, etc. dress in feminine garb to re-
semble the star, assume the role being played
and risk death or danger for so many dollars
a day. The star's services are too valuable to
the producer for him to allow her to take any
unnecessary chances.
CHAPTER XII
Opportunity for home life of motion picture actress
Los Angeles and New York as production
centers Screen morals and such.
IN THIS final chapter I shall try to say some-
thing about the home life of the motion picture
actress. In general actresses are of two
classes: those who act both on and off the
screen, and those who confine their efforts
merely to the studio.
The first class is not particularly open to
censure. For, unless I am mistaken, the public
desires to see its actresses act on an average of
sixteen out of twenty-four hours. One friend
of mine, a star, stoutly maintains that she
would not go to the theater in anything except
the most up-to-date garb and a conspicuous
car! Why? Because otherwise there would
be sure to be many who would be disappointed
in her! If there is anything funny about this
it is that it is somewhat true.
Actresses, as public favorites, maintain a
peculiar position, as Gil Bias points out, some-
where between royalty and the citizen without
121
122 SCREEN ACTING
being of either. The public seems to feel some-
thing of pride when it points out some glitter-
ing dreadnaught of an automobile, conspicuous
for color or equipment, and says, "There goes
Dolly Twinkletoes!"
Personally I have never had this inclination
to act both "off and on." I am afraid, having
been of a large family, I should have found it
extremely difficult even had I the inclination.
A number of sisters, and a brother or two, are
a fine cure for any tendency to undue im-
portance.
And now that I have an especially charm-
ing daughter, and am happily married, I must
really be set down as a conservative. That
baby of mine! Being detained beyond hours
at the studio one night I hurried home to see
her before she was tucked in bed, having no
time to take off my make up. She gazed at
me as though she were beholding a ghost or a
total stranger!
A Chicago picture critic once gave me such
advice as I think fit to pass on to those who
think of the screen as a career. "Save the pen-
nies," she said, "they can always be spent if
you have them."
Yet how many, with a splendid opportunity,
do not save ! Then some day they wake up and
find their golden chance gone. As an old
philosopher has pointed out, we, who find
money so easy at times, must guard against in-
temperance and folly.
SCREEN ACTING 123
But this is not a sermon. We live up in the
beautiful California mountains. There, in a
colonial house on a small acreage, with flower
and vegetable gardens, Airedales, chickens, a
car, a cow, and a cat, I have a feeling of sub-
stantial worth-while happiness and that is the
kind that counts.
Indeed, one of the best things about motion
pictures is that it permits of a home life. The
actress in vaudeville or on tour, or even on
Broadway with the uncertainty of the length
of runs, never has any surety where she will
be on the morrow. We, in motion pictures,
are fortunate enough to sign contracts that
usually call for a year or more work in one city
and that New York or Los Angeles. This, I
should say, is one of the most advantageous
things about the screen as contrasted with the
spoken drama. There are many others.
Since Los Angeles and New York are the
two centers of the motion picture industry each
has its staunch advocates as to suitability, etc.
In any group of actresses and actors this will
usually be the topic of a lively discussion. Per-
sonally I like Los Angeles. At a dinner that I
attended some time ago the head of a big dis-
tributing company, who is interesting for his
shrewd observations, said there had never been
a really great picture done in New York City.
"For the entire atmosphere of life there," he
continued, "is too superficial."
I agree with him. Los Angeles is friendly
124 SCREEN ACTING
and natural. Its climate is only one of its
many virtues.
The screen actress will be called upon to
meet the people of the press. Interviews are
important. She will find that the number of
them will usually be determined by the degree
of success of her newest screen play. As for
screen writers, one will discover them, in the
majority, keen, sympathetic and altogether de-
lightful. No one need have the dread of com-
ing in contact with them that I originally had ;
nor resort to the subterfuges to evade them.
I was very young then.
Public appearance is another factor the
screen has to deal with and sometimes I think
this is rather overdone. During the separate
campaigns for the sale of Liberty Bonds all of
us tried to do our share. While I never hope
to be able to make a speech, I find that the
anticipation of being expected to do so fills me
with greater terror than actually being called
upon.
I believe it is a good idea for the actress to
cultivate some companion art. In between
productions, or during an enforced vacation,
she will have something then as an ofT-set to
mere indolence. I have been interested in
sculpture for many years, and I have an ambi-
tion to do something in it that will be of real
value. If I don't, the ambition will have been
of real value, for it has assisted in providing
I
J
*
5:
SCREEN ACTING 127
me with many happy and instructive hours.
That is the main thing.
The study of another art is interesting, too,
because we immediately perceive in its form
and substance the truth of the saying that all
arts are one. Sculpture is a matter of repres-
sion and emphasis just as acting is. And when
I am doing the figure of my baby, or modeling
from life, I am startled to find that my errors,
in their way, are akin to the errors of the be-
ginning actress.
There may have existed at one time a silly
idea that actresses shouldn't marry; that it
hurt their box-office value, destroyed an illu-
sion, etc. As though actresses were not
women ! Most of my actress friends are mar-
ried and glad of it. Almost without exception
those who have gone highest in the profession
are married. The public has invariably been
pleased about it.
I should recommend any young actress to a
suitable husband. It will give her a better and
deeper insight into life and broaden her sym-
pathy. There is something a little pitiable,
something that doesn't ring quite true, about
the actress too ready to boast of her star-
spangled freedom.
I have often been asked about the morals of
motion pictures. Will someone tell me why
we, all of us, are so deeply concerned with our
neighbor's morals? And when we find them
not all that could be desired are we filled with
128 SCREEN ACTING
sorrow and the wish to effect an honest reform,
or with a sort of unholy joy and a desire to
spread scandal?
It has been my observation that in motion
pictures a girl can be as good as she wants to
be. In that way our profession is identical
with others. It is true that the glamour of the
screen has attracted people who would be unde-
sirable in any business or profession. But we
should recognize them as such and never mis-
take them as representing the entire profes-
sion.
The majority of those who succeed in motion
pictures do so by honest work. That means
long hours and application. I doubt if the av-
erage successful business man puts in as much
time or as high-tension effort as the picture
actress, actor or director who gets somewhere.
My friends are of that kind. They are too
busy to worry unnecessarily over what the pub-
lic may think of motion picture morals. They
assume only to regulate their own conduct.
I have enjoyed doing this book. From time
to time I have been forced to drop my work
upon the urgent appeal of my eighteen-months'
old daughter. She has gorgeous blue eyes with
lashes long as twilight shadows. Her cheeks
are exquisitely pink and her little mouth is like
a rose-bud in spring. Her name is Mary. She
has brought me worlds of undreamed of hap-
piness.
SCREEN ACTING 129
Someday Mary may want to go upon the
screen. Even now she acts before the long
mirror. If she can, in any way, secure her
mother's hat she gives a complete performance.
My blessed baby!
When the time has arrived for her to start
upon her career I shall place my little book in
her hands and say :
"There is the most and the best that I knew
about the screen back in those old-fashioned
days of 1921."
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