New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-17
The New Matinee Idol.

We had supposed that the matinee girI
no longer existed that feminlsm, strld-
ing onward, had cured her, gush, candy
and all. of her one-time infatuatlons. We
had. in short. drifting along with our own
generation. assumed her passing with that
of the matinee idols Of our younger days,
when the sting Of jealousy was often our
only reward for taking Her to the theatre.
She would talk of nothing but him all the
way home. the glamour persisting in her
racing imagination long after the lost
curtain had fallen. In vain we sometimes
protested that at that very moment he
was washing off the grease-paint or pro
saically ordering supper at his club.
1t is iniudicious to confront the dreams
of maidenhood with common sense. How
ever. these idols Of yore, grown older
with US. have gone on and up, or have
disappeared. We remember the "Favvy'
Of those days with indifference-as mat
inee idol dangerous to our peace OF mind.
Rassondyl- Hackett has grown rich; and it
is years since we listened to a fresh young
voice raving over Captain Letterblair's
lovely eyes. We listen unmoved nowadays
when the wife of our bosom remarks how
well John Drew wears his clothes, and
can't we find out who his tailor is?
We began by talking about the matinee
girl. BY natural transition we have
continued to talk of her one-time idols.
Have younger men taken their places?
We had doubted it. Not but that we
have plenty of handsome, graceful young
actors nowadays; but we had thought that
their place in the regards and the feel
ngs of the modern young girl had
changed along with the momentous change
in her. Then, again, the modern drama,
such as it is, had seemed TO US not con
ducive to the creation of Illusions, OF
alterations from afar, of brushes. Young
heroes defying the conspiracy of silence
with every speech they make, busily re-
forming this scheme of things entire, So
cial, financial political, hygienic and
what not. between the hours of two to
five. twice a week, had not appeared to
Us to appeal to young romance. The mat
inee idol, we had concluded, had fallen
victim to the drama of exposure, reform,
uplift And, in consequence, the matinee
girl, apart from the influence of femnism,
had died of hamilton.
We are rambling. We know it. We
are taking long time to come TO the
point. but that is because we are attempt
ing to readjust our viewpoint. For we
Rave made discovery-twO in fact. The
matinee idolator, is not extinct; from
which it follows logically that the matinee
idol. too, is still with us. Only he, and
consequently she, have turned up in
new field, the moving picture theatre
One more signal victory for the new art!
Listen to Pearl Gaddis in "The Southern
Womans Magazine" Would you like to
know. she asks, why girls leave home at
all hours to 90 to the movies? The an
swer is: Earl Metcalfe. He is a movie
play jetne PREMIER Not having known
of him we humbly confess ourselves un-
known. We had heard of Charlie Chap
l. lin, but we would never have sought the
new matinee idol on the screen. Yet here
he is, believe Pearl Gaddis, 'mush notes"
and all. Earl is a fine fellow, who hates
that sort of thing. In proof whereof he
showed his interviewer one Of the notes,
chivarousy shielding its fair writer's
name Sounds familiar, does it not? No
further proof is needed.