The sun., 1916-11-12

automobiles and aerop.anes, and says
one Of the tragedies Of her life Is when
PLAYING on the road she must travel
| on the Twentieth Century Limited and
! other trains. She longs for the Gays
| OF the dangers OF the stage coach.
"Only Mr.. Belasco," said Miss Mere
dith the other day In her charming
dressing room in the Belasco Theatre.
would have dared to cast me for the
part of Lily Trevor in Seven Chances
II is a strange thing that although |
I'm by inclination peculiarly fitted to
play just such a part. / have never
feen considered as a character actress
although l have played what | might
call 'characteriza.Ions.' For instance.
in The Love Leech' ! was the siren
type. a difficult, erratic person to por-
tray. In Mrs. Dot with Billie Burke
took the role Of a seventeen-ycar-old
girl. and 50 on. but only Mr.. Belasco
has seen In me the romantic type. AL
most always I have been cast for brill.
liant comedy roles or very emotiona!
parts.
1T Is a curious thing how produc-
ing managers, who are supposed. II
any one. to have the seeing eye. seem
TO judge a cir. by the way she looks
IN her street clothes when she goes
TO apply for q part. Very few Of them
are able to mentally take down her
hair, dress 1t In an entirely different
style and change u clothes to an
entirely different period.
When ! applied for the role Of
LtNy Treror I wore the smartest stree,
suit possessed. and yet Mr.. Bclascn
with his eye for color. line and form.
said TO me: You will be Just the one
for this role, and you must wear
loose, flowing Grecian lines with your
hair straight back on your forehead
THE first time I read the part
wore an old medieval red gown that
! love, and II seemed to throw me at
once into the atmosphere OF the part,
for l believe clothes have a decided
psychological effect on the actress.
Mr.. Belasco seemed to understand this,
At once. and readily gave his consent
to my designing my own costume for
Seven Chances"
Although Miss Meredith IL senti-
mentality itself. still living as one
might say In the fifteenth or sixteenth
century, mentally she is thoroughly ur
to date. Her ~incongrulty In hel.evinu
In woman's enfranchisement and writ
Ing short stories on feminism ant
women's progressiveness, while at the
same time in her heart loving thu
days when women were locked up II
castles and allowed to see no out,
s!ders while their husbands were ~
to the war, only adds to her charm
! Here IL n most forCoful and most un.
| usual personality. There is ahul, he,
n certain fcarlessncss Of what other,
mi think, that, coupled with a pie.
turesque Quaintness, makes this com
posite "old fashioned" girl. plus TWEEN
t.eth century suffraCette, one of tn,
most unique characters ON the prcsen
= day stage,
3 Maude Turner Gordon, who plays tn
role Of a Jealous wife in William Col
lier's company, has discovered n ney
r method Of advertising the farce nov
playing in the Longacre Theatre. Sew
eral weeks ago she obtained permission
I from her manager, II II. Frazee, to &C
cept an engagement with n local mo
r tlon picture company and she was as
r signed to the part OF a mother to tn
young movie star. Not unlike the rrs
G act stage setting OF Nothing but tn,
= Truth" the movie story required
3 large portrait Of George Washington
e Miss Gordon as a mother and a sur
~fragette was posing as the latter in
scene requiring an emphatic speech Il
I a big mol Of nm She had no lines
but the director told her to improvis
and make the action strong. Where
= upon Miss Gordon pointing to the por
$ trait of George Washington. addresse,
O the meeting as follows: Ladies', Their
IL a portrait of a great and noble mar
q illnstrious in II history. a facsimile q
which Is used In the first act OF Moth
ing but the Truth a great big success
. in which William Collier, the star. ha
the best part he ever played. We ar
= now In our second month at the Long
= acre Theatre. matinccs Wednesday
8 and At this point Miss Gordo'
T. was interrupted by the camera man.
II At the Longacre Theatre last nigh
Miss Gordon was still trying to evolv
- some scheme whereby the name Of he
attractions could he used In some @
the titles Of the picture.