Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-26

lie dreams of youth! Who has the
heart to crush such beautiful, rides
cent imagininss? I have seen as many
cases of their coming true as of their
failure to materialize; and to para
phrase a famous line it is better to
have dreamed and lost than never to
have dreamed at all.
But there is great difference be-
tween one big, constructive dream that
exclusively occupies the mind and "A
whim held for little while, only to
be replaced by another one.
Ii l can judge by the many letters
from young girls 1 receive, the fav
orite, obsessing dream of girlhood to-
day is that of being a great movie
actress.
One girl writes me- Il am TAX
ms a commercial course in school. 1
get good marks in everything, but
when l finish and go to be a stem
ographer l know I shall never be in
terested in my work. l cannot keep
my mind on my books. l am not in
| love, but l want to oe a movie star.
| | saw Miss Pickford in a play the
| other evening, and / know l could have
taken a part like that in picture and
| proved a success. All my life l have
| hoped and longed to go on the stage.
There are thousands of girls all over
| the country, my dear, who are dream
! ing the same dream. But they can
not of course, AL be great screen stars.
! Perhaps a few of the number will
| be. but very, very few. The percent
/ age of successes will be extremely tiny
when you consider the multitude of as
| pirantS. And what is the reason?
At first glance the answer would
seem to be that the chosen few are
either lucky above their fellows, or
else that exceptional opportunities
came their way.
But what is luck, good or bad? II
We could get at the secret mental pro
cesses of people we should find the
answer. Their inward vision - what
Plato called the eye of the soul
is turned unwaveringly in a certain di'
rection, either toward disaster or sue
cess. They hold, perhaps without be-
ing completely aware of it, a menta
picture of themselves which will in.
evitably come into manifestation.
The opportunity comes to them be
cause there is something in them
! selves which has created it,
Let us say that thousand girls
are, like yourself, longing to be screen
stars. The large proportion of them
are merely looking at results. They
argue this way
i II am prettier than many of the
movie actresses. l am graceful !
can dance and ride and swim and
skate l know l could act. So why
shouldn't 1 use my talents in the pic
tures and got the rewards, the large
salaries, the beautiful clothes, the APP
plause of the world?"
! But - and you know there are us
t..ll ll,- tot Of C n 10
way of every achievement - beauti-
ful people do not always photograph
| beautifully; and for screen purposes
your photographs must, so to speak,
60 na;ure one better.
You must not only be graceful. but
have the art of plastic poses. And are
you sure that you possess that undo
fined and indefnable gift of screen
magnetism? t s The fundamental of
all success in the pictures. 1t is some
rare. vibrant, electric quality which is
absolutely necessary, and, lacking it,
all your other charms are as dust
Also, have you the power to express
all human emotions? Certainly" you
.tand before the mirror and begin to
register" hope, fear, joy, grief, etc.
1t is highly probable that you are
| merely making faces.
y great actress does not comfort her
features nor grimace. She conveys the
effect of emotion. How? All. do not
ask me. That is the secret of her
genius. perfected by experience and
hard work.
l am not writing this to discourage
you OF any one From the ranks of
tie thousands of girls who to-day
cream of this career will step forth the
actresses of the stage and screen of
tc-morreow. But of the many who
feel called very few will be chosen. To
this infnitesimal minority the gates of
iron will swing open.
So it is a good thing to pause now
and then in your dreaming and con-