New-York tribune., 1919-06-29
George FitSmaurice Is
A Dashing Director

, domestic ballads, "The Married Co.
quette." The name stayed with us, be-
cause of Mr.. Roses odd pronunciation.
He said "cokewet"
"Now, Arthur" said Mr.. Garrick at
the crucial moment, "for the big scene,
all intensity, all passion, all animal.
Grab her, hold her, kiss her at least
three times, and at the last kiss, hold"
Mr. Ashley proceeded to execute this
command with such violence that he
bit mouthful of pearls out of Miss
De Felices jewelled filet. This seemed
to satisfy Mr.. Garrick, but he was far
from pleased with the scenes that fol-
lowed. He began to behave like Con-
ductor Creatore in his most inspired
moments. His energy tired US and we
departed
1t was with this memory of a di-
rector that we arrived at the Famous
Players studio last Wednesday morn
ing to interview George Fitzmaurice.
We had chosen a dirctor partly be-
cause we liked the name and partly
because we have decided to keep our
present collection of leading men in
taet until the autumn.
We received rather dubious well
come In fact, no one was to be seen,
and had it not been for persistent
telephone bell we might have come and
gone. Don't know him from Adam"
cried a brusque young man as he hung
up the receiver and dartcd through the
street door, A young woman also pro-
fessed never to have heard of either
the great Fitzmaurice or the Players
publicity man, who had made the ap-
pointment. Things looked desperate,
when grouchy old man, apparently
first cousin to all the stage doormen in
town, said: Come this way They're
waiting for you"
Picking our way over water pipes,
gondolas and a miscellaneous collection
OF props" we noticed in one corner
blond young man talking to a dash
ing and debonnair looking individual
IN gorgeous sport clothes.
ooh, yes" we thought THAT must
be the leading man and the villain"
But the leading man turned out to
be Mr.. MacFarland, the studio publicity
, expert, whose handsome Da,' as thew
say in the Irish Theatre, is city editor
"a fox 70
lain was Mr.. Ftzmaurice The con-
trast between our first and second di-
rector was electrifyng. Of course, one
explanation is that Mr.. Fitzmaurice d.
reefs Miss Elsie Ferguson. Then, too.
he was born in France and once spent
SIX years in India. He is we'll set up
with a bronzed complexion and very
black hair. He combines the suavity
and elegance of Frenchman with the
mysterious aloofness of an Oriental.
"lt was very sweet of you to break
into your day like this" he said with
just the suggestion of a foreign ac-
cent.
Then he told us that he had broken
into the movies" by writing scenarios.
When he was director for the Pathe
company he gave Pearl White her first
I job, at far from muniicent salary.
Now he has directed six pictures for
Miss Ferguson. The first of these.
"The Avalanche" will be shown for
the first time at the Rivoli Theatre
this afternoon. His pet idea as a d-
rector is to introduce foreign setting
into every picture. He believes it helps
to create tmosphere. This theory, of
course, explained the elaborate Ven
etian scene which occupied the greater
part of the studio
When he had also told US that his
wife, Ouida Bergere, collaborates with
him on scenarios, that heart interest
and simplicity are the two leading es-
sentials for perfect film story, and
that he did hope the H. C. l.. would
not soar any higher because he had
lot of puppies and they require untold
quantities of food there seemed to be
nothing more to say. Young Mr.. Mac
Farland didn't help us out. So there
was nothing to do but go. And we re-
GREETED our firm manner with the press
agent, who wanted us to have tea with
Mr.. Fitzmaurice. That would have
taken longer. AS it was we were not
,t,x,,