Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-01-04
SCREEN IS PITFALL
 FOR MANY STARS 0F
 STAGE, SAYSLYTELL
Many FavOrites of FOOtlights Fail Before the
 Films
By Bert Lvtell.

By Bert Lytell.
 This and many other valuable things 1 learned during the time l operated my own stock compa- ny in Albany, New York. One ad- ditional matter of Special import ance which caiI:t to my attention solely because of my position as producer and director, as well as lead, was the observance of otll- CT players work from a purely critical standpoint. So situated, came to gauge the value of oth- ers' work, from the individual standard to that of the mass.
 l studied each member of the cast carefully, placing them in my mind according to their merit in the individual and the mass eff fleets. I thus detected what 1 felt to be errors and faults, and strove in very way to promote condition of things which would be for the good. and the best good, if I may use the term, of the whole.
 Understand, this is the train- ing underwent ill preparation for my work on the screen, what am doing today. don't say that all of it is necessary for any one aspiring to film fame, but I do say that it has been of tremeu- dous aid to me in my past and present work before the camera I can not feel that without it 1 should have attained the same re- suits. 1 am reaping the harvest of that very preliminary train ing today, which is but part of the reason l am so earnestly enthusi- astic in recommending it to others. After my experience in stock appeared on Broadway in many productions, until I co-starred with Irene Fenwick in "Mary's Ankle" This was just prior to my desertion of the stage for pic lures, which followed directly af- ter. I received an offer from Her bert Brenon to star in his pro- duction, "The Lone Wolf" and at once burned all of my theatri. cal brides behind me and en. tered pictures with the resolution of making good in them in tho sense that regular film stars hae made good, or jumping off Brook lyn Bridge.
 But the pictures were an en tirely new mileau to me, and had no idea, not even the small est, how I would go in them. N one has. And frequently brIl liantly capable men and women o the stage fail lamentably whe, they appear in pictures. Late on, I shall endeavor to offer possible explanation of this, How ever, I was "booked" for the pic lures, and it was up to me, I re alized, to make good all ovc again, in a sphere which ] ha only seen and heard about, but ha never tried.
 Sensitive to failure, as I was it will be easy to understand wh I had reason to take stock of m trade. and clean up the shop.
 did about day of hard thinkin in which I reviewed the past an the agencies by which I had com to my present estate I had mad good on the stage, l reasoned, br for what reason?
 Whatever success l had achieve through my voice and my powe of reading lines, I realized, mu. be at once deducted from my tt tai of assets. They were utterl of no value on the screen. Nor over, whatever else I had in ii way of portraying and compel E ing emotion through the expre sion of my face and eyes. and tl movement of my arms and shou ders. was completely all I hs which would be of help to me making me success on the scree
 With this balance struck off, was able to formulate some def mite schedule. I went over in n mind different roles l had play in the past. which l could st remember. and tried to transla them into terms of the scree Alone in my apartment, we through the roles mentally. stri ing meanwhile to portray the rp meaning of the lines through t expression of the face and t movement of the body. The diff culties began to crop up, one 2 ter another, and in casting abo for a means of overcoming the I began to realize the differe standard of values that applies
 the screen in contrast to | stage.