Arizona republican., 1921-05-21
LEGITIMATE STAGE
 COMES FIRST WITH
 HENRY B. WALTHALL

Give Henry B. Walthall the spoken drama every time- Reduce his sal ary if you will, relegate him to some inferior character in the cast. but leave him behind the gliTmer of the footlights from where he can peer out upon his audience to see and to feel its appreciation of his work.
 To ''the little colonel of D. W. Griffiths immortal screen work 'The Birth of a Nation" there is something more in the life of performer than fame. name or fortune. And that "something more' is the satisfaction that comes with appreciation of ones efforts. To know and to feel that he has scored" with his audience is more satisfaction, in the eyes of MT. Walthall, than pay envelope damned full with gold pieces.
 These views were expressed by MT. Walthall in his dressing room at the Elks theater last night. He spoke freely of his professional career on stage and screen and gave his reasons for preference of the Legitimate"
 T feel very grateful, indeed. to the moving picture, for it established my reputation overnight-it accomplished in a day that which I had been striving years to do, prove my ability to the managers and playgoers of the nation.
 Tt furthermore provided me with a name among the theatrical people of the land. It paved the way for nae to go in and trade on my work in Griffith's masterpiece, to demand a place among the performers of the land and to demand a reasonable re- turn on my labors.
 Prrt fret laGt and all ways, the spoken drama. Give me a place where I can see my audience and watch their faces as I perform, see the smile or the tear come with the characterization of a dramatic hole
 "The camera is senseless thing. It has no sentiment It never smiles or weeps, but just keeps grinding out the celluloid. Mighty little satisfac- tion comes to the worker from sucb lifeless thing. Sometimes l wonder der how a performer can do his best under such circumstances. Ofttimes I am amazed at the dramatic power of the screen production. The movie, like all other amuse- ments, is suffering only a temporary depression in the opinion of MT Walthall. It has so firmly entrenched l itself in the American household, he thinks, that it will soon regain its l foothold when conditions become normal.
 But the day of the million dollar
 productions has passed, he said Never again will the industry launch upon such an orgy of extravaganza
 as that which marked the height oi 1 its power in 191S-1919. Like all other industries, it has profited by it's ex- perience during the infancy of its l development.
 l a period of readjustment. It must Nothing could long survive o such scale, he declared. When the mo- | tion picture industry does come back 1 it will be on sane and solid basis There will be more business manage ment, more conservatism. Money will be paid where it Is earned and belongs Million dollar. salaries will not exist, even in the minds of the press agents.
 NO. the screen can never replace the spoken drama" MT. Walthall said in response to question as tc whether he thought film plays would not gradually force legitimate pro- ductions into the discard.
 "The screen probably will never again attain the popularity it held il 191S-19-20. In those years legitimat' offerings, especially road shows, hat reached the zero period. Exorbitan
 salaries, prohibitive railroad rate and other costs made road show few and far between; drove them t cover, as it were. The public natur ally took to the next best thing in tn theatrical line, the movie.
 Conditions are gradually rightini
 themselves. Theatrical men are plan
 ming to put many shows on the roa,
 next fall The result must, of neces
 sity, be a loss of popularity to th
 screen palys: return of favor to tn
 spoken drama