New-York tribune., 1921-03-13

This is an excerpt from a lettes
written from the Coast to Leonore Cof-
fee, former scenario writer for Clara
Kimball Young: "It may interest you to
know that yesterday morning while at
the Metro here, Miss Mathis, being
terribly rushed, invited me to sit
.nrough film with her in the projec-
we saw the titles were by you. My
fidelity was completely conquered.
And I told her about you. And she
liked your work. And the picture was
Tho Little Fool nee The Little Lady
of the Big House, by Jack London.
And we exclaimed over the exquisite
photography. And everything.
There is one bit. however, that l
think she'll change and you'll probably
hear from her about 1t. 1t has to do
derstand what kept Dick and Evan
from the party that night Cor similar),
and then the action that was flashed
Immediately after that was the two
men talking by tae fire. OF course,
to US in the projection room what was
signified was obvious, but Miss Mathis
said it was not necessary to bring in
the name Of Paula at all
"She is wonderful woman; one is
with her. With the FIVE or six see
narios she has to toll over at once, she
still has time for her kind word for
everybody and her accessibility to help
others. I don't believe there is an
other person in the field to-day who
has as keen continuity sense. because
hers Is the eliminative sense and the
emphatic one. She's apt to say aloud
We've sat through reel and half
how much of the story has been told %
Ono can waste neither words, time nor
money with her"
The day the letter was posted an as
signment came to write about Miss
Mathis" Only one column, though,
and a biographical volume could
easily be compiled. To briefly brush
across her career, however, it is to be
said that the expert who managed the
man-sized job Of adapting the Blasco
Of which is shown at the Lyric Theater
tonight, was once the leading lady for
"Brewster's Millions" and the mis-
chievous soubrette in Julian Eltinge's
THE Fascinating Widow" She comes
from the West was a stage child,
played musical comedy, and was the
inimitable negro in the benefit per-
4OHHouCc gwen Dy OOLOLny OO0nelly
Of Ceramic Maun." Miss Mathis says:
81 could never endure the hardship of
treading the boards again, but would
hot rclinquish the opportunity OF hav-
ing done it for anything. Doubtless.
it was experience that, every day, un-
consciously helps me in the work I am
doing now"
AS Booth Harrington will be remem-
bered for Penrod. Mark Twain FOR
Huck Finn and Victor Hugo for Jean
Vatican, so will Miss Mathis's name
be writ in "scintillating water" as the
one who undertook to synopsize into
= photoplay The Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse. Neither was
her duty done when "fnal clinch"
had been typed on the last page Of
her manuscript. With Rex Ingram
she cooperated in casting Rudolf Val
cntino as Julio, Alice Terry as Mar
guerite, Pomeroy Cannon as Madri-
ago, Joseph Swicard as Desnoyers pAre,
Alan Hale as Karl Won Hartrott, and
the dozen other memorably vivid char
acters-the choice Of these life-por-
traits in itself. being an achievement.
She also helped design the sets and
suggest the costumes. And every
day and night that the picture was
gaining footage in the camera Miss
Mathis could be found on the set ab
sorbed in their work or advising her
co-craftsmen.