The Washington times., 1921-01-22


Eieanor Dale Of thts se9spoDer. GiUs
pour correct name and address Ia cass
your oHstoer must be sent through the
moA
o. D.--There are many reasons why
1 would rather play emotional roles In
moving pictures than comedy paris.
on the stage II Is easier TO play com.
edy because the response of the au-
dience helps create an atmos phere fs-
vorable to comedy. and cleverIy writ
ten lines make the fun real. But In
moving pictures the playing OF com
edy has to be nearly all technique.
There Is no response from the audi
ence 10 help things along, and where
something that proves far from funny
one night on the stage can be rene
died the next, the moving picture
actress never knows II she has sue
ceeded till the screen shows her how
she looked.
Playing emotional roles has to be
more sincere than playing comedy,
| for the actress must feel TO some ex-
tent the emotions of the role she 10
acting. j know this Is a much dis
puted point. and IL is often said that
no one could possibly have enough
knowledge and experience OF al, the
different predicaments the actress
finds herself in to be able TO feel the
emotions OF the part. But i remem-
| ber when / started acting about five
years ago ] said the same thing. |
had the part Of a girl eloping with a
married man, and when ! was told
to put myself in the girls place l
protested / hadn't any such expert
encc to go by. A very fine actor said
to me then that the girl in such a
| position would naturally feel abso-
lutely desperate and that as long as
everyone feels desperate at some time
or other / knew enough about the
| emotion to portray II. / have always
kept thot in mind, and, however differ
ent from my own experience char
acter may be. I can always find some
| equivalent situation in my own life
| that helps me to act it with certain
| amount OF sincerity.
i could hardly have had a more un-
| sympathetic part than the one ! took
| in "Thc Right TO Love-" AS long as
| your letter was about "On with the
Dance" l don't know IL you have seen
me in this new picture. i am sup
posed to be the friend of a married
| man, staying in his wife's house and
abusing his child. Because IL was a
| character that no one admires and
| because very few people could feel
such emotions 1t was difficult to play.
The chief difficulties in feeling an
| emotional role in order to play 1t con-
vincingly in moving pictures are
brought about in the making of the
I>pictures themselves. II one is in just
the mood to act certain part and
then an hours wait turns up while
the lights are improved or the set
ting is rearranged it is hard to re
capture the mood the moment things
are ready TO start again. These long
waits are oone difficulty. but / think
| a greater one is when final scenes arc
taken first and the photographing of
the picture takes place without any
| regard to time in the story.
Fortunately the only director
have had SO far in moving pictures.
Mr.. George Fitzmaurice, has none of
this ruthless disregard for the story,
and as far as possible he has sceEe
after scene taken so that the whole
thing is built up slowly to the hnal
action.
In Money Mad" there is one scene
where l try to commit suicide. 1t
would have been hard to take a scene
like that before having played other
scenes in the picture, but slowly go
ing through the experiences that
| worked UP to IL gave a more complete c
understanding of the girls mood and
made H. easier to play.
ALMA TELL.
Andrews-Don't ask me who is the
prettiest girl on the screen. There are
so many it makes one dizzy to even
think of the subject. Visited Uni
versal City last summer. Met Pris-
81
ton, Marguerite Armstrong and a
few other stars.
]. L. D.-Helene Chadwick has light t
brown hair and dark brown eyes.
H. G.-Richard Tucker did sea
service. He was overseas two years
as captain of infantry in the Third
Division. He was three times listed
as killed. Later he had charge OF all
theaters in Neuenahr, Germany, with
the army of occupation. He is now
with the Goldwyn Stotck Company
and lives in Los Angeles.
| J. II. B.--To sketch Alfred Fisher,
career would take n book. He was
born in England, started on the stage
at the age of six, and has been acting
continually for fifty-two years. He
now has the role of the inventor in
the Universal serials starring Eileen
Sedgwick, 1.-THE Diamond Queen"
| A. c. F.-Yes; Malveen Polo, the
fourteen-yearold girl who Is playing
the role of the half-Wit child in
Foolish Wives" the Stroheim Uni
versal picture, is the daughter OF
Eddie Polo, the serial star. This 4.
Malveen's first role OF any impor-
tance, but she has made an enviable
reputation as concert pianist.