New-York tribune., 1922-10-29
By fIarrietse IJnderhill

ly kAdtISCASG A'BaSAt t&AS
Everybody loves Betty Blythe; nearly
everybody thinks she is beautiful, ard
still, whenever her name comes up, you
ar. pretty sure to hear her described
~ mental" In visua.izing Miss Blythe
this Is not the adjective which occurs
to me firsts but the critics even said
this of her In "The Queen of Sheba.''
However, one cannot help feeling that
the physical was giving the mental a
pretty good race here. had always
believed that people got the impression
of mentality in Betty's performance be-
cause she really has remarkable brain,
but Betty says that II. is because her
study for the stage embraced panto-
mime course that was drastic Indeed.
''In the frst place, the teacher charged
you $50 an hour, and at the end Of the
hour she left ycu limp and painting and
sometimes black and blue or with part
OF your hair torn out. Send the
thought TO every part of your body.
II you are not concentrating over every
inch Of you shall know IT, she used
TO say. Then she would read and We
would act.
"'She stumbled over the PROSTATE
body Of her lover I stumbled. she
cried "He is deadl" and she tore her
hair cried and tore my hair. She
fell on her knees and cried out TO
heaven to avenge his death did like
wise. sHer head fell forward on her
breast and she breathed silent
prayer / was trying to emulate her
when teacher broke in in the most
matter OF fact voice, Miss Blythe, you
are NOT thinking with the back of
your neckp broke down and couldn't
work any more for laughing, and she
was 30 Disguised"
"Were you thinking with the back Of
your neck 2" inquired.
"Of course I wasn't. l was wonder
ing If I looked graceful. oh, she knew
every time!"
The favorite pupil at the conserva-
tory OF pantomime was Ramon Ma
varro, Miss Blythe tells me. He was
learning this mental thing, too, and
certainly his work in Prisoner Of
Zenda" and in drifting Women" shows
it. Seldom has young actor scored
such an instantaneous success. He be-
came famous overnight. 1t seems that
Rex Ingram has only to wave his wand,
or perhaps it is his megaphone, and a
mere man becomes wonderful actor
Though, of course, young Navarro had
everything In his favor. He is said to
be one of the most alluring dancers ir
the world, and he can fence and ride
and besides that he is as handsome a
Dick Bartheln1ess and as tall as Ro
dolpho Valentino. Could directo2
ask more?
Lawrence Hammond and william
Cassidy ir. have perfected a device
which gives the third dimension to
motion pictures, and objects on the
screen have ceased to be merely shad-
ows. They may now, with the aid of
this little Instrument, walk out TO meet
you and apparently parade directly in
front Of the seat which you are 'occu-
pying in the theater. It is ingenious,
but is it going to add to the interest
Of photoplays as plays? That is what
interests US at present. Every once in
a while somebody launches something
or other to improve motion pictures,
and then everybody gets terribly en-
thusiastic over it and the inventor
offers it to the public smilingly and
With this assurance: "Our true intent
Is all for your delight" At first every
one is delighted. The critics rave and
talk of "epoch making contrivances," ;"
and then, after a month or so, every
body goes back TO watching Pola Negri
or Charlie Chaplin in two dimensions
IN the regular, old-fashioned black and
white silent drama. Pictures had been
running along for number of years
and doing very we'll, thank you, when
some one decided that what they
needed was sound, and the perfect pic
ture OF the future was to be the one
that talked. Well, pictures finally
talked, but even after they were syn
ehronized SO that the heroine woulc
not be struggling in the arms Of tn,
villain as she announced in dulce
tones, "My love is like an eterna
fame" nobody seemed as much thrille,
as he should have been. A few sam
pies were shown in the proiect;o,
rooms, the critics raved over them an,
then al WAS still.
Dream Street" had some ;nterno
1s'ea sound and 1t ~~s fat failure.
was one Of the most enthusiastic wbe,
heard some perfectly synchronize,
ballads, apparently A-->ing out Of IN,
mouths of men and women who's,
SHADOWS were appesys.--s before mo .,
the screen. And yea Z found that /;
was merely disconcsgesng when It wen
on for any lengts ae. ! falt a,,
SO DID other people, that silent dram,
iad best be silent, for the present, a
east Written titles, somehow. seen
much more potent than spoken ones
VI course. the fact that you are file,
with wonder at the mechanism MN,
have something to do with All.
Sfoken dialogue in motion picturs
may improve with age.