New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-08-27
Look Not Upon
The W ay w hen
1t Is w hite
This Is the Good Advice
\ Which William POWELL
Has n c fused To Heed
BY IIarriette UInslcrhill


One Of tho rules Of our HE life
in which there are few ruies-i Is all
ways TO see any production In which
William Powell IS playing, whether It
he silent drama or otnerwisc. Mr..
Powell is favorite of ours, hut never
have we had al chance to teai him 90
until we captured him one night after
the final curtain OF @The Woman who
Laughed" Mr. Powell is appearing IN
two different theaters on Broadway
simultaneously, feat which may be
accomplished il you are screen as
well as stage star. Besides playing
the renegade husband of Martha He'd
man, who is the woman who laughed,
he is appearing with John Barrymore
In sherlock Holmes" at the Casino;
and when that picture completes It's
run on Broadway, il 1t ever does. It
will be time for when Knighthood
Was in Flower" to bloom on the White
Way.
81 play the Dauphin,v said Mr..
Powell, "if you remember the play at
ALL"
If we remembered itt-as though we
had not acted in it sin the dim and
shadowy past" as Nellie, the beautiful
cloak model, used to say.
What part did you play?s asked
Mr.. Powell, interviewing US for q
change.
'None at all; we furnished atmos-
pherc, and as far as we were concerned
the show was silent drama"
And then, while six people waited
without, we made Mr. Powell tell US
the story of his life. He was born
somewhere, and we think he said Kan
sas City. Anyway, that was where he
lived when he sneaked away from home
one night to join stock company
His parents wanted him to be lawyer,
and he said that they never were recon
ciled until they saw him in Spanish
Love" They liked that show, and no
wonder, for Mr.. Powell played the viii
lain. who was dying of hesrtbreak SO
brilliantly that even James Rennie
with all of his debonair pulchritude
found it difficult to win the sympathy
Of the audience away from him.
And then we put to Mr.: Powell the
question which was to be the final test. !
If he answered it to our satisfaction
his batting average would be- 1000
what do you consider the most i'm
portant thing in the making of pic
ture?' and he answered "the Director
Just as we knew he would. "The
strange thing is that so many people
do not know this. Now, can you think
of Mr.. Ingram, or Mr.. Griffith, or Mr.
Won Strohcim making bad picture?
They couldn't do it."
But you, who live with your char
actors until you know them so thor
oughly that you never would make them
Inconsistent, do you not find it difficult
to achieve any such intimacy when you
are doing pictures? We have seen
enough of them in tho making to know
that there is no continuity in the film
ing, though there sometimes is in the
screening"
"The only thing for screen actor
to do is trust his director and then
go ahead. That is what most of them
do, really, and that is why know what
sn important part the director plays
In a picture.
"Wcll, that is our own idea, but you
arc the first actor'who has admitted 1t.
Heretofore, we have heard it only from
the directors themselves. Do you like
acting in pictures ~
Very, very much more than any
thing else, / think"
Really, or only for publications."
Really"