Evening star., 1923-03-25
BY DOROTHY GIsH.

~ ElNG screen comedian,
- am usually credited with all
the intellectual intensity of
- a canary bird. Interviewers
never ask me questions. They just
sit around and dare me to be a per-
feet scream. %.
But the other day fourteen Of the
prettiest girls at Vassar College came
down to the studio where ] cavort
for my daily bread. They came to
have screen test taken, and after
this entering wedge they hoped
eventually to become stars. Being
very polite and since there was no
one else around, they requested me to
tell them the chief requirements for
stardom. They were most worried
over the possibility of their educa-
ton standing in their way.
What these Vassar girls need If
they are to become stars is exactly
what any girl requires as a back
ground to such aspiration. AS for
brains, l do not believe they are nee
essarily a liability in a star. Most
of US stars manage nicely without
them, but that doesn't prove any
thing.
i watched these girls take their
screen test. and even if they were
obviously cultured and cerebral they
We're also, every one of them, much
prcttier than many successful girls
in the movies. Nature had gifted
them with several other items listed
high OH studio indexes. They radi-
ated health and sane living. They
were vivacious and sensible. They
could swim and ride and dance. They
looked very capa BILE of handling their
own destinies. But ] am still a little
shaky about their final success. My
chief fear is that, even though all Of
them were about twenty years Of age,
they are starting in the movie game
too late in life.
My sister and I have been in NOV
les since the beginning. Before that
we were stage children. | started
when / was four years old. Ever
since l can remember I have been.
publicly, a little ray of sunshine.
And i have worked like fury. Lillian
has worked even harder. yet only
this year is she being starred and I
am a leading woman. That's all, for
all our work. Where would We have
been if we had started at twenty? ?
X = &
I'VE all grew up schooled TO the
w discipline of the theater. 1t Is
discipline, make no mistage Of that.
! II you play a bit you can't miss a
performance, because you have no
understudy. If you are a star you
can't rest OIL your laurels. because
stage laurels have all the perma-
nency Of soap bubbles. Thus you
learn never to be sick. never to be
tired. never to fail. You learn to
meet every condition and make the
! best of it. You learn great SYM
pathy and greater tolerance. You
become emotionally instructive and
you put your intuition before your
intelligence.
Supposing these Vassar girls have
all these rigors in their souls, they
still have much to learn to propitiate
the cameras glare. personally
think it takes about two years of
steady appearances upon the screen
before an actress can discover the
best makeup for her use. |, for in
stance, am entirely negative facially
when / parnish my expression with
my own yellow hair. Only a few
months ago | discovered. after con-
tinued experimental make-ups that
l register much better if 1 make my
mouth so that il is nearly twice its
real size At twenty. no matter what
your love1iness, you haven't time for
this when you have everything else
to learn.
Then these girls must develop what
I call Aim patience. Ones principal
time in a studio is put in in waiting.