Evening star., 1924-02-11


coming into prominence. Among these
was the Fox Company.
Some years ago William Fox bought
the story, "A Fool There Was. FOR
4 its leading role he engaged very
prominent actress. She disappointed
him at the last moment, and IL Was
while he was at his wits end TO kno"
how TO replace her that he happened 10
go one day into his casting department..
There were several cNiras standlhs
around in the hope of picking. UP
days work, and among these FOX ; eye
:fcll upon Il dark-eyed girl. He looked
sat her. He looked again. Finally he
said to his casting director, / wish
you'd have some tests made OF that
girl. 1t seems TO me she's got possl-
-oilities''
The tests were made. They were
so satisfactory that the girl was cast
for the leading role of "A Fool There
Was" In it she scored Il triumph that
9'oX bought Immediately more similar
rehicles for her. The SIR glrfS Th name wa was
s,ras the first of the vamp stories when
Ior some time seemed TO consume the
¬ion-p picture industry.
: Among producers of very diiferent
4ypc who have been waxing Strons
curing these first years of our develop
!. lenI was Mack Sennett. Sennett,
originally Il chorus man earning nEe
aiollais a day, had been associated with
tiriffith in the old Biograph studios
from these he de?arted with only about
ave or six hundred dollars, and he pro-
! uced his first films without any studio
= I all The cameranan overcaine TINS
Fundamental lack by FOCUSING on
q copies front lawns and on any other
! art of the landscape which looked ap,
s,,ealng. When at last his financial
;eturns justified it Sennett established
/, studio near Los Angeles:
( comedies. and among mis- early stars
N.as that noted screen comedian of
another day, Ford Sterling. At the
time when the LaSky Company started
Sterling was getting . salary phenome-
) al for that period Yet, being a per-
= <cctly normal star, he kept wanting
, lore, and it was an hour when Sennett
{ .ared he would not be able TO Keep
> ace with these increasing demands
!lat he east about him for some one TO
tIke Sterling's place.
In this period of vigilance he CHANGED
- so to Pantages in Los Ange!es.
Among the acts of this performance,
which represented the second circuit
that employing the less costly talent OF
the Observation-Disclosures fingered in his
.iind the work of one comedian.
Months afterward, when Sterling
f;ennett thought Immediately Of the
eittle comedian in the second circuit.
fIe did not know where he was. He
could not even remember his name.
;Esut he wired to an eastern repre-
sentative. Get in touch with fell
low called Chapman or Chamberlain
something like that-playing Sec
'ond circuit
! The representative had n hard time
locating the person thus vaguely de-
ng 4 however. "A
PENNSYLVANIA town the agent caught
5ip with Charlie Chaplin. He was get
ting fifty dollars Il week for his work
IN vaudeville and when Sennett took
1,im on at one hundred and twenty-five
:Ic seemed stunned by his good fortune.
And did he make good at once in
-notion pictureso Mack has told me
lit was days and days. the latter
relates '"betore Charlie put over any
ching real. He tried all sorts of make
"ips-one of them L remember was fat
.nan- and they were all about equally
dat. The fact of il was that for some
ine I felt a little uneasy as to whether
sny find was very fortunate one"
II must be remembered at this point.
',owever that Chaplin encountered at
lnost inf1exible conception of humor.
lie himself has told me how he had
30 combat his prejudice in creating his
very first picture.
d
recalls. land they wanted me to do all
She usual slap-stick stunts. l had to
i,eg them to let me play the part my
1"ay. IF YOU want somebody to pull
III the old gags | said to Sennett.
!. man at twenty-five dollars TO 90 that
hort of stuff So at last they gave in
20 my idea. This had worked out
tery carefully. y tramp in a fine hotel
-there's universal! situation for you.
FFardiy Il human being that hasn't du-
inlicated the feeling of being poor,
alone. out OF touch with the gay
crowd about him. of trying to identify
himself somehow with the fine. alien
of ilnitation-the pulling down. OF
shabby cuffs, the Strengthening Of my
hat, all the gestures that give wider
meaning to the Characterization
is eloquent of the creative imagination
which has made him the supreme ex-
nonent of screen art. rHfs first pic
lure was a success. Even so. there
looked askance upon such advanced
methods.
"They didn't really appreciate Charlie
i'm those early days" SO Mabel Nor
:mand has often said to me. Il re-
anember numerous times when people
in the studio came up and asked me
rcnnfidentially, Say, do you think he's
so funny? In my mind he can't touch
Ford Sterling. They were just so used
60 siap-Stick that imaginative comedy
couldn't penetrate"
When Chaplin went out to California
40 make his first pictures he found the
fpa-ntomimist just quoted star in the
Srnnett organization. After having
FDted illustrators, Mabel had worked
Srith Mary Pickford and Blanche Sweet
Oh the Biograph studios. She was still
here when Sennett, meeting her on the
kireet one, day, said, "How about Eo Eors
ing to California at a hundred doilAl
8 week? I've just got some backing
for my company and I'm going to setue
but there in short time.
{ Mabel had been rendered lncreduious
HI her salary at the Biograph. She
sas so skcptical of there being any
Stch salary as a hundred dollars
k'eek that Sennett's hackers, to whom
he had referred her. thought she was
hesitating because of the inspfiicieney
Sffered her twenty-five dollars more.
mot long ago my. friend Edgar
Stlwyn. the theatrical producer and
alaywright, said TO me: we near SO
3Iiuch about our successful stars as
Shey are today Yet most of US are
Ill great deal more curious to hear the
slhtails of their earlier years" With
Shis in mind l am devoting short
Space 10 the Sennett studio of former
Sime. for, although these days did not
some under my direct observation, they
1,ave been described to me so often by
Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin
and Sennett himself that they seem
almost like a portion OF my own expert
Ehce, Certainly. too, such flash backs
hte necessary to complete participation
6n the stories of my own Immediate
Tontacts with these two stars.
The older Sennett studio. like the
Stable which first Graded the Lasky
a,ompany, presented. a striking contrast
10 the modern film background with its
Sneticulous divisions of labor, it's at
aepptsj to introduce the efficiency