Evening star., 1924-02-14
Continued from Yesterdays Starr
CHAPTER Y.
The Magic Of Mnry Garden.

UuIUchs
!; &: e.: 8: 81. ::
of Mary Garden, the most
consummate Of singing actresses" Il
borrow the phrase from that famous
musical critic. II. T. Parker Of Bos-
toni, and at the beginning of the war
l wired our London representative to
see her. She was then in Scotland,
where she was connected with a hos
pital for war relief. and all efforts of
our organization to interest her in
pictures failed absolutely. She re-
fused to leave her humanitarian work.
When, however, two or three years
after this she came to America to
sing in opera, j was prompt to get in
touch with her.
My first talk with the celebrated
artistic was at her apartment at the
Ritz. AS she swept in upon me ! re-
member thinking that she looked even
taller than she does on the stage.
With her clear blue eyes aud her
finely modelled features and her he
roic mold. a real Valkyr! Not for one
moment did she suggest any of those
roles to which her exquisite art lends
itself. That's, Melisande. Louise, LIE
Jongleur-I thought of these and was
bewildered. ! had never realized be-
fore how completely the mind can
tranSpose the entire meaning OF
face.
Here in her apartment away from
the footlightS Miss Gardens counte-
nance expressed keen intelligence
directed toward the problems Of the
day For long time we TALKED
about the war, and ] was amazed at
her grasp of every industrial and eco
nomic phase of the conflict Her wide
range of information, together with
the vivid. forceful phrases in -Wnich
she expressed it--these made = hard
for me to realize that ! was really
talking to a prima donna, she who
even in her business transactions is
supposed to distil an atmosphere OF
feminine romance and caprice. II !
had heard Miss Garden that evening
without knowing who it was / should
have thought ! was listening to some
keen-witted. able woman journalist.
So cngroSsed were we both IN the
impersonaP that it was at least IN
hour before / attacked the real pur-
pose of my call When l finally
broached the subjects of pictures
told her, of course, how eager the
Goldwyn Company was for the honor
of first presenting her on the screen.
She responded to this tribute very
lueTe was
ly not one moments doubt on her
part that she could do pictures. Her
only misgiving. frankly revealed. Was
that ! might not pay her enough TO
justify her in making them.
| must say that for some tmS i,
too. shared this misgiving. For the
sum on which she stood firm was
hundred and fifty thousand dollars
for ten weeks work.
However, a discussion of the mat
ST.I-
wyn. Arthur Hopkins. and Margaret
Mayo brought out the fact that they
were all in favor of engaging her,
even at that sum. ] took their ad-
vice. and, triumphantly conscious that
was taking Miss Garden from the
numerous other film-producers who
had been competing for her services.
| signed my name to the enormous
contract. The news that Mary Gar
den was at last to appear in pictures
country. and. as the newspapers car
ried the story in big type. the Gold
wyn Company profited by an enviable
publicity, Seeing the Importance at
tached to her appearance. grew
more and more hopeful that in the
celebrated operate star 1 was going
to offset the various hardships at
my foundation of the Cold
wyn Company.
Naturally II was "Thais," the most
"
which suggested itself as her first
vehicle. This story, although un-
copyrighted in America, obligated the
purchase of foreign rights, and
paid NJ Anatole France, its author.
ten thousand dollars for these. In
SO doing i felt sure that the French
exhibitors alone would more than
return my expenditure. Just how
little this belief was realized is
brought out by the conclusion of this
episode.
No sooner had the actual produc-
tion of 'Thais" begun than l was
beset by grave fears. Miss Garden,
feeling rightfully that her operate
presentation of the role was author
itative. did not recognize the differ
ence of medium involved, and her
first days on the set showed her. as
ing ali over the place" That which
was art in the opera was not art on
the screen, where the secret or
achievement is emotional restraint.
Watch Charlie Chaplin, the great ex-
ponent of motion picture art. and you
will SEQ that he gets his effects by