Evening star., 1924-02-21
Behind the Screen
Intimate Personal Picture. Of of the Silver Sheet
GOODWIN.
by George Il. DoanC
Copyright, 1929, by George II. Doran Company.

gether with all the suffering she had
| undergone, counts enormously in her
work on the screen and removes her
many degrees from the puppet types
which have cast discredit upon the
profession.
The moment you meet Mae you
I recognize her as good copy" This
! is so because she is perfectly natural.
and being natural with her means
| saving exactly what she thinks. She
says 1t graphically, pungently, often
slangily, so that almost every SEN
tence she utters fingers in your mind
as vivid picture of some phase of
| experience. Far from being high
| brow herself. she Is one of those
vivid types in which the real high
| brow delights.
| Another screen performer who
| sailed few choppy seas before COM
| ing into port is that delightful young
| comedian, Harold Lloyd. The first
! time l ever met Lloyd was at dinner
at which Chaplin was also present.
The latter was talking on one of his
| favorite themes. religion or economics
IL forget which-and his words, al
ways clipped just enough to reveal
| his English birth, were coming thick
and fast l noticed that as he spoke
| a rather tall, rather seriouS-lookins
| young fellow, who was one of group
| in an opposite corner of the room. wa
looking at him wonderingly, almost
! wistfully. He himself was not say
| ing a word.
who is that chap over there?" I
asked of the man next to me.
| "Sh, don't you know him? That's
Harold Lloyd. the comedian"
| Quiet fellow. isn't he?" | remark
| ed. I've hardly heard him say a
| word"
Hes usually like that at parties" {"
replied the other man. I've been
around with that boy lot and I've
never once seen him cut up like Bus
ter Keaton or Charlie Chaplin. He
says he doesn't feel that way when
he isn't on the set--that it isn't until
he gets on the old horn-rimmed spec
| tacles and the rest of the makeup
! that his comedy catches up with
him"
What sort Of a chap is he, any
how asked I. a few moments later.
The answer was prompt and in
clsive. The incest, kindest, most
wholesome. most sincere young fell
low in Hollywood. Harold Lloyd
why. he's the sort of kid you'd just
sit around and pray your daughter
would marry"
/ hasten to say that there is moth
ing eccentric about the view of Lloyd
just presented. All that have since
heard of the brilliant young come
dian corroborates this first glowing
account. When later on, too, ! came
to have long talk with him. any
vestige of the skepticism normally
induced by such universal praise van
iShed.
When had this talk there was no
trace of the silent young man who
had first aroused my curiosity. In
fact. the shynesS which sometimes
overwhelms him at party disap-
pears entirely in a tete-a-tete or in "a
small group of friendly spirits. Then
he talks a great deal. He expresses
himself well and every word has a
drive. the drive of his tremendous
earneStneSs.
Lloyd, | think, would make a poor
subject for psychoanalysis. He SCENE
to have no compleXes. He probably
never caught any colds in his sub
conscious. A fine balance is the out
standing effect of his whole PERSONAL
ity.
He is very much interested in ath-
letlcs. He is fine amateur boxer.
and | suppose he gets more fun out
of his swimming pool than out of al
most any other possession of his
In this he presents a great contrast
to Chaplin, who doesn't care for Hol-
lywood's chilly pools" as he calls
them.
If You go to LIoyd's studio you
find almost everybody calling him
Speed Even the youngsters on
the lot rnaks use of this nickname.
These latter all seem to love him. and
he is often followed by such a troop
that he resembles the Pied Piper of
Hamelin.
There is a great deal Of the old
fashioned gentleman about this low
able young fellow. He is so earnest
aboue his work, SO determined that
he is going TO do everything which
Will make him i better actor SO
modest OF his achievements and then
too. he has all the oid-fashioned rev
erenceS. Mother, country. religion
all the unities so often exposed now
adays to the critical mood-are ac-
cepted by Lloyd unquestioningIy.
Il can't understand how any man
could ever dissect his own mothers
character. he once said in speaking
of somebody who had engaged in this
modern pastime. After all-what-
ever she does. whatever her faults
she is your mother.
No rebel. not in the least degree
Introspective. Lloyd is essentially a
thoughtful person. He has been made
more so by the accident-an explosion
IN his Studio--which so nearly cost
when he loses his perspective he tell
me that he often visits a hospital.
II go into that grim white place."
says he, and l put myself back into
those weeks and months when ! lay
with bandaSe over my eyes, when
everything that / had or wanted
youth and success and work--seemed
to be vanishing, and I think 1 can
see-what does anything else mat
tero"
1t is due to the old-fashioned gem
tlcman in Lloyd that he will tolerate
no suggestion of anything broad
anything Hogarthian in his comedy.
one day one of his advisers came to
him and said. i've got it Speed, a
bit of business that will go over
big"
When he heard what it was Lloyd
retorted promptly, Not on your life.
If | can't be funny and clean, too
why. then I'll decide to be just clean"
This year Lloyd tells me he ex-
poets to make about a million dol
lars. Yet it was not so many years
ago when. according to his amused
word, his most cherished ambition
was to be able to buy a silk shirt
His start toward. this goal is as
original as anything offered in the
annals of motion picture success.
When. Just a .youngster out of high
school Lloyd came to Hollywood with
the intention of going into motion
pictures. Motion. pictures, however,
seemed to have an equally firm in
tention Of keeping him out. Every
studio to which he. applied. turned
unique open sesame" Noticing that
everybody who was in costume
passed through the forbidden portals
without challenge. Harold decided
that there was nothing obligatory
about q sack coat. So he got him
self costume. and from that time
forth he has stayed on the inside.
While working as an extra in one
of the studios he.met another young
extra named Hal Roach. After some
time the two of them, with only
several. hundred dollars to sustain
their resolution. decided to go into
business for themselves.
Il wasn't any meteor, I can tell
you that" comments Harold in re-