Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-02-16
Behind the Screen
Personal Pictures of the Stars Of the Slrer Sheet
by George DoranC

UlluOle OF tnlS new plcture.
All right" retorted I, you do that
and | am going to show the first part
of the picture and then announce on
the screen that at this point Nine.
Farrar would not proceed because the
producer did not feature Lou Telle-
gems name"
Lost to all consideration of business
values as she then seemed, this threat
succeeded. She went on with her
story.
Strange is the parallel experience
of those two rivals of the Goldwyn
studio, Geraldine Farrar and Pauline
Frederick. For each is now separated
from the man for whom she once
so turbulently set aside her own in
terests. Nor does the parallel stop
there. Lou Tellegen was at the very
most only moderate film success.
The good looks which first caused
such furry among the feminine por-
t1ons OF his stage audiences never
carried well on the screen. Likewise.
in different sphere, Willard Mack
failed to live up to his stage tradi-
ton. His stories We're never really
good picture material, and to Pauline
Frederick's insistence upon appear
ing in them l aScribe the fact that
her Goldwyn dramas were not 50
successful as those made by Mr..
Zukor.
She herself slowly awoke to such
realization. In those California days
when her New York romance with
Mack was beginning to -ebb--and it
did ebb rapidly-she saw her mistake.
But 1t was then a little too late.
My memories of the great Metro
politan opera singer close with the
year 1919 in way that reveals the
biSnesS, the sweep of mind and spirit
that distinguish Geraldine Farrar. At
this time l had contract with her
providing a salary of one hundred
n Il IL Ill
twelve weeks of annual service. The
contract had still two more years to
run, when. very reGretfully. / went to
Miss Farrar and asked if she did not
think it might be better to stay off
the screen for year. Gently as |
could do 50 l added that very often
a stars popularity went under a tenn
porary eclipse and that limited alb
Sence from films did much to restore
the public demand.
The reason back of this difficult
approach was, of course, that lately
her pictures had not been drawing.
She was prompt to perceive my mean
ing, and with head up she took 1t.
Very WE'LL said she promptly in
her familiar tones that are both
towering and incisive. only don't
you think that perhaps 1t would be
better to quit entirely? If you think
so, say SO. Mr.. Goldwyn, and Wen
tear up the contract now and here"
1t was hard to tell her, but L did.
that thought this course might. be
wiser for us both. Thereupon, with
out another word and with the most
gallant look in the world, she de-
stroyed the contract which meant
1.-TWO hundred and fifty thousand dol
lars.
OF course, she saw that it was in
llnitely better to be remembered by
the pictcres of her prime than to go
on to a IusterlesS close. Here was
another evidence of that reliable
business Judgment which nothing but
her infatuation for Tellegen ever
dimmed. But even though self-inter-
est might have pointed to this con-
ciuslon. her utter lack Of resent
ment, her failure to voice a single re-
proach OF me. made this an expert
ence absolutely unique in my career.
My valedictory regarding Nine.
Farrar is that her word is as good as
her bond. This characteristic fits in
with that business morality which
makes her hate to lose a single hour
OF her time. I never knew anybody
with keener sense of responsibility
10 the clock. When she first came to
make pictures with the LaSky Com
pany we provided her with a room in
the studio. where she could practice
her music. The Goidwyn Company
made the same provision for her In
this way she utilized the long waits
More than this. every day Of her
time was so arranged months before
hand that not a break occurred in
the links of industry. On the day that
she stopped grand opera she started
to make records for mechanical play
ers; from her records she went
straight to California, and the day
that she returned from California she
went on concert tour. This pro-
gram went on for years
L have already indicated that the
prlma donnas last pictures were not
1&nancfal success. Fully conscious
or the surprise that this later infor-
nation may create in the minds Of
many people. l am goiAs to add that
even her first films, executed when
she was in the prime of her beauty
and at the height of her operate
fame, were not dazzlinEly remunera-
tive.
Her Joan the Woman" great
artistic achievement, brought no COM
mensurate financial returns The fact
OF 1t is that Geraldine Farrar's chief
value to the picture producer lay in
the publicity she brought rather than
in the films she sold.
Not for moment does this fact
rehect upon the great Farrar. If re-
hectlon there be at all. it is upon the
small town where, as ! have asserted,
some obscure little motion picture
the worlds greatest singer can never
nope to enroll. 1 cannot emphasize
this point too strongly.
Continued in Tomorrow's StarD