Evening star., 1924-02-15
(Continued from Yesterdays Star.)
CHAPTER NJ.
Maxine Elliott und Pauline Ffeoer'cA'


TT was one day just after the
Coldwyn Companys inception
that Arch Selwyn and Roi Cooper
Megrue came to me in great eA-
c;,.rant Maxine Eiliotts arrlVlhs
+onorrow from England" announced
Megrue. a
"yes. Sam" added Selwyn, anu VIC
,h;nL q would be q great thing II
you signed up with her. fish' ,A.s
minute the Shuberts are at'er "'
for pictures" ,,,u III
When, a few days later MISS I'
lott came to my office l thoush'
had never seen a human being more
radiautly lovely. When l consioe[u
too. that in addition to TINS Slott toss
beauty she had q reputation ior en .oa
looks in every hamies iniet nssaiied IN H me
was, can 1 possibly get her away ava,
Sra,n the other fellow?i AS mat
TOR Of fact, I did secure ner ohiS
after long, arduous negotlatlohs, nv
Never was a picture suIrot'f, sll;ot..s f,rst
more care than MISS and Roi
rooner Megrue wrote the story. BoLh
names should have assured Ine ~.
lence of the vehicle; Alan DWan' one
of the most celebrated direu,9us, roSnc,ian on
simmo su,1e" RalIin. the portrait painter. de-
signed the sets. In spite OF an naduS la,S
uerfection of detail. Fighting ouus s
was an abject failure. Never, lhaeeu, n
was any Goldwyn film crltici5et9a 5t9 So So
iese on the picture itself. but the
.Gon" was so conspicuous that II
resulted in the cancellation OF o'nef
pictures of ours. .,r,an,np
All this was far from heai .n .he
to further performance; yet IN tne hue
midst of the storm called forth oy
her first picture Miss Eliiott was
husy on her second. She was now
rnder the direction of Arthur hop,
lSins. who. although naHs ne far far some some
.nonihs had never before assumed
full sway of n production. Propaols
nothing on the screen was lhoIe
amusing than that inner drama VI
inexperience and bewliderInent
vealed in the making of this secoho
One day Miss Elliott. her throat
swathed In yards of tulle-a protec-
tive measure of which she, IKE bern-
hardt, often availed nersea~h ths
wheeling around ana arouhu oii
Good gracious: whispered some
body impishly as she looked at liz .iis
futile and pathetic whirlins OF tne
statuesque woman, ism SIG
going to run down.?
Poor Miss Elliott, she evidently
didn't know what TO do wnen she
stopped turning! And ] DOUBT II MI.
Hopkins was more inspired.
Sht this point the reader may Won
dor whv i. a producer of experience
would confide SO much in two peopie
who had so little screen experience
The answer to this is that l nave al
ways wanted to enrich motlon piS
toll
fields. This involved experimental
tion: and Ii was natural that rev
az nv experiments should 1ali;
Others, on the contrary, nave proved
the wisdom of bringing in new plooo.
THAT Mr. Hopkins. theatrical pro-
ducer of such merit and reputation
did not justify my selection or MIN
was due to his indifference to the new
environment. He never regarded
pictures seriously, and after dlrecao
70 me and told me that he could not
get his mind sufficiently detached
from the stage ever to be successful
in studio.
7 had a more fortuitous contact was
Pauline Frederick. Miss Frederick
was with Zukor when l founded the
Goldwyn Company. That she trans
ferred to me was due to her nus.
band. Willard Mack, the playwright
and actor. Coming up to me one
night at the directors ball at the
Biltmore. he said:
"See here, Sam, Polly contract
with Famous is just about TO expire;
How about it, any way? NOW, IA
like to see her go with you, Tor
you're a young company, and I'm sure
you would take a bigger interest In
her..
/ fell in Immediately with this line
of thought, and some evenings later
he phoned me to see him at the Ly-
ceum Theater. where he was then
appearing with Lenore Uric in Tiger
Rose" When l got to his dressing
room I found Miss Frederick there.
Together we three discussed the pos
sibility of the stars transference to
the Goldwyn Company, and after
some weeks of conference the possi-
bility crystalliZed into a fact.
Needless to. say, Mr.. Zukor did not
take the news of her detection any
too kindly. For at this time Miss
F'rederick's large American following
was reinforced by great popularity
in other countries. In England, Tor
example, she was as much of draw
ing card as was Mary Pickford. |
his irritation at her loss it was, /
suppose, quite natural for my COM
petitor'S sentiment to overflow to me.
Normal or not, 1t certainly did SO.
Meeting me at ball soon after the
news of the contract came out, Mr..
Zukor began overwhelming me with
reproaches for my treacherous con-
duct In weaving his star away from
advance had been made from her
side, not from mine. He refused to
believe me. Finally the discussion
became so heated that Alice Joyce
came running over to us.
Gentlemen, gentlemen! said she
laughingly. II don't know anything
in the world worth so much discus
sion - especially motlon-plcture
start
At this time we were just on the
Fort Lee to California. This In
volved, of course. moving Miss Fred
erick. A gentle theory this, but its
execution threatened danger. For
Miss Frederick was devotedly attach
ed to her husband, and he was play
ing in New York.
I am not overrating the emotional
pressure of this situation. Compared
to Pauline Frederick Mrs. Micawber
gave a wavering brand Of Devotion
not for an hour. I have related that
the first time talked to her regard
ing q change I found her in her hus-
bands dressing room. This was no
working hard all day on the set, she
spent every evening back OF the
scenes with Mack.
In consideration of such strongly
marked feeling on her part / obvi-
ously was compelled to do something
about Mack. The fact of 1t Is that,
far from wanting him on the basis
of agreeable surroundings for his
wife. 1 was most anxious to shift
him from theatrical work to our or
ganization. A playwright OF skill,
an actor of eXperience-why should
/ not have supposed that he would
be valuable addition to the Gold
wyn Company?
The position which I offered him
finally was head of the scenario de-