Evening star., 1926-10-31
r is the duty Of every movie
critic at stated intervals to hurl
a few insulting phrases at the
so-called star system" on the


critic at stated intervals to hurl
a few insulting phrases at the
II so-called star system" on the
screen.
The star system deserves such
opprobrium. It is unquestionably re-
sponsible for most Of the bad pictures
that are produced, and l need hardly
explain that this Is large response
bility.
When the movies were in their sub
infancy there were no stars at all.
Pictures appeared without mention o
directors. cameramen, scenarists, teen
nicians, title writer's or players. Mary
Pickford was referred TO vaguely as
"the Biograph blonde" and John
Bunny was merely that fat man with
the funny face"
Then personalities began to be de-
veloped. Miss Pickford. Mr.. Bunny,
Maurice Costello. Arthur Johnston,
Florence Lawrence, Anita stewart,
King Baggot, "Broncho Billy" Ander-
son and others became known -!
name.
The popularity of the cinema was
spreading and there was tremen-
dous rush to this new klondike OF the
entertainment world. Fur dealers
pants pressers, buttonhole makers,
shoelace statesmen and representatives
of every conceivable trade and pro
fession suddenly found themselves Il
the show business, operating theaters
where animated photographs were
shown These men had had no pre-
yious experience in the theatrical
game They knew nothing of the
ballyhoo principles Of showmansh1p
that were formulated by that great
pioneer, Phineas T. Barnum. They
consequently were unable to give
their offerings the necessary explolta-
ton.
1t was impossible at that time to
exploit the stories Of the picture,
which meant even less then than they
mean now. Nor could the directors
be advertised. Not even ID. w. GIRL
nth had managed to gain a reputation
outside his own studio.
So the theater owners leaped hun
grily upon the increasingly famous
names of stars. They plastered these
names all over the facadeS OF thelr
theaters, they displayed these names
on billboards throughout their towns,
they emblaZoned these names in large
type in the columns Of the daily press.
Thus It came to pass that the stars
assumed vast and utterly d1spropor-
tionate Importance. When a Mary
Pickford picture came to town 1t mat
tered not If its story were good or
bad, it mattered not who directed it.
All that mattered was that Mary
Pickford was in it, giving the local
theater owner a chance to exploit her
magic name.
So the star system was born under
false, unnatural circumstances. Its
results have been almost entirely bad.
X X x X
Look back through the list Of great
and memorable pictures and you will
find that a surprisingly small minor
ity Of them We're designed as vehicles
for stars.
In "The Birth Of a Nation several
stars were discovered, including Lii
lian Gish, Mae Marsh and Robert
IIarron, but all of them had been
obscure up to then.
Intolerance" served to reveal the
talents of Constance Talmadge for
the first time.
"The Miracle Man" was starless
picture, although such subsequent
celebrities as Thomas Meighan, Betty
Compson and Lon CLANCY were in its
cast.
"Tol'able David" was in sense a
starring vehicle for Richard Barthel-
mess, but it was actually the making