Evening star., 1926-12-26
II HIS little story should start
off with the familiar "once

upon time, for 1t Is so
a unusual that it might be
ciassed among the fairy tales. And
the strange part of it is that it is
q true story; it is down in black
and white before the writer; it is
one of the remarkable happenings
of a remarkable age; it is little
incident which will probably never
have a parallel; it is almost beyond
understanding
It has to do with the photoplay-
its producers and one of its stars
and in world filled with so mach
hokum, it stands out and above, far
and beyond, anything whicl has
ever Travelled eastward from Holly
wood.
Richard Barthelmess severed his
connection with Inspiration PIC
lures, and now he is going to work
for First National. The Inspiration
people, needing an actor to play
parts of the Barthelmess order,
signed Gardner James-and here is
the strange part of it all, the letter
from Inspirations
Ever since the Inspiration people
signed Gardner James on a long
term contract, reports have appeared
in various quarters and at various
intervals to the effect that lnSplra
tion signed him to fill the shoes OF
Richard Barthelmess. This was
natural, of course. i'll view of the
fact that Barthelmess was severing
his affiliations with Inspiration Pic
tures and Gardner James had just
been signed.
But such statements are, we be-
lieve, apt to convey wrong in1-
preston, and now we feel that we
should take this means of explaining
lust how we stand on the subject.
Richard Barthelmess is a great ar
tist. with an individuality and an ar
tistic field that is all his own. We
are proud that he was with Inspira-
tion for more than FIVE years. and
we sincerely hope he will find new
worlds TO conquer under his new
contract.
We do not believe there is any
one capable of duplicating his work,
and we certainly did not sign up
Gardner James for that task. To
so state would be unfair both to
Gardner James and to Richard
Barthelmess. We do regard Gardner
James as young actor of great
promise and we expect to offer him
an opportunity to demonstrate his
abilities in roles that will suit his
particular gifts. His personality
and gift of characterization are,
however, different, and while we
hope and believe he will ascend the
ladder of fame as Barthelmess did,
it will be to establish a niche of his
own and not to duplicate Richard
Barthelmess.'
That is the letter, and the writer
of this column places it in the lonely
file under heading Stranger
Than Fiction"
YOUTH is to have fling in the
l. movies-at least, with single
picture. Paramount announces that
the new picture, "Sheiks and She
bas," will contain entirely new faces,
an entire cast of young players who
are unknown to filmdom. However,
Charles Rogers, the leading man, a
graduate of the Paramount School.
Is appearing in Wings" The pro
duction of the youth picture" will
start in the West Coast studios jan
uary Is, supervised by Hector Turn
bull.
CTARTLING figures come from
~ Hollywood. The movie fan in
the East has always considered that
all Hollywood worked i'll or around
the studios, but such is not fact. |
The Chamber of Commerce of the
city says that only 22,700 persons of
the 100000 population make their
living directly or indirectly from the
motion pictures. This small per-
centage will be jolt to the popular |
impression. It is interesting to note,
however, that the Hollywood resi-
dents who are interested in the
movies have weekly pay roll of
$l.30O,OOO.
Excepting in rare instances. when
quite number of large productions
are being made simultaneously, the
total demands of all the Hollywood
studios do not average more than
500 to 800 extras" daily.
THESE Beery brothers--Wallace
and Noah-have become so
prominent in motion picture affairs
that word or two concerning them