Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-05

never really see an audience watching stage
production. The house is in complete darkness
and the play moves on through the force Of
the characters which the members of the cast
impose upon their own personalities
HT HAVE the same feeling when scene rs
being shot as do when an audience Is
watching. I am keyed to the situations and
not to the invisible crowd that is viewing or
will view the action. The fact that the scenes
are not being shot in sequence does not make
it difficult, as theatrical rehearsa!s are not
always continuous with the action of the play.
"As Hollywood is full of people who have
had extensive stage experience and under
stand the theater there is no difficulty in blend
ing the methods of stage and screen to obtain
effective talking picture drama.
MY director, Allan Dwan, has had enormous
experience in both fields, and it is a pleasure
to work under his guidance because he UNDER
stands so quickly what is needed and what %
being done"
It was suggested to Miss Uric that she was
lucky because she not only screened well but
also that the microphone was kind enough to
pass the qualities in her voice which made 1t
liked by audiences.
"Yes," she replied, 1.-The camera has a trick
of mistreating some persons. I know hand
some and beautiful men, If men can be called
beautiful-the Greeks, who worshiped physical
perfection, did not hesitate to call men beau
tiful-whose screen reproductions have no
charm whatever for the eye.
when I get q good cameraman / screen
we'll, and when get a less competent one the
Photographic results are not so happy. It Is
fortunate that the microphone makes my
voice pleasant to the public's ear There have
m hv haul TeP
the qualities necessary for good reproduction,
but when q test was made the results were
disappointing.
THE improvement in public taste has led to
a demand for better stories, and the great
difficulty now Is In providing drama that has
truth and vitality in it. Life is being lived
under great strain, and the public which
comes to be entertained at the theater has NO
patience with anemic plays.
THE worst enemy of the current theater Is
censorship The attempts of few fanatics
to tell every one else what they should hear
and see is fatal to the development of the
drama. These self-constituted authorities have
an idea that they are the only adults in the
country and that the rest of us are children
who must be guided by their tastes and
prejudices.
"A people who have gone through a great
war and have created the marvellous civiliza-
ton which is Americas are not considered ,
intelligent enough to decide whether q PLAY
is in good or bad taste, true or false, and are
not permitted to make their own decision as
to whether they will attend or stay away.
1T is one of the soundest maxims of human
conduct that mere smut is dull and tiresome
and that coarse play will be drowned in
public disgust If interest is not whipped up
by the advertising of the censors.
The future of the speaking stage is more
brilliant than its brightest past. With a great
and more intelligent audience available than
IN country in the world tho ADaorjcav,
stage, stimulated by the lessons and the de-
velopment of talking pictures must come back
to its own"
Lenore Uric is one Of the few actresses in
the United States today who has not had a
flop" IN IL years She has been under the
management of David Belasco fer little more
tnan dozen years, and during that time the
word failure" has been unknown to her. She
has created seven characters in seven plavn
In that time and is one Of the biggest box oface
attractions In America today
(CopyTight, 1882