S D
THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: JULY 25, 1920.
Rogers Loses No 1
Time Enroute to
Screen Success
Nothing more important to ex
hibitors, in their recognition of star
values, has taken place during the
past year than the phenomenal rise
to popular favor of Will Rogers.
Before hit affiliation with the
films, Rogers was locally celebrated
in New York as a gum-chewing lariat,
thrower with a trenchant wit and
happy gift for commentary on the
day's happenings. Today he must
be reckoned among the half-dozen
picture stars whose features are
. best beloved by the American people.
Yet he admits that he is "the ugliest
man in the United States, bar none."
Will Rogers is no matinee idol, no
vaseline-haired thriller of the sillier
feminine hearts. He has won his
way to his present dominant posi
tion of popularity by the sheer
weight of his genuine histrionic
talent, aided and abetted by the
stories chosen for him. His per
sonality is unique on the screen in
the sense that he has interpreted
American characters and character
, istics which were heretofore un
touched by the silver medium. This
has been the great source of his
appeal, a source which he tapped
with success from his first picture
of the screen, "Almost a Husband,"
to his latest, "Jess" Call Me Jim."
His ready wit has been compared
to that of Lincoln, Mark Twain, and
Artemus Ward, because it bears the
same general form, a sort of lucid
exaggeration which, sets off things
in a laughable perspective. The spirit
which he projects on the screen is
made of the same materials as his
humor; it is homely, keen, and hon
est, with an added touch of sincere
sentiment which "gets" the crowd
and critic alike. He found the field
of the Yankee small-town man for
the screen and reaped from the vir
gin soil a success which was also a
success for the box-offices of ex
hibitors. "Almost a Husband," in which
Peggy Wood played his leading
lady, 'began the series of artistic and
financial results which have helped
to make him a favorite of millions.
This - story, taken from the well
known novel. "Old Ebenezer," by
Opie Read, detailed1 the troubles of a
provincial school teacher who was
"accidentally" married to the daugh
ter of the richest man in town. Then
followed- "Jubilo," which showed
PS COOLER limiE SUITTrlAN IN THE BUIILWWsS
K .
lite Man
Who Lost Himself "
ith America's fSromost Actor
WILLIAM' fiflVEBSUdtv!
C7Thousands of patrons at the Strand,
Theatre, Nev'York, proclaimed this picture
an utterly different photoplay.
hi
Chester
Confelin
y
Free ! Free !
Al ike Surtf 7o Ladies
only-Beautiful Septa hand
draw n head of May Allison,
suitable forframiaq!
m lUNMM mililWMmrw t attraction mj&? : x- , .
T-ir r- .-Hi-rniR ; i fiiT.Tjin; n.iai;iiVti-r-rinr t,-- i,. .,
Is This the Same Mary Pickford That
Won the World by Her Sweet Manners?
With her curls slicked back, smudged nose, worn shoes and ragged
clothes. Mary registers no little anger
part of a laundry wagon driver in
as "Suds" is entirely different from
Rogers as -a tramp, who settled
down to work, although he didn't
like it. "Water, Water Every
where" came next, and this was a
variation for him, since he was cast
in a cowboy role.
It may be interpolated that while
this picture was a variation for him
so far as his screen work was con
cerned, the role he played was very
familiar otherwise, for he was, long
before he became either a stage
rtarK a cowpuncher, both in our own
west and down in the pampas of
South America.
"The Strange Boarder" followed
"Water', Water Everywhere," and
the picture of the small-town man
iri the big city was one of the best
effects achieved by Rogers. He was
destined to surpass this, however, in
his next and latest production, "jes
Call Me Jim," in which his charac
terization of the mountaineer type
has been described as a screen
classic, and a definite contribution to
the, authentic interpretation of the
films.
Thus in only six pictures this ex
cowboy, ex-lariat whirler. ex-gag-
puller has become one of the stellar
.
sehibbd
U. ( I
Wire com
I
Added Attraction.
:Mfk Uon
XsT - Turbih
WMTOr
fpPambimQY's Heart."
1 n I i"i 1 t ill I iciiiif vsw y fjr,: .v . -a.
TODAY "ONLY. ' , Jd ' V rfeSftc THDAV
with Harold Goodwin, playing the
"Suds" at the Rialto this week. Mary
any character she has so far portrayed.
lights of shadowland, a hero to the
teeming states.
With the arrival of Otis Skinner in
California all is in readiness for the
filming of "Kismet," Skinner's great
est stage success, for release by Rob'
ertson-Cole.
L. J. Gasnier, noted director, un
der whose guidance the production
will be screened, has assembled a
staff of expert assistants to aid him
in his work.
The settings are being designed
and erected under the direction of
Frank D. Ormston, one of the fore
most art directors in the film world
A graduate of the Columbia univer
sity and for many years connected
with the theater, Mr. Ormston made
a name for himself in motion pic
tures with the novel and unique set
tings he created for Pavlowa's "The
Dumb Girl of Portico," Lois Weber's
"For Husbands Only." and Lew
Cody's "The Beloved . Cheater" and
"The Butterfly Man."
Howard Hunt, Paramount ' sales
man, missed four meals last week
promoting bookings for National
Paramount week beginning Septem
ber 5.
OnaAtiotliGi'Tliat the I
. II .1
not toll then apart.
J
Clemenceau of
France Author
Of Screen Play
Georges Clemenceau, "The Tiger
cf France," wrote "The- Strongest,"
the Fox production which will be
shown at the Empress for four days
starting today. Particular interest
attaches to the classic because the
keynote in the love affair between
the American, Maurice, and the
French maiden, Claudia, is that of
closer understanding between the
United States and France. It is
not, however, a war play in any
sense.
The young people first meet in a
hospitable French village through
which Maurice, in the American uni
form, passes. The young and ener
getic Yankee remains in France to
contribute his peculiarly American
"punch" to French industry. When
a series of highly absorbing events
leaves the girl stranded, Maurice
takes her as his bride to the United
States, the land of opportunity, the
land of "The Strongest."
The all-star cast of the picture in
cludes suchx celebrities as Renee
Adoree. of the Follies Bergere,
Paris; Carlo Liten, the distinguished
Belgian actor; Jean Gauthier de
Trigny and Georgette Gauthier de
Trigny, all of whom were imported
by Mr. Fox; Florence Malone, Har
rison Hunter, Hal Thome and
others.
Irene Rich will support Tom
Moore instead of Will Rogers in
her next Goldwyn picture, accord
ing to a report from Culver City.
Miss Rich has iust finished a fea
tured role with American, in "Whis
pering Smith," before which she
played opposite Rogers in Gold
wyn's recent release, "Jes Call Me
Jim."
Screen Plays and Players
By Kennebeck
Bebe Daniels has recovered from
an illness siege in a Los Angeles
hospital and is now busy filming
her first Realart picture, "You
Never Can Tell." Jack Mulhall is
her leading man and Chet Franklin
her director.
Wallace ' Reid's wife, Dorothy
Davenport, makes her return to "the
screen in the new Paramount pic
ture, "The Fighting Chance.',' 1
Sara Bernhardt, according to a re
port from Paris, may come to
America to star in two picture pro
ductions. Mme. Bernhardt is now
75, but vigorous. She appeared in
several films abroad.
It will be a hard bio for Director
Albert Green of Goldwyn to lose
Jack Picjcford. Jack has secured
his release from Goldwyn to form
his own company, and although he
has expressed a desire that Green
remain his director, it is probable
that the latter's contracts with Gold
wyn will make it impossible.
William Faversham. the Selznick
star whose current picture 's "The
APOLLO
The Coolest
Theater in City
"Children Not Wanted"
With EDITH DAY
Abo a Sunshine Comedy, "Should
Dummies Wed."
HH PRETTY POSES Mi!fKjh lW
sgji-a II PmwlM a vnuov.unaiavamp:
Even With Horn-Rimmed Specs, Connie .
Talmadge Casts Wicked Eyes on Man
When beauty failed to win Jimmy Stanhope, Connie as Mary Blake
in "The Perfect Woman," playing at the Strand this week, found that he
preferred women of character. It didn't take her long to convert her frigid
Romeo into a worshiptul slave.
Man Who Lost Himself," recently
leased his home at Huntington, L.
I., to William G. McAdoo, the de
feated democratic presidential candi
date. Fred Kelscy, who played the part
of the police inspector in "Alias
Jimmy Valentine," in support of Bert
Lytell, has been engaged by Metro
again to play the same sort of a
part in "Blackmail," Viola Diana's
new starring feature.
Since his first appearance in that
variety of screen role, Mr. Kelsey
says he has been offered more free
booze by bootleggers that he ever
knw was in circulation. After he
has appeared in "Blackmail," he
plans to take a house with a larger
cellar.
White mice, pigeons, turkeys and
ducks are among the pets harbored
by Buddy Messenger. Buddy is
"Freddy Littlefield" in the Goldwyn
"Edgar" series by Both Tarkington.
The Historical Film corporation,
the company organized to film the
Bible, has completed its first pic
ture, entitled "The Letter to Phile
mon," a visualization of the Epis
tle fof Paul to Philemon.
Molly Malone ii Jack Pickford's
leading lady in his current Goldwyn
production.
Eddie Lyons and Lee Moran will
each have "two leading ladies in their
coming Universal comedy feature,
'"if
"Once a Plumber." The four young
ladies are Lillian Hackett, Edna Mae
Wilson, Florence Lawson and Ethel
Ritchie. .
Pauline Frederick has begun pro
duction on "Iris," her first picture
for Robertson-Cole at the Lois
Weber studios in Los Angeles.
Nigel Barrie, Willard Louis and
Howard Gays play the chief sup
porting roles.
j
Harry Houdini has completed his
European engagements for the pres
ent and left on the jmperator for
New York, July 2. Following his
English engagements he took the
airplane express to Paris for a few
dajys of vacationing. Mrs. Houdini
accompanied him. ,'
Mildred Considine, former writer
for the screen, who was forced to
give up her work more than a year
ago because of ill health, is now en
gaged in free lance writing in Holly
wood, doing work for Katherine
MacDonald and Famous Players
Lasky. The American Film company an
nounces that "Whispering Smith,"
based on the novel of the same
name by frank Hamilton spear
man, is now being adapted to the
screen at the Santa Barbara studios,
California. This storv Of western-
frontier life has ' already roused
great interest in book form, and di
rectors confidently .assert that this
new picture will be as popular as
the picturizaiton ' of "The Honey
Bee" by Samuel Merwin and "The.
House of Toys' by Henry Russell
Miller. - . ' , ' '
immune until
CONSTANCE
TALMADGE
' . ..171.. I
"The Perfect Woman"
Jimmy Stanhope went through the Candy
Age, the Park Age and the Chorus Girl Age
without a thought of WOMEN but all those
good resolutions were swept to the winds of
indiscretion when he saw Connie.
Do Audiences
Demand Happy
Ending? Yes-No
Theatrical tradition has decreed
that nlavs. should have happy end
ings, and boilders of stage and
screen entertainment go on year
after year doing their work witn
almost slavish adherence to this idea.
Clarence Badger, noted director,
foresees a change in America, such
as long ago took place in Europe,
in the attitude of producers and ex
hibitors.
"The success of 'Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde' on the screen has been
an eye-opener to the conservatives,"
he says. "The great name of John
Barrymore gave the exhibitors cour
age to offer Stevenson's story to
their audiences, and to their surprise
they found it broke records. In New
York two Broadway' theaters set a
new mark, one of them after the
other had run the film two weeks.
"There, is no greater drag on the
drama than the happy-ending tradi
tion. How often we hear people
say of a play, 'old stuff why don't
they srive us something besides the
same olot all the while?' -
"I'll tell you. With thi ending of
our pictures and plays foreknown to
the audience, the invariable .'clinch'
of the lovers and brushing away of
all difficulties in a beatihe scene, we
destroy the element of suspense. We
cut our cloth to pretty much the
same pattern without regard to how
impossible, unnatural and puerile tne
twist in plot may be to bring it
about. To give them kisses, sun
shine and happiness invariably is
often to affront their sense of logic.
"Suppose, to speak broadly, half
our romances hadhappy endings and
half the other J kind, each play
being carried out to a logical con
clusion as our audiences know life.
Given good acting, plot construction
and direction, I believe our audi
ences would find a new interest in
their entertainment. Half the inter
est is thrown away because audi
ences know how the story is going
to end. j This gives them the sense
that what takes place in the course
of the tale is a fabricated plot built
for the theater, and correspondingly
without ijhfsion.
"I can tell you that producers and
directors would like to get away
from the old stuff; let the exhibitors
have the cqurage and the people
will, I believe, reward them with in
creased favor."
Facts in the Game.
To the general public who are not
aware of the extensive operations
of the motion picture industry, the
following statistics will explain why
in so short a time it has moved up
to the fifth industry in the United j
States.
Fifteen thousand regular theaters
show moving pictures.
Twelve thousand legitimate the
aters show moving pictures exclu
sively. Two thousand five hundred change
two or three times each week.
Seventy-five per cent change their
program daily.
This means that these theatejs
need 365 pictures a year, which will
give you an idea as to the output
which can be consumed.
Daily attendance at picture the
aters, 13,000,000.
Total income of moving picture
theaters in 1919, $750,000,000.
There are approximately 890 dif
ferent chains of moving picture the
aters in the country.
Mary falls in love with a
woman hater. She leaves no
stone unturned to make the
human icicle fall, but he is
.Smiles and Sweetness ;
- Of Character Triumph
Whispered innuendoes are worse
than shouted accusations. Elaine
Hammerstein, as Daphne Morton in
"Whispers," at the Orpheum this
week, shows evil wrought by scandal-mongers.
It is a story without
the usual tragedy of shooting and
killing.
Popular Actress
Cherished Other
Life Ambitions
By MARY PICKFORD.
No matter what we are what oc
cupation or life-calling happens to be
ours there is always something, it
seems, that we would much rather
be. .
For instance, I should like to be a
painter a painter of children's por
traits. As far back as I can re
member I have had this desire. To
be able to place on canvas the like
ness of little kiddies, with all their
lovableness, with all their clfishness
and roguishness. is to me a most
remarkable accomplishment.
Many and many are the drawings
I have made. But most of them were
so tar below my ideal that I de
stroyed them. Yet I got no end of
pleasure out of making these
sketches, a few of which have been
tucked away by my mother, who .
cherishes them very much.
1 should like most of all to be able
to paint a portrait of my little niece
and namesake, Mary Pickford Rupp;
she is rapidly growing out of baby
hood, and before any of us realize
it, she will be a little girl and a
few years later a grown-up lady. If
I could only register upon canvas
that elusive charm of childhood that
thing which is now here, and which
a few years hence will be gone.
As I look back upon my own
childhood, it seems that my very
first ambition was to be an artist.
Then after that I wanted to be an in
terior decorator to design and ar
range beautiful homes. And those
yearnings have never left me. Even
now I seldom go into a home with
out wishing I could have had a hand
in arranging it This does not mean
that I do not approve of the arrange
ment, it merely means that I would
have enjoyed helping to create the
elegance and- grandeur that I see
manifested there.
Among 'Em Locally.
C. E. Holah, manager of A. H.
Blank Enterprises, has returned from
a vacation to Lake Okoboji, la. He
toured overland to and from his
haven of pleasure.
"Some trip, some time and some
fun," he is telling friends.
Where is Harry Watts, Strand
theater manager? He's on a vaca
tion somewhere between the Pacific
and Atlantic coasts, his friends are
sure.
A vacation is a mere conception,
according to Howard D. Graham,
Pathe promoter, and S. R. Ballan
tyne, manager of the Moon theater.
"Too much work," they aver.
It became too cool for Harry
Goldberg in the Sun, so he hied off
to warmer fields a week ago. H'll be
back soon. . ',..-
Peavey With New Company.
Film circles were furnished a
striking evidence of the wonderful
growth of motion pictures this week
with the annpuncement of the open
ing of the Omaha Exchange of Edu
cational Films Corporation of Ameri
ca. The office is located at 314
!4r
IS
L.
South Thirteenth street, and
under the management of C. L,
Peavey, former manager of Robert
sen-Cole Distributing Exchange of
this city.
The new office will handle noth
ing but short subjects. Some of
the subjects taken over by the com
pany are the pictures taken by ex
editions of the Inter-Church World
Movement in Africa and Asia, the
American Red Cross and the Na
tional Geographical society.
Two-reel comedies, featuring
Christie Stars and Johnny Hines,
noted stage comedians, will also be
released by the newly-formed com
pany. -,
Sun to Give Photos.
Sepia hand-drawn portraits of the
popular movie actress, May Allison,
will be given away every afternoon
and evening this week to women at
tending the Sun theater to see Will
iam Faversham in "The Man Who
Lost Himself."
Different head drawinirs of other
popular stars will be given away at
the Sun from time to time. ' ' The
series includes Mary Miles Minter,
Viola Dana. Constance Binney,
Nazimova, Madge Kennedy, - Alice
Lake. Helen Chadwick and Bert
Lytell.
After this list is eliminated a vote
will be taken to determine the most
popular movie star in Omahal
Photos of the winner will then be
given away.
Percy Marmont is to be featured
in a new Vitagraph production, just
started under the direction of Tom
Tcrriss. Opposite him is being cast
Catherine Calvert. The title of the
new picture is "Dead Men Tell No
Tales." This rise of Mr. Marmont
to the status of a featured player
follows a steady ascendency in repu
tation and popularity won by the
actor in his leading parts. opposite
Alice Brady. Geraldine Farrar,
Marguerite Clark, Corinne Griffith
and Alice Joyce. He has also ap
peared opposite Billie Burke in
"Away Goes Prudence"and Norma
Talmadge in "The Branded Wom
an" completed last week. v
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