I 
 
 California 
 
 gional 
 
 nlity
 
 SCREEN ACTING
 
 COPYBICHT, 1921 
 
 PHOTO-STAR PUBLISHING CO. 
 Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
 
 The Author and Daughter Mary
 
 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 BY 
 
 MAE MARSH 
 
 OF 
 
 "THE BIRTH OF A NATION," "INTOLERANCE," "POLLY OF THE 
 CIRCUS," "THE CINDERELLA MAN," ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 
 PHOTO-STAR PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUILDING 
 All Rights Reserved
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 IN her travels and through her amazing 
 to put it mildly correspondence, the mo- 
 tion picture star finds that there is every- 
 where a great curiosity about screen acting. 
 
 What does it require? What, if any, are its 
 mysteries? What system of detail is there 
 that permits fifty-two hundred feet of celluloid 
 ribbon to spin smoothly past the eye to make 
 an interesting story ? 
 
 I look upon this book as an answer to the 
 thousands of letters I have received in the past 
 several years asking as many thousands of 
 questions. A motion picture star's most inti- 
 mate audience, after all, is her correspondence. 
 
 There comes to her sometimes the vague re- 
 alization that in a dozen different countries 
 little children, their sisters, their brothers and 
 their parents may be, at one moment, viewing 
 her image upon the screen in a dozen different 
 plays. It is all too stupendous ; too impersonal. 
 But. though she cannot be a breathing part of 
 these audiences she learns often what is in the 
 hearts of many. This message comes through 
 the mails; that is her broad point of contact 
 with her international public. 
 
 IX
 
 Five years ago these letters were largely to 
 request photographs and the star could tell 
 something of her popularity by the number of 
 pictures mailed out. But, as the screen has 
 grown in importance and merit, the star's cor- 
 respondence has indicated a lively curiosity in 
 the art of camera-acting. So much ambition ; 
 so many questions ! 
 
 I have often thought that to make a satis- 
 factory reply to the thousands of questions I 
 have been asked would be to write a book, and 
 well, I wrote it. I have tried to outline the 
 important steps in the building of a screen 
 career. In doing this I have evaded technical 
 phraseology. It is not indispensable to a 
 knowledge of screen technic and might tend to 
 confuse. 
 
 I believe that anyone desiring a career in 
 motion pictures can profit by that which I have 
 written out of my experience; that others can 
 learn from it something of the work-a-day life 
 of the screen actress. 
 
 In conclusion I would take this opportunity 
 to thank the tremendous number of children 
 and grown-ups who have at one time or an- 
 other written me. They serve always to re- 
 mind me that those of us upon the screen have 
 an influence and responsibility that go beyond 
 a mere make-believe. 
 
 MAE MARSH.
 
 Contents 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. The Universal Impulse 15 
 
 II. Stars and Meteors 23 
 
 III. Seven Qualities 33 
 
 IV. Beauty and Expression 43 
 
 V. Story, Make-up, Costuming 51 
 
 VI. Noses, Chins and Eyes 61 
 
 VII. Camera-Consciousness and Such 73 
 
 VIII. Emphasis and Repression 81 
 
 IX. Long Shots, Intermediates and Close-ups. . 91 
 
 X. About Atmosphere 101 
 
 XL Mr. Griffith 109 
 
 XII. Home Life of the Star.. , .121 
 
 XI
 
 Illustrations 
 
 Page 
 The Author and Mary Frontispiece 
 
 Lillian Gish and the late Robert Harron 27 
 
 Charles Ray 37 
 
 Mary Miles Minter 47 
 
 Mary Pickford 55 
 
 Madame Nazimova 65 
 
 Blanche Sweet and Wallace Reid 77 
 
 Norma Talmadge 85 
 
 The Author and Some Beginners 95 
 
 Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan 105 
 
 Mr. Griffith 113 
 
 The Author at Home . . . . 125 
 
 JUII
 
 MAE MARSH, MOTION PICTURE ACTRESS 
 
 'T'HE arts are old, old as the stones 
 
 From which man carved the sphinx austere. 
 Deep are the days the old arts bring: 
 Ten thousand years of yesteryear. 
 
 II 
 
 C// is madonna in an art 
 
 As wild and young as her sweet eyes: 
 A frail dew flower from this hot lamp 
 That is today's divine surprise. 
 
 Despite raw lights and gloating mobs 
 She is not seared: a picture still: 
 
 Rare silk the fine director's hand 
 May weave for magic if he will. 
 
 When ancient films have crumbled like 
 
 Papyrus rolls of Egypt's day, 
 Let the dust speak: "Her pride was high, 
 
 All but the artist hid away: 
 
 "Kin to the myriad artist clan 
 
 Since time began, whose work is dear." 
 The deep new ages come with her, 
 Tomorrow's years of yesteryear. 
 
 Nicholas Vachel Lindsay. 
 
 From "THE CHINESE NIGHTINGALE 
 and other Poems" by Vachel Lindsay. 
 Published by The MacMillan Company. 
 
 XIV
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The dilemma of a casting director A Hood of letters 
 and their four objectives What every- 
 one wants to know. 
 
 WHEN MR. ADOLPH KLAUBER, former dra- 
 matic critic of the New York Times, was cast- 
 ing director for a big picture corporation I 
 chanced to meet him one day in the Fort Lee 
 Studios. 
 
 "Read this," he said, tendering me a letter. 
 
 It was from a young girl in Columbus, Ohio, 
 as I remember, who wanted to know how she 
 could get into motion pictures. It was not so 
 much the letter as a small snap-shot photo- 
 graph of herself which she had pinned to her 
 missive that took my attention. 
 
 The picture showed a girl in a sitting posi- 
 tion, who was plump to the verge of fatness. 
 She had thick legs and ankles, straight hair, 
 probably brown, and dark eyes. So far as a 
 front view divulged her features were fairly 
 regular. It was not in any way a remarkable 
 picture. Nor did it promise any particular 
 animation in its subject. 
 
 15
 
 16 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 She had written to ascertain "what chance 
 she would have in motion pictures." 
 
 "What are you going to answer?" I asked 
 of Mr. Klauber. 
 
 "That's a poser," he replied. "I was about 
 to write her that she didn't have any chance; 
 that she probably would be happier if she re- 
 mained home; certainly so until she obtained 
 her parents' consent for plans of a career. 
 Looking at the picture I should say she had 
 one chance in a million." 
 
 "That is probably true," I said. 
 
 "But do you know," continued Mr. Klauber, 
 "that the more I think of it the less I believe 
 that I am endowed with authority to tell any- 
 one that he or she has no chance in motion 
 pictures. How can I know? We see about 
 us every day celebrated stars who, perhaps, 
 began their career with apparently no more 
 chance than this little Columbus girl." 
 
 Mr. Klauber paused. 
 
 "For that reason I have not sent the dis- 
 couraging letter which it was on the tip of my 
 pen to write," he continued. "Instead I am 
 going to send her a letter telling her that her 
 chance of screen success is altogether proble- 
 matical ; that everything depends upon circum- 
 stance, hard work and the native talent that 
 is developed before the camera." 
 
 "I should like to see a copy of that letter," 
 I said.
 
 SCREEN ACTING 17 
 
 I never happened to see Mr. Klauber's reply 
 to the girl in Columbus. But I am sure it was 
 interesting. 
 
 In the past eight years I have received hun- 
 dreds of thousands of letters from motion pic- 
 ture fans in every part of the world. In an- 
 swer now to a question I have often heard 
 asked, "Does a motion picture star immediately 
 read all her mail?" I can say for myself, 
 "Bless you, no." 
 
 A single mail has brought as many as a thou- 
 sand letters and I shall leave it to the reader 
 to determine how one could possibly read one 
 thousand letters and arrive at the studio at 
 8:30 o'clock. Personally, my secretaries are 
 instructed to attend to such fan letters as re- 
 quest a reply which practically all of them do 
 and then preserve the letters that I may read 
 them in leisure moments. 
 
 In that way I have managed I think to per- 
 use at one time or another the majority of the 
 letters that come to me. I find the reading of 
 them a great pleasure. 
 
 It is nice to receive pleasant compliments on 
 one's hard and honest effort to do something 
 worth while. I have on many occasions found 
 helpful criticism in my mail. Almost anyone 
 can dismiss a picture with a "I liked it" or "I 
 didn't like it." There is the exceptional one 
 in a thousand who will tell you he didn't like 
 it and why, placing his finger upon a real de- 
 fect. Often that is a help.
 
 18 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 To get back to my point : The letters I re- 
 ceive seem to be written with one, and some- 
 times all of the following objectives 
 
 1. To request a photograph. 
 
 2. To request an autographed photograph. 
 
 3. To ask for "old clothes." 
 
 4. To find out how "I can learn to act for 
 motion pictures." 
 
 As for Numbers 1 and 2, the many of you 
 who are making a "collection" know that a pic- 
 ture, autographed if requested, is sent you in 
 due time. Up to very recently the star has 
 considered it a matter of good advertising to 
 remember those friends who are kind enough 
 to ask for photographs. But the demand for 
 pictures has become so tremendous that some 
 of the stars are now making a flat charge of 
 twenty-five cents for their photographs. This 
 barely covers the cost of production and post- 
 age. 
 
 It was Miss Billie Burke, I believe, who was 
 first to establish a cost charge on her photo- 
 graphs. She did this during the war and 
 donated the receipts to charity. 
 
 The most of us have feared to risk offending 
 those picture fans who have been at the pains 
 of writing us by asking them for a photo- 
 graphic fee. We have spent from $10,000 to 
 $25,000 a year out of our own pockets unless 
 by our contracts our producers agreed to bear 
 this expense and have trusted that it was 
 money well expended. In the amount of pleas-
 
 SCREEN ACTING 19 
 
 ure brought to the little ones I, for one, am 
 sure it has been. 
 
 But, as the demand for pictures grows 
 greater and letters pour in from all parts of 
 the world, the cost of materials has been stead- 
 ily climbing. In 1915 I could send out three 
 photographs for what it now costs to send one. 
 That means something when thousands of 
 photo-mailers each month are being sent to a 
 dozen different countries. 
 
 Recently a well known star, a particular 
 friend of mine, declared that it was but a mat- 
 ter of months before all the more popular stars 
 would institute a photographic fee. 
 
 As to Number 3, regarding old clothes, I am 
 sure that while the requests emanate from 
 worthy sources no star could possibly satisfy 
 these many supplications. 
 
 To begin with if the story calls for clothes 
 that are actually old old enough to be consid- 
 ered "costumes" they are usually supplied by 
 the producer and belong to him after produc- 
 tion. In the case of modern clothes meaning 
 new ones most stars are very pleased to wear 
 them themselves when they have finished be- 
 fore the camera. 
 
 Such is mine own case. Whenever there is 
 any danger of my reaching a point of clothes 
 saturation I have several growing sisters who, 
 so far, have been able to handle the situation. 
 After that our clothes go through certain pre- 
 arranged channels of charity.
 
 20 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 I make this point in the hope that many 
 young ladies who have written me for my "old 
 clothes" will understand that I have few or 
 none, as much as I should like to accommodate 
 each one of them. 
 
 Which brings me to Number 4. 
 
 "How can I learn to act for motion pic- 
 tures?" Six years ago in "The Birth of a 
 Nation" days my mail brought me many such 
 inquiries. Since then, with the motion pic- 
 ture steadily gaining in favor, I have been 
 swamped with this universal request. 
 
 "Do brown eyes photograph better than 
 blue?" "Is it necessary to have stage training 
 to act before a camera?" "Can a girl with a 
 big nose succeed in the movies?" "What is 
 the accepted height for a motion picture star ?" 
 "Are the morals of motion pictures safe for 
 the average girl?" "If I came to Hollywood 
 and got work as an extra how long would it 
 be before I am featured?" "Do you know any 
 director who will star a small girl, of blond 
 type, who has played parts in high school come- 
 dies?" "Are the star salaries we hear of the 
 real thing?" "Does Charlie Chaplin make 
 $1,000,000 a year?" 
 
 I have picked at random these few questions. 
 I think I could go on and on, farther than Mr. 
 Tennyson's charming brook, with others of the 
 same kind. Sometimes I am given to the 
 thought that every young girl in the United 
 States wants to go into motion pictures.
 
 SCREEN ACTING 21 
 
 Possibly I am right. You know as well as I. 
 Receiving so many of these letters I have be- 
 gun to feel as Mr. Klauber felt. I don't know 
 exactly what to say. 
 
 But since there are undoubtedly many thou- 
 sands of boys and girls not only in the United 
 States but in foreign countries the Japanese 
 boy, for instance, is particularly keen on know- 
 ing the how of motion picture acting who 
 would like to get into motion pictures, I feel 
 that such information as I have acquired 
 through a wide experience will interest many 
 and perhaps prove of value to those others 
 who are destined to be our cinema stars of 
 tomorrow. 
 
 As for my qualifications I was about to say 
 that I am one of the motion picture pioneers. 
 Yet when I say pioneer I think of Daniel 
 Boone. And Mr. Boone, had he lived, would 
 have been an old, old man.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 The myth of the "overnight" star An instance of 
 
 success after long sustained effort 
 
 What the beginner faces. 
 
 To BECOME an artistic success one must as- 
 suredly be in love with the art he has elected 
 to follow. In business or finance a so-called 
 lucky stroke may make of a man or a woman 
 a success without there being those qualities 
 of esteem and enthusiasm for the thing itself 
 that are so essential to artistic endeavor. 
 
 Such lucky strokes are rare in pictures. Ap- 
 pearances to the contrary, notwithstanding, 
 motion picture stars are not made over-night. 
 Every now and then some actor or actress be- 
 gins to assert his or her right to cinema star- 
 dom. But if one will take the trouble to ex- 
 amine the records in such cases he will usually 
 find that the privilege of stardom has come 
 only after a slow climb. 
 
 There have been cases where producers have 
 tried to "manufacture" stars. But, in the 
 main, it hasn't worked. 
 
 23
 
 24 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 To recall one example : One of the shrewd- 
 est of our producers not long ago signed a 
 young, beautiful and talented vaudeville act- 
 ress to a long time motion picture contract. 
 Screen tests proved that she photographed 
 beautifully. She had the grace of carriage to 
 be expected of the professional dancer. Her 
 face was expressive. That a capable director 
 would find in her all the qualities necessary 
 for stardom the producer never doubted. 
 
 Thousands of dollars were spent in an ocean 
 of advertising ink announcing the debut of this 
 star. Her name was flashed from one end of 
 the country to the other, indeed, around the 
 world, in electric lights and on bill boards. 
 Her photograph was published in the metro- 
 politan dailies and small town papers. So far 
 as the campaign was concerned it was an un- 
 qualified success. By the time the little star's 
 first picture was ready for release there had 
 been built up about her a tremendous curiosity. 
 
 I own I was as curious as the next. I think 
 the majority of us, who had attained stardom 
 only after years of rigorous training, self 
 denial and hard work, were interested, even 
 anxious, to know if motion picture stars could 
 be developed after the formula of this pro- 
 ducer. It meant something to us. 
 
 If the magnitude of the motion picture act- 
 ress was to be in proportion to the size of an 
 introductory advertising campaign then our 
 own position was none too secure.
 
 SCREEN ACTING 25 
 
 As a star this little actress failed. Thanks 
 to some natural talent her failure was not so 
 disastrous as it might have been. But as a 
 star, she was soon withdrawn. The fortune 
 spent in exploiting her was gone, but not for- 
 gotten. As a proof of the impossibility of 
 "manufacturing" stars under the most favor- 
 able of circumstances it probably served a pur- 
 pose. 
 
 Why did she fail ? Why would a baby, who 
 had never walked, fail if she were told to run 
 a foot race ? She simply didn't know how. 
 
 All the little important things that one can 
 learn by nothing save experience, things which 
 mean everything to successful screen acting, 
 were missing in her work. She was like one 
 trying to paint without knowing color, to com- 
 pose without a knowledge of counter-point, to 
 write without having learned grammar school 
 English. Contrary to a tradition which exists 
 in some localities the best swimmers are not 
 developed by throwing the child into the water 
 and telling him to sink or float. 
 
 There is another interesting point in the case 
 which I have cited. When the plans to make 
 this young lady an over-night star failed she 
 became a featured player in a group. Sur- 
 rounded by experienced, capable screen actors 
 and relieved of the responsibility that stardom 
 entails she has developed splendidly and is, in 
 point of fact, a better actress today than she 
 was when she was. advertised as a star.
 
 26 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 It has been simply a matter of training. If 
 sometime in the future she is again starred she 
 will be prepared to make a better job of it. 
 
 I have brought up this case because it has 
 been my observation that there exists a feeling 
 that in motion pictures anybody can be a star 
 anytime. There is talk of influence, mana- 
 gerial favoritism, luck and, goodness knows, 
 what not? There may be truth to some of 
 these assertions. 
 
 But the year in and year out stars Mary 
 Pickford, Dorothy and Lillian Gish, William 
 Hart, Mine. Nazimova, Douglas Fairbanks, 
 Charles Ray ,etc. are those who stand solidly 
 on the ground of genuine merit. 
 
 And the solidity of their stance is usually 
 determined by the amount of their natural tal- 
 ent, plus the excellence and length of their 
 training. 
 
 I believe many people have the habit of fall- 
 ing in love with an idea. The idea of becom- 
 ing a motion picture star is appealing. But 
 like many other general conceptions the idea 
 of the star's life as gathered from a smoothly 
 displayed picture drama or a magazine article 
 portraying the artist's home, her automobile 
 and her pets is misleading. 
 
 Robert Louis Stevenson wept in despair over 
 the composition of many of his stories. A 
 great many of us have had occasion to weep 
 over our own more modest efforts. We have 
 found, indeed, that the most beautiful roses
 
 Lillian Gish and the late Robert Harron in a love scene 
 from "The Greatest Question."
 
 SCREEN ACTING 29 
 
 are very often those with the crudest thorns. 
 
 It has been proved that motion picture stars 
 cannot be made over-night. It is equally true 
 that many promising actresses do not become 
 stars in the accepted professional sense of the 
 word even after long years of work. 
 
 I suppose if I said that nobody can succeed 
 in motion pictures and that the star is the ex- 
 ception to the rule I should be accused of being 
 a pessimist. Yet that is more nearly the truth 
 than may appear on the surface. 
 
 Consider, for instance, the thousands of act- 
 ors and actresses who have appeared before a 
 camera in the past decade. After you have 
 done that count the number of genuine stars 
 now before the public. You can name the ma- 
 jority of them on the fingers and thumbs of 
 four hands. 
 
 Yet in the heart of each of the thousands, 
 who have stepped before the batteries of mo- 
 tion picture cameras, there was undoubtedly 
 the hope that natural ability, circumstance or 
 hard work would bring success. 
 
 It is well to take this into consideration when 
 one looks toward the screen for a career. 
 
 But sometimes this law of average is de- 
 feated by that exceptional person whose faith 
 is undiminished, whose confidence in one's self 
 is boundless and whose capacity for work 
 never flags. 
 
 Let me cite you the case of one of the best 
 known young actresses on the screen who, as
 
 30 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 this is written, has never enjoyed the full priv- 
 ileges of stardom though she has shared most 
 of its disadvantages. 
 
 She began her screen career more than a 
 half dozen years ago. She was frail, and slow 
 to absorb the lessons of the screen. Even her 
 dearest friends never imputed to her a great 
 natural acting talent. 
 
 But this young lady was dauntless. She 
 kept everlastingly at it. By systematically ex- 
 ercising she gradually built up strength and 
 endurance. When she was given a part she 
 read everything she had access to which would 
 help her in the development of her character 
 portrayal. 
 
 She over-came any tendency toward self- 
 consciousness while before the camera. She 
 became adept in the matter of thinking up busi- 
 ness. The fact that she did not attain star- 
 dom, in its generally accepted sense, never de- 
 terred her. Year after year she gave to the 
 screen and to her parts the best that was in 
 her. 
 
 Her courageousness has been rewarded. It 
 is my opinion that in the past two years she 
 had contributed to the photographic drama two 
 of its most distinguished characterizations. 
 She is a motion picture star in the true sense 
 of the word. Her name is Lillian Gish. 
 
 If I seem to be gazing on the darker side of 
 a screen career I assure you that it is not be- 
 cause such is my habit. Quite the contrary.
 
 SCREEN ACTING 31 
 
 But it appears to me that since there seems to 
 be such a universal impulse to gain fame 
 through the medium of the moving picture 
 drama that it is as well to consider some of its 
 difficulties. 
 
 Trained actors and actresses from the 
 spoken stage to their sorrow have found these 
 difficulties. The established star finds some- 
 times that success has seemed merely to double 
 her troubles. 
 
 The beginner will discover, therefore, that 
 when he or she sets his or her face toward a 
 screen career there will come moments when 
 it will seem much easier to give up than go on. 
 Those who give up will be those who should 
 never have started. They will have wasted 
 time that could have been otherwise more 
 profitably spent. 
 
 Those who go on well, there is always hope 
 for such. 
 
 I am always interested in and can sympa- 
 thize with the young girl who yearns for a 
 career. It seems but yesterday that I was in 
 short skirts and Miss Marjorie Rambeau was 
 the most talented and beautiful actress that 
 was ever permitted upon the face of the earth. 
 After a matinee at the old Burbank theater in 
 Los Angeles a young girl friend and I often 
 followed Miss Rambeau discreetly and at what 
 might be called a worshipful distance.
 
 32 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 Then there was Mr. Richard Bennett. 
 What a masterful, handsome man was he! 
 My goodness! he was one to occupy one's 
 dreams; to make one wonder if somehow it 
 might not be possible to grow up and become 
 his leading lady. I am sure that the very par- 
 agon of modern-day leading men could not 
 come up to my childhood estimate of Mr. Rich- 
 ard Bennett.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Seven qualities that indicate fitness for a screen career 
 Why they are important An illus- 
 tration of vitality. 
 
 As I HAVE said, I have been asked by thous- 
 ands of correspondents for the formula for 
 screen success. I have never felt able to an- 
 swer. I don't believe there is any such 
 formula. 
 
 Putting the proposition another way : 
 
 If I were requested to choose from among 
 ten beginners the one who would go the farth- 
 est in motion pictures I should unhesitatingly 
 lay my finger upon the one who possessed the 
 following qualifications : 
 
 (1) Natural talent. 
 
 (2) Ambition. 
 
 (3) Personality. 
 
 (4) Sincerity. 
 
 (5) Agreeable appearance. 
 
 (6) Vitality and strength. 
 
 (7) Ability to learn quickly. 
 
 33
 
 34 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 I am sure that I should not go far wrong if 
 I were to place my trust in one endowed with 
 these qualities. 
 
 A natural talent for acting implies more 
 than a mere desire to act. It is the art, 
 usually discovered during childhood, of mim- 
 icry, and the joy in that art. 
 
 How many of us have been convulsed in our 
 earlier years at some school girl friend's take- 
 off of our teacher ? How many of us, indeed, 
 have played the mimics ? I seem to remember 
 that in my grammar school days I was called 
 upon more or less to take-off one of our 
 teachers. 
 
 If not called upon I volunteered. None of 
 my school chums got more enjoyment out of 
 my "imitation of Miss Blank" than I did. I 
 never dreamed at that time or, if I did, they 
 were vague dreams that I was to become an 
 actress. Since then I have come to the con- 
 clusion that I was actually taking my first steps 
 toward what I chose as a career. 
 
 Natural talent, as I have called it, is no more 
 than a tendency toward, or an aptitude for, 
 some form of endeavor. In youth my first 
 artistic loves were for mimicry and painting 
 the latter of which took the form of sculptur- 
 ing and both of these loves have been en- 
 during. 
 
 For that reason unless my candidate for 
 screen success had previously shown some love 
 for acting or mimicry I should come to the con-
 
 SCREEN ACTING 35 
 
 elusion that he or she was intoxicated merely 
 with the glamour of the profession, with no 
 especial love for the fundamental thing itself. 
 
 This is an important point. If its signif- 
 icance were duly impressed upon the thousands 
 of girls and boys, who would like to choose the 
 screen for a career, perhaps, some of them 
 would abandon their dreams and turn to things 
 for which they have displayed some natural 
 aptitude. 
 
 Ambition must, of course, go hand in hand 
 with natural talent. In any form of vocational 
 training it is assumed that the student has a 
 feverish desire to succeed in the particular line 
 that he has elected to follow. It is the same 
 on the screen. 
 
 Possibly I might have written down enthus- 
 iasm in the place of ambition. After one has 
 attained stardom and thus, perhaps, achieved 
 his or her ambition the ability to sustain en- 
 thusiasm in one's work becomes more import- 
 ant than ambition. But ambition and enthus- 
 iasm are closely correlated. 
 
 They mean that one has an ambition to gain 
 the top, and that to reach that position one has 
 the enthusiasm to practise all the forms of self- 
 denial, discipline and study that are important 
 to artistic success in any line. 
 
 Personality is important for the reason that 
 the camera has a way of registering it un- 
 erringly. It is keen in detecting the weak or 
 vapid.
 
 36 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 In my eight years before a motion picture 
 camera I have never met a person of inferior 
 fibre whose inferiority was not accentuated by 
 the camera. For that reason to sustain suc- 
 cess on the screen I believe there is nothing 
 more important than clean thoughts and clean 
 living. They do register. 
 
 It is precisely the same with sincerity. In 
 any line there is probably little hope for those 
 who lack this salient quality. But a motion 
 picture camera seems especially to delight in 
 exposing insincerity. 
 
 I think considerable of the success of Mary 
 Pickford and Charles Ray to name but two 
 stars is due to their absolute and abundant 
 sincerity. The camera, finding so much that 
 is clean and real, has jovously reproduced it. 
 It is the love that Miss Pickford radiates from 
 the screen and the obvious manliness of Mr. 
 Ray that are among their biggest assets. This 
 is sincere love and sincere manliness, or it 
 would never be so emphasized by the camera. 
 
 My candidate for screen honors, therefore, 
 must have the God-given quality of sincerity. 
 Only that kind can feel deeply, think cleanlv 
 and develop the sterling traits without which 
 neither a camera or a public can be very long 
 deceived. 
 
 I now come to the matter of personal ap- 
 pearance. This is a topic in which every man 
 under 65, and every woman under 100 vears 
 seem interested. I sometimes wonder if it is
 
 o 
 
 as 
 
 "a 
 
 5 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 e 
 
 8 

 
 SCREEN ACTING 39 
 
 not the desire to see how they would look on 
 the screen, rather than how they might act, 
 that fills so many boys and girls and men and 
 women with an ambition for a screen career. 
 
 I have found the subject of such universal 
 interest that I believe it deserves a chapter to 
 itself. Therefore I shall dismiss this matter 
 until the next. I may say, however, that in 
 my candidate I should rank agreeable appear- 
 ance and an expressive face as superior to mere 
 beauty. 
 
 To paraphrase, nothing succeeds like good 
 health. Of itself it is the most valuable thing 
 that we should own. Good health can be 
 translated into terms of capacity for work. 
 Therefore since a screen career means both 
 hard and trying work I should insist that my 
 candidate possess or develop the qualities of 
 strength and vitality. 
 
 I am aware that in many forms of art such 
 artists as Chopin, Stevenson and Milton, have 
 become famous in spite of great physical hand- 
 icaps. I do not believe the same can be done 
 in pictures. 
 
 It seems to me that healthy persons like to 
 see and be among well people. Motion picture 
 audiences being invariably in first-class phy- 
 sical shape themselves, desire that those who 
 appear before them on the screen be likewise 
 fortunate. It is my belief that an audience 
 is usually bored to tears by a convalescing hero 
 or heroine. If I were in charge of all the
 
 40 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 scenarios played I should cut such episodes 
 very short. They beget more impatience than 
 sympathy. 
 
 But it is not only because good health rad- 
 iates from the screen that it is important. In 
 point of nervous and muscular strain, and the 
 often long studio hours that are necessary 
 when production has begun, good health is 
 essential. 
 
 To illustrate : While we were filming "Polly 
 of The Circus" in Fort Lee one morning I re- 
 ported at the studio at nine o'clock. We were 
 working on some interior scenes that were 
 vital to the success of the story. My director 
 at that time was Mr. Charles Horan. Mr. 
 Vernon Steele was playing the male lead. 
 
 That day we became so engrossed in playing 
 some rather delicate scenes that before we 
 knew it or at least before I could realize it 
 it was six o'clock, and we weren't half done. 
 
 "What do you say to continuing?" asked 
 Mr. Horan. 
 
 "Good; we're right in the spirit of it," I 
 replied. 
 
 We had a bite to eat and worked on until 
 midnight. In spite of our hard and earnest 
 efforts there were several scenes with which 
 we were dissatisfied. 
 
 "Well," said Mr. Horan ruefully. "Tomor- 
 row will be another day." 
 
 As he spoke it dawned upon me how one of
 
 SCREEN ACTING 41 
 
 the scenes on which we felt we had failed could 
 be done with probable success. 
 
 "Why tomorrow?" I replied. "Let's make 
 a night of it if necessary. We simply have to 
 get that scene." 
 
 Mr. Horan grinned. That had been his 
 wish. But he had feared breaking the camel's 
 back. 
 
 We worked until four o'clock that morning. 
 Things went swimmingly. It was broad day- 
 light when I ferried across the Hudson but if 
 I was very tired I was equally happy. 
 
 Several times during "Polly of the Circus" 
 we had experiences which, in the number of 
 hours put in, were similar to that which I have 
 related. But in the end it was worth while. 
 We had a picture. 
 
 At that time I was feeling in the best of 
 health but, even so, the long hours had been a 
 severe drain upon my none too great vitality. 
 For anyone lacking strength and vitality such 
 hours would have been impossible. 
 
 It is not my intention to write a booklet on 
 health. But all of us should be very careful 
 of our most precious possession. I know of so 
 many young girls in motion pictures who have 
 let their health get away from them. And 
 some of the cases are so pitiful. . . . 
 
 My candidate, then, will have strength and 
 vitality and, equally important, he or she will 
 cling to both, whatever social sacrifices may 
 have to be made to preserve them.
 
 42 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 The ability to learn quickly will save anyone 
 going into screen work so much trouble and 
 possible humiliation that it may well be listed 
 as an essential qualification. 
 
 The screen is no place for the mental lag- 
 gard. The beginner, particularly, must be 
 alive to learn the new lessons that each day 
 will bring, and learning them he must remem- 
 ber. 
 
 During the course of production in a studio 
 things are at high tension. Time is money. 
 Each of us constitutes a more or less impor- 
 tant cog in a great machine. Those cogs that 
 inexcusably forget to function are eliminated.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Beauty and the measure of looks upon the screen 
 
 Expression most important Tragedies of 
 
 doll-faces Photographic "angles." 
 
 WHAT FOLLOWS happened during the Na- 
 tional Convention of Motion Picture Pro- 
 ducers in 1917 at Chicago. The convention 
 was held at the Coliseum. There were jazz 
 bands, gay and costly decorations, and motion 
 picture celebrities from both Coasts. The car- 
 nival spirit ran high and thousands of motion 
 picture fans squeezed into that huge old build- 
 ing. 
 
 The opening was called "Mae Marsh Day." 
 I shall not soon forget it. That night as our 
 party entered the Coliseum through the mana- 
 ger's private office I espied in the center of the 
 building a newly erected platform draped with 
 bunting and decorated with flowers. 
 
 "You will make a little speech," the manager 
 said. 
 
 I gasped. I think I almost fainted. I had 
 never made a formal speech. The idea of it 
 
 43
 
 44 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 was as foreign to me as becoming Queen of 
 the South Sea Islands. 
 
 "All right," I gurgled weakly. 
 
 My voice has never been strong. As I 
 walked to the platform the Coliseum was a 
 bedlam of sound. I was introduced with diffi- 
 culty. With sinking knees I stepped forward. 
 
 "Ladies and gentlemen I am sure I am 
 pleased to " 
 
 A jazz band, which seemed to be located 
 somewhere immediately beneath my feet, began 
 to loudly play. I didn't know whether to dance 
 or sing. It was a medley in which "The Star- 
 Spangled Banner" was predominant. I blessed 
 the band. I doubly blessed our national an- 
 them. Looking about me I saw a small Amer- 
 ican flag. I grasped it and stood waving it to 
 the strains of our national air. The conven- 
 tion was duly opened. 
 
 Afterward, when I stood upon a small table 
 giving away carnations until my wrist ached 
 smiling like a chorus girl meantime a wom- 
 an informed my mother that she wished to see 
 me on an important matter. In the press of 
 those thousands of children and grown-ups I 
 was virtually trapped. 
 
 "Tell her," I suggested, "to call at the Black- 
 stone Hotel tomorrow morning." 
 
 She came. She was a plain woman with an 
 honest eye. She brought along two small
 
 SCREEN ACTING 45 
 
 daughters aged, respectively, ten and twelve, 
 I afterward ascertained. 
 
 "Miss Marsh," she declared, leaning for- 
 ward expectantly in her chair, "I think my two 
 daughters should succeed in motion pictures. 
 One of them is very beautiful, and the other 
 looks like you." 
 
 I told this honest lady, with as straight a 
 face as I could command, that while her 
 daughters were still too young to think of play- 
 ing in motion pictures that some day, perhaps, 
 I could do something for them, particularly the 
 one that looked like me. 
 
 In approaching the matter of screen faces I 
 am strongly reminded of that Chicago lady. I 
 believe her logic was essentially sound. There 
 is no measure of looks for the motion picture 
 screen. If there is a yardstick it applies to ex- 
 pression, or animation, and not looks. 
 
 No one admires a beautiful face upon the 
 screen more than I. If it so happens that this 
 beauty is allied with ability then I am often 
 given to the thought that they are not a con- 
 genial combination. For beauty, ever a queenly 
 quality, is diverting and manages in this way 
 and that to steal some of the thunder that 
 rightfully belongs to ability. 
 
 If, as sometimes happens, I see mere beauty 
 being exploited on the screen with no sem- 
 blance of acting talent, I am ready to give up 
 my seat to the next one along about the third 
 reel. Nothing palls upon one more quickly.
 
 46 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 Therefore, I am at odds with those who be- 
 lieve that beauty is necessary for the screen be- 
 ginner. Say for beauty that it has the merit of 
 more quickly attracting attention to the one 
 who possesses it and you have done it full jus- 
 tice. But even then, if it is unaccompanied by 
 ability, it is just another tragedy of a doll-face. 
 
 Acting is primarily the ability to express 
 something. If the face that conveys that feel- 
 ing is not disagreeable then it becomes a matter 
 of not how much beauty is in the face but how 
 much expression. That was certainly the case 
 with Mme. Sarah Bernhardt. All of us know 
 plain appearing persons whose faces, when 
 they have something to say, become interesting 
 and expressive. 
 
 They impress us as individuals whose beauty 
 is inside or spiritual. That is a lovely quality 
 for the screen. On the other hand we know, 
 all of us, persons who are generally considered 
 beautiful whose faces, under any circum- 
 stances, have no more animation than a mask 
 These people strike us as spiritually barren, 
 lacking in humor, or something. 
 
 If my candidate for screen honors has sim- 
 ply an agreeable appearance and good eyes 
 which I consider most important of all facial 
 features I shall be satisfied provided his or 
 her face, and particularly the eyes, are expres- 
 sive. 
 
 It has been my observation that while beauty 
 or good looks is largely a matter of opinion
 
 A beautiful young star and her director, Mary Miles 
 Minter and Chester Franklin,
 
 SCREEN ACTING 49 
 
 which has furnished many lively debates the 
 quality of expression or animation is seldom 
 denied those who possess it. For that reason 
 my candidate, if he or she has an expressive 
 face, will have a more valuable and certain 
 stock-in-trade than mere good looks. 
 
 In spite of this logic most of us stars go on 
 wishing to be thought beautiful, or to have it 
 thought that we could be beautiful if we 
 wanted to be. I recollect that it took time and 
 courage for some of us to brave our publics in 
 other than our pet make-ups. 
 
 There are, for instance, two stars who had 
 always regarded their curls as indispensable. 
 After many years of stardom one of them de- 
 cided to take what she thought was a desperate 
 chance. She skinned her hair back and played 
 the part of a little English slavey. The result 
 was that she turned out one of the most suc- 
 cessful pictures in her career. 
 
 Another, a dear friend of mine, we used to 
 call "The Primper." She never appeared upon 
 the set without her curls just so. I think at 
 that time she thought they were the most im- 
 portant part of her career. 
 
 She has reformed. As her art developed she 
 became less particular about her hair dress. 
 One night in a little theater in Jamaica, Long 
 Island, I dropped in to see one of her photo- 
 plays. It was an excellent picture. Her hair 
 was drawn back tightly over her head into a 
 knot. That night I wired her congratulations.
 
 50 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 No ; eurls, Grecian noses, up-tilted chins and 
 rose-tinted cheeks are not the measure of suc- 
 cess upon the screen. It is something that 
 goes deeper than that. 
 
 It is something that goes deep enough to 
 over-ride facial defects. There is one excel- 
 lent little star, for example, who, because of 
 a nose unfortunately large, must always work 
 full face when near the camera. I think she 
 is charming. Another, for an odd reason, per- 
 mits only a one-way profile to be taken. There 
 are many such cases. 
 
 Indeed, the majority of us have our "an- 
 gles." By "angles" I mean the full, three- 
 quarters, one-quarter or profile views in which 
 we think we appear at our best. Each star has 
 studied that point out for his or herself. And, 
 since we are taking largely our own opinion for 
 it, it is possible we are mistaken. But our 
 vanity upholds us. 
 
 In my own case I was hauled into motion 
 pictures while sitting rather forlornly on a 
 soapbox waiting for my sister Marguerite. 
 Since at that time I was without curls, having 
 never had any before or since, and looked as I 
 look, so to speak, it has never been necessary 
 for me to expend any great amount of time in 
 make-up. That has been satisfactory to me.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 The story, make-up and costuming Rouge riots and 
 
 their disadvantages The blond 
 
 and the "back spot." 
 
 IN ANY ART or profession the ability to seize 
 opportunity when it presents itself is impor- 
 tant. This is especially true in motion pictures. 
 Things move very fast there. It is like a game 
 where the knack of doing the right thing at the 
 right time determines one's value. 
 
 After the beginner has done his extra work, 
 or small bits, if he is of the right stuff, he will 
 some day be given a part. He may be unaware 
 of it, but that will be the biggest moment of his 
 screen career. 
 
 When doing extra work or small bits the 
 critics, the public, and the profession have paid 
 little attention to the beginner. But once the 
 beginner secures a part he comes instantly into 
 the eye of everyone interested in the screen. 
 We are all diverted by new faces. 
 
 Thus the impression that the beginner will 
 make in his first part is one that will for a long 
 time endure. It comes very near making or 
 
 51
 
 52 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 breaking him. This may seem hard. Often 
 it is unjust a beginner may have a part forced 
 upon him for which he is unfitted. But it is 
 true. And we have to deal with conditions on 
 the screen as we find them. 
 
 For that reason when the big moment comes, 
 and the part is secured, the beginner must do 
 everything within his or her power to be as 
 well prepared as possible. 
 
 There are in this respect three important 
 mechanical details that must be looked after. I 
 should list them as follows : 
 
 ( 1 ) Studying the story. 
 
 (2) Studying make-up. 
 
 (3) Studying costuming. 
 
 The beginner will be given the story or 
 script typewritten in continuity form. Con- 
 tinuity means t he scene by scene action 
 through which the story is told. Ordinarily 
 there will be some three hundred scenes or 
 "shots" to the average photoplay. 
 
 The beginner will first look to the plot and 
 theme of the story. We want to know what 
 the author is telling and how he is trying to tell 
 it. We find the big situations and the action 
 that precedes them. More important, we lo- 
 cate the why of it. 
 
 When I have established the idea of the play 
 I immediately go over the script again with an 
 eye alert for business. By business I mean the 
 tricks, mannerisms, and the apparent unex-
 
 SCREEN ACTING 53 
 
 pected or involuntary moves that help to sus- 
 tain action. 
 
 The value of good business cannot be over- 
 rated. It goes a long way toward making up 
 for the lack of voice. Without clever business 
 any photoplay would drag. The two-reel com- 
 edy, which I have observed is popular with 
 audiences of all ages, is usually but a sequence 
 of business. 
 
 If the business that is planned upon seems 
 natural to the character the wiggling of a 
 foot when excited, the inability to control the 
 hands, the apparent unconscious raising of an 
 eyebrow, etc. I am sure there can be no real 
 objection to it. The audience, who are the final 
 critics, love it. 
 
 Just the other night I saw Mr. Douglas Fair- 
 banks in a play the final scene of which de- 
 picted him in the act of making love to his in- 
 tended. That there might be some privacy to 
 the undertaking they were screening them- 
 selves from the view of the guests and the 
 audience! with a large silken handkerchief. 
 
 The girl might have stood still. If she had 
 there could have no criticism. Neither would 
 there have been much of anything else, as her 
 face was hidden from view. She laid her hands 
 over a balustrade and wiggled her fingers. The 
 audience roared. 
 
 These are the things which keep a photoplay 
 from dragging. They give the action a piq- 
 uancy and charm.
 
 54 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 Now while the audience may believe that 
 these things are done on the spur of the mo- 
 ment the facts are very contrary. These bits 
 of business must be planned in advance and it 
 is only an evidence that they have been well 
 planned when they appear to be done uncon- 
 sciously. 
 
 While it is true that we have all discovered 
 very telling bits of business during the actual 
 photographing of a scene, we can count this as 
 nothing but good fortune. To leave the matter 
 of business until the director called "Camera !" 
 would be fatal. 
 
 Thus in going over a script I look for busi- 
 ness. I think of all the business I can, knowing 
 that much of it will prove impracticable and 
 will have to be discarded. Nor is that all. 
 When the scenic sets upon which we are to 
 work are erected at the studio or on location, 
 I look them over very carefully in the hope that 
 some article of furniture, etc., will suggest 
 some attractive piece of business. An odd fan, 
 a pillow, a door, in fact, anything may prove 
 valuable. 
 
 I should suggest to my candidate that he 
 or she be just as alert for good business as the 
 star is. The good director is always open to 
 suggestion. Business may make all the differ- 
 ence between a colorless and a vivid portrayal 
 of a part. Thus for the beginner who, in ob- 
 taining a part, has reached the most vital mo- 
 ment of his career, the value of keeping an eye
 
 SCREEN ACTING 57 
 
 open to the possibilities of business is apparent. 
 
 Make-up, like much of everything else on the 
 screen, is a personal matter. There are, how- 
 ever, some general rules that can be followed 
 to advantage. 
 
 I should instruct my candidate not to make 
 up too much. It seems to me that I have ob- 
 served a tendency in this direction recently. 
 
 Some actresses have laid on lip rouge so 
 thickly that their lips seem to run liquid. Rouge 
 photographs black. The result has been that 
 this riot of lip paint has given them the appear- 
 ance of having no teeth. Others have used too 
 much and too dark make-up about the eyes. 
 Nothing more quickly ruins expression. Such 
 eyes have the look of holes burned in a blanket 
 and for dramatic purposes are only slightly 
 more useful. 
 
 Since my candidate will have youth, good 
 health and vitality he or she will not have to 
 resort to tricks of make-up. There are many 
 such. I recall the case of one actress who is 
 considered a beauty on the spoken stage. On 
 the screen she discovered that the motion pic- 
 ture camera is not very kind to some people. 
 The lines and flabbiness which were in her face 
 were accurately reproduced. She thought, of 
 course, they were exaggerated. 
 
 She was in despair until she found that by 
 laying heavy strips of adhesive tape over her 
 ears and behind her neck she wore a wig 
 these lines and flabbiness were overcome. The
 
 58 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 tape pulled her face into shape! But, I am 
 sure it must have been painful. 
 
 Another actress, it is an open secret, under- 
 goes periodic operations for the removal of the 
 flabby flesh underneath her chin. Others af- 
 flicted with the hated "double chin" rouge the 
 guilty member heavily with more or less suc- 
 cess. Still others wear collars and necklaces to 
 thwart flabbiness. 
 
 None of us need laugh ; that is if we are in 
 motion pictures. If we stay there long enough 
 we mav be driven to similar measures. 
 
 m 
 
 In make-up, to begin at the top, is to consider 
 the hair. Let me say, first of all, that this 
 should always be kept very clean. The camera 
 has a way of treating us unpleasantly if it 
 isn't. 
 
 Some actresses have set styles of hair dress 
 which they seldom vary. I think of Madge 
 Kennedy's "band of hair," Dorothy Gish's 
 black wig and the Pickford Curls. 
 
 Dorothy Gish had tried many styles of hair 
 dress and found none of them to her liking. 
 She experimented with a black wig and was 
 delighted with the result. It contributed some- 
 thing to her expression brought it out, as it 
 were which she felt had been lacking. Since 
 "Hearts of the World" she has never stepped 
 before a camera without her trusty B. W. 
 
 But while most of us have a favorite style 
 of wearing our hair most of us are forced often 
 to lay aside that style to suit the character we
 
 SCREEN ACTING 59 
 
 are playing. Playing a child we let our hair 
 hang. The length or abundance doesn't seem 
 to particularly matter. 
 
 If enacting the daughter of a well-to-do 
 business man then we may have our hair plain 
 or marceled to suit our fancy. Plain hair 
 seems to suggest sweetness. If playing a saucy 
 character we must contrive some dress that 
 will convey the desired effect. 
 
 Blonds, in motion pictures, are traditionally 
 fluffy-haired. There is a very good reason for 
 this, by the way. Some years ago Mr. Griffith 
 who usually does everything first discov- 
 ered that by leveling a back spotlight on 
 Blanche Sweet's fluffy, blond hair it gave the 
 appearance of sunlight showing through. 
 
 On the screen it was beautiful. Since that 
 time the "back spot" has been worked to death. 
 In spite of the fact that it is an old trick it is 
 one that is still very much respected by the 
 actress or us blond actresses, as it were. 
 
 The back light shining through the hair has 
 a tendency to take away all the hard lines of 
 the face. It leaves it smooth and free from 
 worry. How often in a motion picture have I 
 heard the involuntary expression, "How beau- 
 tiful !" when such a shot usually a close-up 
 is shown. 
 
 Many of you may have wondered why a 
 blond seems to have dark hair in many interior 
 scenes and blond hair out of doors. Here is 
 one fault, at least, that we can shift to other
 
 60 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 shoulders. If a blond's hair is dark indoors it 
 is because the cameraman has failed in his 
 lighting arrangement. 
 
 But even with the most expert manipulation 
 of lights there is no rival in motion pictures for 
 the sun. For blonds and brunettes alike he is 
 Allah. 
 
 And now since this matter of make-up re- 
 quires more space and this chapter is growing 
 long we shall skip to the next.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 More about noses and chins Costumes as important 
 
 to the star as a story to the director 
 
 Rags and riches. 
 
 IN THE MATTER of face and make-up we sel- 
 dom think of the forehead. Yet I personally 
 admire a pretty forehead very much and think 
 it is as important as a good mouth or nose, if 
 secondary to the eyes. Comprising as it does 
 or should one-third of the face it is noth- 
 ing if not conspicuous. 
 
 If to be deep and learned is to have an ex- 
 tremely high forehead then to be deep and 
 learned on the screen is to labor under one defi- 
 nite handicap. For the girl with a too high 
 forehead cannot skin her hair back without ap- 
 pearing ugly. 
 
 Those of us with medium foreheads are 
 more fortunate. Whatever may be said for 
 our mental capacity we can, at any rate, skin 
 our hair back and thereby add very much to 
 our expression. 
 
 The girl with the high forehead compro- 
 mises by trying to keep some of it covered but 
 
 61
 
 62 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 it never gives quite the effect of hair drawn 
 tightly back. 
 
 I should particularly admonish my screen 
 beginner against too much make-up about the 
 eyes. For blue or gray eyes, a light gray make- 
 up is used; for brown or black eyes, a light 
 brown make-up. 
 
 We frequently hear it said that brown eyes 
 photograph best for the screen, but I have 
 never heard anyone whom I would accept as 
 an authority say that. I believe that all colors 
 are equally good. It is far more important 
 that a screen actress's eyes be expressive than 
 it is that they be either brown or blue. 
 
 Thus if we have expressive eyes and evade 
 the error of making them up so heavily as to 
 create the "burnt hole" aspect we shall have 
 nothing to worry about. Generally speaking 
 the more prominent the eyes and eyebrows the 
 less of make-up should be used. There are ex- 
 ceptions. 
 
 A nose is something we can do nothing 
 about. We either have or haven't a good nose. 
 If the nose is so badly out of symmetry with 
 the face as to be unsightly its possessor will 
 probably have to confine himself, or herself, 
 to character parts. There are some who have 
 attained stardom, even with ill-shaped noses, 
 but I think of very few. These by devious 
 practices conceal the defect as well as possible. 
 
 Make-up for the nose is usually for charac- 
 ter and not star parts. A spot of rouge at the
 
 - SCREEN ACTING 63 
 
 tip of the nose will give it a turned up or pug 
 appearance. When playing a mulatto in "The 
 Birth of a Nation" Miss Mary Alden inserted 
 within her nostrils two plugs that permitted 
 her to breathe and yet had the effect of greatly 
 widening her nostrils. The late and beloved 
 "Bobby" Harron broadened his nose with 
 putty in the same play in one of the scenes in 
 which he doubled as a negro. The screen lost 
 one of its sweetest and most lovable characters 
 when "Bobby" Harron died. 
 
 But these cases were characterizations. For 
 star purposes a nose is a nose. The pity is 
 that sometimes even well-shaped noses seem to 
 lose something or gain too much when they are 
 reproduced on the screen. 
 
 The lips and chin require a light make-up 
 for the very good reason, again, that to overdo 
 in this respect is to stifle expression. It is my 
 opinion that those who are becoming addicted 
 to an extremely heavy make-up of lips are mak- 
 ing a mistake. It is unreal. It is not art. Such 
 thick, sensuous, liquid lips as I have beheld on 
 the screen during the past year have never 
 been seen on land or sea. 
 
 The chin is a good deal like the nose. Very 
 little can be done about it. If it protrudes too 
 much, or is abruptly receding, its possessor 
 will probably find himself chosen for character 
 parts. Here what are otherwise considered 
 facial defects will be no handicap at all. On 
 the contrary they may be a decided help.
 
 64 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 As in the case of the ill-shaped nose there 
 are stars who have succeeded in spite of an 
 absence, or too great presence, of chin. They 
 have learned the photographic angles at which 
 they appear to the best advantage. In one way 
 or another, when working close to the camera, 
 they keep always within these angles. Thus 
 they prove that there can be an exception to 
 any rule. 
 
 If in the matter of make-up I can convince 
 my candidate that he or she will be better off 
 by using as little as possible of it, I shall be 
 willing to pass on to the next topic. 
 
 Hands, too, must be kept clean and are 
 usually made up with white chalk. 
 
 I often think that costumes are to the star 
 as important as the story is to the director. 
 
 Whatever may be the case in everyday life 
 clothes do make the man, or the woman, in 
 motion pictures. They establish character even 
 more swiftly than action or expression. No 
 where so much as in motion pictures does the 
 general public accept people at their clothes 
 value. There are the over-dress of vulgarity, 
 the shoddiness of poverty, the conservatism of 
 decency and so on, each of them speaking as 
 plainly as words of the person so attired. 
 
 Now if mere over-dress, shoddiness, con- 
 servatism, and so on, were all that were neces- 
 sary the process would be quite simple. But 
 the art of costuming is more subtle than that.
 
 Madame Nazimova, one of the few dramatic stars who quickly 
 mastered the art of the screen.
 
 SCREEN ACTING 67 
 
 In each costume there must be something 
 original and personal. In other words, some- 
 thing that is peculiarly suited to the precise 
 character that is being portrayed. There must 
 be also a color contrast or harmony that will be 
 favorable to good motion picture photography. 
 
 In addition, the costume in a broader sense 
 should harmonize with the scenic setting. The 
 costume, more than anything else, will estab- 
 lish the fiction of age. To appear very young 
 or middle-aged is to dress young or middle- 
 aged. 
 
 In addition to its value in suggesting char- 
 acter the costume has attained a new impor- 
 tance in that the screen has become a sort of 
 fashion magazine. The thousands of young 
 ladies who live outside of New York, London 
 or Paris have come to look more and more to 
 the screen for the latest fashions, and are ac- 
 cordingly influenced. 
 
 With this phase of costuming my candidate 
 need not particularly interest herself beyond 
 remembering that women love to see pretty 
 clothes and that those who give them the op- 
 portunity occupy an especial niche in their af- 
 fections. 
 
 The beginner who learns the knack of dress- 
 ing for the screen in a manner that is sharply 
 expressive of the character being played, and, 
 in a way to bring out what the actress herself 
 has come to regard as her strong point, will 
 find her pains rewarded.
 
 68 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 Mr. Griffith has always been extremely 
 painstaking about screen clothes. Even in the 
 early days of the old Biograph two-reelers we 
 had screen tests for costumes. It was no un- 
 usual thing to hear him say, after one of us 
 had been at much pains to select a costume 
 which we thought did justice to both our part 
 and ourselves, "No, that won't do!" Possibly 
 we were trying to do too much justice to our- 
 selves. 
 
 Anyhow we often had as many as four cos- 
 tumes made before Mr. Griffith was suited. 
 Then he invariably suggested a ribbon, a fan, 
 a bit of old lace, etc., the effect of which upon 
 the screen was always pleasing. 
 
 I have been told that one of the sweetest and, 
 at the same time, most pathetic scenes done in 
 motion pictures occurred in "The Birth of a 
 Nation" where I, as Flora Cameron, the little 
 sister of the Confederate soldier, trimmed my 
 cheap, home-made dress in preparing to wel- 
 come home my big brother. 
 
 It was Mr. Henry Walthall, himself a south- 
 erner by birth, who suggested this bit of busi- 
 ness. 
 
 You will remember the situation. The Cam- 
 erons, an old and distinguished Southern fam- 
 ily, had been impoverished by the war. They 
 were preparing for the return of the big 
 brother played capitally by Mr. Walthall 
 with the mixture of emotion to be expected 
 under the circumstances. I, as the youngest
 
 SCREEN ACTING 69 
 
 member of the family, was least affected by 
 our cruel poverty. The joy of being about to 
 see my big brother again overcame any other 
 feeling. 
 
 I begin to dress. The sadness of my stricken 
 family cannot affect my holiday spirit. I have 
 but one dress. It is of sack cloth. I find that 
 its pitiful plainness is not in keeping with my 
 happiness or the importance of the event. 
 Looking about for something with which to 
 trim that dress I find some strips of cotton 
 "southern ermine," as it was called. With these 
 I trim that homely old dress, spotting the "er- 
 mine" with soot from the fireplace, in a man- 
 ner that I think will be pleasing to my big 
 brother. 
 
 Mr. Walthall suggested the "southern er- 
 mine" and it was Mr. Griffith, always kindly 
 in the matter of accepting a suggestion, who 
 built the drama about it. I have had many 
 women, from the North as well as the South, 
 tell me that to them this scene is the most af- 
 fecting they ever have seen in the picture 
 drama. I know I have played few, if any, in 
 which I have felt more deeply the spirit of 
 the action. 
 
 In "The Birth of a Nation," by the way, all 
 of us were forced to do a great deal of research 
 work upon our costumes. This is a good thing. 
 It gets one quickly into the spirit of the drama 
 that is to be played.
 
 70 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 As I say, I have always appreciated the ad- 
 vantages of modish dress upon the screen even 
 though I have had in my eight years of acting 
 only one "clothes" part. By clothes part I 
 mean one in which the star dresses in modern 
 garments in every scene. I began my career 
 as a screen waif with the result that the liter- 
 ary men who have to do with the stories picked 
 for me, have kept me at this style of part. 
 
 There is never a story written in which a 
 poor, little heroine conquers against great odds 
 usually after much suffering and not a few 
 beatings but that many friends rush to tell 
 me that so and so is "a regular Mae Marsh 
 part." Such is the power of association. 
 
 Yet I very much enjoyed my one dressed-up 
 part. That was "The Cinderella Man." I un- 
 derstand that there was great doubt expressed 
 by the scenario department that I should be 
 able to play such a role for, since the heroine 
 was the daughter of a wealthy man, there was 
 no occasion for her appearing in rags. 
 
 Miss Margaret Mayo, the well-known dra- 
 matist, who wrote "Polly of the Circus," 
 "Baby Mine," etc., was here my stanch advo- 
 cate. Both she and Mr. George Loane Tucker, 
 one of our greatest directors, insisted that I 
 could do the part. It was decided to make the 
 trial. 
 
 "Go to Lucille," suggested Miss Mayo, "ex- 
 plain the story to the designer and let her show 
 you the kind of costumes she would suggest."
 
 SCREEN ACTING 71 
 
 Expense was to be no object. Mr. Tucker 
 and I met one afternoon on Fifty-seventh 
 street and, entering Lucille's, we went into a 
 clothes conference with a designer. The result 
 was a mild orgy of beautiful gowns. 
 
 It was decided that Lucille should make two 
 dresses of a particular design, one green and 
 one gray, as the gown which I was to wear in 
 a great many of the scenes. 
 
 Showing that cost does not indicate fitness 
 I remember that the gray dress which was 
 $100 cheaper than the green was the one 
 which we decided to use. My costume bill for 
 "The Cinderella Man" exceeded $2,000. There 
 are many actresses who spend far more than 
 that for clothes on every picture. But com- 
 pared with the amount that I had been spend- 
 ing in my "poor girl" roles that $2,000 was as 
 a mountain to a sand dune. 
 
 "The Cinderella Man" was a great success 
 and we were happy; particularly Miss Mayo 
 and Mr. Tucker, who had never doubted that 
 I could do a dressed-up part. 
 
 The matter of costumes, then, is one of the 
 important things that the beginner must con- 
 sider. On the screen clothes may be said to 
 talk ; even to act. The male artists, I am sure, 
 also realize this. But the actress, particularly, 
 must always dress in a manner to get the maxi- 
 mum of benefit from her clothes whether they 
 be cheap or expensive.
 
 72 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 In "The Birth of a Nation" during the fa- 
 mous cliff scene I experimented with a half 
 dozen dresses until I hit upon one whose plain- 
 ness was a guarantee that it would not divert 
 from my expression in that which was a very 
 vital moment.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Camera- consciousness and a way to cure it Why it is 
 
 fatal to imitate Some scenes 
 
 in "Intolerance." 
 
 THE SEVERAL qualities most likely to succeed 
 upon the screen having been discussed, and the 
 importance of knowing the story, make-up and 
 costuming having been established, my candi- 
 date is now ready to go before the camera. 
 
 All that has been done before is but to build 
 up to this vital moment. The camera tells at 
 once and usually in no uncertain terms whether 
 one is possessed of star possibilities. 
 
 It is a sort of court from which there is no 
 appeal. For that reason everv exoression, 
 every movement, every feeling and, I verily be- 
 lieve, every thought are important once the 
 camera has begun to turn. 
 
 Now the actress or actor is standing entirely 
 upon her or his own feet. Previously they 
 have had the benefit of all the advice and help 
 that the many departments of a studio could 
 proffer. In a word they have been able to 
 
 73
 
 74 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 lean upon someone else and to correct mis- 
 takes at leisure. 
 
 It is different before the camera. The be- 
 ginner will at once feel very much alone and 
 terribly conspicuous. This tends toward self- 
 consciousness, or camera-consciousness, which 
 must be immediately overcome or success is 
 impossible. Camera-consciousness is the bane 
 of the beginner. I think most of us have suf- 
 fered more or less from it. I have known 
 actresses who possessed it to such a degree 
 that, finding they could not rid themselves of 
 it, they left the screen. By extreme good for- 
 tune this never happened to be one of my trou- 
 bles. 
 
 Self-consciousness on the screen is much the 
 same thing as stage fright in the spoken drama 
 and proceeds, I suppose, from the same source, 
 which is the inability to forget one's self. 
 
 When a dear friend of mine first began play- 
 ing small parts she found that she suffered 
 from it. She also saw that it would certainly 
 be fatal if she didn't cure it. 
 
 "For that reason," she said to herself, "the 
 best thing to do is to think so hard about the 
 part that I am playing that I won't have time 
 to think of anything else." 
 
 She gave herself good advice. Anyhow it 
 worked and I am sure it will be successful in 
 the case of the average beginner. If so, then 
 camera-consciousness will really be a blessing 
 in disguise, for it will have taught the actress
 
 SCREEN ACTING 75 
 
 concentration upon her part and concentration, 
 in every fiber of one's being, I believe, is the big 
 secret of screen success. 
 
 I remember the case of one young actress 
 who came to me in tears saying that when she 
 rehearsed her part in the privacy of her own 
 home, or dressing room, she felt every inch of 
 it, but once under the gaze of the director, the 
 assistant director, the cameraman, possibly the 
 author and perhaps a number of privileged 
 persons about the studio, she seemed to wilt. 
 
 "Look at it this way," I advised. "When 
 you are acting the director has his work to do 
 and is doing it. So has the assistant director. 
 Likewise the cameraman and the assistant cam- 
 eraman have their work to do and are doing it. 
 So are the other actors. As for the lookers-on, 
 request that they leave. Then imagine you are 
 in a big schoolroom where everyone is busy at 
 his or her lessons. You have your lesson to 
 get which is concentrating upon your part. Go 
 ahead with it." 
 
 It helped the girl in question. She has be- 
 come a very excellent and charming star and 
 while she still prefers to work upon a secluded 
 stage she does not find it positively necessary, 
 as do some actresses. In any event there is no 
 trace of camera-consciousness in her acting. 
 
 Camera-consciousness having been elimi- 
 nated the beginner can now throw himself or 
 herself entirely into the part being played. By 
 throwing one's self into the part I do not mean
 
 76 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 forcing it. Nothing is quite so bad as that. I 
 mean feeling it. If you do not feel the particu- 
 lar action being played then the result will cer- 
 tainly be a lack of sincerity. We have already 
 decided that that is fatal. 
 
 Let me illustrate : 
 
 While we were playing "Intolerance," one 
 cycle of which is still being released as "The 
 Mother and the Law," I had to do a scene 
 where, in the big city's slums, my father dies. 
 
 The night before I did this scene I went to 
 the theater something, by the way, I seldom 
 do when working to see Marjorie Rambeau 
 in "Kindling." 
 
 To my surprise and gratification she had to 
 do a scene in this play that was somewhat simi- 
 lar to the one that I was scheduled to play in 
 "Intolerance." It made a deep impression 
 upon me. 
 
 As a consequence, the next day before the 
 camera in the scene depicting my sorrow and 
 misery at the death of my father, I began to 
 cry with the memory of Marjorie Rambeau's 
 part uppermost in my mind. I thought, how- 
 ever, that it had been done quite well and was 
 anxious to see it on the screen. 
 
 I was in for very much of a surprise. A 
 few of us gathered in the projection room and 
 the camera began humming. I saw myself 
 enter with a fair semblance of misery. But 
 there was something about it that was not con- 
 vincing.
 
 ."S 
 
 I 

 
 SCREEN ACTING 79 
 
 Mr. Griffith, who was closely studying the 
 action, finally turned in his seat and said : 
 
 "I don't know what you were thinking about 
 when you did that, but it is evident that it was 
 not about the death of your father." 
 
 "That is true," I said. I did not admit what 
 I was thinking about. 
 
 We began immediately upon the scene again. 
 This time I thought of the death of my own 
 father and the big tragedy to our little home, 
 then in Texas. I could recall the deep sorrow 
 of my mother, my sisters, my brother and my- 
 self. 
 
 This scene is said to be one of the most ef- 
 fective in "The Mother and the Law." 
 
 The beginner may learn from that that it 
 never pays to imitate anyone else's interpre- 
 tation of any emotion. Each of us when we 
 are pleased, injured, or affected in any way 
 have our own way of showing our feelings. 
 This is one thing that is our very own. 
 
 When before the camera, therefore, we 
 must remember that when we feel great sorrow 
 the audience wants to see our own sorrow and 
 not an imitation of Miss Blanche Sweet's or 
 Mme. Nazimova's. We must feel our own 
 part and take heed of my favorite screen 
 maxim, which is that thoughts do register. 
 
 It is true that we have good and bad days 
 before the camera. There are times when to 
 feel and to act are the easiest things imaginable 
 and other occasions when it seems impossible
 
 80 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 to catch the spirit that we know is necessary. 
 In this we are more fortunate than our broth- 
 ers upon the spoken stage, for we can do it 
 over again. 
 
 It is also very often true that even when we 
 are entirely in the spirit of our part, and be- 
 lieve we have done a good day's work, that 
 there will be some mechanical defect in the 
 scenes taken which makes it necessary to do 
 them over, possibly when we feel least like 
 so doing. 
 
 In this event it is a good thing to remem- 
 ber that it doesn't pay to cry over spilt milk. 
 We must learn to take the bitter with the 
 sweet. Fortunately the mechanics of picture 
 taking are constantly improving. 
 
 The hardest dramatic work I ever did was 
 in the courtroom scenes in "Intolerance." We 
 retook these scenes on four different occa- 
 sions. Each time I gave to the limit of my 
 vitality and ability. I put everything into my 
 portrayal that was in me. It certainly paid. 
 Parts of each of the four takes some of them 
 done at two weeks' intervals were assembled 
 to make up those scenes which you, as the audi- 
 ence, finally beheld upon the screen. 
 
 Therefore, when first going before a camera 
 it is well to resolve to put as much into one's 
 performance as possible. We cannot too 
 greatly concentrate upon our parts. If we do 
 not feel them we can be very sure they will not 
 convince our audiences.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Over-acting and a horrible example the value of 
 
 repression and emphasis How we 
 
 act with the body. 
 
 GOOD SCREEN acting consists of the ability to 
 accurately portray a state of mind. 
 
 That sounds simple, yet how often upon the 
 screen have you seen an important part played 
 in a manner that made you, yourself, feel that 
 you were passing through the experiences be- 
 ing unfolded in the plot. I imagine not often. 
 
 If a part is under-played or, worse, over- 
 played for there is nothing so depressing as 
 a screen actress run amuck in a flood of sundry 
 emotions it exerts a definite influence upon 
 you, the audience. 
 
 You begin to lose sympathy with the char- 
 acter itself. You are interested or irritated by 
 the mannerisms often hardly less than gym- 
 nastics of the actor or actress. You never 
 identify such an actor or actress with the part 
 they are playing for the very good reason that 
 they are not playing the part. They are play- 
 ing their idea of acting at a part. 
 
 81
 
 82 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 In any event your interest in the story crum- 
 bles. What the author intended as a subtle 
 character development flattens out. An inge- 
 nious plot is ruined by its treatment. You in- 
 dex that particular evening as among those 
 wasted. I know. I have done the same. 
 
 For those who would like to take up the 
 screen as a career, however, such an evening 
 may prove very profitable. For it is the learn- 
 ing what not to do that is important. There 
 never was a character portrayal done upon the 
 screen that could not have been spoiled without 
 this knowledge. 
 
 I have in mind a photodrama of 1920 that 
 because of the excellence of its plot gained 
 quite a success. But for me it was ruined by 
 the ridiculous overacting of the heroine. 
 
 She had beautiful dark eyes and seemed to 
 think it was a melodrama that the proper 
 way to display screen talent was to dilate and 
 roll those eyes as though she were constantly 
 in terror. 
 
 She had added to that trick one of dropping 
 her jaw which I understood to be her idea of 
 the way to register astonishment. I cannot 
 begin to describe the effect upon me of those 
 horrified eyes and open mouth. At the end of 
 six reels I felt like screaming. There was no 
 time when I should have been surprised had 
 she wiggled her ears. 
 
 Either she was unfortunate in her choice of 
 a director or he, poor fellow, was powerless to
 
 SCREEN ACTING 83 
 
 stop her once she had decided upon her pro- 
 gram of mouth and eyes. 
 
 One of the first things that a screen actress 
 must learn is the value of emphasis. In the 
 case that I have cited above the actress threw 
 herself emotionally (?) so far beyond the 
 mark in little moments that when a big situa- 
 tion in the development of the plot occurred 
 she had nothing left. The impression conse- 
 quently was one of a strained sameness. Than 
 that there is no quicker way to wear out one's 
 audience. It is like shouting at one who has 
 sat down for a quiet chat. The shout should 
 be used at no distance less than a city block. 
 
 No screen actress makes a shrewder use of 
 emphasis than Norma Talmadge. She seems 
 invariablv to hold much in reserve with the re- 
 
 * 
 
 suit that when she does let go in a big emo- 
 tional scene the effect is brought home to the 
 audience with telling force. There are other 
 actresses who play with reserve. But it is im- 
 portant that with Miss Talmadge her repres- 
 sion seems ever illuminated by the fires of po- 
 tential emotion. 
 
 The student of the screen will do well to 
 study these matters of emphasis and repres- 
 sion. They are all important. Our manner 
 of life itself is an accepted repression, outlined 
 by laws for the streets and conventions for the 
 drawing room. From the screen viewpoint re- 
 pression is a vital thing, if for no other reason 
 than the fact that it gives the audience a
 
 84 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 breathing spell. After a breathing spell it is 
 the better disposed to appreciate emphasis. 
 
 Whenever I study a scenario or story it is 
 with an eyev for the contrast of moods and the 
 situations that call for emotional emphasis. I 
 plan in advance of the actual camera work the 
 pace at which I will play various stages in the 
 development of the story. By shutting my eyes 
 I can almost see how the part will look upon 
 the screen. If there is a sufficient contrast of 
 moods and opportunity for emphasis I feel that 
 I shall, at least, be able to do all within my 
 power to make the story a success. 
 
 The physical strain before a camera is a pe- 
 culiar thing. At no time is the motion picture 
 actress or actor called upon for a sustained 
 performance such as is true on the spoken 
 stage. For that reason we should theoreti- 
 cally be in condition to put forth our very best 
 efforts on each of the short scenes or "shots" 
 averaging not over two minutes in photo- 
 graphing that we are called upon to do. The 
 ordinary director is well satisfied if he aver- 
 ages twenty "shots" a day during production. 
 
 But here, I should say, appearances are de- 
 ceiving. Genius has been described as the 
 ability to resume a mood. In the case of mo- 
 tion pictures it is necessary that a mood be re- 
 sumed not once or twice, but possibly twenty 
 times during a day. 
 
 This is no less important than it is at first 
 difficult. There may be an hour or two hours'
 
 Nortna Talmadge whose acting is notable for its 
 admirable repression.
 
 SCREEN ACTING 87 
 
 interval between scenes often longer than 
 that and picking up the thread of the story 
 where it was dropped, the actress must resume 
 the mood of her characterization. 
 
 I can suggest no better aid to this undertak- 
 ing than retiring to one's dressing room and re- 
 maining quiet. Absolute quiet is an excellent 
 thing for the actress during the working day. 
 It gives her a rest from the turmoil of the 
 studio set. It provides her a chance to do a 
 little mental bookkeeping on the part she is 
 playing. I have found it a great help. 
 
 This ability to resume a mood, however, 
 soon becomes something that is subconsciously 
 accomplished and for that reason need not be 
 too much worried over by the beginner. 
 
 There is one quality on the screen that the 
 audience always likes. That is vivacity, and 
 by vivacity I mean both of the face and the 
 body. 
 
 Vivacity in this respect is a lively and likable 
 sort of animation which goes a long way 
 toward establishing that mercurial quality 
 which is known as "screen personality." 
 
 I have never heard anyone give a very good 
 definition of "screen personality." The most 
 that can be said is that some seem to have it 
 and some don't. Certain it is that it is valuable 
 quality, for it will not stay hidden. 
 
 In the news weeklies that are so popular on 
 the screen I can, in a group of men or women,
 
 88 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 almost instantly pick those persons who have 
 screen personality. It makes them stand out 
 sharply in contrast to their companions. Ex- 
 President Wilson, for instance, has screen per- 
 sonality while President Harding, I am cer- 
 tain, will make a better President than he 
 would an actor. 
 
 The movement of the body contributes to 
 this sought after animation. The body is al- 
 most the equal of the face in expression and 
 the way to talk and use the hands and feet are 
 things that must be sedulously studied. 
 
 Many stage directors have advised famous 
 actresses to "learn how to walk" and before a 
 camera one not only has to learn how to walk 
 but how to walk in many different ways. 
 
 We would not, for example, expect a little 
 girl on New York's East Side to employ the 
 same body carriage as a society girl walking 
 down Fifth avenue. There seem to be so many 
 schools of walking! 
 
 Thus in going over a part it is of the utmost 
 importance that we decide upon the way our 
 heroine is going to carry herself and then 
 throw our body, as well as our thoughts and 
 expression, into our role. I have often used 
 this matter of walking I was about to say art 
 of walking to very good effect. I should ad- 
 vise the beginner to observe the many different
 
 SCREEN ACTING 89 
 
 ways in which various persons accomplish ex- 
 pression through the movement of the body. 
 
 It was in the early days. It was in Yonkers. 
 We were making "The Escape." It was a 
 street scene and we were working with a con- 
 cealed camera. Mr. Donald Crisp was playing 
 the brutal husband. He drew back his fist to 
 strike me. I was the forlorn wife. 
 
 "If yu' touch that lady I'll knock yer block 
 off," said a threatening voice. 
 
 It was a young Yonkers bravo. Absorbed 
 in the scene he had forgotten that it was acting, 
 particularly with the camera concealed. 
 
 I often think of that incident when at a pic- 
 ture play I hear someone say: "People don't 
 act like that in real life."
 
 90 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 If I were a director there is nothing I should 
 rank as more important than rehearsals. I do 
 not mean merely running over the scene before 
 it is filmed. All directors do that. The ideal 
 rehearsal is one which calls together the lead- 
 ing parts perhaps a week before production 
 and meticulously works out every vital scene 
 in the story. 
 
 No director of the spoken stage would 
 think of producing a play without doing this. 
 Yet in motion pictures a production that may 
 cost twenty times as much as the average 
 spoken drama is often put on with twenty 
 times less of care in rehearsal. It is illogical 
 and costly. 
 
 Working with the director of the type who 
 leaves everything until the last minute the 
 actor or actress feels a strain that takes away 
 from the performance rendered. On the other 
 hand where painstaking rehearsal is practiced 
 the actor acquires a poise and deftness of 
 touch that justify the preliminary prepara- 
 tion, say nothing of the labor spared in editing.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Long shots, intermediates and close-ups "Hogging 
 
 the camera" and ingenious leading men 
 
 Keeping one's poise under fire. 
 
 WHILE THE actress will exert herself in 
 every "shot" or "take" as the separate ex- 
 posures of a scene are called she comes to 
 know that the result of her acting upon the 
 screen is greatly influenced by the distance 
 from the camera that she has worked. 
 
 There are, for our present purposes, three 
 different distances which we work from the 
 camera. There is the long shot, the interme- 
 diate and the close-up or insert. With the gra- 
 dations of these we need not now concern our- 
 selves. 
 
 The long shot is usually taken to establish 
 the atmosphere and setting of a scene. In this 
 the actress finds herself ordinarily so far from 
 the camera that her facial expression registers 
 indifferently. For that reason the body move- 
 ment, with which she is playing a character, 
 substitutes for facial expression. She is known 
 
 91
 
 92 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 to the audience by her costume and carriage 
 and makes her appeal largely through these. 
 
 Most of the dramatic action is now played 
 at three-quarters length ; that is from the face 
 to the knees. As we weave in and out of a 
 scene, very often the entire body is shown and 
 the feet have their opportunity for expression 
 they assuredly act ! but the majority of the 
 intermediate shots through which the dramatic 
 action is conducted cut off the lower part of 
 the body. 
 
 Here, in brief, is the combination of facial 
 expression and bodily movement that estab- 
 lishes the actress. It will be through the inter- 
 mediate shots that my candidate will make or 
 break. All our preparation for a part and our 
 fitness for it are here brought to the test. 
 
 An important item in this phase of screen 
 acting is the effect that those playing opposite 
 will exert upon one. The good actor or actress 
 helps one. Things seem to swim along. Work 
 becomes a pleasure! 
 
 But very often the actress will find that she 
 is forced to work opposite other actresses or 
 actors whose style is disagreeable. If they are 
 too loud or too full of antics it has the effect 
 of taking your mind off your work if you let 
 it! In such a case very often the director 
 will observe the difficulty and a word of cau- 
 tion spoken in private to the offending actor or 
 actress will improve conditions.
 
 SCREEN ACTING 93 
 
 But sometimes the director is not observing 
 and you are forced to make the best of condi- 
 tions. I recall one rather well-known actor 
 who, to use a frank expression, "spits as he 
 talks." If I should ever be compelled to play 
 opposite him again I should prepare myself 
 either with an umbrella or a bathing suit. I 
 think it was only his total unconsciousness of 
 this habit that made it possible for me to con- 
 tinue. 
 
 We women are told that we are very vain. 
 Perhaps we are. But if my experience with 
 male actors may be taken as a criterion I should 
 say that vanity has been pretty well distributed 
 throughout the world. 
 
 With a few notable exceptions, I make bold 
 to affirm that the leading man counts that day 
 lost when he has not stolen the camera from 
 the star (poor girl!) not once but several times. 
 In the profession we call this "hogging the 
 camera." 
 
 The tricks that some of these amiable gen- 
 tlemen will play to keep themselves in the im- 
 mediate center of the foreground deserve 
 nothing less than a volume. This leads to many 
 amusing experiences. 
 
 I remember one leading man who had a habit 
 of falling back from the camera during the 
 progress of a scene. The result of this, of 
 course, was to turn me toward him, leaving 
 my back exposed to the camera. He was very
 
 94 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 ingenuous. I thought, at first, the habit was 
 unintentional. 
 
 But as work upon our play progressed he 
 repeated this maneuver often enough to con- 
 vince me that I was dealing with a rather 
 clever artist in his way. I began to anticipate 
 him. When he started to drop away from the 
 camera, instead of turning toward him, as I 
 had previously done, I stood still and practiced 
 talking over my shoulder. 
 
 This had the value, at least, of showing my 
 face and not my back to the audience. In addi- 
 tion it gave me an unequal prominence in the 
 picture, since he was standing three or four 
 feet behind me. Realizing his disadvantage he 
 quickly resumed a position beside me and 
 thereafter abandoned his little trick. 
 
 Since that time, however, I have seen him 
 in other plays and he is quite as original as 
 ever. 
 
 I might go on indefinitely with such in- 
 stances. Enough that the artist must be on 
 her guard for it seems to be acting-nature to 
 want to "hog the camera." But as the stars 
 and directors are aware of this tendency its 
 accomplishment has become more difficult. 
 
 It is particularly trying, too, to play opposite 
 one of your own sex who insists upon over- 
 acting. This is a common case. This kind of 
 actress generally realizes that she has but a 
 few important moments before the camera and 
 is determined to make the best of them even if
 
 Q 
 
 tt: 
 
 "2 
 5
 
 SCREEN ACTING 97 
 
 she has to "act the star off the set." I have 
 actually felt sometimes as though I were being 
 pushed from the stage by some actress, who, 
 without any particular reason, has come in like 
 a whirlwind. 
 
 The beginner will find himself best off if he 
 does not let the style of those playing opposite 
 him affect him too much. If the style is good 
 take advantage of it. It will be real help. If 
 it is bad one should the more concentrate upon 
 his part and thus maintain his own poise under 
 diffculties. 
 
 If in these important intermediate shots 
 where the most of the dramatic action is sus- 
 tained we remember the various points that we 
 have discussed we should come off acceptably. 
 
 The silent drama is silent only in its com- 
 pleted product. Before the camera lines are 
 spoken and it is of utmost importance that 
 they be pronounced clearly and with feeling. 
 
 In spoken sub-titles that are expressively 
 mouthed and well-timed in the cutting, the sub- 
 title seems to blend in with the voice though 
 it be unheard of the speaker, particularly so 
 to the spectator who is clever at lip-reading. 
 
 While it is not necessary to memorize a great 
 number of lines, as on the spoken stage, it is 
 necessary that those lines which are read be 
 given with the correct shade of feeling, just as 
 they should be on the dramatic stage. 
 
 Lines are particularly important to many 
 persons who show a maximum of expression
 
 98 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 while speaking. Here the silent voice is a gen- 
 uine asset. 
 
 Most close-ups, or inserts, as we call them, 
 are of the face alone. Sometimes there may 
 be a close-up of a hand, a foot, etc., but the 
 most acceptable style of direction these days 
 seems to be not to overdo in this respect. 
 
 In the close-up the face of the actress is 
 usually about 24 inches from the camera. 
 Every line of her face, every thought, indeed, 
 her very soul, will now be more or less regis- 
 tered. Nothing, in the whole range of screen 
 acting, is more effective than the close-up. 
 
 The insert is always to depict a particular 
 emotion. In a single scene, in the intermediate 
 shots, we have perhaps expressed several de- 
 grees of feeling but in the insert it is a matter 
 of one emotion at a time. 
 
 Here we are not aided by the action or ex- 
 pression of any brother artist. It is entirely 
 a matter of imagination or feeling. The lens 
 of the camera, like the eye of a Cyclops, is 
 staring sheerly at us and it is not necessary to 
 feel its breath to believe that it is a living thing. 
 
 When called upon for an insert we know 
 precisely the emotion that we are supposed to 
 express and will bend every effort to concen- 
 trate upon it. 
 
 To begin with there are two important 
 things to remember in the insert. One is that 
 the make up should be very much lighter than
 
 SCREEN ACTING 99 
 
 in the long or intermediate shots; the other, 
 that the action will be slower. 
 
 The reasons are fairly obvious. If the same 
 make up that is used in the dramatic action is 
 continued it becomes immediately too con- 
 spicuous. Slower action is necessary because 
 at the distance of two feet the camera is lim- 
 ited in the speed of movement that it can faith- 
 fully record. 
 
 In the insert we are ever reminded of the 
 value of repression. The mere expression of 
 the eyes may be all that is necessary to convey 
 to the audience the emotion of the player. The 
 truth is that the effectiveness of the close-up 
 seems to be in inverse proportion to the amount 
 of facial action in it. 
 
 When we behold an insert in which there is 
 much grimacing and contortion of the face we 
 realize that there is no real depth of feeling. 
 It is playing at feeling. 
 
 On the other hand I have seen vital emotion 
 so delicately expressed in the insert that its 
 effect was haunting and beautiful. Observe 
 in "Broken Blossoms" and "Way Down East" 
 the close-ups of Lillian Gish. 
 
 Much as the good old "back spot" is popular 
 among the fluffy bonds, so is the insert wel- 
 comed by all screen actresses. We believe that 
 it shows us off at our best and brings us nearer, 
 as it were, to our audiences. 
 
 Yet there are some actresses favored over 
 others by the insert. One whose features are
 
 100 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 naturally coarse, or hard, loses something 
 when in close contact with the camera. Others, 
 like myself, who have small features, and be- 
 lieve, therefore, that we are often at a disad- 
 vantage in the long and intermediate shots, are 
 only too glad of the opportunity to prepare for 
 an insert. 
 
 Indeed, our directors sometimes make a jest 
 of saying that we seem to want a drama of 
 inserts. But it is never quite so bad as that.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Atmosphere and studio morale Where best work is 
 
 done Importance of story Value of 
 
 'Observation Tours." 
 
 THE BEGINNER has learned that he or she 
 must at all times stand solidly before the cam- 
 era upon his or her own feet. I mean this in 
 a metaphorical sense. So much depends upon 
 courage and self-reliance. 
 
 If it is well not to let the style of supporting 
 artists affect one, it is equally well to steel one's 
 self against the conditions under which one 
 must sometimes work. 
 
 The motion picture, after all, is a commercial 
 proposition. It is very much so to the pro- 
 ducer. For that reason the beginner will find 
 that different studios create and maintain their 
 own atmosphere. Here one will discover a 
 wide range. But since we may consider our- 
 selves called upon to work now in New York, 
 again in California, and sometimes in Florida, 
 passing from studio to studio, we shall win a 
 big battle if at the outset we will determine to 
 
 101
 
 102 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 let conditions and studio atmosphere affect us 
 as little as possible. 
 
 It is here, again, a case of taking advantage 
 of conditions if they are good, and trying to 
 ignore them if they are distasteful. 
 
 I know from experience that this will be a 
 hard thing to do. If the actress finds, in the 
 very air of which she breathes, unpleasantness 
 and intrigue, she will be normally inclined to 
 resent it hotly. Yet such resentment only 
 takes away from her acting, for it diverts her 
 mind, and she will be the greater loser as be- 
 tween herself and her producer. 
 
 I have worked under such profound systems 
 as considered studio spies and time charts upon 
 make up, etc., as necessary to production. I 
 will leave it to the reader to decide how much 
 morale one will find in this sort of studio. 
 
 Fortunately such a studio and such a morale 
 are the exception. But, if encountered in the 
 many vicissitudes that an actress will face, it 
 will be well to make the best of it ; to steel one's 
 nervous system against odds. Self-reliance in 
 such a case is no less than golden. 
 
 But in the majority of studios the manufac- 
 ture of motion pictures is not put upon the 
 same level as the making of gloves or brooms, 
 and the beginner will find a kindly and friendly 
 atmosphere both charming and helpful. 
 
 In those studios that glow with a warm, 
 friendly atmosphere there is always a good- 
 natured rivalry and spirit of fellowship which
 
 SCREEN ACTING 103 
 
 is certain to reflect itself in the finished pic- 
 ture. For that reason it is a genuine asset. 
 Here hours are buoyant minutes and the actors 
 and directors find their reward in the excel- 
 lence of their endeavor, as well as somewhere 
 in Heaven. 
 
 Another point that the beginner must re- 
 member is that it is much harder to make good 
 in pictures now than it was when I started. 
 That, of course, is because of the greater com- 
 petition. 
 
 Where ten years ago there was one boy or 
 girl ambitious for a screen career there are 
 now a thousand. I often think that the screen 
 has been very kind to those who had faith in 
 it in its babyhood. It has brought to so many 
 of these fame and fortune. 
 
 And sometimes, when I observe some fairly 
 competent actress or actor thwarted in an at- 
 tempt to reach stardom, I wonder if the screen, 
 after its own fashion, is not asserting itself for 
 this lack of faith in those early days. 
 
 At any rate those who got in first secured a 
 big advantage over those who wondered if a 
 multiple-reel picture could be a success and 
 doubted it for, as some said, "It would be too 
 great a strain upon the eye." 
 
 But if there are more aspirants now there 
 are assuredly more opportunities and my can- 
 didate need have no fear. Sooner or later 
 merit may be counted upon to assert itself. All
 
 104 _ SCREEN ACTING 
 
 about us in motion pictures we every day per- 
 ceive the truth of this. 
 
 It is also true that the screen is in a state of 
 constant change. The methods of acting 
 change ; the methods of direction ; the methods 
 of presentation ; the methods of story selection 
 all is continually in flux. 
 
 No one knows what another five years will 
 bring. But we do know that some of our 
 prized pictures of five or more years ago would 
 be instantly pointed out as old-fashioned by 
 the average theater-goer. That is because 
 there is no fundamental point about them that 
 has not been somehow affected by time. 
 
 Yet no pictures I ever will make will be 
 dearer to me than my "The Sands of Dee," 
 "Apple Pie Mary," "The Little Liar," "The 
 Escape," "Hoodoo Ann," "The Wharf Rat," 
 etc. 
 
 This constant evolution is a matter to be 
 reckoned with. To stand still is to be lost. We 
 must always be pushing ahead. For that reason 
 the beginner and the star will find it greatly to 
 their advantage to follow everything that is 
 done on the screen. 
 
 In unexpected places we discover new devel- 
 opment. Some unheard-of player in a boister- 
 ous two-reel comedy may disclose some little 
 trick, or expression, or bit of business, that 
 can be easily interpolated in the more serious 
 drama with good effect. And so on.
 
 A pair excellent in its screenic balance Gloria Swanson 
 and Thomas Meighan.
 
 SCREEN ACTING 107 
 
 We must read widely. Try as they may, 
 we can be mortally certain that no scenario 
 editors can always supply the vehicle which we 
 feel is suitable for us to play. There will come 
 a time when the actress will be thrown upon 
 her own resources, either in the matter of re- 
 jection or selection of a story. She must be 
 able to put her finger on what she considers a 
 vital defect in some narrative that appeals to 
 the editor, or discover for him good points in 
 some other story against which he is preju- 
 diced. 
 
 In any event it will be extremely hazardous 
 not to participate as much as possible in the 
 business of deciding upon the play. 
 
 Nothing is so vital as a good story. Even 
 when poorly acted it will be of greater appeal 
 than a well played scenario of no merit. Mo- 
 tion picture actresses prosper almost in exact 
 ratio to the inherent worth of their scenarios. 
 
 At first this story matter will not greatly 
 concern the tyro. But as the beginner finds 
 himself or herself slowly crawling up the lad- 
 der to stardom he or she will do well to think 
 often upon the type of story to be preferred if 
 given a chance to star. 
 
 By this process the beginner will be visual- 
 izing himself in a role. Of a certain his most 
 pleasant visualization will be the role in which 
 he feels that he would be at his best. In such 
 a way, when the chance comes, the star may
 
 108 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 know exactly the story he or she will fit per- 
 fectly. 
 
 Once the story is decided upon there are 
 many ways to bring to it genuine color. In 
 several of my early plays Mr. Griffith sent me 
 down into the New York slums on an "observa- 
 tion tour." We all made such tours. In "In- 
 tolerance" I visited sick and stricken mothers 
 in baby hospitals. We spent a half-day once 
 in a jail observing the characters therein. 
 
 It is always important in acting to show a 
 thing as it is, not as we think it ought to be, 
 and for that reason these "observation tours" 
 are of great benefit.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Mr. Griffith and some of his methods of direction 
 
 What everyone associated with the screen 
 
 owes to him About patience. 
 
 I HAVE planned all along to dedicate this 
 chapter to Mr. David Wark Griffith, and now 
 that I have arrived at it, I find that my pen is 
 unequal to the task. No mere chapter, nor 
 book, could undertake to tell Mr. Griffith's im- 
 portance to motion pictures. The things that 
 he has accomplished in the past ten years, in- 
 variably in the face of great odds, almost pass 
 belief. 
 
 For Mr. Griffith I have the strong and mixed 
 feeling that the child has for its benefactor, or 
 the student for a beloved preceptor. At an 
 age now where I can more appreciate the many 
 trials that he endured I look back fondly to 
 those days when Mary Pickford, Blanche 
 Sweet, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Robert Har- 
 ron, and myself were beginning our careers 
 and at the same time founding what has come 
 to be known as the Griffith school. 
 
 109
 
 110 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 Nor were we all. If the list of actresses, 
 actors and directors who spent the formulative 
 days of their screen careers with Mr. Griffith 
 were compiled I believe it would be found to 
 include many of those who have reached the 
 heights. Mr. George Loane Tucker, Mr. 
 Thomas Ince, Mr. Marshall Neilan and Mr. 
 Raoul Walsh, to name but four, were directors 
 that he started on the road to success. 
 
 Those were the days of the old Biograph. I 
 am sure they were of the happiest that any of 
 us ever have spent. We made two-reelers then. 
 But we made good two-reelers. And the guid- 
 ing genius of the organization was Mr. Griffith, 
 tireless in his quest for something new, some- 
 thing big, something that would expand and 
 elevate this new art to which he had pledged 
 his very soul. 
 
 His energy in those days, just as it is now, 
 was astounding. Traveling from New York 
 to Los Angeles not long ago, I happened to 
 meet aboard the train Mr. Griffith's private 
 secretary. 
 
 "He seems never so unhappy," she said, "as 
 when he is taking a day off. He mopes around 
 the studio, hands in his pockets, with an air 
 almost comical. It is as though he were 
 silently resenting such foolishness as days off." 
 
 With this energy I remember those early 
 days best for Mr. Griffith's infinite patience. 
 I can truly say that he had the patience to make 
 us succeed. He never despaired no matter how
 
 SCREEN ACTING 111 
 
 backward we might be. He kept at us con- 
 stantly to bring out the best that was in us. 
 And even on those extraordinary occasions 
 when he seemed to lose patience usually when 
 we had worn his nerves to a frazzle we al- 
 ways had that wonderful feeling that he was 
 intensely loyal to all of us. 
 
 Those were the days when in addition to 
 schooling us to pictures Mr. Griffith was con- 
 stantly experimenting with such things as 
 close-ups, fade-outs, etc., that were to revolu- 
 tionize the entire picture drama and lift it 
 above the atmosphere of the nickelodeon. 
 
 For he did lift it. And he is still lifting it. 
 
 Not only those privileged few of us who con- 
 sider ourselves of the Griffith school are in- 
 debted to his genius. Every actress, or actor, 
 or director, on the screen today, who has a 
 weekly salary that runs into three figures, can 
 thank Mr. Griffith for making motion pictures 
 big and prosperous enough to so recompense 
 them. 
 
 It is not the money that Mr. Griffith has 
 made possible, but the dignity that he put into 
 this new art for which we are most beholden 
 to him. Motion pictures were lightly held until 
 "The Birth of a Nation" shook an entire con- 
 tinent and showed the deep significance and 
 possibilities of the screen art. 
 
 It took the courage of the born fighter and 
 worlds of confidence to put on such a picture as 
 "The Birth of a Nation." For here at one step
 
 112 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 he was doing the unheard of thing, the thing 
 almost everyone in the profession said was im- 
 possible. But it wasn't impossible to Mr. 
 Griffith. He did it. 
 
 He has continued to do things just as fine. 
 And if there is one fault to which the most of 
 us are addicted it is that we have come to ex- 
 pect more than is humanly possible of this 
 patient, humble genius. 
 
 In my correspondence I am often asked 
 many questions regarding Mr. Griffith's man- 
 ner of directing. Wherein is it different from 
 other directors ? Wherein does it excel ? How 
 is it possible to become associated with him? 
 Can he make anyone a star? And so on. 
 
 These questions are, in a way, difficult to 
 answer. So far as I know Mr. Griffith pos- 
 sesses no magic lamp by which he makes a star 
 out of anyone. It is not any one quality 
 unless it be patience but a combination of 
 many that make him the foremost of our 
 directors. 
 
 Mr. Griffith is extremely human. There is 
 no unnecessary flourish, or blowing of trum- 
 pets, about his manner of direction. That has 
 the simplicity of true greatness. He never 
 lords it over his players as I have seen some 
 directors do. He is kindly, sympathetic and 
 understanding. 
 
 Perhaps we are about to do a very vital 
 scene. Mr. Griffith tilts back in his chair he
 
 Mr. Griffith, at the left, directing a scene in 
 "Intolerance."
 
 SCREEN ACTING 115 
 
 has a manner of directing while seated and 
 may say to the actress : 
 
 "You understand this situation. Now let us 
 see what you would do with it." 
 
 Here is a direct challenge. The actress is 
 put upon her metal. After giving the matter 
 careful consideration she plays the scene after 
 her own idea. If she does it well no one is 
 quicker in his praise than Mr. Griffith. If 
 otherwise, no one is more kindly in pointing 
 out the flaws. 
 
 In other words, Mr. Griffith gives the actress 
 a chance. How different from other directors 
 I have seen. They might say under the same 
 circumstances : 
 
 "You understand this situation. Now here 
 is the way to do it. Follow me closelly." 
 
 With that the director will proceed to act 
 out a scene according to his notion of how a 
 woman would conduct herself under given cir- 
 cumstances. The flaw in this is obviously that 
 a man and woman have a way of acting differ- 
 ently in the same situation and Mr. Griffith, by 
 letting the actress show what she would do, is 
 shrewd enough to profit by Nature. Our self- 
 sufficient director, on the other hand, wants us 
 to act only as a man would think a woman 
 ought to act in a given situation. 
 
 In this way Mr. Griffith draws out the best 
 that is in his players, and, by seeming to de- 
 pend upon them to stand upon their own feet, 
 maintains an enthusiasm among his players
 
 116 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 a sort of big family spirit that I never have 
 seen equalled in any other studio. 
 
 I hope no one understands me to say that the 
 actress, under Mr. Griffith, has the say of how 
 she shall act. Quite the contrary ! No one has 
 a way of bringing a player more abruptly to 
 his or her senses when he or she is unquali- 
 fiedly in the wrong. 
 
 And no matter how well we think we have 
 outlined a scene Mr. Griffith may entirely 
 change it. When he does change it we know 
 it is for a reason other than a fondness for 
 showing authority. In other words, he has 
 built up among his artists a great and abiding 
 faith in his ability to do the right thing at the 
 right time, or, as importantly, have it done. 
 
 For another thing, Mr. Griffith is big enough 
 not to be small about receiving suggestions. 
 His people know that, with the result that they 
 are always thinking up something to put into 
 a scene that has not been written there. He 
 listens attentively to these suggestions, even 
 though he knows in advance that he probably 
 cannot use one in a hundred of them. Yet that 
 one may be important enough to balance the 
 patience expended in listening to the other 
 ninety-nine. 
 
 To illustrate: 
 
 In "The Birth of a Nation," when the Cam- 
 eron house was being mobbed by frenzied 
 negroes and the family had barricaded itself 
 in the cellar it was a matter of some moment
 
 SCREEN ACTING 117 
 
 how the little sister, which part I was for- 
 tunate enough to play, would be affected. 
 
 I can hear your average director : 
 
 "Roll your eyes," he would say. "Cry! Drop 
 to your knees in terror." 
 
 In other words, it would be the same old 
 stuff. It is this same old stuff that makes so 
 many pictures positively deadly. The least 
 that can be said about this conventional style 
 of doing things is that, if it cannot be criticized, 
 neither can it be applauded. 
 
 Mr. Griffith, when we came to the cellar 
 scene, asked me if there had ever been a time 
 in my life when I had been filled with terror. 
 
 "Yes," I said. 
 
 "What did you do?" he inquired. 
 
 "I laughed," I answered. 
 
 He saw the point immediately. 
 
 "Good," he said. "Let's try it." 
 
 It was the hysterical laugh of the little girl 
 in the cellar, with the drunken mob raging 
 above, that was, I am sure, far more effective 
 than rolling the eyes or weeping would have 
 been. 
 
 Mr. Griffith is quick to appreciate the invol- 
 untary action of one of his actresses while a 
 scene is being played or rehearsed. As for 
 instance, in the court room scene in "Intoler- 
 ance" ("The Mother and the Law") when I 
 began unconsciously to wring my handkerchief 
 and press it to my face. 
 
 "Good," he said, "keep it up!"
 
 118 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 We are gratified when Mr. Griffith accepts 
 any suggestion for business, etc., for we know 
 he has a fine sense of distinction and, for every 
 idea we give him, he returns a hundred. 
 
 This system of suggestion extends beyond 
 the players to the mechanical department with 
 the result that camera men and assistants, as 
 well as assistant directors, are always on the 
 alert for something new. They know their 
 suggestion will be given due consideration. 
 And for that reason to Mr. Griffith and his 
 staff we owe credit for most of the new inven- 
 tions of telling a story by pictures. This di- 
 rector is as expert in the mechanics of his art 
 as he is bold in story conception. 
 
 We are familiar with that smoky, hazy, 
 beautiful close-up that Mr. "Billy" Bitzer in- 
 vented by using gauze or placing the camera 
 slightly out of focus. In some recent pictures 
 bearing the "D. G." stamp I have seen some 
 beautiful blue values that I have not elsewhere 
 observed. 
 
 I find the space allotted to this chapter begin- 
 ning to dwindle with a sense of having left 
 unsaid so many important and interesting 
 things about this wonderful director and his 
 methods. But someday someone will set down 
 the true estimate of the man who has done so 
 much for the picture drama. And Time will 
 write it even larger. 
 
 Many of us are deeply indebted to Mr. 
 Griffith and none of us owe that which can be
 
 SCREEN ACTING 119 
 
 repaid. For he gave us of his genius and per- 
 sonality and for these there is no return coin. 
 Other directors I have had of many experi- 
 ences and varied training. Sometimes we have 
 succeeded and sometimes we have failed, and 
 success is made only the more sweet by taste of 
 failure. But whether we failed or succeeded 
 we know, all of us, that we did our level best. 
 That is something. 
 
 In the matter of public acknowledgement 
 the stage has never been so kind to its directors 
 as the screen. We think of Belasco, Hopkins, 
 Cohan, not forgetting Mr. Oliver Morosco, 
 and are almost done. 
 
 But on the screen, to name a few of many, 
 there are the De Milles, with their uncanniness 
 in seeming to make the screen talk; Tucker, 
 with his painstaking thoroughness and ability 
 to limn the separate values of a story ; Neilan, 
 with his quality of gay, unexpectedness ; Tour- 
 neur, with his grand manner of picturization ; 
 Dwan, with his workman-like comprehension; 
 Fitzmaurice, with his ability to make every 
 scene beautiful as a painting; Walsh, with his 
 all-around cleverness all these are famous, 
 and there are more. 
 
 No medium has equalled the screen in its 
 kindness to those who do creditable work. 
 Witness, for instance, our camera aristocracy. 
 
 While I have ridden faster than seventy
 
 120 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 miles an hour in an automobile, have been 
 "ducked" in lakes, rivers, and oceans two of 
 them have braved the wintry blasts of New 
 England until I thought I was frozen, and 
 done scenes with tigers, bears and lions, I have 
 never feared greatly for my personal safety 
 nor need the beginner. 
 
 In really dangerous scenes "doubles" acro- 
 bats, trick jumpers, bareback riders, animal 
 trainers, etc. dress in feminine garb to re- 
 semble the star, assume the role being played 
 and risk death or danger for so many dollars 
 a day. The star's services are too valuable to 
 the producer for him to allow her to take any 
 unnecessary chances.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Opportunity for home life of motion picture actress 
 
 Los Angeles and New York as production 
 
 centers Screen morals and such. 
 
 IN THIS final chapter I shall try to say some- 
 thing about the home life of the motion picture 
 actress. In general actresses are of two 
 classes: those who act both on and off the 
 screen, and those who confine their efforts 
 merely to the studio. 
 
 The first class is not particularly open to 
 censure. For, unless I am mistaken, the public 
 desires to see its actresses act on an average of 
 sixteen out of twenty-four hours. One friend 
 of mine, a star, stoutly maintains that she 
 would not go to the theater in anything except 
 the most up-to-date garb and a conspicuous 
 car! Why? Because otherwise there would 
 be sure to be many who would be disappointed 
 in her! If there is anything funny about this 
 it is that it is somewhat true. 
 
 Actresses, as public favorites, maintain a 
 peculiar position, as Gil Bias points out, some- 
 where between royalty and the citizen without 
 
 121
 
 122 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 being of either. The public seems to feel some- 
 thing of pride when it points out some glitter- 
 ing dreadnaught of an automobile, conspicuous 
 for color or equipment, and says, "There goes 
 Dolly Twinkletoes!" 
 
 Personally I have never had this inclination 
 to act both "off and on." I am afraid, having 
 been of a large family, I should have found it 
 extremely difficult even had I the inclination. 
 A number of sisters, and a brother or two, are 
 a fine cure for any tendency to undue im- 
 portance. 
 
 And now that I have an especially charm- 
 ing daughter, and am happily married, I must 
 really be set down as a conservative. That 
 baby of mine! Being detained beyond hours 
 at the studio one night I hurried home to see 
 her before she was tucked in bed, having no 
 time to take off my make up. She gazed at 
 me as though she were beholding a ghost or a 
 total stranger! 
 
 A Chicago picture critic once gave me such 
 advice as I think fit to pass on to those who 
 think of the screen as a career. "Save the pen- 
 nies," she said, "they can always be spent if 
 you have them." 
 
 Yet how many, with a splendid opportunity, 
 do not save ! Then some day they wake up and 
 find their golden chance gone. As an old 
 philosopher has pointed out, we, who find 
 money so easy at times, must guard against in- 
 temperance and folly.
 
 SCREEN ACTING 123 
 
 But this is not a sermon. We live up in the 
 beautiful California mountains. There, in a 
 colonial house on a small acreage, with flower 
 and vegetable gardens, Airedales, chickens, a 
 car, a cow, and a cat, I have a feeling of sub- 
 stantial worth-while happiness and that is the 
 kind that counts. 
 
 Indeed, one of the best things about motion 
 pictures is that it permits of a home life. The 
 actress in vaudeville or on tour, or even on 
 Broadway with the uncertainty of the length 
 of runs, never has any surety where she will 
 be on the morrow. We, in motion pictures, 
 are fortunate enough to sign contracts that 
 usually call for a year or more work in one city 
 and that New York or Los Angeles. This, I 
 should say, is one of the most advantageous 
 things about the screen as contrasted with the 
 spoken drama. There are many others. 
 
 Since Los Angeles and New York are the 
 two centers of the motion picture industry each 
 has its staunch advocates as to suitability, etc. 
 In any group of actresses and actors this will 
 usually be the topic of a lively discussion. Per- 
 sonally I like Los Angeles. At a dinner that I 
 attended some time ago the head of a big dis- 
 tributing company, who is interesting for his 
 shrewd observations, said there had never been 
 a really great picture done in New York City. 
 "For the entire atmosphere of life there," he 
 continued, "is too superficial." 
 
 I agree with him. Los Angeles is friendly
 
 124 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 and natural. Its climate is only one of its 
 many virtues. 
 
 The screen actress will be called upon to 
 meet the people of the press. Interviews are 
 important. She will find that the number of 
 them will usually be determined by the degree 
 of success of her newest screen play. As for 
 screen writers, one will discover them, in the 
 majority, keen, sympathetic and altogether de- 
 lightful. No one need have the dread of com- 
 ing in contact with them that I originally had ; 
 nor resort to the subterfuges to evade them. 
 I was very young then. 
 
 Public appearance is another factor the 
 screen has to deal with and sometimes I think 
 this is rather overdone. During the separate 
 campaigns for the sale of Liberty Bonds all of 
 us tried to do our share. While I never hope 
 to be able to make a speech, I find that the 
 anticipation of being expected to do so fills me 
 with greater terror than actually being called 
 upon. 
 
 I believe it is a good idea for the actress to 
 cultivate some companion art. In between 
 productions, or during an enforced vacation, 
 she will have something then as an ofT-set to 
 mere indolence. I have been interested in 
 sculpture for many years, and I have an ambi- 
 tion to do something in it that will be of real 
 value. If I don't, the ambition will have been 
 of real value, for it has assisted in providing
 
 I 
 
 J 
 
 * 
 
 5:
 
 SCREEN ACTING 127 
 
 me with many happy and instructive hours. 
 That is the main thing. 
 
 The study of another art is interesting, too, 
 because we immediately perceive in its form 
 and substance the truth of the saying that all 
 arts are one. Sculpture is a matter of repres- 
 sion and emphasis just as acting is. And when 
 I am doing the figure of my baby, or modeling 
 from life, I am startled to find that my errors, 
 in their way, are akin to the errors of the be- 
 ginning actress. 
 
 There may have existed at one time a silly 
 idea that actresses shouldn't marry; that it 
 hurt their box-office value, destroyed an illu- 
 sion, etc. As though actresses were not 
 women ! Most of my actress friends are mar- 
 ried and glad of it. Almost without exception 
 those who have gone highest in the profession 
 are married. The public has invariably been 
 pleased about it. 
 
 I should recommend any young actress to a 
 suitable husband. It will give her a better and 
 deeper insight into life and broaden her sym- 
 pathy. There is something a little pitiable, 
 something that doesn't ring quite true, about 
 the actress too ready to boast of her star- 
 spangled freedom. 
 
 I have often been asked about the morals of 
 motion pictures. Will someone tell me why 
 we, all of us, are so deeply concerned with our 
 neighbor's morals? And when we find them 
 not all that could be desired are we filled with
 
 128 SCREEN ACTING 
 
 sorrow and the wish to effect an honest reform, 
 or with a sort of unholy joy and a desire to 
 spread scandal? 
 
 It has been my observation that in motion 
 pictures a girl can be as good as she wants to 
 be. In that way our profession is identical 
 with others. It is true that the glamour of the 
 screen has attracted people who would be unde- 
 sirable in any business or profession. But we 
 should recognize them as such and never mis- 
 take them as representing the entire profes- 
 sion. 
 
 The majority of those who succeed in motion 
 pictures do so by honest work. That means 
 long hours and application. I doubt if the av- 
 erage successful business man puts in as much 
 time or as high-tension effort as the picture 
 actress, actor or director who gets somewhere. 
 My friends are of that kind. They are too 
 busy to worry unnecessarily over what the pub- 
 lic may think of motion picture morals. They 
 assume only to regulate their own conduct. 
 
 I have enjoyed doing this book. From time 
 to time I have been forced to drop my work 
 upon the urgent appeal of my eighteen-months' 
 old daughter. She has gorgeous blue eyes with 
 lashes long as twilight shadows. Her cheeks 
 are exquisitely pink and her little mouth is like 
 a rose-bud in spring. Her name is Mary. She 
 has brought me worlds of undreamed of hap- 
 piness.
 
 SCREEN ACTING 129 
 
 Someday Mary may want to go upon the 
 screen. Even now she acts before the long 
 mirror. If she can, in any way, secure her 
 mother's hat she gives a complete performance. 
 My blessed baby! 
 
 When the time has arrived for her to start 
 upon her career I shall place my little book in 
 her hands and say : 
 
 "There is the most and the best that I knew 
 about the screen back in those old-fashioned 
 days of 1921."
 
 University of California 
 
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 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
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