Motion picture actors and actresses; Motion pictures
“Oh, yes,” replied Madge, “I told Mr. Goldwyn that if I came at all I
should have to leave early. You see, I have a call for eight-thirty in
the morning all made up.”
Pauline looked bewildered. In her mind there was absolutely no
connection between early to bed and early to rise. One of those rare
people who, like Edison and Bernhardt, thrive on a few hours’ sleep,
she never took 10 P.M. as anything more serious than the start of an
evening. Yet when she appeared in the studio the next morning her eyes
were glowing with health, her whole frame snapping with vigour. The
third member of the trio of feminine stars with which I began work in
the Goldwyn studio was Mae Marsh. One of the luminaries of whom I have
spoken in connection with “The Birth of a Nation,” Mae had also played
a leading rôle in Griffith’s “Intolerance.” Both of these performances
had inspired me with great confidence in her ability, and I looked
forward eagerly to her first Goldwyn venture.
I have spoken of my disappointment when Blanche Sweet, another Griffith
product, made her first picture for the Lasky Company. I was doomed to
the same experience now with Mae Marsh. She, too, seemed incapable of
any notable achievement when removed from the galvanising influence
of Griffith. To be sure, her Goldwyn pictures were not failures, but
comment on these pictures usually failed of any reference to Mae Marsh.
Take, for example, “Polly of the Circus,” the first vehicle we provided
for her. People spoke highly of the story, but Mae’s work in it created
no flurry of excitement. I was not, however, discouraged by this
initial experience, for it often happens that the very story which you
suppose exactly adapted to a performer’s personality fails to evolve
her best. So it was with unimpaired belief in her more sensational
possibilities that I made preparations for “The Cinderella Man.” These
included the engagement of George Loan Tucker, the celebrated director
of “The Miracle Man.” Here again Mae failed to strike twelve. For the
comedy which brought Tom Moore’s acting into such bold relief again
evoked only lukewarm appreciation of its star, Mae Marsh.
I can not say that Mae’s presence in the studio was invariably a
sunny one. She had a habit of balking at something which the director
suggested, and the terms of her objection were always the same.
“Oh,” she would say rather scornfully, “that isn’t at all what Mr.
Griffith would do. He would do so-and-so.”
Naturally such continued harping upon the one standard of artistic
merit did not exactly enlist the sympathy of the director thus reminded
of his limitations. Friction marked all subsequent relations between
the two.
There was one type of service in the Goldwyn studios which did inspire
her admiration. It was the thing removed from her own special sphere of
activity. She always liked the director assigned to the other stars.
She had a corresponding esteem for their stories.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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