Judge — October 15, 1921 — page 22: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Little Lord Fauntleroy’s Creator Reviews His Drawings Come to Life By Reoinatp Bircu ‘6 URIOUSEK and curiouser!”’ said Alice during one of her extraordinary adventures in Wonderland; and I repeated this the other night, when I delightfully renewed my youth in the wonderland Mary Pickford has so generously given us. Indeed, it did give me a curious sensation to see the figures I drew so many years ago for the pages of St. Nicholas suddenly be- come animate; and my sincerest appreciation and admiration is at the feet of the little lady and her excellent company for the almost incredibly faithful way the charac- ters follow my original drawings. Mr. Havisham, Mrs. McGinty, Minna, Mr. Hobbs all gave me the impres- sion that my illustrations had magically become enlarged and stepped out of the book, just as the ancestors stepped out of their frames in Gilbert’s ‘‘Ruddigore.”” When Fauntleroy was staged as a play, this illusion, so vivid in the pictures, was considerably weakened when the actors began to speak; and though the play was very charming, the impression to my mind was not so startlingly realistic as in the present pictures. I take, however, this opportunity to pay loving re- membrance to Elsie Leslie and Frank Gilmore for their most admirable performance in the réles of Ceddie and the Earl. ND how can I describe the alto- gether astounding Mary? The delicious blend of impish humor and courtliness she gives in her portrayal of his little lordship, rivalled only by her Dearest, which she plays with a gentle tenderness that is quite ador- able. The dual photography in tke scenes where she appears in the two réles is unquestionably the best I have seen, a triumph of ingenuity. How the difference in height is accomplished without suggestion of disproportion is a mystery almost as great as is the manner in which that diminutive lady transforms her- self into a small boy. With what a splendid swagger, full of mischief, but what an admirable little fellow at all times! The pictures of New York in the eighties are most amus- ing, and the interpolated scenes in which Ceddie appears serve to em- phasize the essential manliness of the little chap who is a hero in spite of his curls. And I make humble apology to the boys of that period (how they must have reviled me!) especi- ally to those sufferers who were forced to remain unshorn, garb- ing themselves in the habiliments of shame. It was enough to make mor- bid the most sanguine spirit. TT Drawn by ReGINALD Biren. Mary Pickford as Little Lord Fauntleroy . GILLINGWATER as the Earl of Dorincourt is distinguished and reserved, with flashes of sardonic Mary in this scene, where Dearest hears the report of a rival heir, is most appealing, showing the unselfishness of a noble nature very simply and unaffectedly. Mr. Dowling as the Earl’s solicitor, Mr. Havisham, is delightfully sympathetic.