Life — April 2, 1925 — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

ae aaa The Barthelmess Corre- spondence SINCE Rupert Hughes started to get behind in his correspondence, I have been having a hard time drumming up contributions from prominent writers for use on this page. I have written reviews that were calculated to infuriate directors, stars and authors mentioned therein, and stir them up to the com- position of frenzied letters; my success at this, unfortunately, has been negli- gible, Evidently the targets of my fine sarcasm have not been reading Lire as regularly as they should The day, however, Richard Barthelmess stepped into a barber-shop and picked up the issue which contained my review of his picture, “New Toys.” On that occasion I happened to describe him as the unfunniest. man on the screen, referring. of course, to Barthel- mess, the artist. as opposed to Barthel- mess, the man. Mr. Barthelmess immediately wired me as follows: JUST READ YOUR REVIEW STOP SECRETLY AGREE WITH YOU BUT SENSITIVE ABOUT YOU TELL THE WHOLE WORLD JUST AS QUOTES COMEDY QUOTES IS BEING RELEASED STOP ANYWAY POSTMASTER OF HAMLET SOUTH CAROLINA THINKS I AM FUNNY STOP HOPING YOU ARE THE SAME Close on the heels of this came another from a point farther South (Mr. Barthelmess, at the time, was en route to Florida to make some Samoa scenes) : AND THE TELEPHONE OPERATOR AT THE BROWARD HOTEL FORT LAUDERDALE THINKS I AM A RIOT (Just to show how perishable a quality is fame, the signature to the other Ldapien lim foregoing was rendered by the tele- graph company as “Richard Bartholo- mew.”) The third and last message was this AND THE MAN WHO EMIL JANNINGS DOWNSTAIRS AT MIAMI JOCKEY CLUB SAID COMMA WHILE LAUGHING OVER COPY OF JUDGE COMMA THAT I WAS HIGHLY LUDICROUS PERIOD So the matter rests, until more of the fans can be heard from. In the meantime, it would seem that. up to a certain point, Mr. Barthelmess has made good. Even ii he isn’t the most ludicrous of pantomimic clowns, he certainly swings a mean night letter. “Introduce Me” PEAKING of comedians, Douglas MacLean has come through with the proverhial bang. “Introduce Me.” his latest. is unquestionably his hest— DOUGLAS MACLEAN IN “INTRODUCE MF” combining as it does the usual up- roarious absurdity with a considerable amount of subtle delicacy. Mr. MacLean doesn’t always have to rely on banana peels for his farcical effects. In “Introduce Me," he pro- vides one of those rousing finishes by climbing an Alp at breakneck speed: but throughout the rest of the picture he manages to keep the audience with him, and in an amiable frame of mind, by doing practically nothing at all Which is a large achievement. “The Goose Hangs High” AMES CRUZE is a fine director, but J he is becoming terribly slipshod in casting his pictures. “The Goose Ha High” would be a mildly pleasant littl home comedy if it offered so much as one performance above the grade of a high school dramatic club production. All reports to the contrary, there is plenty of good talent in Hollywood aad Mr. Cruze is one director who should know how to use it “The Thundering Herd” OU can sit at home and read Zane *s novel, “The Thunderi Herd,” or you can go to your favorit picture theatre and read the amount of text on the screen. Indeed, it is my guess that thi hangs up a new record for veri includes, as a concession to the public taste, a few actual moving pictures of buffaloes, Jack Holt, covered wagons, Lois Wilson, redskins and Noah Beery —all on the rampage—but the great bulk of the space is allotted to incred- ibly long explanations of the plot. Messrs. Beery and Holt and Mis Wilson have appeared in several pic tures of this type before—and if they are half sick of them as I am they are positively bed-ridden. same R. E, Sherwood. comicbooks.com