Photoplay Magazine Cover — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

Will H. Hays—A Real Leader A word portrait of tthe man selected to head the motion picture industry By MEREDITH NICHOLSON F I were asked to state the qualifications of the Hon. Will H. Hays for the general directorship of the motion pic- ture industry I should answer in these words: He knows and loves America! Not lightly does a man of Hays’ intelligence and ambition relinquish a position of honor in the cabinet of the president of the United States to enter a new and unfamiliar field. The governorship of his state and, in due course, a United States senatorship were clear- ly indicated in Hays’ horoscope on the day he resigned the post- master - generalship. And there are those in the corn-belt who even visualized him in the White House. It has been said that money was the com- pelling motive for the change, but to any one who really knows Hays this is a contemptible slander. His reason for taking the job may be set down in exactly the same phrase that I have used to describe his qualifications: He knows and loves America! He not only knows the heart and mind of the nation but he is animated by a passion- ate desire to serve the people—the folks as he likes to call them. Try your best to think of some man who is like Hays and you will give it up. Hays is different. He baffles classification, I have eaten with him, travy- eled with him, sat up all night with him and exchanged views with him on every subject, from the literary productions of Isaiah to the latest political rumpus in Raccoon Township, and I will say that I am unable to forecast with any certainty just what will be his views on a given matter. This isn’t because he is erratic or thinks queerly or loosely; it’s because being original and not an imitation he has his own individual way of looking at things. And God Almighty clearly intended that Hays should do a good deal of looking at important things, for He’ gave him about the clearest, seeingest pair of brown eyes that were planted in a human head. To any foolish persons who may feel disposed to dissimu- late, equivocate or lie to Will H. Hays I utter this solemn 30 Photo (©) Underwood & Underwood When Hays walks quietly into a roomful of people you know at once that somebody has arrived warning: Don’t do it! Hays’ ears are largetroomy ears, con- structed for service rather than beauty. Bill hears every- thing. He will listen to a fool up to a certain point. When this point is reached the fool will be aware of it. He hates with the greatest cordiality liars and side-steppers. This may have an odd sound when you remember that the man’s training was in politics, a game in which a highly special- ized talent for lying is popularly believed to be essential to success. Hays’ political ac- tivity began in his na- tive town of Sullivan, Indiana, when he was twenty-one. and _ for the succeeding twenty- two years he continued his apprenticeship until he became the Repub- lican National Chair- man, conducted the Harding campaign, and was rewarded for his brilliant services with the cabinet seat he re- linquished to become the Supreme High Po- tentate of the motion picture world. He always played politics straight. He believed and proved by many experiments that clean politics will win. Nobody ever “got” anything on Hays be- cause there wasn't any- thing to get! When Hays walks quietly into a roomful of people you know at once that somebody has arrived. He's a dynamic person; tre- mendously vital, all alive. When you've shaken hands with him and met the gaze of his friendly brown eyes you feel that you've known Hays a long time. Through no conscious effort on his part you get the impression that for years he’s been hankering to meet you and that the meeting is an event in his life. Alone on a desert island Hays would die; he’s simply got to be where there’s folks! But if he found a savage on that island Hays would make a friend of him; if he discovered two savages he would tame and organize them and put ‘em to work. People who are easily fatigued will do well to avoid Bill Hays. Laziness and slipshod work are painful to him. His own method is to work till he’s tired and then begin all over again. I have seen him dictating letters while he listened at the telephone. I have gone motoring with him when he read his mail and talked cheerfully for miles at a stretch. Sleeper- COMEDOOKS COM