Photoplay Magazine Cover — page 57: what you’re looking at

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

. Life in the Films substitute operator—can not only listen in and thwart the nefarious plans against her unsus- specting father, but incidentally collect sufficient evidence to send the would-be perpetrators to the bastille. Business men and financiers of the screen possess many peculiar traits and idiosyncrasies. Their eyebrows are always shaggy, and there are always gray tufts above their ears. pagal Ba Courtesy and geniality are antip- odal to their natures. They are at all times gruff and ag- gressive, and wear mean, bel- ligerent expressions. When they talk they roll a large cigar viciously about in the corner of their mouths, and thrust their jaws forward in menacing fashion. Moreover, they gesticulate angrily, pound the desk with their fists, and constantly shake their fore-fingers threateningly under the noses of their listeners, Another thing: they apparently have a deep and ineradicable suspicion of banking houses; for they always keep their money at home in the library in a circular wall safe, where any burglar can get to it with but slight difficulty, And this suspicion of the banks would seem to extend to the storage vaults, as well; for no business man or financier ever puts his important papers, or his bonds and stock certificates, in a safe- deposit box. Instead, he keeps them in his desk drawer at his private office. And, because of this eccentricity, he is nearly always robbed by someone who, posing as a customer, picks the drawer open with a pen knife or hair-pin when his back Is momentarily turned. Another invariable practice of the motion-picture business man is that of keeping a long, pointed, double-edged, highly sharpened, stiletto-like paper-cutter on his desk, so that any enemy or professional burglar will have a convenient and ef- ficient weapon at hand with which to stab him. And it is nothing short of amazing how many commercial magnates are translated into the Beyond by this means. The sons of wealthy business men of the without screen are, exception, a bad lot Then there is the peculiarity possessed by every wealthy financier in his manner of employing help. No matter how crooked he may be, or how urgent his needs for caution and secrecy, he will engage a new stenographer without giving her a try-out or even asking her for references. The young lady simply walks into his inner private office, states her mission, and is accepted on the spot. ‘The next minute he is turn- ing over to her his confidential correspondence and making her privy to all his illegal and nefarious schemes. Thus the daughter of the niece of one of his former victims, who is now in the Poor House, works herself in as a spy, check- mates all his dastardly plots, and gathers sufficient evidence to bring him, humbled and chastened, to the bar of justice. The wives of all wealthy and successful business men of the screen are shallow, brainless, extravagant creatures, who live only for social diversions, and who spend their entire time buying new gowns and giving soirées and costume balls. They know nothing whatever of business matters, and when the finan- cial crash comes and they are in- (Concluded on page gt) When the watchman finds the secretary with a smoking pistol in his hand, there is nothing for him to do but turn the innocent young man over to the gendarmes COnmichooks.c©