SCENE STEALERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 October 1939, Page 4

SCENE STEALERS

GRAND LARCENY AT HOLLYWOOD.

There is not a picture produced in Hollywood that is not full of grand larceny. But it’s grand, grand larceny, because the perpetrators of this screen “crime" are the supporting players who steal big scenes and sometimes whole pictures right from under the highlypaid noses of the glamorous stars.. These screen thieves are the most interesting performers in Hollywood. Acting is not solely a career or a job to them, but an art that they love more deeply than money. They get more pleasure out of bringing a character to life and making it stand out above the star’s role. .

Without these men and women screen plays would, indeed, be sorry affairs. They bolster the background of all movies, turning in grand makebelieve and giving fullness to characters and the play its necessary touch of authenticity. Think back on the many times you have seen such performers as John Carradine, Akim Tamiroff, J. Carroll Naish, Walter Brennan, Thomas Mitchell. Edward Ellis, Allen Jenkins, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, May Robson, and others. These people have appeared in dozens of movies, yet it is safe to wager that you have never thought of them as they really are. You have seen Ihem only through the characters they have portrayed, and yet they have played something different each Lime.

The stars’ names are billed above the picture and these players, and all the publicity goes out about the stars because they have huge fan followings, and studios depend on their names to sell the picture.

But of late audiences have become more discerning, and are discovering that the star of a picture has, very often, little more than artificial glamour on which to rely. They are noticing that these character players are overshadowing the stars. There are few stars who can carry a picture alone, and there are still less who can pace it with these troupers in spite of bigger parts, close-up shots, and so-called glamour. They lack experience and sincerity to forget themselves, and cannot sink themselves into the part they are playing. On the other hand, the character men and women have had many years of stage training behind them to fit