A. H. Van Buren (1915) 🇺🇸

A. H. Van Buren, who has achieved a notable success on the stage as a leading man, has joined the Lubin players in Philadelphia and is playing the leading juvenile role in The District Attorney, which was written by Charles Klein and Harrison Gray Fiske and adapted for the camera by Clay M. Greene.

Barry O’Neil is directing the production.

This is Van Buren’s first experience in pictures and in order to join the Lubin players he gave up the leading part in a new play by Frank Bacon and James Montgomery entitled Me and Grant, which is to be produced in New York Christmas week.

Van Buren’s first engagement on the stage was as utility man with the Keith Stock Company in Philadelphia and Barry O’Neil was the director of the company. During the engagement O’Neil predicted that Van Buren would be a leading man within three years. Exactly two years and nine months later Van Buren was leading man with the Proctor All Star Company at the Fifth Avenue Theater, New York, with Amelia Bingham as leading woman, Frances Starr as ingenue, Charles Dickson, the comedian, and the rest of the company equally well known.

Van Buren has been leading man with Amelia Bingham, Henrietta Crossman, Virginia Harned, Odette Tyler, Laurette Taylor and Cecelia Loftus and has had prominent roles with James K. Hackett, Robert Edeson, George Fawcett and other prominent players. For the past four seasons he was in stock in Washington, where he starred with Dorothy Bernard at the Columbia Theater. He was Ben Hur in the play of the name during its largest revival. He has played everything from musical comedy to tragedy. Notable among them is The Music Master, he being probably the only man besides Mr. Warfield [David Warfield] to play it. He was the third man to play Consul Bernick in Ibsen’s [Henrik Ibsen] Pillars of Society in English, George Fawcett being the first and Wilton Lackaye the second.

“My being with the Lubin players has a rather sentimental reason,” said Mr. Van Buren. “Barry O’Neil was my first director in stock and his prediction came true, therefore, I was anxious that he should be my first director in pictures.”

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The Sign of the Cross

William Farnum Gives Impressive Characterization in Famous Players’ Adaptation of Barrett Play.

Reviewed by George Blaisdell

It is an elaborately staged production which the Famous Players has given us in its four-part adaptation of Wilson Barrett’s play The Sign of the Cross. Added to its unusual pictorial value is the factor of dramatic quality, the adherence to the central theme, the main action, in spite of the large cast and the possibilities for divergence from the straight line. The picture will appeal to those who are ordinarily indifferent in matters of faith; to men and women of religious conviction deep or less deep it should appeal with great strength.

William Farnum is Marcus Superbus, the prefect of Rome who, on sight, falls under the spell of the charms of Mercia, the Christian maid. Mr. Farnum displays power in his interpretation — the strength of restraint. He is endowed with the physique and the bearing that fit the conception of what the character should be. Rosina Henley is Mercia. Miss Henley carries out her part with full appreciation of its demands; it is a role requiring the portrayal of the spirit of the Christian martyr, yet revealing unexpressed love for one who is without the bounds of her sect. One of the finest moments of the story is where Superbus, carried away by his passion, showers kisses upon the shrinking girl. As a woman of faith she repels him, but it is the weak-hearted battle of a being under stress of conflicting emotions.

Sheridan Block as Nero, the altogether bad and worthless, contributes to the atmosphere of the story. So, too, does Georgini Majeroni as Tigellinus. Where one is the reeling profligate, the other is the personification of all that is cold, calculating, unmoved by his surroundings. The remainder of the cast is worthy of the story and its manner of telling.

We have said before that the picture is elaborately staged. It is in the interiors that this phase of the subject stands out. The exteriors are those of a great estate, with backgrounds of marked beauty and Roman atmosphere. Of the studio, however, we have the great scene of the arena, of the palace, of the street and its mobs, of the prison. On the dramatic side the subject is filled with action, which, of course, turns upon the persecution of Christians by Nero. The culmination, as Superbus with Mercia goes to his death as a Christian, in its impressiveness matches what has preceded. The Sign of the Cross is well done.

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Giegerich Quits Review

Charles J. Giegerich has resigned from the position of Motion Picture Editor of the New York Review, and will devote his time to special motion picture advertising and publicity work.

Under his direction, the Shubert publication, the only paper devoted to theatricals that did not have a regular picture department, opened its columns to motion picture news. The recent publication of several articles in this paper, opposing the interests of the picture industry, is the main reason for Mr. Giegrich’s resignation.

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Wallace Eddinger in A Gentleman of Leisure

The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company has engaged Wallace Eddinger to star in the forthcoming film production of A Gentleman of Leisure, replacing Henry Woodruff in the stellar role of that piece. Mr. Woodruff was, unfortunately, taken ill almost immediately upon his arrival at the Lasky Studios in California and, as the release could not be delayed, it became necessary to engage another star. Mr. Eddinger was induced to sign at short notice and has already left for California.

Wallace Eddinger is one of the most noted legitimate stars in the American dramatic field, and has been particularly identified with productions and characters such as the stellar role of A Gentleman of Leisure. The part of the adventurous young society man who wagers that he can commit a burglary without being apprehended should suit him perfectly.

This will be the first time that Mr. Eddinger has ever starred on the screen and the forthcoming release will therefore be of special importance. He has recently been the most important actor under the Cohan and Harris management playing Broadway houses and long and highly successful engagements in such hits as The Only Son, Officer 666 and Seven Keys to Baldpate.

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A. H. Van Buren

Scene from The Sign of the Cross (Famous Players)

Collection: Moving Picture World, January 1915