Agnes Vernon — The Life of a Photoplayer — Three Parts Smile, Two Parts Work, and One Part Rest (1917) | www.vintoz.com 🇺🇸
You have often heard that the life of a photoplayer is strenuous in the extreme.
by Cecile Sweeney
This term, when applied to the profession generally, is a slight exaggeration. It is true the people who portray screen characters oftentimes are kept very busy doing their share to entertain the populace, but there are few of them who do not have ample time for recreation, and they cannot be blamed for availing themselves of all such opportunities.
The case of Agnes Vernon, the young leading lady who has been playing some of the most important roles in Bluebird and Universal productions of late, is a good example of just about how the average photoplayer’s time is divided. Two-sixths of this young star’s time is devoted to work, one-sixth of this being in the studio and the other one-sixth being in her own home where she joyously does most of her own housework. In this regard it might be divulged that she considers the studio and her kitchen as her two paradises on earth. Just as she is an enthusiastic and successful actress, she is equally as enthusiastic and successful a little cook.
Three-sixths or one-half of her time is devoted to smiling, but, of course, as one of the accompanying pictures will show, a part of this smiling remains with her as she works in her garden. The other one-sixth of her time is given up to sleeping. Summarizing it all, it is to be noted that there is just about the proper proportion of everything in her everyday existence. And this may be said of her thousands of associates in the photoplay art.
In a big city like Universal City, where hundreds of men, women and children are employed daily in the making of moving pictures, an actress must be either beautiful, talented, fearless, wear magnificent creations, “screen well,” be possessed of an amiable disposition, ride wonderfully, or must possess any one of a hundred accomplishments which attract the attention not only of the average movie fan, but of the hardened critics and heads of the film world. Such a little girl is beautiful Agnes Vernon.
When Carl Laemmle, president of the Big U organization, conceived the idea that Hobart Henley with his fine stage presence and talents, would do even greater and bigger things in the west, he had also in mind a little leading lady who would be an ideal partner for the handsome Hobart.
After some deliberation it was finally decided by the Universal heads that Miss Vernon would, in the future, play opposite Mr. Henley, and there is no happier child than pretty Agnes in Universal City.
This golden-haired, blue-eyed little girl was born in Oregon, December 27, 1896, making her just nineteen years old. She was educated in a private school, after which she and her mother moved to California. Agnes always had a hankering for the stage, but her prim mother would not hear of it. However, one day a little over a year ago, mother and Agnes visited the Universal studios, then located in Hollywood, and when they saw the happy, outdoor life of the actors of the movies, consent was readily given. Miss Vernon then received her first part from Murdoch MacQuarrie, and although she had had no experience whatever, she soon learned the rudiments of acting before the camera, and before long Mr. MacQuarrie gave her some leading roles to play. That she was successful is a foregone conclusion as those who have seen her work in “When It’s One of Your Own,” “The Fear Within,” “Where Brains Are Needed” and other productions in which she has been featured during the past year.
“Of course I do not want to create the impression I am so extremely busy that I only get four hours sleep out of every twenty-four,” Miss Vernon says. “My division of the day into six parts takes into consideration only the wakeful hours. From my earliest childhood I have endeavored to keep smiling at least one-half of my time. I truly detest a somber face when there is no excuse for it. One little smile contributes more to the wholesome work of spreading cheer to our fellows than most any other potential influence I know of, and therefore I am not only an exponent of the art of smiling but I respectfully exhort all to become addicted to such pleasantry. This glorious spectacular affair we call life is just as replete with inspiration to make merry as it is beset with woes. I consider it a strictly fifty-fifty proposition, and all a human being needs to do is to strive incessantly to dodge the dark half of it and to persist in projecting oneself into the realm where perpetual sunshine rules supremely.
“I think I am within bounds of propriety when I assert that there are too many moving picture actresses who take themselves seriously to excess, and they fail many times to smile when every incentive provided by the part they are playing requires them to smile. I think through the medium of the screen is provided a most effectual means of spreading the doctrine of smiling at life’s vicissitudes. Therefore it is constantly my concern to be able to look pleasant as much as possible in every role I play giving me the slightest opportunity. Moreover, outside of one’s work there is unlimited chance for maintaining a cheer infusing countenance, and every person owes it to exalted causes of the general weal to contribute gratuitously a lion’s share to the good work of betraying a sunny disposition.
“When it comes to work, I figure that one-third of one’s wakeful time is enough to devote to such strenuosity, because the old saying about ‘too much work makes a dull boy of Jack’ is truly applicable, and its warning should be heeded.”
Miss Vernon has a curious combination of ambitions. First of all, she wants to be one of the foremost of moving picture stars. Secondly, she aspires to be an expert horticulturalist and she devotes a great deal of her leisure time to the cultivation and study of flowers and of the vegetable kingdom in general. Thirdly, she is just as eager to accomplish extraordinary things in the cuisine art, and she says she will never be satisfied until she can vie creditably with the best chefs of the world. Another one of her ambitions is to tour the world in an automobile. She owns and drives her own car — always smiling. Still another one of her ambitions is to achieve fame as a champion pedestrian. She can walk ten miles at a lively pace without showing the slightest signs of fatigue, and, she has walked twenty and thirty miles at a clip just for the fun of it. Few actresses can boast such a variety of aspirations.
“Variety gives zest to life, and I am always willing and anxious to learn any new useful and wholesome pastimes,” she says. “The only fun about cards, for instance, is to be aide to play many different kinds of games with them. It would soon become tiresome if one played a single game continuously. I think card playing loses its fascination unless you change games frequently. The same idea holds true in the case of dancing according to my opinion. The fun in dancing is having the ability to do an extensive variety of steps. The most charming style of dancing would become boresome if you kept incessantly at it to the exclusion of other styles.” As is unmistakably evident, Miss Vernon is a girl of the “so different” variety. She is indeed quite interesting, and it seems perfectly safe to predict a worth-while future for her in pictures, because she has the right spirit about life in general, and this after all is the indispensable quality that without obtaining the proper artistry to interpret characters in make-believe.
She is certainly making friends rapidly with the photoplay fans of this glorious America of ours, and when the great European War is terminated and the unfortunate peoples of the belligerent nations have time to regale themselves in the diversion afforded by the screen, they should be given plenty of the features in which Miss Vernon proves so delightful to help forget the monumental troubles war lords have heaped upon them with so much reckless abandon and lack of consideration.
There is one more interesting phase of Miss Vernon’s life worthy of mention. This is her inclination towards practical charity. She will forsake any pastime or work to go to the aid of an unfortunate. She often gives away the most of her salary to alleviate the sufferings of the needy. She smiles most radiantly when engaged in this laudable occupation. She extends her efforts in promoting the humanity of mankind by mingling with all the aspirants for photoplay fame she can meet around the studio. Her set purpose is to seek out the deluded ones who are devoid of talent or ability and to set them right.
“It is a shame that so many misled people should continue a futile struggle in a game that holds no possibility of a win for them, and I am constantly trying to save as many of them as I can from the inevitable bitter disappointment by inducing them to forget their fallacious ideas that they can act, and to return to the work they know they can do,” she says. “Occasionally you find one who resents your advice, but nine times out of ten you can convince the hopelessly deficient that they are flirting with woe.”
Miss Vernon thinks there should be some sort of nation-wide association established to carry on systematically the work of disillusioning the hundreds of young men and women who persist in breaking into the movies even after they have been tried out as an “extra” and found sadly wanting.
“I imagine picture producers would welcome such an institution,” she says.
However, as she acknowledges, there are thousands of would-be screen favorites now in the oblivion of the “extra” ranks who would tenaciously hang on just the same. To chase rainbows is just as human as it is to err.
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And she smiles her enthusiasm over motoring
Miss Vernon wants to be a smiling champion pedestrian
But she’s serious about her work
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Here she’s figuring on how to surpass the world’s greatest chefs
The fascination of horticulture keeps her smiling
And now for the Vernon beauty nap
Collection: Photoplay Magazine, April 1917 (The Photo-Play Journal for April, 1917)