Elsie Ferguson — Advantages of the Screen Over the Stage (1918) 🇺🇸
Too much enthusiasm is often quite as misleading as too little, yet I can truthfully say that personally I like the so-called “silent” drama very much more than the legitimate stage. This, the point of view of the player, is, of course, only one aspect of the comparison which I hope to make between stage and screen work; yet to me it is naturally the most important, so I will take it up first. One must consider the question, too, from the angle of the director — perhaps most of all — and from the viewpoint of the public.
by Elsie Ferguson
First, I want to clear up a mistaken impression entertained by many — that screen players do not learn their parts, that screen drama is literally the “silent” drama. This is not the fact. Each player learns his lines as carefully as if he were to speak them on the stage, but with the difference that they need be studied only one at a time, or just the words to fit the scene need be learned for the taking of that scene. Personally I find that this gives far greater spontaneity than in stage work, where one of the hardest tasks of a player is to give his words freshness and spontaneity, when he must repeat them over and over daily for months. Also, I always say my lines aloud, giving exactly the emphasis and stress that I would for a stage performance. I understand that this method is not followed by all stars, some of whom merely repeat the words to themselves. Most all of them, however, follow my procedure.
The variety of screen work, its ever-varying fields and the broad scope available for each star, is obvious and need not be touched upon. The screen work that I have enjoyed the most, and to which I have consequently been able to give my best effort, has been in out-of-door scenes such as a stage director could not hope to rival.
The personal side, of course, enters into this equation of mine, and I am sure anyone who has ever tried both stage and screen will agree when I say that the latter is vastly more desirable, and for many reasons. First of all, there is the fact that it is healthier. One is able to keep fairly regular hours, and one’s evenings are free. For example, I am able to live at home most of the time, the infrequent trips coming just often enough to be a real pleasure, not comparable to the wearying travel of a “touring” stage production. I have my luncheon prepared at my home and sent to the studio every day, and so avoid the restaurant food which would be my lot otherwise. This satisfies me and meets Mr. Hoover’s strictest demands as well.
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The weird, appealing beauty of Miss Ferguson in “Rose of the World” holds the casual spectator captivated, and thrills the intelligent as no spoken word could do. Nor is her charm of the baby doll type. One need not know the story of the play to appreciate the “bit” here pictured.
Photo by: Paramount
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Elsie Ferguson’s acting for the screen is like a “Song Without Words”; none are needed. Grace, beauty and sympathy are gifts with which Mother Nature dowered her, but she has achieved full command of all these through conscientious study and a love for hard work. Some of her views on the value of the “silent drama” are given in her article on the opposite page.
Photo by: Victor Georg • Paramount — Posed exclusively for Film Fun
Collection: Film Fun Magazine, May 1918