Justine Johnstone — In Spite of Her Beauty (1921) 🇺🇸

March 30, 2023

Justine Johnstone, the very newest Realart star, is the sort of girl who wouldn't put powder on her nose or have her hair marcelled if her husband didn't approve of it.

by Harriette Underhill

Walter Wanger is the sort of man who could say: "Don't have your hair waved. You look prettier with it plain," or "Don't put powder on your face — I don't like it," and have his wife flattered to death because he noticed whether her hair was plain or undulated and whether her nose was natural or dull finished. And, as Justine Johnstone is Walter Wanger's wife, it looks to us like one of those very rare matches which are made in heaven.

When it was reported, more than a year ago. that Justine Johnstone was going on the screen every one seemed a bit skeptical. There are times when perfect beauty is a handicap rather than otherwise, for people are likely to think that when a woman has that God-given thing it will see her through any crisis in life without the slightest effort on her part. However, Miss Johnstone does seem to have been singularly successful in everything she ever undertook. In the first place she was an infant prodigy in kindergarten and then she graduated from high school when she was only fourteen years old. Miss Johnstone was born in this country in the city which is famous for its beans and its broad "a" — Boston, but she is of Scandinavian descent and perhaps that is where she gets her spun-gold hair and her peaches-and-cream complexion and her forget-me-not eyes.

When Charles Hanson Towne saw Miss Johnstone he wrote the following lines:

When God made you

He took the sunlight and dew,

Star dust and dreams,

Moonlight and mist,

Roses morn-kissed.

That does describe Justine, although to us it is strangely reminiscent of the little verse we used to say as a child ending, "Sugar and spice and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of."

But we left our heroine back a paragraph or so graduating from high school. After that she was sent immediately to a finishing school — charm schools the}- call them now — to learn all of the things that a young lady must know before she can make her debut. But little Justine had other plans; she wanted to be an actress, and so she came to New York and almost immediately she did make her debut, though not as her parents had intended. It was in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1915. She was one of the sensations of the season, and she was featured in the Follies for two years. But all the talk was of her beauty. It seemed to be because of her beauty, too, that a theater was named for her and then a popular club on Forty-fourth Street. Miss Johnstone was the club's hostess and had her name out in electric lights and everything. From there she went to the musical comedy stage, but no one ever asked Justine Johnstone to act. She is the sort of person to whom you would be inclined to say: "Don't act. Just stand still so I can look at you." Miss Johnstone realized this, and, with a determination worthy of a plainer woman, she resolutely left New York and went to work in a stock company in Waterbury, Connecticut. It was after nearly a year of this hard work that Miss Johnstone became a star in the Realart Company. She has made only two pictures so far — "Blackbirds," a crook story, and "The Plaything of Broadway."

Mr. Wanger is extremely anxious — pugnaciously so we might say — to have no one believe that he and his wife get anything without working hard for it. So instead of beginning at the beginning and thus having our construction and continuity beyond reproach we shall plunge right in and get it off our mind. Mr. Wanger hasn't a cent of money invested in the Famous Players. He is only the general-production manager, with twenty-six companies working under him.

"I haven't any money to put in it," he said emphatically, "and if I didn't make good I'd be fired to-morrow, same as any one else. Then I'd be out of a job." This was in answer to our timid query: "You are starring your wife, aren't you?"

And immediately we learned that he had nothing to do with starring his wife.

"She was selected by a jury of twelve persons, and I was not one of them," he added.

So now that we have chronicled that fact we may begin at the beginning. The beginning was nearly four years ago when we met Mr. Wanger just as he was about to go across with La Guardia's flying corps. It isn't necessary to tell about how handsome Miss Johnstone is. because those who haven't had the pleasure of seeing her in person will soon have the chance to view her loveliness on the screen. But no one ever has seen Mr. Wanger on the screen, and as they never will we must put in how he looks, because he is Miss Johnstone's leading man for life. He is twenty-five years old and dark and so good looking that when we saw him in his aviator's costume we thought he was the handsomest man we ever had seen.

Although we had known Mr. Wanger for so long we never had met his wife until the day that he took us both to luncheon at the St. Regis. Even before we had ordered our grapefruit, Mr. Wanger began to discuss pictures and stars and directors with us, for no matter how often we are warned not to "talk shop" we never get far away from the subject which interests us most. Miss Johnstone is very gentle and sweet, and she just smiled as her husband talked.

"You're not giving me a chance to say a word," she said at last, "and I've got lots of things I want to say, too. You know the last time I was interviewed, the man said to me: 'Miss Johnstone, what do you consider the most important thing in pictures?' 'My husband,' I answered without stopping to think. And Mr. Wanger said: 'That wasn't the right answer.'"

"Well," we said, "it probably wasn't the answer the interviewer expected, but it was the right answer." And Mr. Wanger didn't look very much displeased.

"I really don't believe you realize what a very hard-working man my husband is. Why they don't engage a star or a director nor any one without consulting him."

Miss Johnstone looked so happy and proud when she said this that we hated to stop her. but we had to make her talk about herself else how could we write it. She is a perfectly natural beauty without artificial aid of any sort, and that is so rare in this age when even the lily is painted. Elegant is the adjective which we should choose to describe Miss Johnstone. She is so quiet and simple in her dress and manner and so very young. To see her you never would dream that she could be Justine Johnstone, the professional beauty of the Ziegfeld Follies, a popular hostess, and owner of a theater. The "Nora Bayes" was originally named for Miss Johnstone, and the "Little Club" was Justine Johnstone's club. Miss Johnstone smiled when we told her this.

"I started in young,” she said. "You know I was only fourteen when I made a picture with Marguerite Clark, and I was cast for the vampire part. I don't believe I even knew what it was all about."

"My wife was president of the dramatic society when she was in finishing school, and I think she had an idea that she would make her debut as Portia or Ophelia or Juliet, and instead of that Flo Ziegfeld saw her and persuaded her to go in the Follies. That was the first time I ever saw her, and she was dressed in an American flag. Miss Columbia they called her."

"Yes, and he came to me and told me I ought to be on the dramatic stage and offered me a part in his company. He was then twenty years old, and I didn't have much faith in him."

"And I thought her a foolish and misguided young woman not to prefer my direction to any other."

''Then it was not love at first sight?" we said.

"I should say not! Mr. Wanger finally decided not to save me from rny musical-comedy career, and I went from the Follies into Watch Your Step. Then followed Oh, Boy, Stop, Look, and Listen, Betty, and Over the Top. Last year I met with a change of heart and about the time that I married Mr. Wanger I decided that I would go back to my first love — the dramatic stage. I think there is nothing like stock work to build a sound foundation, so when I got a chance to play leads with the Poli Stock Company in Waterbury. Connecticut, I accepted it gratefully. It is hard work, hut wonderful training. You know I've made only two pictures — 'Blackbirds,' and 'The Plaything of Broadway.'"

"It's funny we didn't see Blackbirds," we said, "how was that?"

"No, it isn't funny. I'm so new at the game that I didn't want to be foisted on the public with a splurge. I wanted to be sort of eased in and let them get used to me gradually. My next picture. The Plaything of Broadway will be shown at one of the big theaters, I think."

"Is Miss Johnstone very good on the screen?" We put this question to Mr. Wanger, for he is such an honest young person that we knew he would tell us even if the verdict wasn't favorable. But he was most enthusiastic over his wife's work. In fact he didn't hesitate to say that he thought she was going to be extremely popular. "She is so beautiful," we said enviously.

"Oh, it isn't her beauty,” he retorted scornfully, with a man's ignoring of a woman's greatest asset. "Lots of people screen just as well as she does. But she works with her heart and her brain."

"Thank you. Walter," said Justine sweetly, "for believing that I have both. That is one of the nicest things you have ever said to me."