Leona Hutton (1915) 🇺🇸

If you had come west from Kansas City, Mo., after being in an automobile accident in which you lost your voice and could not work on the real stage any more, and had been lucky in securing a position with a well-known moving picture concern, and had done well in your first picture, and in the last scene been blown through a door by an overcharge of powder and confined to bed for some time, you might have tried to remember whether you had walked under a ladder, failed to throw a horseshoe over your left shoulder, or Friday the 13th may have been your day of misfortune.

Well, that was Miss Leona Hutton’s reason for trying pictures, and her debut in the screen world was attended with thrills galore. At Inceville, Jay Hunt was directing The Crimson Stain, in which Miss Sutton was the mulatto girl, and one of the scenes carries an explosion, in which a door is blown out. Miss Hutton had to be in front of the door, and when the over-charge of powder went off, she was thrown to the ground and badly bruised. Since the first picture everything has been fine and she would not leave the films for anything.

This popular leading woman, who has appeared in many Kay Bee, Broncho, and Domino releases of the N. Y. Motion Picture Co., lives at the Beach near the studio and has two machines for use between the studio in the canyon and her home in Santa Monica. She is a Missourian, having been born in Kansas City in April in a year that is not so very very far back. (These women, even if they don’t vote, won’t tell their ages), and first appeared on the stage in 1908 in Shenandoah. She has been seen in her home town in stock and musical comedy for some time. A season with Kolb [Clarence Kolb] and Dill [Max Dill] added to her versatility, and a tour in the middle west in stock gave her another bit of dramatic experience.

In Kansas City, Miss Hutton was in an automobile accident, the resulting injury robbing her of a fine voice, and it was then, 1912, that the call of the screen was heard and promptly answered, the canyon studio being her first point, and ever since she has been seen in these brands of films.

Miss Hutton is a lover of outdoor sports, having two motor cars, a California bungalow, and a desire to tour and tour over the beautiful southland. She swims and is an exponent of many of the athletic games, besides being an excellent horsewoman and driver of an automobile. Some of her best pictures were The Pitfall, The Woman, Thieves, and many others under the New York releases. Although she plays emotional leading parts, she is a regular comedian off the screen and can make you laugh in spite of yourself by her bright and witty sayings. She is a well-liked player and has a host of friends and admirers here as well as throughout the country where her pictures are released.

On the High Seas is a coming release, made by Richard Stanton, in which Miss Hutton and Stanton, the heavy, have a fight on the deck of a steamer. The fight becomes so real that passengers not knowing the pictures are being made, rush to the assistance of the pretty traveler, thinking that the heavy is trying to kill her. At that, she is nearly forced overboard, the fight progressing near the ship’s rail. The whole film was made on the high seas, on board a coasting vessel, the Congress, which recently came west to the Pacific. The release is a wonderful one and ought to be well appreciated.

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“Wolves of Society”

Two-reel Rex release, in which an adventuress and her accomplice form the pivot of the action.

Reviewed by Margaret I. MacDonald.

A Frank Lloyd picture, both as to authorship and production, Wolves of Society, interests as a sample of what one man can accomplish in one picture, playing a triple role, that of author, of actor and of director.

It is a difficult matter to accomplish good results in all three at the same time. The combination is not a cushion-lined affair; in fact, if the view “from the outside looking in” gives an accurate idea of the situation, its ways must lead through torturous paths.

Wolves of Society deals with the story of a plot to gain possession of the wealth of an old millionaire. The role of the adventuress, whose clever wiles lure the old man into a marriage with her, is played by Gretchen Lederly, and Hester Leslie appears as the daughter of Millionaire Mayhew. Frank Bennett plays the lover and Frank Lloyd is seen as the accomplice of Paula, the adventuress. The honors of the play, so far as the action is concerned, fall unquestionably to Mr. Robbins [Marc B. Robbins], who plays the role of Millionaire Mayhew. His work is finished and is a truly pleasurable exhibition of the dramatic art.

The story of a former and younger victim of the adventuress has been rather cleverly told by means of double exposure. The story as presented in the picture is not always well connected, and the photographic work is not exactly up to the standard. Nevertheless, the production as a whole will satisfy the average motion picture audience.

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Scene from Wolves of Society (Rex)

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Castle as Setting in New Cunard Picture

Grace Cunard and Francis Ford have given to the world another scenic masterpiece. In The Madcap Queen of Gredshoffen they utilize a magnificent castle as a setting for several scenes. The splendor of this palace enhances the beauty of an unusual play and Miss Cunard, in her gorgeous robes, makes an ideal queen.

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Canadian Troops See German Enemy in Kleine Film

George Kleine’s Toronto office reports the completion of a contract whereby the troops of the Second Contingent, now in training at Military Headquarters Camp, Exhibition Park, Toronto, prior to their departure for the seat of war, saw all the George Kleine attractions, starting with Quo Vadis? on Monday evening, January 18. This will be followed by Antony and Cleopatra, The Last Days of Pompeii, “European Armies in Action,” etc. This last-named picture shows much of German military tactics, including field gun evolutions, artillery practice, infantry manoeuvres, crack German regiments, the fighting Crown Prince, and many of the generals whose names have figured in recent dispatches from the front. Hence the Kleine picture will carry an unusual interest to the troops at Exhibition Park.

These entertainments were arranged by the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, which, after careful consideration, decided in favor of the Kleine attractions as most suitable because of their high moral character.

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Dorothy Gish in “An Old Fashioned Girl”

Dorothy Gish is now rehearsing as the simple country maiden in An Old Fashioned Girl, a quaint, pastoral drama soon to be released in the Mutual program. The part was written for her especially, and the direction of the picture has been assigned to Donald Crisp. Signe Auen, Eleanor Washington and William Hinckley are also in the cast.

Collection: Moving Picture World, January 1915