Marguerite Clark — “How I Got In” (1917) 🇺🇸
Famous Players’ dainty little maid
“I was playing Prunella at the Little Theater in New York when Mr. Daniel Frohman asked me if I would consider doing a picture. I had given very little thought to pictures and was so fond of my work on the stage that it took me some time to decide to leave it. Finally I signed a contract with Mr. Zukor [Adolph Zukor], of the Famous Players. When the script of my first photoplay, Wildflower, was put in my hands I was captivated with it at once, and became quite enthusiastic in the interpretation of my part.
“It may seem strange, but I have never felt conscious of the camera while working; but later, while looking at the results of my work, then I get stage-fright.
The finished work always comes so far short of what I had intended it to be, I see so many ways to improve upon it; but there it is before my eyes — mistakes, crudities, imperfections, glaringly apparent.
“It may seem strange, too, that, with my wide range of experience in stage and picture work, I cant tell which I like better; but I cant. In the’first place, the work is so different there is no comparison. On the stage the work is very satisfactory because the part is played straight thru from beginning to end, and there is always the inspiration of the audience which helps one greatly. Photoplays are taken piecemeal — sometimes the last scene first. Unless one is familiar with every part of the play it is like a Chinese puzzle. It is most interesting to see the parts put together and the story brought clearly forth, seemingly from chaos, and to know that it will reach multitudes of people in every country.
“If a boy or a girl have talent, personality, unlimited endurance and enough perseverance, he or she should be given a chance to succeed or to get it out of the system; but I never advise it. The work is very hard and the discouragements and various difficulties that arise make the way to success anything but a bed of roses.
“One great improvement in motion pictures or in the making of them, that lean suggest, is economy — if such a thing is possible. When motion picture managers have learnt their business as well as theatrical managers have learnt theirs, there will be greater efficiency shown in the management of details, both great and small, and the results will be better.
“However, the amount of money spent on many of the so-called ‘spectacles’ — the lavish and unnecessary display — is largely the fault of the public. It is what they demand. The spirit of the age seems to be prodigality, and it is very evident in pictures. I have enough faith in the picture-loving world to believe that the day is coming soon when the majority are going to demand sweet, simple stories of everyday life and living.”
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Collection: Motion Picture Magazine, August 1917
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