Robert Warwick — Sans Grease Paint and Wig (1914) 🇺🇸
He was on time to the minute of eleven o’clock, though J. Wilk, at five minutes before the hour, had apologized for his non-arrival. And then he came; tall, smiling, dark-haired and dark-eyed. And one know that with Robert Warwick as “The Man of the Hour,” that film would have to be a success.
by Mabel Condon
“You can have my office,” offered M. E. Hoffman and led the way through a room where Lewis J. Selznick, president of the World Film Corporation held a conference with several men seated about an oval table.
“Good morning,” Mr. Selznick stopped conferring long enough to say. And “Good morning,” we in Mr. Hoffman’s wake returned. Then we came to the latter’s office and with a sweep of his hand, Mr. Hoffman accorded us the big swivel chair in front of his desk.
“But Mr. Warwick would fit it so much better,” I deprecated.
“But no!” The tall Mr. Warwick gallantly and untruthfully declined. So I lost myself in a corner of the chair and he of the tallness, and darkness, and the perfect grooming, and the polished walking stick settled onto a small chair and smiled; then he waited, I smiled; also, I waited.
“Of course.” I began, feeling responsible for the wait, “it’s about pictures.”
“Of course,” agreed Mr. Warwick, with an emphatic nod of his head and a shifting of the polished stick.
“But first,” I went on, “am I or am I not pronouncing your name correctly, it is ‘Warick,’ isn’t it?” “Yes, that’s how. But I’m generally given the benefit of that second ‘w’.”
“And now, pictures please, Mr. Warwick,” I requested from the corner of the swivel, and Mr. Warwick told me, like this:
“It was through William Brady, of course, when he made this big arrangement with the World Film Corporation to have his plays filmed and released by them. And I’ve worked all summer in the two plays ‘The Dollar Mark’ and ‘The Man of the Hour’— By George! that reminds me that they’re going to run that picture sometime today and I haven’t seen a foot of it!”
“Come in at two then, Warwick, and you’ll see it,” invited Mr. Hoffman as he hurried in, hurried through some papers on his desk and started to hurry out.
“But” Mr. Warwick restrained him, “I can’t come at two. I have a tennis engagement at Van Courtland — and I’d hate to disappoint the chap.”
“Wait a minute,” there was a promise of something in Mr. Hoffman’s voice as he accomplished his hurried exit.
“I expect this picture will be better than The Dollar Mark,” Mr. Warwick said. “But,” he added, “for a flyer in motion pictures, The Dollar Mark gave me all the sensations that a score of others might have done. My initiation was a violent one; it meant going down a steep incline by means of a rope and overturning a raft on myself and Miss Tennant and then having to right the raft and save both of us — and you know,” he commented, “for a person who isn’t used to that reality stuff, it must have been a startler.”
“Certainly,” I agreed and he continued.
“But I thought if others could do that sort of thing and live I could too, so I proved it.”
“In fifteen minutes,” came the voice of Mr. Hoffman from the doorway, “you can see The Man of the Hour.”
“Fine!” thanked Mr. Warwick, and the head that had been in the doorway was there no longer.
“Director Tourneur [Maurice Tourneur],” resumed Mr. Warwick, but with a fresh thought, “I think must be a very efficient man. His first direction to me was, ‘be natural; put yourself in the place of the man you impersonate and do exactly as you think you’d do under the same conditions.’ And it seems to me,” added Mr. Warwick “that that should be the basic rule in the art of the silent drama.
“I believe too,” he went on, “that the object should be to project thought, in making a meaning clear instead of gesticulating. These are simple methods, but simplicity always scores strongest,” he concluded in summing up his ideas of the qualities that go toward making perfect work before the camera.
“But of course, I’m new to it,” Mr. Warwick allowed, “But I think my introduction to the camera by means of a perilous descent into a miners’ camp, gives me the right to make these two comments. The out-of-door work is what would appeal most to me. And coming after my long season with Frances Starr in The Secret it was most welcome. But just as a change,” he added, “for I couldn’t help but feel the loss of something, it’s hard to explain what, that a person from the legitimate stage misses in the silent drama. It’s a kind of sixth sense, something psychological — I don’t know just how to explain it, but I can feel it. So my next work will be on the stage; on the road for a while with The Secret and then back into New York and open in a new play about Christmas time.
“When I left Sacramento, Cal. when I was eighteen, and Sacramento was where I was born,” Mr. Warwick told me, “my intention was to become an opera singer. So I went to Paris and studied for two years. Geraldine Farrar was one of the people I knew there and there were others, who are all big successes now on the operatic stage. Then I decided my voice wasn’t meant for opera, so came to New York and tried for work on the stage. My debut was as extra man in Wilton Lackaye’s The Pit. And ever since then I’ve been busy. That was ten years ago. Sometimes,” he smiled, “I’m sorry I didn’t keep on good terms with my voice. But one thing I never regretted,” and he laughed at the recollection, “and that was my boxing instruction received from James J. Corbett. He taught me when he had to sit on a chair to be even with me.”
“And tennis?” I asked, deserting the swivel as I heard Mr. Hoffman’s voice and guessed that the fifteen minutes had passed.
“Play it every possible chance,” answered Mr. Warwick, also rising. And then we went into the projection room and whispered comments on the perfectly enjoyable film, The Man of the Hour — with Mr. Warwick making a splendid “Man.”
—
Horsley Enters General Film
David Horsley has been taken into the licensed fold, and, for the first time in the history of that powerful organization, a new brand of film has been added to the regular program of the General Film Company.
Ever since the formation of the Motion Picture Patents Company in 1908, efforts have been made by the powers of the film world, both in and out of the company, to add to the list of licensed manufacturers, but in spite of the great pressure that has so frequently been brought to bear, the original ten manufacturers held the lineup unchanged until the present year. Quite recently Pathé Frères severed its relations with the General Film Company and it is in effect to fill this void that another manufacturer has been taken in.
The fact that David Horsley has been chosen for this honor which has been sought by almost every manufacturer in the motion picture industry is a distinct and signal tribute to his genius.
His struggle from a meagre beginning, his steady advance through the successive trying conditions of the fast growing industry and final triumph as the possessor the largest commercial plant in America and admission to the General Film program of his productions, makes him loom up as a real marvel in a line of endeavor, the records of which, in their inconceivably rapid development, are replete with signal achievements and remarkable men.
For the present Mr. Horsley will release three one-reel comedies a week. These comedies will be known under the new brand name of “Ace” and will probably be procurable from the various offices of the General Film Company about the middle of October, although no definite date has yet been set.
The productions will, for the next three months, be made in the Centaur studios at Bayonne. Later, as the winter sets in, two companies will be sent to California, probably near Los Angeles, where Mr. Horsley is considering the erection of a new studio. At least two companies will, in any event, continue to work in the Bayonne studios all winter.
O. W. Biarmer, who was Mr. Horsley’s valuable aide in his negotiations with the General Film Company, has been rewarded by an appointment as general sales manager of the Centaur Film Company.
Milton H. Fahrney continues as director-in-chief. Mr. Fahrney’s comedies are said to be the finest works that this consistent and long experienced director has ever staged.
Tommie Mullens is directing a new style of slapstick comedy of high promise. Two other directors of special selection of a demonstrated ability to produce laugh-makers — one for cartoon and the other for “polite” comedies — are hard at work and their names are being withheld from publication to aid Mr. Horsley in springing a surprise when the releases are made.
The acting forces include some really great performers, such as Mlle. Valkyrien, the Danish star who is rated as one of the most popular actresses of all Europe. Nettie Noges is another star of international repute, she having occupied a position in Russia, comparable to Mary Pickford or Blanche Sweet in this country. Elaine Ivans heads the native contingent, and in this remarkably beautiful and talented young miss — she has just turned eighteen — Mr. Horsley expects to develop an American favorite who will outrank the winner of present day popularity contests. Harry La Pearl, many years producing clown of the Barnum & Bailey and Ringling circuses and recognized as the greatest American pantomimist and ten other leading clowns are under contract.
Chester Beecroft, advertising and publicity manager of the Motion Picture Patents Company, and who until recently occupied the same position with the General Film Company, is also associated with Mr. Horsley in a general capacity of broad scope. Big things are expected of the Ace comedies, and their appearance on the General Film program will be watched with eager interest.
Siegmund Lubin Gives Optimistic Views
That the present state of affairs in Europe is not bothering the established manufacturers is the opinion of Siegmund Lubin. “It is rather hard to give an intelligent forecast of the coming few months in the moving picture or any other amusement business,” he said in a recent interview. “This senseless war has toppled all arts and industries throughout the world up-side down, but we are not indulging in a pessimistic viewpoint, neither are we relaxing our efforts to continually achieve greater things- On the contrary, we are working the cameras full time and spending more money than ever in securing great scripts and talented players. This will readily be seen from the ads of our productions to be released in the near future.
“Money would have to be tight indeed if it interfered with the very enjoyable and cheap recreation that the picture house affords to distract the more serious thoughts of the present unfortunate condition of the civilized world. Here peace is giving up happiness and we can enjoy our labor without let or hindrance. Still in this cosmopolitan country there are many heart-strings pulling at the thought of misery now prevailing among dear ones in the mother lands. However, the camera is dispensing more happiness than guns and will be an institution when the Krupp is silenced and the ships of the nations are free to dance over the waters again to foreign lands.”
Collection: Motography Magazine, October 1914