Under the Magnifying Glass — Man To Man: Lee Moran (1922) 🇺🇸
Personally — and I know many, many others think the same — that Lee Moran is a comedian of unusual merit.
by The Man behind ‘Close-Up’
The present is a day of life; people crave the unusual. Lee Moran is all of that and then some. He has always appealed to the motion picture fans as a comedian of real laughter — not mere giggles. There are on the screen today many would-be laugh makers. But do they make the seats rattle and the house shake with laughter? No, most loudly No! Why? Simply because this young mirthmaker has a different humor about him; there is no copy of him in the film world today. Again why? Because it would be impossible to truly imitate him. The others are easier and there are duplicates of every wellknown comedian. But none of Lee Moran.
Possibly this idea of mine has never occurred to you. It didn’t to me until I saw one of his late comedies at the Superba theater. There the audience started to laugh with the opening, and it continued to laugh until the subtitle The End was flashed upon the screen. I might add without exaggeration that two or three more reels might have proved disastrous to most of the patrons. Not only was this one comedy, of which I speak, but all of his have been received thus, and with great applause over the entire country (including Watts, Hollywood and National City).
Now back to Lee Moran as a man; One does not find his pictures filled with close-ups of himself. But one does find good shots with actors of no mean ability. Moran is versatile to his finger tips, and when watching him construct a comedy plot in the studio you will find that he is the possessor of a keen, wide-awake brain, which produces some of the cleverest situations ever seen on the silver sheet.
Lee Moran’s comedies are not of the stereotyped variety, but he — alone, I am sure — has taken the good advice of his customers, the exhibitors in the United States, and produced the type of mirthquakes which truly in every sense of the word rock the house!
Some day we are sure we will see in the Hall of Fame this: “Lee Moran — A True Comedian of Merit.”
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Some Party
Roy Del Ruth, youthful director of Mack Sennett comedies, celebrated his twenty-sixth birthday (yesterday) last Wednesday with an “old times” party at his Hollywood home. Among the guests were several members of the Sennett staff.
Checkers, parcheese and Virginia reel were the diversions of the evening, put on with true Mack Sennett comedy embellishments. An added feature was the rendition of that popular ballad, Silver Threads Among the Gold, by Johnnie Grey [John Grey], Sennett scenario editor. This feature “closed the show.” It hadn’t been so intended, but the host and the singer found themselves alone after the last bar of the ballad had been sung.
Yes, Mr. Grey is recognized as one of Hollywood’s best scenario editors.
When a man drinks now, he doesn’t see snakes, but usually the undertaker.
Allen Holubar is right again.
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Shirley Mason has her ideas.
One man said that a mouse was the cause of the dresses going up. Viola Dana says it could be possible.
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Bull Montana is finishing “Glad Rags.” Might call this “Happy Clothes.”
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Emory Johnson has finished editing “The Third Alarm.” This ought to be a charm.
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A Hint to the Wise
That is truly what this article is — a hint to the wise. In speaking of the Queen Apartments one must do so with high reverence. George Sullivan, the manager and landlord, is one that renters hold the greatest esteem for as King Pin.
Never has there been such a landlord! That is why this story is written. He is far from being the type which is daily drawn before you by cartoonists of merit and meaning. George Sullivan is quite the opposite from the average landlord.
He is the chap who handles a real string of fighters, such as Steve Biss, Leo Matlock, etc. As a side line he and his charming wife manage the Queen Apartments. But their management is not like that of a side line.
The name Queen is well chosen. Everything has the quality of a queen, and Mrs. Sullivan, with the assistance of her young son, reigns with homelike atmosphere, while George is taking his fistic chaps around the automatic elevator as a training stunt.
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Psychology is much too big a word for the tiny mouth of Ethelyn Irving, aged 7, who is playing the role of “Peaches,” a crippled child, in Gene Stratton Porter’s picture adaptation of her novel, “Michael O’Halloran.” The child proved her knowledge of the science, however, on the first day she worked in a scene of the play now in production at the Thomas H. Ince Studio.
“Men are coming to take you to an Orphans’ Home,” explained Leo Meehan [James Leo Meehan], the director. “Now let’s see you cry!”
The child looked at him a moment thoughtfully.
“But wouldn’t I be too scared to cry?” she protested.
“You’re right!” answered Meehan, and Ethelyn went through her scene triumphantly, looking “too scared to cry.”
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Lige Conley went into Harris and Frank to change some underwear the other day. Now read that again — but it’s not what you think.
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Louis Gasnier is preparing “The Hero.” This must be about Jack Donovan or Valentino [Louis J. Gasnier | Rudolph Valentino].
Collection: Close Up Magazine, October 1922
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Collection: Close Up Magazine, October 1922