Virginia Bradford — She Began as a Writer (1928) 🇺🇸

Virginia Bradford came to Hollywood to write about the studios for her home-town paper. But the lure proved too much, and so she stayed on. Writers are supposed to preserve a nice perspective on the subject that they write about, but what does perspective amount to anyway when it comes to a career toward stardom?

Virginia is a DeMille [Cecil B. DeMille] contract player, and if you have seen The Country Doctor, you already know her. She is also in The Wreck of the Hesperus, and Chicago. She played the heroine in the former, and a sympathetic lead, not in the original play, in the latter.

Born in Brownsville, Tennessee, Virginia claims descent from cavalier, Puritan, and gypsy strains — certainly an odd combination. One of her forefathers was Governor William Bradford, of the Pilgrim Colony at Plymouth.

It was a Memphis newspaper that sent her West to write A Girl’s Experiences in Hollywood, choosing her as an unusual type for such an excursion. Her first articles attracted attention, so the rest were syndicated.

In the course of this she became so interested in the movies themselves that she approached L. M. Goodstadt, then casting director for Paramount, and asked him what he thought of her photographic possibilities.

“He was discouraging,” said Virginia. “He told me, ‘We haven’t anything here — I don’t think you’ll get anything anywhere, but if you do, come and tell me about it!’”

Later — much later — for Virginia had become discouraged and gone back to Memphis meanwhile, she obtained a small engagement at Universal, with Janet Gaynor, Fay Wray, and others. They all were lucky in the long run, and all obtained real opportunities at about the same time.

—

Collection: Picture Play Magazine, March 1928