What Kind of a Fellow Is — Earle? (1918) 🇺🇸

Being a glance at the real human side of the big men of the picture game caught in action

by William A. Johnston

What chance have we got to add anything to your general fund of information regarding Edward Earle in the slender confines of this page? It can’t be done. Didn’t a two hundred or so of you hire a banquet hall at the Hotel McAlpin only a few months ago just because you already knew what kind of a fellow Edward Earle is?

And didn’t the fact of your gathering there on that occasion prove that you already know that — in the language of the club — Edward Earle is a regular fellow?

What more can we say?

What can we say that will compare with the words that came from the speakers’ table that night, or with the hearty appraisals of this fellow Earle that we heard from the tables all around the room?

We repeat — it can’t be done.

And besides — speaking of comparisons — what chance have we to shine in rivalry with the wit of Toastmaster Landon on that occasion?

Come to think of it, perhaps we should have induced G. Warren Landon to write this page this week.

Then we might have escaped with some of the tattered shreds of our own reception.

But for the benefit of those who were not present on the occasion of the industry’s tribute to Brother Earle, and of those who did not hear the echoes — their ears must be bad — we will tackle our subject.

Edward Earle (Executive), in the first place, is not the Vitagraph actor [Edward Earle]. Let us make this plain at the outset for the benefit of the stray fans who may chance upon this copy of Motion Picture News in the months to come.

The Edward Earle of our sketch directs the destinies of the Nicholas Power Company.

The rest of you know this, of course, and as for the fans, why we like to boast here in the office that ‘twere easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a fan to get on our subscription list. To go on! Edward Earle is, to our knowledge, the first and only banker to be lured bodily into the motion picture business.

Some other bankers may have seen their bankrolls lured into the business; a few may even have received in return the favor of meeting one of the stars whose salaries were biting chunks into the aforesaid bankroll.

But Edward Earle is not that kind of a banker. He chose an institution of the motion picture business as solid as any bank, and he went at it heart and soul — he’s a real working executive.

To go on still further: Edward Earle is the first and only banker, again to our knowledge only, who meets you with an all-wool, true blue smile.

We may be prejudiced; perhaps that is our personal angle on bankers.

But at any rate, Edward Earle is human and likeable at the very first glance.

He meets you with a real smile and he greets you with a real handshake.

Then he talks to you like a regular fellow — with nary a touch of posing.

He gives you the feeling that the same qualities of solidity which made him a banker are being put into his present job of handling a projection machine company.

And the same qualities that make you like him and make us say these things about him must run deep, because we know of no executive whose associates are more loyal.

So, if you would know more in answer to the query, “What Kind of a Fellow is — Earle?” we can refer you to:

• Will C. Smith.
• S. Snowden Cassard.
• G. Warren Landon.

Or, you might write to Panama and hear it in Spanish from — A. J. Lang.

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Illustration by: Harry Palmer (Harry Samuel Palmer) (1882–1955)

Collection: Motion Picture News, 27 July 1918