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

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

by William A. Johnston

A man with a habit of attempting epigrams once told us “Any business organization is as big as its lawyer and no bigger.”

Maybe he was a lawyer himself trying to boost the profession; but it is possible to read considerable truth into his philosophy. And if that is so, it is also possible to reverse his epigram to good purpose.

We of the picture game know how big the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation is; you know through the medium of some eight odd Motion Picture News pages a few weeks ago and many advertising pages how much bigger it promises to be during the coming year.

And so it follows when we ask “What Kind of a Fellow is Friend?” that this same Friend is “considerable fellow.” For we have been told that he is the legal brains of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation.

Just now Arthur S. Friend bears the official title of “Treasurer of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation”. Before the formation of that organization he was secretary and general counsel of the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. He is also at the present moment a member of the august Board of Directors that decides the destinies of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation.

But with all his importance we’ll wager that there are few exhibitors who know the name of Friend, and many of the supposedly “wise” film men who do not realize how big a figure he really is in the industry.

For Arthur S. Friend doesn’t delight in seeing his name spread all over the tradepaper columns. You never read his name unless it is a real news story about some National Association activity, some move to co-operate with Government agencies, or the organization of a fight to combat a particular piece of dangerous legislation.

And then you read what a reporter said — not what the press agent babbled. Speaking of Mr. Friend’s activities in the National Association reminds us that he is also a member of that body’s Board of Directors. If we learn of any other jobs of the kind, we think we’ll christen him “Board of Directors’ Friend.”

He is chairman of a committee appointed by the National Association to co-operate with Herbert Hoover of the Food Administration. And you may be sure that the Food Administration Committee has not fallen into the comatose state so popular with committees. To the contrary, Mr. Friend has co-operated in the making and handling of a number of films to serve the purpose of food conservation, and has given so much time to this work that at times he commutes between New York and Washington. The same city that gave John R. Freuler to the picture business also claims credit for Arthur S. Friend. He was born in Milwaukee and attended East Division High School in that city, afterward attending Harvard and Harvard Law School.

But the hand of fate seemed pointed toward the theatrical world. For on his return to Milwaukee, Mr. Friend took a keen interest in theatrical affairs, and was actively engaged in the management of the Pabst and Shubert theatres.

Then New York called. And though it called on legal matters, Mr. Friend continued his interest in the theatre. As a result of friendships formed then when Jesse L. Lasky turned from the vaudeville field to pictures, Arthur S. Friend took an active part in the formation of the Lasky Feature Play Company.

And by the way, does film history record any other company that jumped overnight from an idea — with a more than modest bankroll — into a full-fledged film-producing factor as did the Lasky Company?

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

Collection: Motion Picture News, 13 July 1918