William V. Mong — No Time Off For Mong (1924) 🇺🇸
That middle initial of William V. Mong’s name must indeed stand for versatility. For in his sixteen years upon the screen he has played hundreds of characters, ranging from heroes to villains of deepest dye, all nationalities.
This season, with the growing popularity of the character actor, he has come into his belated own. Scarcely an actor in Hollywood has been kept busier and many times he has had to double up on productions.
“I want to play ordinary old fellows, in situations that strike the heart,” he says. “I like to see the cranky old codger bellowing at his pretty grandchild when you know all the time he worships her; I want the hero to win the girl and the grandfather to grumble over it.”
“The Clay Baker, in which Mong starred for five years upon the stage, is still a favorite topic for reminiscence among the old-timers of the boards. Mong also acted in it for the screen nearly sixteen years ago; it was the second two-reel picture made by Colonel Selig [Nicholas Selig]. He loves to talk of those days, when he organized the first scenario department — with the aid of a second-hand desk, two pencils and a pen — acted several parts in each short film and doubled as handy man around the lot.
“We weren’t allowed to see the rushes then, except when something was wrong, in which case the buzzer would call us in,” he mused, among the hurdy-gurdies and old clothes shops for “Rose of the Ghetto” scenes. “One day by accident I achieved the close-up that Griffith [D. W. Griffith] later immortalized. I had been turning the crank on another actor’s work and, when the buzzer summoned me to the projection room, found the colonel quite irate because I had somehow cut off the fellow’s legs, only the upper half of his body, magnified, showing on the screen. I meekly promised not to make such a mistake again and the film of the first close-up was thrown away.”
During the years in which he combined acting and writing, many stories came from Mong’s pen. But no more, he says.
“Each man should stick to his craft. Let us try to do one thing well — there are plenty of workmen for each job.”
A courtly gentleman of the older stage-school, Mr. Mong. He is well read along many lines quite foreign to his work, and is very proud of his ranch and his pedigreed pigs that have won many medals at county fairs.
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Photo by: Walter Fredrick Seely (1886–1959)
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Collection: Picture Play Magazine, July 1924