Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
May 12, 1931
Las Vegas Age
Las Vegas, Clark County, Lincoln County, Nevada
What is this article about?
Mae Marsh, early film pioneer at 34, returns to play a mother in 'Over the Hill.' Recalls starting in D.W. Griffith's 1914 'Birth of a Nation' at 17, starring in 'Intolerance' in 1916, retiring in 1920 for family. Shares first acting lesson from Griffith on being natural.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
SCREEN LIFE IN HOLLYWOOD
By Hubbard Keay
HOLLYWOOD—The return of Mae Marsh to pictures, to play the mother role in "Over the Hill," brings back into the limelight one of the earliest of the old-time favorites.
Although she is now only 34, Miss Marsh was one of the pioneers of movie trail blazing.
She had one of the principal parts in D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation," filmed in 1914 when she was a youngster of 17 years.
Two years later she was cast in one of the important roles in "Intolerance." During the next four years, until her retirement in 1920, Miss Marsh was starred in many pictures.
Miss Marsh, now Mrs. Lee Arms, tells about her most interesting day in the movies—her first. Her sister, an extra player, took Mae to work with her one day. Griffith saw her and asked her if she ever had done any acting. She replied that she had not, so the director said, "Fine, I'll hire you."
Learns About Love
The company went out on location, Mae with it, to film a two-reel drama.
"Do you know what love is?" Griffith asked young Mae. Sixteen-year-old girls in those days didn't know the answers to questions like that.
Apparently he didn't know what to say when I truthfully answered 'No,' Miss Marsh recalls. "So he said 'Well, it's when you're in love with somebody."
He told me to go over and sit on a fence beside a boy and look at him. Then he told me to imagine looking at the moon. I did that and then he said 'Now kiss him and jump off the fence and run away.'
A Good Lesson
"That was my first lesson in acting and it was a good one. 'D. W.' told me I was very natural—and no wonder, because I didn't know enough to be frightened or even nervous—and that if I would always be natural I might become a great actress.
From that moment on my ambition was to become a star and whenever I got in front of a camera I could hear Mr. Griffith's words: 'Be natural.'"
Miss Marsh left pictures 11 years ago to take care of her family, which now numbers three children.
She expects to play only in one picture because "three growing children are much more important than earning a few dollars."
By Hubbard Keay
HOLLYWOOD—The return of Mae Marsh to pictures, to play the mother role in "Over the Hill," brings back into the limelight one of the earliest of the old-time favorites.
Although she is now only 34, Miss Marsh was one of the pioneers of movie trail blazing.
She had one of the principal parts in D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation," filmed in 1914 when she was a youngster of 17 years.
Two years later she was cast in one of the important roles in "Intolerance." During the next four years, until her retirement in 1920, Miss Marsh was starred in many pictures.
Miss Marsh, now Mrs. Lee Arms, tells about her most interesting day in the movies—her first. Her sister, an extra player, took Mae to work with her one day. Griffith saw her and asked her if she ever had done any acting. She replied that she had not, so the director said, "Fine, I'll hire you."
Learns About Love
The company went out on location, Mae with it, to film a two-reel drama.
"Do you know what love is?" Griffith asked young Mae. Sixteen-year-old girls in those days didn't know the answers to questions like that.
Apparently he didn't know what to say when I truthfully answered 'No,' Miss Marsh recalls. "So he said 'Well, it's when you're in love with somebody."
He told me to go over and sit on a fence beside a boy and look at him. Then he told me to imagine looking at the moon. I did that and then he said 'Now kiss him and jump off the fence and run away.'
A Good Lesson
"That was my first lesson in acting and it was a good one. 'D. W.' told me I was very natural—and no wonder, because I didn't know enough to be frightened or even nervous—and that if I would always be natural I might become a great actress.
From that moment on my ambition was to become a star and whenever I got in front of a camera I could hear Mr. Griffith's words: 'Be natural.'"
Miss Marsh left pictures 11 years ago to take care of her family, which now numbers three children.
She expects to play only in one picture because "three growing children are much more important than earning a few dollars."
What sub-type of article is it?
Biography
Prodigy
What themes does it cover?
Family
Moral Virtue
What keywords are associated?
Mae Marsh
D W Griffith
Early Hollywood
Film Pioneer
Acting Lesson
Birth Of A Nation
Intolerance
What entities or persons were involved?
Mae Marsh
D. W. Griffith
Mrs. Lee Arms
Where did it happen?
Hollywood
Story Details
Key Persons
Mae Marsh
D. W. Griffith
Mrs. Lee Arms
Location
Hollywood
Event Date
1914
Story Details
Mae Marsh recounts her entry into films at 16 via her sister, hired by Griffith for a role teaching her to act naturally by imagining love and the moon, leading to stardom in 'Birth of a Nation' and 'Intolerance' before retiring for family.