Who could've guessed that a fan from 1922 would have proposed the idea of the Razzies? These fan letters appeared in the December 1922 issue of Picture Play magazine.

Suggested: A Hall of Infamy

NOT that I'm grouchy, but – I've got to let off some long-pent-up steam about motion-picture people. It seems to me that there is too much slinging of laurel wreaths and not enough hurling of brickbats at movie people to maintain a healthy condition of continuous improvement in their work. We have lists of the best pictures and the best players, paeans of praise for artistic producers and frequent nominations for the Hall of Movie Fame. All very
well. But wouldn't this praise be more valuable if it were occasionally tempered with a few opposite views? Yet whoever heard of a list of the ten worst pictures and most incompetent players¹?

Here is my suggestion: Let us elect, here in "What the Fans Think" a movie Hall of Infamy. Let us keep the membership elastic, letting any one suggest nominations as he sees fit. Here are mine – just to start the ball rolling.

• Elinor Glyn – for writing such tawdry, artificial vehicles for Gloria Swanson.
• May MacAvoy – for hiding her splendid talents in such artificiality as was hers in "The Top of New York."
• Marion Davies   – for continuing to star in pictures when it is all too apparent that she is not star material.
• Maurice Tourneur – for not making more pictures.
• Pauline Frederick – for deserting the screen.

Yours for more nominations. Ernest Graydon, Quincy, Illinois.

The Army Cheers for Gloria

I suppose it will surprise you to know that the soldiers of the regular army – those that are left – are almost as ardent film "fans" as any sixteen-year-old "flapper." Now what is all this stuff I read about Gloria Swanson not being a great actress? Don't spread that around this post! We have just seen her in "Beyond the Rocks." and she managed to hold up and
dignify a very mediocre story, and not just with her costumes, either. Why, her arms – talk about the lost arms of the Venus of Milo. Oh. Boy²! "Venie" wasn't in it with Gloria. Sgt. John F. Rogers, Langley Field, Virginia.

Is De Mille a Good or a Bad Magician?

Something has been puzzling me very much of late, and that is: What docs C. De Mille do to his stars?

Consider, for example, Agnes Ayres. As the O. Henry girl she radiated a sweet, wholesome sincerity. Since she has appeared in "The Furnace" and "Forbidden Fruit" her expression seems to me to have undergone a complete change. I admit that the dressing up and the meticulous grooming have made her far more beautiful, but she impresses me as having a look of being spoiled, supercilious, and bored with everything. This may be merely a temporary phase; anyway, I still go to see her in the hope of seeing the girl who first attracted my liking.

Gloria is another example. In "Male and Female," in "Something to Think About," and in a few scenes of "The Great Moment" she revealed herself as an actress of decided ability and mentality. In later pictures, such as the intolerably stupid "Beyond The Rocks" she is only a badly dressed woman, with an undeniable sex appeal. I don't believe that Miss Swanson enjoys wearing clothes which are in such dreadfully bad taste. They are gorgeous, it is true; so is a circus caravan³, but people don't paint up a Rolls-Royce car to look like part of such a procession. Why, then, dress a lady in such weird garments? Also, in the above mentioned picture, her make-up was far too noticeable, her mouth was a tortured-looking pout, and her eyelashes stuck out like spikes.

Is Mr. De Mille responsible for these changes? And if so, what effect are they having on his stars? Are his stars, because of these transformations, becoming better actresses, or are they merely being sacrificed to a sensation-loving public's desire for the bizarre?

Stella Meade, Ste. II. Beresford Apartments, Winnipeg, Canada.

And Some Persons Think That All Players Are Conceited

What a great old world it is! With everybody having opinions 'n' everything. I have often glanced through the "What the Fans Think" columns, hoping some fan would have some nice thing to say about my poor dramatic efforts. The only thing I've found to date is the remark that my name should be eliminated from the "stars-of-to-morrow" list. My heart is broken. I wish I could snap my fingers and announce that I didn't care, but I do – vitally. I shall never miss
another issue, because I feel I shall learn through "What the Fans Think" of others and profit by what they do not think of me. Sincerely, Helen Ferguson⁴ .

A Plea for Music

I have read so many letters in your department concerning the presentation of photo plays that I just had to come in and have my say with the rest of them. Yes, you may do away with the uniformed ushers and the elaborate prologues, but please, oh, please, leave us the orchestras! Many a poor picture has been saved by a good orchestra⁵, and many a good one has lost half its effectiveness when accompanied simply by a piano or a second-rate organ⁶. The music is often so finely attuned to the feelings of the spectator that he⁷ hardly realizes what the absence of it would mean. It is my belief that in the future, pictures will come more and more to rely upon the orchestra to bring out their
full effects. Music is the greatest controller of human emotions, and to my mind, pictures would
lose much of their grip on the public if music were left out.

Before 1 close I want to say a word about Betty Compson. Some time ago I wrote a letter protesting against her playing the part of Babbie, when it was first announced that she was to have the leading role in "The Little Minister." I take back al! that I said. I have not had the
pleasure of seeing her in "The Little Minister," but I have seen her in other things, and I fully realize her versatility. She is one of the screen's finest young actresses. My apologies, Miss Compson.

Elizabeth Aisell, 106 Second Street, South Orange, N. J.

But What About "Blood and Sand⁸?"

It seems to me that the Paramount pictures are catering to poorer taste with every release. Consider such recent pictures as "The Affairs of Anatol," "The Sheik," "The Great Moment," "The Ordeal," "Beyond the Rocks⁹," and "Her Gilded Cage." Did you ever see such flagrant box-office stuff? Universal and Fox aren't half so bad, for at least they make no pretensions to "art," but only pass for what they are. It is too bad that the really good Paramounts, such as "Miss Lulu Bett," "Footlights," "What Every Woman Knows," "The Little Minister," "The Cradle" were all comparative failures, or at least were not among the big successes. But the public has only itself to thank for the kind of pictures it gets; we can scarcely blame Famous Players. I am certainly glad, however,
they have stopped making Realarts. I never saw such a program of consistently weak, insipid stories as the Realart pictures were.

Probably you think I am an awful grumbler, but as a movie pianist¹⁰ I have become somewhat soured on the general run of pictures. Among the plays which I have thoroughly enjoyed are: "Tol'able David," "The Prodigal Judge," "Hail the Woman," "A Connecticut Yankee," "Foolish Wives," "Smilin' Thru," "Polly of the Follies," and "Red-Hot Romance."

G. Criss Simpson, 525 Mound Street, Atchison, Kan[sas]¹¹.

What a Fine Collection!

I have just finished reading "What the Fans Think" in the October issue of your magazine, and the letter that interested me the most was the one Dorothy Brown wrote. Now I have never written to any star for a photo: I do not condemn doing so, by any means, but I just haven't. I
have, however, saved photos of stars and scenes from plays for several years. I clip the pictures from magazines and make scrapbooks. I have thirty scrapbooks at present¹². Two of these I did not count, as the pictures within were all newspapers, this really making thirtv-two scrapbooks¹³. But when I saw Miss Brown saying that she thought she had more
pictures than most fans, as she has more than five hundred, I thought I would do some figuring, and in my thirty scrapbooks I have six thousand one hundred and seven pictures¹⁴! And that's not all the pictures I have. I have a big wooden box nearly full and the walls of my room are covered with pictures, as is my desk. Some pictures I have framed. If I counted every last picture I have, I think I would have double the amount that makes up my scrapbooks. I am sixteen now and I've saved pictures since Pearl White – who is my favorite star – made "The Exploits of Elaine¹⁵."

E. T. C., 63 Chard Street, East Weymouth, Mass[achusetts]¹⁶.

The Moral of This Story Is: Historical research can be fun. Also, people don't change much. Only their vocabulary.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

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