I’m sorry! I said I’d post yesterday and I didn’t. My internet went down and then I went to see a movie. I fail.

Ok here’s a lovely article we have courtesy of Belinda. Entitled Modern Screen’s Dramatic School, designer Howard Greer and Carole Lombard teaches us all the tricks of the trade. Aspiring actors take note!

Modern Screen’s Dramatic School
Directed by Katherine Albert

THIS month, I’m bringing you two perfectly swell people to act as your dramatic school teachers. Both are qualified to give you grand advice, so I’m going to hurry this introduction along and let them speak for themselves to you. Carole Lombard, who has struggled for ten years to perfect herself in the art of acting and who suddenly, in “Twentieth Century,” stepped forever out of the “clothes horse” class; and Howard Greer, one of Hollywood’s most famous dress designers. They are now conducting the class. I’m going to save Carole’s inspiring message for the last and start off with Greer’s specific and concisive advice. Listen, now, to Professor Greer.

“The art of wearing clothes is as important to any dramatic career as the art of proper voice placement. Remember this. Clothes don’t make the woman- the woman makes the clothes. If you expect success, either as a great stage or screen star, or simply want home town plaudits in your amateur theatricals or in the Little Theatre in your city, you must learn to wear and to handles clothes properly. How? I’m going to tell you how by passing on to you the things I insist that the mannequins in my shop learn.”

“To carry a dress, you must walk properly. And there’s no better way to learn to walk with poise than by using the time-honored method of walking around a room with a book on your head. No, I’m not joking. I make all my models do this. For fifteen minutes every day, walk around your house balancing books on your head. This strengthens the neck and head position and teaches you perfect balance, which is important.”

“Now, when you’ve done that for a month or so, get yourself about five yards of cheese cloth and allow and hour a day for practice with that in front of a full-length mirror. Drape the cheese cloth about your body, allowing it to flow gracefully from your arms like a scarf. Move your arms until you are completely free and unconscious of the material. The art of wearing clothes consists of being unconcious of clothes. Now drape the material around your waste and let it flow out in back into a train. Walk and walk until you are thoroughly used to carrying the train, until you can move so that you won’t trip over it. Practice standing, sitting, rising and walking with that cheese cloth in every imaginable line. You have no idea how perfect a method this is for teaching you to wear clothes.”

“And now about selecting clothes. You’ll discover that there are three general types. Dramatic clothes. Sexy clothes. Coquettish clothes. ”

“Dramatic clothes are those which, without aid of speech, facial expression or gesture, give the impression of a tense situation. The minute you walk upon the stage, a dramatic dress will show your audience a mood. Dramatic gowns are invariably long and drapy with swathed high necks and long, draped sleeves. Black is the most effective color of drama.”

Most amateurs make a great mistake with sexy clothes. They have them too tight fitting. Jetta Goudal wore the sexiest clothes of almost any woman on the screen. They were never tight-fitting, because gowns that fit too tightly wrinkle and bunch about the body and the effect is lost. Choose, preferably, some shiny material. Let the lines be loose and flowing so that when you step the material clings to your legs and thighs and outlines the body. This is subtle. You don’t have to wear extreme decolletage to achieve a sexy effect. It is much better if you don’t.  And select colors very near the tone of your own body.  Suntan and pinkish beige are the most effective sexy tones.

“Coquettish colors comprise, of course, organdies, laces and ruffles. The best example, I think, is the gown I designed for Mary Pickford in ‘Coquette’. Perhaps you remember it. But let me give you a word of warning. Never, never play a dramatic or sexy scene in a coquettish dress.”

“You may at some time or another be called upon to act with a man either much taller of much shorter than you. (Even if it’s only a private-life date, this is worth knowing). Kay Francis is very tall.  She frequently is cast opposite men shorter than she. Here’s a little trick I want all you tall girls to learn. Have your frocks made a few inches shorter at the back. When your standing opposite the short man, bend your knees slightly. In other words, behave like an accordion and crush yourself down. Then the hemline of your frock will be right all the way around and no one will know that your knees are bent.”

“Gloria Swanson, who is very short, makes herself look much, much taller by wearing especially made heels on her shoes.”

“The short girl should go in for long V-necks, carrying the line in a seam down the front of the dress. She should wear, whenver possible, a train on either side. This lengthens her. The tall girl uses a swathed neck-line and scarf, cuts the line with a belt and pemplun and wears no train. Remember that the short girl must wear straight lines with little detail and no bunchiness anywhere.”

And now for Carole Lombard. Here is what she has to say:

“The first and most important bit of advice I have to offer young people is this: set a definite goal for yourself. It is far easier to attain success if you have a well-defined focal point on which to concentrate.”

“If you have chosen acting as a profession, you must immediatly realize it will require a terrific amount of patience and hardwork. Young people are too often discouraged. Just stop to think that I have worked hard for ten years and I am only just starting my career as an actress!”

“When I first started my career in pictures, which was at the age of fifteen, I had had no training of any description. I didn’t know what to do with my hands or voice. My hands bothered me most and I was extremely self-conscious about them. I played the entire role in my first picture, ‘Marriage In Transist,’ with my hands folded in the most ackward position imaginable across my stomach!”

“Eventually, I learned to do absolutely nothing about my hands but forgot that I had them. Gradually, when I had something to do with them in the action of the picture, moving them about became perfectly natural.”

“The next most important thing is diction. Study diction. Become word-conscious. Realize that you’re playing on words. Learn to enunciate and speak in an even tempo. Learn to pronunce difficult words.”

Let me interrupt Carole a moment to tell you that in future articles in this department I’m going to give you a list of difficult and often mispronounced words for you to stduy.

“When I was a child,” Carole goes on, “I had a tiny lisp in my speech. I overcame this only after I became word-conscious and realized that I could train myself not to lisp, if I were really serious about it. One very excellent practice is to stand in front of a mirror and watch yourself as you pronounce various words. Memorize lines and say them to yourself before your mirror, watching your expressions carefully, making a mental note of what to avoid.”

“There is one thing you must guard against, however, and that is artificiality. Don’t mouth your words as to appear affected or acquire a synthetic accent.”

“Right along with your diction, of course, comes the consideration of voice. Many successful actresses have no really great beauty, but, through the melodious quality of their voices, have attained greatness. Teach yourself, first of all, what you can do with your own voice. Bear in mind that a lower register has much more power and is definetly more pleasing to the ear. Try, by all means, to eliminate any nasal quality. Speak in low, melodious tones.”

“Start by learning to breath properly- from the diaphragm. Make it a habit to listen to yourself talk aloud.”

“Correct posture and gracefulness of movement is the next item on your list. If possible, take a dancing course. But if this is not practical, you can accomplish a great deal in front of your own mirror. Turn on the victrola or radio and create your own dances before the looking glass. Practice walking to the rhythem of the music. One thing that helped me tremendously when I first started to act was my sense of rhythem. I have always loved music and there was music aroud me constantly as achild. Like any other artistic profession, there is rhythem in acting. Become conscious of a flow and rhythem in everything you do and say.”

“Self-consciousness, of course, is a constant bugbear. Naturally, experience is your best teacher because you gain confidence in yourself and your abilities. No matter how small a part you play or how bad the play is itself, you will never fail to learn something from every role you attempt.”

“One of the best methods for overcoming self-consciousness is to learn abandon. Train yourself to move and speak first and think about it afterwards. Learn to be yourself and do not imitate other people or worry about someone’s reaction to what you are doing.”

“Above all, you must remember that you have to work hard. Acting is not just a glamourous profession. It is a business, just like everything else. Listen to your stage director. Now matter how near the top you climb, there is always room for improvement. Don’t become discouraged or impatient. If you are really serious about an acting career, study with all your might and realize that the amount of time and thought you put into it is what counts in the long run.”

Carole, I think that’s grand advice and it’s doubly wonderful coming from a girl who had the courage and stick-to-it-iveness to work her way to the top as you have. We all admire not only your acting talent but you as a person. Thanks a million times for telling us all these things.

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And thanks to Belinda again for sharing with us this article and for providing some more pictures to add to the Photo Archives. Coming Soon!