I’m enjoying turning up gems like this from old movie magazines, so I hope you won’t mind me posting a few more. It’s often the advertising features in periodicals like Photoplay and Picturegoer that catch my eye, revealing as they do a tight circuit linking fans, stars and media together in a circular exchange of glamour, aspiration and cash. These mags are just packed with beauty products to help fans make themselves over like the silver-screen sylphs that set such an impossible, ethereal standard. But there were also occasional bones thrown to the crowd in the form of competitions to appear in an actual movie. This one, from a 1925 issue of Photoplay, promises a role in Polly of the Ballet, appearing alongside Greta Nissen, taking direction from Cecil B. DeMille. As far as I can tell, this film never got made, so I wonder what happened to the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation‘s guarantee. Any information would be gratefully received.
