Tone And Young Owe Success To Their Teachers

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 105, 28 January 1938, Page 16

Tone And Young Owe Success To Their Teachers

rpi-lERE is an idea that the teaching X profession is not one to youths to follow such a calling as the stage or the screen, but this is not true in the United States, if the experiences of Franchot Tone and Robert Young are fair examples. “1 might never have succeeded as an j actor if Professor James Frederick Mason, of Cornell University, hadn't backed me in my ambition,” said Tone. , “Airs. Sarah Mullens, my English | teacher at the Lincoln High School, ! not only encouraged me, but made it possible for me to get a start with the Pasadena Community Players.” Young | has said. ; “A teacher who enjoys and is inter- , ested in his students from a personal j as well as academic standpoint can be a tremendous influence for good,” Tone declared. “James was a professor, of romantic languages, my college major, but his hobby and outside interest was the theatre. His encouragement and constructive criticism were invaluable.” While at Cornell, Tone proved the greatest drawing card the college drama club ever had. The school experiences of Tone and Young were similar. "Even after I graduated,” Young said, "Mrs. Mullens continued to urge my following the stage as a career. Because it was necessary for me to find work immediately after leaving school I tried clerking in a bank, jerking soda, selling bonds, and several other fields which proved unproductive.” While Young was jumping from one job to another, trying to find one he liked, Mrs. Mullens introduced him to the Pasadena Community Players, an organisation which has developed many outstanding actors and actresses. "I worked during the day and rehearsed and played parts at , night,” lie said. He appeared in 40 productions at the Pasadena Playhouse, which brought him to the attention of Hollywood. These two actors appear together in "The Bride Wore Red,” of which Joan Crawford is the star.