"SECOND DRESSLER"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21912, 22 September 1934, Page 12 (Supplement)

"SECOND DRESSLER"

TALK OF SUCCESSOR INIMITABLE PERSONALITY It is symptomatic of an imitative tendency of which the film industry apparently cannot rid itself that, within a short time of the greatly lamented death of Marie Dressier, the question of finding a " successor " to her is being avidly discussed, remarks Mr. John Gammie in Film Weekly.

The obsequies of famous stars seem fated to be attended—or, at, any rate, followed—by this kind of irreverent, disrespectful, and, above all, thoroughly ill-advised opportunism. It is rumoured that three potential " successors " to Dressier are already being surveyed with the idea that one of them may step into her shoes and fill the parts which had been tentatively selected for her when her last illness took her away from the studios, never to return.

•It is to be hoped that this is not true, Mr. Gammie comments. Marie Dressler's personality died with her, and her place cannot. be filled by the expedient of looking for someone whose appearance and talent approximate to hers.

Supposing it were possible, however, to produce a new Dressier at a moment's notice, who could she be ? The obvious guess is May Robson, who was officially brought forward in this capacity when the state of Miss Dressler's health first gave rise to serious anxiety some time ago. She was actually cast opposite Polly Moran in a picture originally designed as a Dressler-Moran comedy. It was openly hinted that the team of Kobson and Moran might succeed that of Dressier and Moran, while Miss Dressler's own energies, then unhappily failing, were reserved for move serious things. The picture was never made, however. May Robson is too hard and too much the harridan in her characterisations. She has not the rich, allencompassing, big-hearted humanity of Dressier.

Similarity of name, coupled with certain points of resemblance in personality and emotional appeal, suggests that Louise Dresser might be the second on the list of candidates, but there is a wide gulf between the attractive ugliness and abundant vitality which were two of Marie Dressler's strengths, and the not unprepossessing maturity and habitual repose of Louise Dresser. The only other possible candidate is Alison Skipworth. There was a time when Miss Skipworth looked like a coming woman.'Now, it is difficult to tell whether she is coming of going. She has slipped into a rut of identical performances in identical parts, each efficiently handled, but none a whit better than the one before it. She is a typed character actress whose present position, apparently, is entirely static. Marie Dressier, in any case, remains such a well-loved character that no efforts should be made to imitate or succeed her.