Ben Lyon Says Qualities of Actor Must be Innate--Hollywood Morals Much Maligned--Drunks More Common Here in Boston

"Actors are born and not made", said Ben Lyon, popular First National Film star, in an interview granted the CRIMSON last night. "An actor never gets far on either stage or screen, unless his abilities, for that field are innate. To be sure, an actor can be trained just as an athlete can, but no matter how well trained an actor may be, he is not likely to succeed unless he has some abilities to build on.

"The best training for the screen, including all facilities now in use, is the travelling stock company. Actors and actresses presenting their show in a different town every two or three nights, must deliver, or they will soon find themselves without engagements. Travelling actors live a hard life, and in every way, this prepares them for the strenuous life of the moving picture actor."

Commenting on the plan of the First National Corporation to allow Harvard men opportunity to try-out for positions as actors in their institution, Mr. Lyon said. "I am in favor of the project, but I believe it will prove quite expensive. Only the experiment will determine its expediency. At present there are not many college men in Hollywood who have advanced far as actors, but more are coming there every year."

Asked concerning the growth of Hollywood, Mr. Lyon said. "20 years ago, Hollywood was nothing but orange groves and fig trees. It has grown with the motion picture business. Where 20 years ago there was plowed ground and fruit trees, six and seven story Buildings now stand. Hollywood is just one large institution. Boston is a city where there are many industries, many manufacturing plants and people engaged in many trades. Hollywood is different, It centers around the moving picture business entirely. Very little that doesn't pertain to pictures, happens out there."

Dispelling the thought that Hollywood is immoral and vice-stricken, Mr. Lyon said. "If an actor in Hollywood gets inebriated every paper in the country prints it in large headlines. How ever, here in Boston, where drunks are seen every night on the street, no one seems to hear of it. The papers delight in disparaging Hollywood."