A Luminous Star in the Film Firmament
By Peter Gridley

In gazing out upon the host of stars that twinkle in the serried firmament of filmdom, I see one luminary that can easily be distinguished without paying ten cents to the man on the street corner in order to use his telescopic device.

For years, I have watched this star shine from out the variable sky of screen idolatry. Ever increasing in its lustre, it has constantly grown more beautiful as it proceeded and has never paused in its peregrination toward the zenith of its course.

Having thus modestly and forever delivered and established myself in the abstract as a motion picture astronomer, I will present to you the star of whom I speak; the luminary of my observations; the well deserved recipient of honorable mention - Miss Kathlyn Williams.

The success of Miss Williams has not been of the "over-night" variety so often written about in connection with a star's advent to fame. Her rise to international prominence was not meteoric - to use the word of the theatrical press agent. Since early childhood she has studied in the school of experience and has advanced in the drama, step by step, until she has mastered the art in which she is now so eminent.

Seven years ago, in company with Mary Pickford, Arthur Johnson, Henry Walthall and other now famous members of the "old guard" at Biograph under D.W. Griffith, she received her early schooling in the silent drama. Some years later she starred in the first photoplay serial that was ever produced, namely "The Adventures of Kathlyn," a twenty-six reel subject, the production of which not only demanded much of the talent of the able actress, but exacted her very vitality during the six months of its preparation, to say nothing of her nerve in dare-devil scenes at which many brave men might well hesitate. With characteristic persistency this courageous girl remained at her post, ready at all time, though often under great personal sacrifice. Her efforts were not unrewarded, however, for she added many thousand admirers to her following and became distinguished as the first "serial girl."

Later, in "The Spoilers," "The Rosary," "The Ne'er Do Well" and many other big subjects she was called upon to exert her every talent and ability gained through her many years of experience on the speaking stage under such managements as Belasco, Willard Mack and William Morris. Her personal success in these productions is written prominently in the annals of screenland and resulted in her present popularity.

Recently Miss Williams became associated with Oliver Morosco Photoplay Company and Pallas Pictures, the Paramount organizations whose photoplays have established a high-water mark in the sea of film excellence. The affiliation should not only prove a happy one for both parties involved but for the Paramount patrons in particular who will be enabled to see the result of this splendid combination. A life of hard work and self-sacrifice might tend toward making some people a little bit callous to the enjoyment of living itself. But not Kathlyn Williams. She on the contrary fairly radiates her personality on everyone and everything about her and in doing this is making hundreds of friends among the studio folk and thousands and even millions on the screen of Paramount theatres all over the land. A star indeed is Kathlyn Williams, and one whose lustre is admired as is that of the evening star, in many lands.

only1kcm@yahoo.com