Dearborn Independent from Dearborn, Michigan • 14

TTISI5 35IKAJSIBIISM HMMEIPISNIISIENTr 14 He Capitalizes Hate By JOHN B. WALLACE THERE are many and devious ways of making a living in this world. Eric von Stroheim was, through force of circumstances, compelled to adopt a number of these, foreign though they were to a man of his birth and education. But the strangest means of all and the one through which he has achieved fame and some measure of fortune was discovered by him in 1914 after the outbreak of the World War. A Prussian neck won for him more money than he had ever been able to earn before in his life.

Hate was supposed to be a copyrighted article of the Germans, being taught in fact by the German Government, but von Stroheim found that Americans were not such bad haters if given sufficient provocation. Yon Stroheim proceeded to give them the necessary provocation and they responded by hating him most heartily. Did this injure the delicate sensibilities of this ex-lieutenant in the Austrian Army? We opine it did not for the more he was hated the more money he was able to earn. Today, he is a director in one of the largest studios in the motion picture world, drawing a salary that would arouse envy from a bank president and he is still making them hate him. Despite the fact that Von Stroheim is the perfect type of the snobbish Prussian officer, he has not a drop of German blood in his veins.

He was born in Vienna of an Austrian family of the lesser Austrian nobility. His real title is Count Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria Xordenwald von Stroheim. Is it any wonder that a child saddled with a name like that should have a tough time making his way in the world? Von Stroheim was educated in a military academy in Vienna, taking a post-graduate course at the government war college. In 1902 he was made a second lieutenant in the Fourth Regimental Dragoons. Two years later he was assigned as orderly to Prince Louis do Bourbon, who was serving in the Austrian Army in conformance with the traditional custom in Europe of exchanging officers between countries.

In 1908 Von Stroheim took part in the campaign to annex Bosnia. He was wounded and after being invalided was transferred to the Imperial Palace Guard. It was for his services in this campaign that he was decorated by Emperor Franz Joseph for conspicuous bravery in action. His injuries prevented him from properly discharging his duties in the army so he was permanently retired, soon after this, on a small pension. Von Stroheim decided to come to America.

And then his troubles began. His military education had unfitted him for commercial pursuits and he was hard put to make a living. He worked as a woodsman in the Maine woods, sold fly paper from door to door, in fact did anything that he could obtain to do to keep from starving. He gradually worked his way across the continent and at one time obtained a job as boatman on Lake Tahoe. As he plied his oars he often thought bitterly of the evenings he had spent with the elite of European society on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.

He little dreamed in those days when he lordly tossed a coin to the boatman that some day he would himself be pocketing tips for the same kind of service. Von Stroheim had taken a great interest in ama- I3H ill COUNT F.RICH VON STROHEIM teur theatricals while a guardsman in Vienna. After coming to America he wrote a sketch called "Brothers" which was successfully presented on the Orpheum circuit. His next venture in the theatrical world was in 1914 when D. W.

Griffith picked him out of a mob of "extras" to play the part of a German officer. His famous Prussian neck which exemplified to a nicety the arrogance and cruelty of the junker type of army officer was what particularly excited Griffith's attention. The latter's delight may be imagined when he found that von Stroheim had actually been an army officer and a member of the nobility. Von Stroheim's fortunes in the motion picture game dated from that day. Movie audiences through the stirring times preceding and during the World War hissed and hated him to their heart's content.

Von Stroheim. through his perfect characterization of the worst in German militarism, brought home to Americans more forcibly perhaps than any other method the evil with which the world was confronted and he did invaluable work in arousing their patriotic fervor. When he was not acting in front of the camera the ex-officer was also of great assistance to his directors because of his knowledge of continental customs and military affairs. Some of the picture plays in which he scored his greatest successes were "Old Heidelberg," "For France' "Heart of Humanity" and "Hearts of the World." When not acting himself he was often used as assistant director and finally he was given recognition by being made director at one of the largest studios in Hollywood. Since becoming a director he has filmed three of the most sensational pictures yet thrown upon the screen, "Blind Husbands," "The Devil's Passkey" and "Foolish Wives." Whatever one may think of the theme of these pictures and personally I crave the ozone there is no denying their artistry and fidelity to detail.

Von Stroheim not only directs but acts in "Blind Husbands" and "Foolish Wives." And speaking of hate it might further be said that he also draws a fair share of this article from the other directors who work for this company. The reason is not far to seek. It is customary among the larger studios to make out a schedule of expense for the pictures it is intended to film during a season. Sort of a budget system, as it were. Since Von Stroheim has been a director, his pictures have far exceeded in expense the original estimate.

The last one cost nearly half a million dollars. His system is to get the company so far along with a picture under the original appropriation that they are compelled to maintain the pace or sustain a slump that would ruin the presentation. As most of the money used to complete his productions is subtracted from the appropriations of the other directors it is easy to see why Von Stroheim is not beloved by his co-workers in directing. But Von Stroheim thrives on hate and his rapidly growing bank account proves that it is rather a remunerative emotion if sold in the right market. Why the Team Goes South Concluded from page 11 ment, the muscles massaged and the shoulder behind the pitching arm given particular care.

A major league training camp presents an amusing sight after the second day out. The players limp around and appear a collection of cripples. This is natural when one considers that for five months, these men who engaged in strenuous exercise during the spring summer and early autumn of the preceding year, have done nothing in the way of physical exercise'. Of course, some do, but very few. The first week in camp holds days and nights of physical agony.

In recent years some ball players are making it a point to exercise during the vacation months. Some work in the open, others do gymnasium work. It keeps them in condition and it saves them torture in the springtime. In athletics, football, rowing, track and various other teams that engage in college competition, are placed on a strict diet. Not so in baseball.

0 diet is prescribed. And the simple explanation of this is that it would be necessary to keep ball players on a diet for seven months which would mean that they would go stale and become useless. Even football teams with a season of not quite three months are not on a permanent diet as the rule is broken at least once a week to prevent the athletes from becoming overtrained. The manager insists that the players retire at 11 p. m.

and that they arise at 7 :30 a. m. Major league clubs stay in the southern camp for three or four weeks. In that time several exhibition games will be played, sometimes between picked teams sometimes with organized teams or the neighborhood college teams and quite often with teams of the other major league. Then starts the journey north with games scheduled every day, sometimes with minor league clubs and at other times with major league teams.

On this trip the manager reaches semi-final conclusions regarding his new material. This is a ticklish and delicate task for if he lets a man slip by who will later make good, he will be blamed for years to come, while if he keeps one that fails later on the criticism will likewise be severe. You have been told exactly what constitutes spring training of a major league ball club and why. This has been the orthodox program for years and will be the program for fifteen major league teams this year. As there are sixteen clubs in the big leagues there must be one exception in 1921 and this is Detroit.

In our preface we told how Detroit secured the world's greatest ball player in lieu of rental on a ball park and now this same player, Tyrus Raymond Cobb is making his debut as a manager. He upset all baseball traditions as a player and he intends to upset all of them as a manager. The Detroit camp this spring will be much unlike any other major league camp is or has ever been. Morning practice will be abolished by Detroit this year, also the sacred 7:30 o'clock call. Cobb has decided that one practice session is far more valuable than two and that thorough rest is of immeasurable benefit to an athlete.

Players can sleep as long as they like in the morning if they are Detroit players. Cobb says that this plan of holding morning practice is all wrong. The player arises at 7:30 o'clock. He eats a hearty breakfast and before the heavy food has more than started to digest he is engaged in strenuous exercise with the natural result that he does himself physical harm. The Cobb plan is to hold one long practice session, starting shortly after the noon hour.

Everybody will be compelled to hustle all the time but as soon as any player shows signs of fatigue he will be ordered to the clubhouse. This also is in direct obeyance of the rule of every good physician and trainer. All these experts on the human body maintain that over-indulgence in exercise is extremely harmful. This violation of baseball's ancient and honored customs will make the experiment one of the most interesting in the game's history and it is quite likely that, if successful, all clubs will adopt this method of preparing ball players for the pennant races. A YOUNG girl who was wilful and wont to commit foolish and indiscreet acts, often comnlained that her mother was always a barrier in her way of enjoyment.

"If I want to go to an all-night dance with Will," she said, "or on a moonlight excursion with Earl, or an auto ride with that young man I struck up an acquaintance with the Other day, you always stand in my way always find some excuse for not letting me go. You are always putting up the bars. You are a barrier, that's what you are, mother, a barrier The patient mother quietly turned to the dictionary and. after finding the place, called her daughter to look at the book. "This is what Webster says.

Listen Barrier: A fence or other obstacle, made in a passage or way, to stop an enemy." Then turning to the girl the mother said "I hope, my dear, I shall always be that kind of a barrier an obstacle to stop an In after years the girl was thankful that she had such a barrier as her mother to keep her and the enemy apart In all departments of life it is good for the weak to have such a barrier, to keep out the enemy. The young man who is not in himself prepared to withstand the shocks and blows of modern life, i blessed Hifi if he has a father to bear the brunt of the storm until he can fit himself to brave the tempest. The girl, puffed up with the sense of her own im portance, and the thought that she is capable of look ing after herself, may one day be glad to have a mother or friend to stand as a barrier in the way when the enemy is rampant, and there seems no chance of escape. The business man who, through lack of capital perhaps, or experience, or both, finds himself attacked and is about to fall, who has a friend who will come to his rescue and bear the brunt of the fight, can count himself a fortunate man. And for those who are strong, it is good for them to be a barrier.

Do not look scornfully or with disdain upon those who have not the strength that you have, either moral physical or financial. It may not be their fault that when the enemy came they fell by the wayside They may have done their best but the enemy was too strong for them. When they call for help, spring to their aid. Get into the thick of the and plant yourself as a barrier between them and those who would do them harm and destroy them. Use your financial aid to help such as need it; use your influence with other whn a a(rA word may turn the tide for some one who is fast going upon the rocks.

Go down to the man or woman who has fallen among thieves and is being beaten and robbed, and push the marauders aside, and stand between them and the suffering one, a barrier against which no assault can prevail. And do not be dismayed or discouraged if, at first, those whom you are attempting to help do not appreciate your efforts in their behalf. They may impugn your motives, they may consider that you are attempting to deprive them of what they think in their blindness should be theirs; they may even believe that you are trying to prevent their happiness. Keep right on building the barrier that will protect them and keep them safe and, when you get an opportunity, like the mother of the girl in the anecdote, lead them to the dictionary and show them what Webster has to say upon the subject: "Barrier: A fence or other obstacle, made in a passage or way, to stop an enemy.".