Port Chester will have a chance to see the "Man of Mystery, Ross Robot, World's Greatest Mechanical Man," and Mary Ann Jackson, star of "Our Gang" films, in a unique automobile driving performance tomorrow. This will take place at noon and the public may visit Leavitt's Store in the afternoon and meet the noted visitors in person.
An unusual entertainment will take place in the afternoon by Ross Robot and Miss Jackson. By pressing a few buttons, Miss Sophie Ross, who is presenting the mechanical man, will make him go through a number of mystifying stunts. All through his performance he retains such an inhumanity frozen countenance that the Leavitt Company offers a prize to anyone who can make him smile.
Mary Ann Jackson's personality is as definite as Chaplin's and she is as distinctive among children as Chaplin is among adults. Supremely unconscious that she possesses it, Mary Ann has an instinct for comedy with methods of projecting it that would be called subtle were she aware of them. Robert McGowan, the director of "Our Gang," says that Mary Ann scarcely needsd to be told what to do. She does things her own way, and her spontaneity never misses any point the director wishes to make.
Already Mary Ann has bought a $10,000 house, and has a bank account that will assure her comfort when she reaches an age where a dollar bill is more interesting than a shiny new nickel. She is a sister of "Peaches" Jackson, who will be remembered in numerous pictures. There is also a brother in the family, who was indirectly responsible for Mary Ann's entry into pictures.
The brother was called for extra work at Sennett's. His mother accompanied him, and, having no one with whom to leave Mary Ann, took her along. It never occurred to Mrs. Jackson to seek a picture career for her, because she wasn't pretty, like Peaches. But at the studio, the company took a fancy to the funny baby and put her in the picture, too. When that day's rushes were in, it was found that she had taken the scene completely away from a veteran comedian. Immediately she was signed for a series of domestic comedies. On the termination of her contract, Hal Roach engaged her for "Our Gang."