The Washington herald., 1914-03-30
WHO'S WHO AMONG WOMEN
OF BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT

from the public schools, and then the sub
| Ject of her future career came up. She
selected business. She went to a COM
mercial school, acquired a speed of eighty
words a minute at shorthand, and pun
ished a typewriter with great success.
Then she got her first job. 1t was a
printing Office, and she decided after one
days incumbency that she was created
for other things. On her way home, she
saw an advertisement for supers at a the
ater, and she applied on the spot. She
was accepted. too. and told to come the
next morning.
But her father thought he settled that
matter when, on being informed OF the
engagement, he punished her. told her
she couldn't go on the stage. and sent her
TO bed. The thing really was settled-but
not the way he thought. From that mo-
ment. she knew that the one thing in the
! world she was determined upon was to
be an actress.
Her parents had tried to fit her to be a
music teacher. That had failed. Then
they had tried to make dancing teacher
or her. That had been equally unsuc-
cessful.
Now she began to use this knowledge
of music and dancing in being an ''en-
tertainer'' before societies like the
Knights of Columbus and the Lady For
esters. Driven to desperation. her father
and mother finally agreed to let her try
her luck in vaudeville. She christened
herself la Belle Laurette." therefore,
and got an engagement at Gloucester,
Mass, at SIS a week.
She was so hopeless that the manager
tried to discharge her after her very first
appearance. But she hung on for the
week. though he cut her salary to S15 and
grumbled even at that She tried il next
at Springfield. with equal lack of success.
But by this time you couldn't have
blown her out of the theatrical profession
with dynamite. Accompanied by her
mother. she went out West. There She
tried vaudeville. Then she played SOU
brette roles. Finally she landed in a
stock company in Seattle. For four years
she stayed there. playing every cenceiv-
able part from Topsy to Juliet.
After that period of real training she
went back to New York and began the
usual heartbreaking siege of the mana
gers Offices. 1t was not until Oliver
Morosco decided to give her a trial in
THE Bird of Paradise" that the tide
really turned. And it wasn't clear sail
ing even then.
The author strenuously objected to CIV
ing her the leading role He said he
simply wouldn't have her. But in the
MISS ldglOI ildu EtdulnS
the play. Her imagination was fired. She
wanted that part. She meant to have it.
II think IL he hadn't given in. I'd have
been willing to murder the author in or
der to get that role" she says.
But she did secure it without having to
resort to such extreme measures. And
in IL she made a genuine artistic success.
She is Hawaiian girl in that play. And
in order to be the real thing" she lived
Hawaiians brought over for tine produc-
ton. She really learned to play the ns-
tive musical instruments and to dance the
hula-hula dance.
And at last she arrived" Then in
December. 1913, Peg o. My Heart was
put on at the Cort Thearer. in New York
The author was Hartley Manners. Lau-
rette Taylor was Peg. And she still is
Peg. For over 500 consecutive perform
ances she has played the part without
missing one OF them. 1t is a great rec
ord. Three months after the play was
produced, IL was discovered that the star
actress and the author were married
They had not told that fact earlier, lest
the public regard the production as too
much Of a family affair." But apparent
ly the knowledge, did not affect the pub
lies interest; at least adversely. The run
is one Of the longest on record. And
Daurette Taylor, unknown three years
ago. Is now almost a household word
from one end of the country to the other.
Copyright, lelI)