The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-11

'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
 and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'
 and 'Pollyanna,' of course. will be added
 to the list--the new play from the book
 we all love which Patricia Collinge is do-
 ing on Broadway"
 As Miss Grayce Scott, the leading lady, of the Bijou. made this statement
 to me. I was studying her acutely, mi nutely, this little bundle of pink and
 white humanity deliciously young and pretty, Billie Burke in Dresden, China,
 as somebody called her. and l was won
 dering all the while if I were asked what | Miss Scotts most attractive qualities are
 T mean by this physical pulchritude-I
 couldn't for the life of me say whether 1t
 was her radiant contagious smile, or
 her beautiful suit of soft blonde hair, "a
 woman's crowning glory"
 I Miss Scott looked like nothing so
 much as a great big, blue-eyed doll baby, the kind that comes in a box at Christmas, and says mamma and
 "pa pa" if you know how to talk "baby talk and which the "kiddies" love so ! to get, when I saw her in her pretty l apartment at "The Ridgley' the other
 afternoon. She had on some sort of soft,
 clinging pink silk, frilly thing that was
 terribly becoming, and her lovely hair
 was just thrown into a great bunch of
 curls and sort of knotted loosely at the
 nape of her neck. and her eyes pictured
 the round-eyed innocence of child that
 doesn't sound just right to me. but any way, you get the meaning, don't you! | Thanks), and she smiled her radiant smile
 as she greeted me.
 Its worth coming miles to see" I
 said, as I seated myself.
 l She looked at me in some surprise, ana
 then she asked: What is?"
 l Your smile,'' I told her. Its quite the most fascinating smile I've seen in ages. Tell me, were you born with it?''
 "Oh, I don't know" she laughed. T
 suppose in a way I've arways had 1t, but to some extent perhaps it's an acquired
 product and many times gaily deceptive. The tips of her tiny feet peeped out as she rocked to and fro. daintly shod In pale pink brocaded "mules"-not that soft-soled, wooly kind of crocheted slip pers that people hate So to get for Christ mas-and she took on rather disnifed sort of air. for while Miss Scott is whim- scally witty, her sense of humor never failing hers she Is very deep and serious
 minded and 'brutally frank (she said
 this herself) and tremendously interested 
 in her work,
 T started my stage career" Miss
 Scott said presently, "as an ingenue.' "Smiling?" l asked facetioasly. We'll suppose so," she answered quickly. You see I was too small to
 do big parts then-diminutive not only
 in body, but in mind. I was young-so terribly young, and one needs experi-
 ence to do anything worth while on the
 stage It's work, work, work-all the time
 Of all the roles you have ever played
 what is your favorite?" I asked, know ing that stock company leading
 lady" has the world and his wife to choose from when it comes to variety. Tt is very hard to say,' Miss Scott replied. flor there are so many that are attractive but I said at the begin ming, juvenile rolls appeal to me. People love youth--they love irresponsibility- they love gayety-and the problem play. the society drama and all those lthings are so complicated, and strenu- ous. Give them a clean, wholesome, beautiful character though, like snow White and the 'Grown-ups,' as well as the children Hove it, and that is why say that I like to play juvenile parts.
 There's so much human interest in them and besides, I am small and fit into those things pretty well, and l nave been successful in youthful roles and we all like whatever we make a success of On the other hand take such part
 as the lead in The Girl of the Golden West Naturally you think of the girl as big western type--associating with all sorts of rough people-men and women-and yet when the part is of- fered to me. I find 1t so full of possi-
 bilities--so interesting-that I couldn't turn it down, because studying it, and
 working 1t up, is big thing and ;,,+a fty,er q suppose you have played everything from Little Eva to Juliet in your varied repertoireg" was suggested. "Queer--but I've never played either of those parts" Miss Scott replied. I've played nearly everything else though. Some one has said, you know, that be- fore an actress plays Juliet she should be a grandmother-at least old enough to be one, for only with experience, wide experience of life can any ac- tress portray Juliet as Shakespeare in tended her There's Julia Marlowe, for instance, whose Juliet is so beautiful and so perfect Some complain that she is too stout-that she doesn't look the part-that Juliet was a tall. slender, graceful young girl--but could such girl interpret that part as Julia Mar
 lowe does? It takes brains to play Juliet"
 And speaking of Julia Marlowe- how do you reel aD0ut her retiring rom the stage as young as she is--at least
 not old?" I asked "Or do you think that Sarah Bernhardt is displaying more judgment In keeping right on at the ripe old age of 70, and handicapped as
 she is now?"
 "Jula Marlowe is my ideal in every
 thing when it comes to an actress" Miss
 Scott said unreservedly, and think the
 good taste she has shown in retiring
 when she is practically at the height of
 her career Is in keeping with. everything
 else she has done. To me, Sarah. Bern
 hardts farewell is little short of gro
 tesque. It is pitiful to say the least of
 it. woman of her tremendous talent
 and mentality-she might easily have
 been great in any other profession-a great supreme court judge, painter, poet, should not place herself before the
 public in the position she will be in But somebody has said, knowing what her handicap will be, that she will secure
 the best wooden leg that can be made;
 one contrved so that she will not be made
 to appear awkward, and besides knowing that every ones thought will be on this
 so-called handicap, the divine Sarah will
 act as she has never acted before"
 suggested.
 A r.