The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1916-09-16
WHY | LIKE TIE MOVIES
By PEARL WHITE

From a very curly age | have had .
q positive fon!nesS for doing r-cG- (
less things, and the more danger there 7
has been connected with them the
more pleasure ! have taken In them. ,
I lm not unique In this. | have met I
during my career q number Of Other
persons who confessed TO having the .
xame strange tastes Speaking for F.
myself. a hum-drum existence would
bore me 10 distraction. l think
would sooner die. For Instance, when
was child about Eve or OK years old, ,
despite the fact that | received repeat
cd warning from my father and moth
er, used to delight in going out To
q rnttlesnake den which was not far
from the house and teasing the rep
tiles until they made repeated jumps
ut me. My taihor caught me at this
amusement one day, and decided that
radical action was required. l will
never forget the punishment thnt /
got but after that l let rGttlesaakes
alone
| Later on while still mere slip Of
girl. Joined circus. The most
dangerous end Of the work seemed
10 be that OF the trapeze performers,
| 90 l begged until / was given IL chance
Of IL i made good at this from The
start by instrucTesS, a lacy WHO
had been doing trap" wOr. for yeS:s,
told me that the season for my suc-
cess YVES because / lacked the ele-
meE: OF fear. She said that in this
profession may were called, bat few
chosen, and those few person. were
all Ike rlc, utterly Indifferent TO dan
ger. | suppose this sounds rather
conceited to the rraGer, but l certain
" DON'T IueGn to make IT so, because
! am telling facts. I can Clai;n 10
credit for the daredevil spirit. siEcH
Il WA born in me. I was with the
circus several years, only leaving it
because / was offered more money
with q theatrical rrUupe. The Corr
pnny I Joined was not weil-krONn
company; as matter CT fact rs az
pearances were more or less confined
TO what are known in the theatrical
profession as tank towns" We play
ID at popular prices, and diI moth
Ing but one night StanGS. l found
the life very tireSOm2. Hours Of weary
tra vel by r1llrOed, then the same old
Journey by bus TO an inferior hotel,
the same buried aad poorly COOKED
dinner. the same old trip to the thea
lE.i. .f I'D
known az the Opera House" After
thu show, II we were lucky, We had Il
few hours sleep in miserable beds
before going on to the next town. Il
unluc,;y, we left town the same night,
and picked up what slumber we could
on the train.
The nearest I came TO encOuItering
danger In these peroCrinatiOnS was
when our train ran into another, and
several persons were killed. SO | Ge-
Cided after several years of this To
get into motion pictures, which then
had just started to boom" and Sc
| cured en- engagement with the PatAc
cOmpuny. This was over three years
ago, and | have stuck to the work
= faithfully, not merely because | get
good salary. but because the LIFE
! fascinates me
The first 0? the long line Ct "thri.l-
ero" Ia which have appeared was
the "Perils Of Pauline" which Pathc
put out some two and half years
| ago. In this production for the first
duie 1 fell in love with my work. The
, various stunts" which my director
= called upon me 20 do offered to me
! the Elost sincere pleasure. A brief
/ recital Of some o. the fcGiS which
{ did In Pauline" may he OF interest.
The first was my experience with
the rats. | mention II first, not be-
cause K is The first IL point OF time
but because most women, howe or
COURAGEOUS, draw the line when j;
l comes to close contact with rats OF
@ mice. The villain, In order to cacom
pass my death, was supposed to have
, shut me up In a cellar with the here
I and then turn the water Of cana
into the cellar. AS the house Wa;
S supposed to be full OF rata, naturally
O the rising food would bring them on.