The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1916-04-06

w THY do so many girls think
w that because we are &C
W tresses we must trip the
light fantastic, drain the cup of ex-
perience and suffer many humiliations
before the eyes of the world? l al
ways tell them it is not collectively
the actresses, but individually the
girls, who must meet their own temp
tations and overcome them.
And, of course, when we look at
the other side of the tapestry, we will
always find the raveled ends of
threads which are part of the warp
and wool of the finished master
piece.
In the first place, we have to work
so much harder than young girls
ever dream, and l have seen many
become discouraged and fall by the
wayside, the prey of their own dis
illusionment. Some young goslings,
pretty but weak, tire of the every
day grind, and because they do not
make a sparkling success over night
give up and look about them for a
loophole to escape through.
The mother who wrote to me, tell
ing me she would not let her daugh-
ter go even to visit a moving picture
studio because the men and women
were thrown promiscuously together,
is right if her daughter is of the type
of girls that is susceptible and would
easily fall prey to the wiles of a
certain class of men we instinctively
call the Spiders" of our profession.
There is always the bad among the
good, and though a wise girl learns
to distinguish between the two she
often makes mistakes and allows her
self to be caught in a trap from which
she has difficulty in freeing herself.
The suave, ingrstiating, overly
groomed young chap who calls him
self an actor, but stays in the shad-
ows watching and waiting for the lit
tie, unsophisticated girls, is another
spider. He has been called the white
SLAYER and every effort is made to
keep these dangerous men out of the
studios, and we who are proud of the
companies we work for feel we have
rid ourselves of these social parasites.
Girls of fifteen plead, Dear Miss
Pickford, how can l persuade my
70 81 hA<NrV,a
have nothing to say to Them but,
fidence. If she thinks it is not wise
for you to leave your home, obey her.
She is your best friend. Even if she
IS willing for you to attempt to break
your way into the picture field, al
ways take her with you, so that she
may be either a protection to you, if
you are inclined to play fast and
loose with fate, or to prove to her
there is no contamination which will
harm you if you are once placed in
clean, reliable studios"
There is another spider of the pro-
fession girls must guard against-it
is the female spider, the gossiper, the
woman who has past and who med
dies in the present and future of
every one in the studio. She is gen.
orally kindly voiced and has ever a
hypocritical smile which she has
forced to her lips through many
years of deceit. She will tell you
that you are a dear, sweet little girl
and she will take you right under
her protecting wing. She will pry
into the depths of your heart and
your soul-and the following morning
there won't be an ear in the studio
that will not have heard the now dis
torted confidence you have given her.
You will go to her, upbraiding her,
disappointed and chagrined. Then
she will turn upon you, maligning
,.