The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1916-09-14
WHY l LIKE THE MOVIES
PEARL WHITE

. a. WY carly 5 L 1luNc udU
q positive fondness for doing reck-
less things, and the more danger there
has been connected with them the
more pleasure I have taken in them.
I am not unique in this. 1 have met
during my career a number of other
persons who confessed to having the
same strange tastes. Speaking for
myself, a hum-drum existence would
bore me to distraction. I think I
would soOner die. For instance, when
1wasa child about five or six years old,
despite the fact that I received repeat
ed warning from my father and moth
er, I used to delight in going out to
q rattlesnake den which was not far
from the house and teasing the rep
tiles until they made repeated jumps
at me. My father caught ME at this
amusement one day, and decided that
radical action was required. I will
never forget the punishment that I
got, but after that I let rattlesnakes
alone.
i Later on while still a mere slip Of
d girl, / Joined q circus. The most
dangerous end Of the work seemed
to be that of the trapeze performers;
50 ! begged until I was given. a chance
at it. made good at this from the
start. My instructress, a lady who
had been doing strap work for years.
told me that the reason for my sue
cess was because l lacked the elc-
ment of fear. She said that in this
profession many were called, but few
chosen, and those few persons were
oil like me, utterly Indifferent to dam
ger. I suppose this sounds rather
conceited to the reader, but I certain
~ don't mean to make it so, because
] am telling facts. 1 can claim no
credit for the daredevil spirit, since
It was born in me. I was with the
circus several years, only leaving It
because I was offered NOR money
with q; theatrical troupe. The COM
Frbahy I Joined vas ndMoe'a sw@yelAAs&Af6wiR
company; as a matter of fact it's ap-
,pearances were more or less confined
to what r known in the theatrical
profession as tank towns" We play
ed at. popular prices, and did moth
ing but one night stands. I found
the life,vefy tiresome. Hours Of weary
travel by railroad, then the same old
Journey by bus to an inferior hotel,
the same hurried and poorly cooked
dinner, the same old trip to the thea
tire, which usually was of the kind
known as the "Opera House," After
the show, If we were lucky, we had a
few hours sleep in miserable beds
before going on to the next town. II
unlucky, we left town the same night,
and picked up what slumber we could
on the train.
The nearest I came to en%counterine
danger in these peregrinations was
when our train ran into another, and
several persons were killed, SO 1 de-
cided after several years Of this to
get into motion pictures, which then
had just started to ''boom,'' and Sc
cured an engagement with the Pathe
company. This was over three years
ago., and I have stuck to the work
faithfully, not merely because l gel
q good salary, but because the life
fascinates Inc.
The first of the long line of thrill
ers'' i which l have appeared was
the "Perils of Pauline" which Pathe
put, out some tw, and a half years
ago. In this production for the first
time I fell in love with nay work. The
various stunts which my directo,
called upon me to do offered to me
the most sincere pleasure. "A Erie1
recital Of some Of the feats which J
did in pauline" may be Of interest.
The first was my experience witt
the rats. I mention it first, not be
cause it is the first in point of time
but because most women, however
courageous, draw the line when !
comes to close contact with rats o.
mice. The villain. in order to encom
pass my death, was supposed to hav'
shut me up In a cellar with the her
and then turn the water OF a cans
IND. ,l.e cellar. AS the house VA
suN.ss.tl to oe full of rats, naturaii
the rising food would bring them oo'