Charlevoix county herald., 1916-09-15
GRACE DARMOND, A
LITTLEEVA' GRADUATE
Like at Least Ninety Per Cent. Of the
Motion Picture Actresses the Star
of 1.-THE Shielding Shadow" Began
as an Uncle Tommer.

as an Uncle Tommer.
There is one interesting question
which has escaped all the statisticians.
They have been wandering up and
down the earth since it was young
computing the number of strokes the
average man takes with a razor in an
average lifetime; how many words
the average woman speaks in a week
the length in miles of the worlds
annual poetical output, etc., ETC., but
no one has ever used pencil and paper
In computing how many little, fiaXen.
haired girls ascend to the spotlight an.
.nually on Little Eva's" cloud.
1t would be safe to wager that nj
least ninety per cent. of the motion
picture stars began their ascent in that
lugubrious way and at least seventy per
cent. of these having outgrown little
Eva's wings and cloud, made their
next move as "Editha's Burglar"
Write to your favOrite movie &C.
tress and ask her if this wasn't the
route she Travelled. Perhaps she skipped
"Editha's Burglar" but che is most
unusual If she did not begin her heart.
racking career as Little Eva"
II was both Eva and 'Edltha,'"
laughed Miss Grace Darnbnd, the pref.
ty little star who is featured in "The
Shielding Shadow" new Pathe serial,
"and remember was SO little when
l played Little Eva that 1 cried when
did the translation scene for the
first time, because instead of getting
off the cloud into heaven, as 1 had
expected, was lifted off into the dus.
'ty old loft Of a theatre.
"That was my first disillusion. There
have been thousands since, but do you
know that whenever 1 have n disap.
pointment 1 remember how 1 cried
when they lifted me off the cloud and
how 1 have laughed at it since. !
remember that and laugh at my lat,
est disillusion. i know l will laugh
about it some day, so why not nowi
81 think / must subcOnsciously have
taken these words for my motto when
l began motion picture work. / was
getting forty dollars a week on the
legitlmate-and that's pretty good for
girl of sixteen-but 1 was ambitious
and wanted to do better, so one day
l applied to the manager of motion
picture company out West. He looked
me over critically. Had L ever acted
before the camera? L knew that If l
said hadn't ii would be fatal, so / told
him little white one, and said had.
"He replied that this was very for,
tunate. They were getting ready for
the first rehearsal of a play. The
scene was set, all the cast was there
except one of the leading characters.
She had sent word she was too i'll to
come. He could not afford a delay,
was just her size, complexion and
build. 1 had had experience. Would
i take her part?
"Would / take her part? / jumped
ut It,. He paid me only forty dollars
a week, the same as 1 had been get
ting; but 1 would have taken 1t for
less because of the opportunity IL gave
nae to begin movie work.
Gle doesn't know ii to this day, but
/ was so frightened during that days
work tsat my knees fairly shook, but
i never tried harder and 1 made good.
"Of course, the work Is hard, but
/ love IL. 1t Is hardest when one is
engaged for a serial and 1 sometimes
wonder If the public realizes the stu
pendous work in putting out serials.
The work In The Shielding Shadow
In which there are only fifteen cpl
sodes, will take eight months.
"There Is so little chance for self
deception In screen work that we are
never satisfied. You see, when an
actress receives the applause of her
audience, she makes her bow with the
satisfied feeling that she pleased them
that she has become a success. But
when after weeks and weeks of re-
hearslng for a film with no one to APP
plaud, she sits I'm a little dark room
and sees herself on the screen with
every imaginary fault of gesture and
expression apparent and irremediable
before her eyes, she cannot escape a
feeling of dissatisfaction, with the
determination to do better next time.
81 know that 1 have done my best
work on the screen and that every
picture turned out leaves me ambi-
tious to do better work the next time.
That is one reason why love motion
picture work."