The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-01-26
Ruth OXFORD

In II California studio. as a result of her work Ia
minor parts ana offered fat contract a
regular. In reality she was only eighteen, but she
assumed al the dignity and importance of twenty
one so that she might be able to sign her con-
tract
Her mother was unable to make the long trip to
California in order to perform the necessary I"l-
rnality at the time Il contract offered to the
little actress but she just couldn't wait to become
a regular member in good standing of of the
largest film manufacturing concerns in the uni
verse. So she did her best to add cubits to her
stature by taking thought, and carried herself
with such a grace and stately bearing that she
really might have succeeded in getting away with
It, However, when the formal, legal looking doCu-
1nent, with It's parties Of the first part" and
whereas" and "do hereby agree" and all the other
quaint phraseology which is necessary to make Il
promise really binding. was laid out before her and
she took her pen in hand to sign away her services
her courage failed. With nervous haste she de
clared her really insignificant number of years
and the contract had to wait until mother could
make the trip TO California after all.
Success did not easily to Miss Helen
Ferguson, although she is now star ut sixteen.
Miss Ferguson says that much patience, courage
persistency and hard work required before
she got IA start. She looks upon her first eff
forts to get trial a joke, but it not
much of joke then.
II visited the studio every day it was open for
four months" laughed Miss Ferguson. They
wouldn't even civ" me Il chance until one day, in
a courtroom scene they had one vacant chair They
had pressed into service stage hands and every
one else ohtainabc to fill other seats and finally.
in desperation. the director grabbed me for the
last chair
That was the beginning | made good ;S
courtroom spectator, 50 | got extra work from
time To time until finally regular
Miss Ferguson believes perfect health is The
greatest asset Of actress, therefore she tabooS
late hours and exercises regularly in gymna-
stun built especially for her in her home.
Il want to look young AT thirty as do now"
explained the little actress. THE only way | can
do that is to safeguard my health. | retire every
night at 80 o'clock
Miss Margarita Fischer Is youthful star who is
nor satisfied with the success which she has al
ready attained, but believes in working hard all
the time in an effort to improve her work. She
takes life seriously in spite of the fact that most
of her pictures DO not Indicate it. Miss Fischers
chief aid in the work which she does home is
her mother. When She reaches home after
: busy afternoon in the studio her mother has her
mail all sorted ont for her, ana after dinner she
retres to her study, where she looks after the
after the letters are out of the way She goes over
the plans for her next days work
"Co-operation of the star and the director is
absolutely necessary for the making of better pic
tures,' she says. Il give an hour every evening
to going over the work and thinking out better
ways to submit to the director For you cannot
allow yourself moments let-up. If you are am
bilious to do good work on the screen