New-York tribune., 1919-12-28

and will be in that and many others be
cause want to keep OH doing things
and not merely getting there in the
easiest WY.
Il have just turned down a fabulous
guarantee of money anG of tifty-two
weeks consecutive engagement by Ro-
lana West N The Unknown Purple for
that reason.
Il starved Cor years because l loved
to act for the sake of acting and no.
for the tfing that woulo bring the i'm
med iatc dollar"
How aid you come to go on the
STAGE" Another timeworn but ever
interesting query.
II think it was inborn-that is, the
desire. My mother had always wanted
ito be an actress, but my fathers family
bitterly opposed it. l come from
long line OF Methodist ministers in
New Jersey, and for a member of the
Bennett family to become an actor
was regarded as though he had turned
Baptist or Episcopalian or Catholic.
My father was a self-ordained
minister or lay preacher, and my Uncle
Henry was regular minister My
grandfather was a community circuit
rider in New Jersey and my great
greatgre grandfather, who founded
Benefits Muls, the place where l was
born, was preaChe~, ran saw mill, a
flour mill and a general merchandise
store. He lived in the old Bennett
manor house about which the old slave
huts are still TO be found.
My grandfather brought forth sew
enteen children from that house, and
my grandmother sent nine of her sons
to the Civil War, only three Of whom
came back"
But how did you start to act ?"
"Wen, | just seemed naturally TO
t6he the lead in the charades we had
in the school and Sunday school. and
they broadened into a very bad dra-
matte society called the Carlton CLUB.
We did light operas, melodramas and
omedies-anything we could get mold
of on which there We're no royalties.
"Then | met Joe Coyne and told him
l wanted to be a regular, for-sure-
enough actor, and he sent me to his
manager, Elmer Vance, who was tour
ing with The Limited Mall He said
if | would do two small parts and be
the property man ne would give me $50
week. | jumped at the chance, and
in the next year ! played every male
part in the long cast and even the
character old maid when the lady who
was doing it fell i'll. l ended the sea
son by playing the juvenile lead at S35
a week. which | thought great because
that was what Joe Coyne was getting.
In the company were Grace Sherwood.
Harry Clay Blaney and Lew Bloom"
After seeing Mr.. Bennett in Augustus
Thomass "Rio Grande," in "The Tn
known Purple" as John Shand with
Maude Adams in What Every Woman
Knows" and as the District Attorney
in For the Defense" no one can doubt
his versatility
His delight over the success of
Frank Gillmore's pretty blond daugh-
ter Margolo, in The Iamous Mrs
FAIR prompted visit to the stage
door Of Henry Miller's Theater and to
Ter dressing room, where one marveled
10 less at her wealth of capillary sun
shine than at the charming courtesy of
her maid" who, though quite self
abnegating, was punctiious in her at
tention to the visitors hat and coat
and hobblng- aid.
How did you feel" was asked.
when the first-nghters insisted on
curtain call for you, and Miss Bates so
graciously pushed you forward" ."
ooh, | can't describe it." said the
golden girl II was all a-tremble."
where did you get that name, Mar
colo ?"
81 gave it to myself" she laughed. ~
was christened Margaret but Mar
COLO was the nearest could come to It
as tot, and it has clung to me ever
since. If l had abandoned it when
went on the stage my friends wouldn't
have known it was l."
"Have you been on long?"
"Yes." quite seriously, "two years.
Before that l went to the Sargent
School of Acting, and before that to a
private school"
What else have you played in?'
"'A Scrap of Paper With Robart