New-York tribune., 1920-06-06
Movies Lure Girls as Circus Does Boys;
Henrietta Bultes Case One of Thousands
TT UST as boys used to run away
from home In the hope Of join

UST as boys used to run away
from home In the hope Of join
ing the circus, so now girls
from all parts Of America dis
appear from their homes, as did
Henrietta Butte, of New York. with
the dream Of finding fame and for
tune in the studios Of Southern Cali
fornia. In the old days, when large
families were in vogue, it was Gus
tomary for parents to line up their
sons and count them every morning
and every night while q circus was
within hundred miles, and 1t was
during that period that Longfellow
wrote "There is no flreside howsoe'er
defended but has one vacant chair"
In these days It Is not necessary
to line up end count the children,
but If Longfellow still were alive
he might write that there Is no
kitchenette apartment, howsoever
safeguarded, but has at least one
movie fan. And If that fan is
feminine, whether she be daughter
or wife, if she is young and pretty,
the chances are she cherishes
dream, though it may be the i'm
mediate secret Of her heart, Of some
day taking flyer at film dramas.
Few Girls Unaffected
After six years Of work with such
runaway girls, Mrs. Aletha Gilbert,
city mother of Los Angeles, says
she does not believe there is one
girl in thousand who has not such
a dream. Yet in hundreds Of cases
which have come under the observa-
tion of her department it was a
great surprise to the parents Of the
girls to learn that their daughters
had any such ambitions.
Not week passes that some
CRATER is not arrested for Turing
girls to Los Angeles under false
pretenses or for cheating or taking
advantage of them after they have
reached that city. The great ma
jority of the disappointed girls, how
ever, slip out of sight without ever
getting a line in the newspapers.
The city mothers department takes
charge of many Of them, finding
work for some and sending others
home, while hundreds Of others turn
to any work that offers rather than
let their friends at home know where
they are or how utterly their am
bitions have been crushed.
Henrietta Butte was a pretty
good example. Henrietta would not
even admit that she had gone to
Los Angeles to become film actress,
because when she was found there
she was working as a maid in a
house on FL Centre Street. She had
failed to find work as an actress and
did not like to admit that she had
tried. She asserted that she had
met woman in New York who sug-
gested to her that they take trip.
They went to Philadelphia together,
Henrietta said, and from there
Henrietta went alone to Chicago.
No, she didn't know just why-she
just wanted to GO West. But always
3, headed toward Los Angeles. She
.sent from Chicago to The Needles,
Calf, to work as a waitress in a
railroad eating house there, but she
quit that job as soon as she could
and went to Los Angeles.
Because She Was Pretty
Detective Williams, who followed
the girl from New York, said just
before leaving Los Angeles May 20
to bring the girl home that she told
I'm she had come all the way solely
sscause a woman had told her she
was pretty and would do we'll in the
movies.
1t is not merely very young girls
like Henrietta who run away from
home to go to Los Angeles, however.
Wives who have deserted husbands
and babies are found there frequently