The Washington times., 1920-08-21
By FRANK BRADY.

The moment we asked Alice Lake
that question we regretted 1t. I'm
mediately before she had been all
animation, the dark hazel eyes bright
as only those of youth can be. Even
her brown hair seemed momentarily
to have lost its luster. Yet the Ques-
ton had seemed harmless enough. 1t
was simply:
where were you born?"
And natural enough. too. For do
not all true biographies begin some
thing like: Born in the little village
Of Hoosic Falls. nesting in the heart
Of the Berkshires, of poor and fairly
honest parents" Our intention
had been innocent Of any desire to
probe into the closet where family
skeletons are parked We wished
merely to start at the beginning OF
this young screen ceiebrity's. life; and
right OF the reel we had made q
faux pas.
If the inquiry had been, when
were you born" and Miss Lake were
As she obviously is not-a young
eighteenth birthday, we should have
expected a blanching Of the cheek, a
dropping Of the eyes, sudden sharp
intake of breath. But we didn't. In
the first place we realized she had no
reason for concealing it; and in the
second we already knew it to be
twenty-one. Our query had been
geographical, not chronological
Woman-like, Miss Lake, who Will
be pictured as star of 1.-THE Mis-
At Wife" at both Crandalrs Metro
politan and Knickerbocker theaterA.
beginning tomorrow, evaded.
"Even when was a kid with pig
tails, in-that is, at home-I wanted
to go into the movies. I thought they
were thrilling. in fact"-and here
Alice smiled--"the movies drove me
into my first crime"
Murder" we asked with profess
sional briskness.
mo. I wasn't at the time far
enough advanced for that. Just rob-
berry this was" There was a genuine
regret in her voice. j,
II stole a nickel to see my favorite
Western hero pick 'em Off as they
mountains. You know the kind of
picture. The sheriff had a long
sweeping moustache and was in
league with the cattle rustlers, and
there was a girl in calico who loaded
the guns while the men fred through
loopholes, and"
with a jolt we realized that we
were being led farther away from the
original question.
But Miss Lake" we Interrupted,
"All that in good time. 1t seems to
me that the best thing would be to
start at the beginning. Now, where
we're"
Apparently Alice had not heard us.
for she continued. absorbed in remin-
iscence:
"Then for a while I was stage
struck. You see we didn't live in
New York, but in-but never mind
that. And one day mother took me
over to see an honest -to-goodness
Broadway show. 1t was, 'Mary's
Ankle with Bert Lytell now a Metro
star. Funny. isn't it, that I now be
heading a Metro company too?"
The matter of evasion was getting
serious.
But. Miss Lake.
"Once I was home again, though,
I went back to my first ambition, to
chance with Vitagraph, as an extra,
and then later / got some little COM
edy parts; and then got an offer to
go into Mack Sennett comedies, in
California"
Evidently the time had come for
stern measures. Sauaring ourselves
in the chair. we fixed a cold eye on
Alice and said firmly:
Miss Lake, will you or will you
not tell me-" r.t
About what happened next" she
asked ingenuously. well, than came
should a Woman Tell7' Shore Acres
and now The Misft Wife," $50.
-where were you born. Miss
Lake7" we asked again. I...y , =
For a long while she was silent.
Then her eyes lifted piteously.
Must an Alice tell7" she asked.
Had the interview not bean a mat
ter OF duty, had we not been forced
to steel ourselves against all COM
passion. we might have relented.
"She must" we said with an omi.
nous auietness.
Suddenly Miss Lakes eyes blared
with defiance.
And IL she doesn't--
Then" we said, we shall take the
matter into our own hands and state