Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-08-02
The =.
LOVE STORY
of a
MOVIE STAR

| DUT IL is all due to little Jane Ber-
Dgera, who plays ingenue parts; she
came up and kissed me before them all.
And, as she did so, noticed that the
perfume she was using was lilac!
The scent came swooning over me.
Oh, the fresh lilacs that crushed to
my lips the night that I first met Roland
Welles! I felt drowned in the rush of
the past, tha overwhelming flood Of
sweet and bitter memories. That love
that mounted In my heart throughout
that year until It eliminated In that
kiss beside the pool under the tree.
And then the blank year that followed
am lovesick tonight. Why should
I not confess it?-that aching longing
that I have Just to see him again:
nsk for nothing more-just to see him
! lean back in my big, comfortable
chair, and. closing my eyes, conjure up
the well remembered picture of his face.
There Is not line or feature of 1t that
do not know, together with its every
change Of expression.
Did any one ever have such Won
derful smile, ! wonder? All, Annette,
you who have felt its charm will find
It in your heart to pity me, am sure.
For you. of all women, will be able to
understand.
But side by side with the softer and
more tender feeling, nm conscious Of
another surging impulse touch Of the
old recklessness returns, the reckless
ness that brought me my first fame.
For It seems to me that all through
the first year I was here, and after,
my broken heart acted as a spur to
drive me to the widest extremes. L
was merciless to myself and merciless
to all who had the slightest interest in
my welfare, mcrciless in my daring.
And the whole studio wondered at me.
The Little Panther" was on the war
path! H did all he could to pro-
tect me from the consequences of my
own folly. was soon aware how
slowly, through him ! achieved q new
faith in men, a new hope in life. For
his love was of q kind l had never be-
fore seen in any man-the kind that /
had dreamed Of as a very young girl,
but had come to believe was never to
be found outside Of a young girls
dream. My foster mothers terrible
revelations had crushed that belief al
most utterly ,and what she had not sue.
ceeded in doing, Roland Welles had
completed for her.
But H-'s love was unselfishness
itself. 1t was the love that never thinks
of self, but renounces for the good of
the loved one. 1t was the love that
gives without asking any return. 1t
was the love which, while always at a
white glow, never leaps into fame, never
dies into ashes.
And his patience with me! He
to protect and help me. What would
l ever have done without him?
1t sometimes seems to me now as If
H represented, or at least called
out, all that was good in me, while
Roland appealed only to what was bad.
The angel of light, the angel of dark
ness. And how the two influences
struggled within me. And in this inner
civil war I was constantly being torn.
All, if only really knew what / want
cd But the darkness is sweet, the
darkness is sweet! H must have
divined early in our friendship what
was the trouble with me-. for never
once did he speak directly for himself.
DuJ HOW lluNIl hih Wv Ava III a
thousand different ways.
Without ever putting it into words,
he made Inc see how crude / was as an
actress. He turned my thoughts toward
study and self improvement. am
not ashamed to confess that by the
gentlest hints and the most casual sug-
gestions he taught me manners.
\ movie actress, perhaps even more
than an actress in the regular stage,
because she is called upon to play such
an infinite variety of parts without
much opportunity to study, must be
able to assume the manners of all
classes. She must be able to play the
woman of good society, the queen, the
shop girl, the girl of the plains, the
thief, the woman of the street, each
in turn, as the case may be. And it
was especially in polite" parts that
I failed for lack of experience and
training.
But I was an apt pupil, apt indeed.
And the fires of my ambition once
lighted, let no opportunity escape me
for self improvement. If for no other
reason, / was grateful enough to wish
to please II. But besides, soon
found, as many another broken hearted
woman has done, that there is no ano-
dine like hard work.
Owing to the fact that in the begin