Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-05
The
LOVE STORY
of a
MOVIE STAR
CHAPTER X1II

once behind that locked door per-
~ feet tempest Of tears swept over me.
How could he have been so cruel, so
heartless How could he have humili-
ated me so--and before that other
woman! I saw the smile on her thin
lips now. stopped pacing the floor TO
look at my swollen and tear'stained
face in the mirror. Could that grier-
ravagcd face be the same that had
smiled SO happily at me from that same
glass only a few short hours before!
Oh, Roland, Roland! Did you realize
that you were breaking my heart!
But. gradually, as the first violence
of nv grief spent itself, began to make
excuses for him. He couldn't have
meant to wound me so cruelty. He had
been thoughtless, had spoken hastily
without at all meaning that l should
take him literally. He, himself, was
| upset. A.. rho.
| i'll hammered director had spoken to him
in a way that would irritate any man
of any sensibility whatever. l had come
at the most inopportune moment pos
sible. He would apologize and explain
| it all at our next meeting. Our next
meeting! When and where would that
be? /, certainly, would never again
| find the courage. to go to see him. II
must be he that would seek me.
But even while l was making excuses
| for him, as a woman always does ana
will continue to do, l suppose, until
the end Of time. for the man she loves,
deep in my heart there fingered tiny
seed of doubt
Doubt fought with me all that n ght.
Ny intuitions whispered the truth 10
me- but the next morning there was
q letter from Roland, letter 1ull OF
remorse and sweetness. >,
You know our temperaments, ne
wrote. when we are in the midst
of work, we fly off the handle. l am
ashamed. l kncel ut your feet. KISS
your hand, sweet Nella. 1t was base
Of me. Miss Audrey scolded me after
you left, for treating you so summary.
l deserved that scolding. VIII you
hold me as n friend? Unfortunately,
,, we have been ordered on tour. and we
will be away for some months. but !
, shall write to you and as soon as
, come back. shall look you up; If then
you still want to go into the movies,
perhaps there will be an opening. You
are very beautiful. Nella.'
: So, he would be gone. Better So
1t would give me time to make some
thing of myself; to study. to rise. to
', | become real NClTcsS.
Fortified with this resolve and with
:, heart much lighter than it had beer
( since my unfortunate trip to Roland
= studio, ! set to work with all the de-
- termination that was in me. thinl
' I have told you that I have n stront
: will, and perhaps ! have already beer
able to show you that this is so. Ever!
! night when I went to bed, l said t'
myself: Remember, Nella, that 70,
tn n actress
n And how ] worked! But even witt
4 all my work | feel sure that ! shoulC
a never have accomplished my end II
4 had not wiled that it should be so.
q made it a sort Of act of faith. n sor
y of prayer. Every night, as l say, be
fore going to bed. would stand In tn
& middle of my tiny room and say aloud
you are going to be great actress" :"
q Sometimes it happened that, ! wa
a so exhausted with the long rehearsal
II and the two daily performances that
would forget to repeat my formula unit
II was actually in bed and on the pOir
y of dropping asleep. But no matter ho'
N tired | was, no matter how cold IN
3 room was. | forced myself TO get oy
~ Of bed again, to take my stand in III
n middle of the floor and to say, "Ho
~ are going to be n great actress
III Does all this seem very childish
YOU? Somehow. / can't think that
was. At any rate, l feel sure that
# was my salvation. 1t certainly helpe
u to keep the end had in view constant
Fl before my eyes. =,
| sometimes wonder who writes Il
e stories about actresses who sudden
spring into fame. Always. at least
the ones / have happened to read, thu
work away. playing small parts ar
y "under studying" big ones until sue
denly the star is taken i'll, or NEE
with some accident. Called upon
the last minute to play the leading par
they make a sensational success. Aft
that. of course, all is easy:
While / have no doubt that this do
occur, why does not some one write &
n story of a young woman who slow
y works her way TO the top and hol
ns her position because she has thorough
learned her business from the groul
ar IN? | am sure this is oftener true thl
ne not particularly Of the actress who b
TO gained her experience in stock"
to OF course, there Is the other way
* which we all know: and the way
as which the general public takes the me
in ,tock-through favoritism, But J. G
honestly say that favoritism had lit