Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-09-10
CONFESSIONS
OF n STAR
As Told to
INEZ KLUMPH
CHAPTER XVII

Ihose who went down the gangplank
onto the stage had to pass close to me !;
i was glad, for many Of these people
had worked in the East since l had been
In pictures, and so ! had never seen
them. I was anxious to know what
they looked like. what their personality
really was. t
But Of course my interest centered
on those two men---the falling star and
the rising one. Would tonight see the
great moment Of their careers? ! heard
that they had worked In the game
studio at one time, and that even then
they had not, been good friends.
The younger man went down to the
stage first. His mouth was rather
grim. and noticed that his hands were
clenched, as he paused for moment
at the top of the gangplank, while he
was announced. Then, as the cheers
Of the crowd began to surge up to him,
he shook his shoulders and smiled--a
broad. cheerful grin, put on as readily
and consciously as woman puts on q
veil. He ran down the gangplank, wav-
ing one arm, and never stopped till
he was leaning over the railing at the
front Of the platform. Then he cupped
his hands and shouted through them.
''Hello, everybody - in voice that
People shouted and clapped, and
threw into the air the souvenirs that
had been given away at different booths
cheap little reproductions Of different
stars photographs. paper fans, cellu-
loid buttons stamped with the name of
a poor picture that was being pushed by
lavish advertising.
The excitement died down for a mo-
ment or two them people dropped and
leaned against each other, or surged
away to the booths where some of the
stnrs were. A very passe ingenue. with
violently yellow hair and eyelashes so
beaded that they were nearly an inch
long, minced down onto the platform
and told the crowd that she just loved
them all. a statement which they re-
ceived with weary indifference. The
great pennants hanging from the bal
cony sagged in the sitting air. and a
| rloud OF dust danced in the radiance OF
the glaring lights.
Word had gone around that Bill
Hart. easily winner Of the contest for
the grand march, had withdrawn his
name. 1T lay now between those two
men.
Presently it was announced that there
| would be some more personal appear
| ances. The crowd jostled and showed
its way back to the platform, or
climbed on chairs and boxes and the
edges of the booths in the background
eager to see the man whose name and
| face they had known 30 long.
I studied him as he stood beside me
waiting to face the people who, like
the audiences in that other Coliseum
in Rome. could break him IL they
wished. He couldn't have been so very
old, and IL you weren't too near him, he
gave the illusion of youth. But I could
see that his very mobile face had begur
to sag. that there were many line!
which the touch Of make up didn't hide
that he did indeed need the favor Of
the crowd IL he was to hold to hts sue
cess. ~
He sauntered nonchalantly down to
the stage. n stunning figure, In his per-
fectly fitting evening clothes. Lookins
down Mt him, as the crowd cheered
frantically. didn't wonder that girls
have "cr1ishes" on motion picture stars
1t is their business, of course, to bt
good looking and magnetic, and know
how to make people like them: Mer
in ordinary life rarely bother to do that
Is It any wonder that those who max,
a business of it succeed?
The cheering died down, as shouts o.
"Speech-speech" came from variou,
parts of the hall. The man took steI
forward and laid his hands on tn,
railing.
Friends of mine" he began.
1--WE want" then it was a demand
for the other man, the younger one.
Another voice took up the shout, ant
then another. People turned and twisted
to see who was shouting, but the CT.
came from everywhere now. No us,
to try Quell it and 60 on with a speech
The man, that older one. who had beer
trying to make one, threw out his hands