The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-03-07

Kinia meets Theodore Strntton, the
 great movie star. Virginia tells Jack l Thompson she Is going to work for
 the Kalsey studio. He warns her
 De Wore is B hard director. Virginia
 dreamed of the old Virginia home and
 of the future. In her minds eye she saw Theodore stratton. Theodore strstton invited Virginia to ride home with him. He then
 learned she was the same girl he had 1 talked to on the trnin to Los Angeles. LOVE COMES AS the car slowed up in front of i the door l was uncomfortab1y aware l that a number of people were in the 1 apartment house lobby and everyone recognized Theodore Strattons s car. 1t was not until later. however, that l really sensed the mistake l had made in allowing him to bring me home or pay me any individual attention In no other place in the
 world does the tongue of scandal wag
 as it does in movie-land. No one Is
 ever given the credit of succeeding 1 by sheer hard work If you speak of some big actor he has always got | ten his position because some woman
 was in love with him at his begin ming and, being power on the screen.
 she made him. And no girl, no mat l ter how impeccable her conduct. ever
 escapes the lifting of the eyebrow
 and the compression of the lips which
 intimates something dark and shad-
 owy in her past if she reaches ths i top.
 Any young woman who starts Into the profession must be inured to this she must regard her own con l science as her standard and let the
 world judge as it will. i If has always seemed to me that
 the movie fans prefer to have their 1 favorite actors and actresses the i heroes and heroines of some more or
 less petty intrigue. Without it they
 would be too perfect. Those most in.
 terested in an actress like to say: ''Oh, she is human just like the rest
 of us"
 I wonder why that word Human 1 when applied to d person always
 means some little vice. To be human is not to be devilish any more than
 10 be human is to be godlike and yet 1 human characteristics according to
 common understanding are repre- hensible.
 | Although I knew that many eyes were looking at me I purposely lin- l gered longer than was necessary as 1 | extended my hand to Theodore Strat- ton and he held it a wee bit longer
 than I wished under the circum- stances.
 will you come up and see my lit- | tie apartment I invited. And, oh, l was so afraid he would. But Theodore Stratton knew what
 was what "No, my dear child, will
 come some time, though, and bring Maud Samson with me. It is an un fortunate thing, Miss Winston" q winced little as I heard him ad
 dress me formally) that the motives
 of men who are much in the public
 eye are always misunderstood. I have to be careful not only of your reputation but of my own. If I should
 visit your apartment every eye that is watching us right now. would grow
 rounder and larger for the moment- ! then it would narrow with sinister suspicious. That is the sad thing
 about our profession. Our motives are always suspected"
 l How my heart leaped at his words. i How generous. how wonderful he
 was! How splendid fate had been to
 as I?
 l I looked up into his face and some- 1 thing I saw there gave me surprise l that was almost painful.
 TrembIingly I extended my hand i again. He barely touched my fingers Careful. careful, my dear child; re-
 member you are always on exhibi- ] tion.'
 Then he raised his hat with the same grace that distinguished him on ] the creen and left me.
 hurried through the lobby. rushed ] upstairs. and locked myself in my
 room. For a moment I stood rather uncomprehendingly. Then, with a
 rush my sense of humor came to me and I laughed.
 | Why had I locked the door? What did I think was pursuing me?
 Notwithstanding I knew it was all foolishness I was again dramatizing | myself as I had all my life. Since l that day l have concluded that this ability to dramatize ones self is the ability to put ones personality upon
 the screen. although of course, be- hind the locked doors of my little room. I was just playing a childish game.
 arose. tiptoed to the door. un-
 locked it as softly as possible and
 opened 1t quickly.
 Love rushed in
 | l felt my face grow hot for real | ized that ever since that night at the Alex" love for Theodore Stratton i had been knocking at my heart It l had put Ria's affairs. Ria's friend
 ship, even my work and ambition into 1 the background and I had just passed l through the most supremely happy half-hour of my life.
 I sat down in the little, low rock ing chair. My beating heart whis- pered: He Is interested in me. He is so splendid! He knows so much; he is so chivalrous and noble. He is just
 what I want the lover that I dreamed was coming to me to be. And what of Maud Sanson% %" lit- tie demon of doubt murmured. Maud Samson with her tired eyes and weary
 mouth which droops when she thinks no one is looking and curves up into smiles the moment she knows she Is
 observed. She, too. loves Theodore