Evening star., 1924-01-27
Had a Remarkable Career

more pronounceable name OF her
English mother), went TO Chicago 10
get on newspaper she had written
for Port Huron. Mich, newspaper
and had been praised for the precocity
of her stories, but not paid for them.
When she arrived in Chicago she
had exactly Sc for a weeks room
rent at the Y. W. c. A. On the third
| day, after she had been told by every
newspaper editor in Chicago that h.
had no vacancies for & girl reporter,
she went to work in a factory where
| they made wax flowers. Her wages
were 81, and as the S surplus woulc
not feed a healthy girl from a Michi
| gan farm, Miss Sears wrote bits o.
humorous verse and human interes-
! filters" which she peddled to the
| news papers, reaping thereby about
IS3 a week.
In six months she decided that
writing; even on a gamble, gave a
better living than wax flowers, so
she aimed all her literary output n
the receptive editor of the old Chi
| cago Herald.
One of her ideas for a human in
! terest" yarn was an intimate per
| sonal interview with the late Sarah
Bernhard. Having been coldly re
| fused access to the great actress by
the theater manager, Miss Zelda went
back to the stage door and was
pounced upon by the stage manage,
/ who was looking for extra ladies
| to help carry Bernhardt's train. From.
| this vantage point Miss Sears wrote =
series of stories that might have beoi
| headlined if young man from tho
! News had not been a fellow super
with the young lady from the Herald.
| This rival reporter was James Forbes
whose fame as a playwright cane
some time before Miss Sears.
| This taste of stage life made her
| eager for more, and because she haG
been brought up on music by a con-
poser father, she sought a place in I.
musical stock company. While she
! played in the chorus at night, she
studied stenography by day. Then a
Chicago theatrical company, bound
flor New York, invited her to go along
and she dropped her stenographic
studies and soon appeared on Broad
way as Il show girl in one of \. l.
Erlanger's musical shows.
Early in her New York career il
became necessary for her to help hcf.
mother and younger sister, 50 She
lopened an Office on Broadway as a
public stenographer. One OF her
clients was Clyde Fitch then at the
beginning of his brilliant career as
a playwright. Miss Sears made her
self invaluable to him, first as q
Istenographer. then In the principal
lcomedy roles of practically every
play he wrote.
as an actress, Miss Sears continued
her secretariai work for Mr.. Fitch,
who tried to make her do creative
work herself. However, during the
long broadway runs OF The Truth,
1.-The Girl With the Green Eyes" and
Girls Miss Sears spent all her walk
ing hours at Fitchs elbow.
| About ten years ago she became Il
star in Anne O'Day's The Nest Egg
~, -.
;tour in a comedy sketch. The Ward
robe Woman" During the tour she
lspent her spare time inserting comedy
lines in plays that needed doctor
ing" She became a play tinker. !"
whose job at "eagging" show with
funny lines quickly assumed larger
proportions, and sometimes called for
the rewriting of whole scenes and
the changing Of characters and cur
itains. Many moribund comedy got
a new lease of life and spirit through
1.-The quick and effective administra-
tions of Zelda Sears.
Her reward for restoration services
ALWAYS took the form of royalty, but
never recognition. But Miss Sears
lnever lost her sense of perspective
jany more than her poise. She mad
good use of the mistakes Of others
when she wrote her first lipre,,u-
Lady Billy" in which Mitzi starred
for three years with q success that
has seldom been the lot of first
play, and then "The Magic Ring
also for Mitzi, who is now appea ring
in it to crowded houses in New York
Then came THE Clinging Vine,
which is now here for Washington's
verdict, and Miss Sears is just fin
ishing another new musical comedy
for a popular woman star, after
which she will undertake.. the, writing
OF three more for which she has al
ready signed contracts.