Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-04-08

greeted me with the remark that they
supposed I was out every night hay
ing a good time. To most people
Paris is a playground; to me it was a
workshop.
Another thing that amazed them
was that during my whole stay there
L bought only two gowns. 1 brought
home onlf one trunk and the gown
that wore on my arrival in New York
1 designed myself while I was recup-
Grating in the hospital from my ILL
ness.
For the next few weeks. or until 1
begin work on my next production
Coningsby Dawson's Coast Of Folly
1 shall indulge in an orgy of play
going, that Is, at night. In the day
time l want to become acquainted
again with my children"
One Of the most touching scenes of
Gloria's arrival in New York was
when her mother rushed into her state
room on the Paris, and, after the usual
ecstattc greetings, gave Gloria an en-
velope which was addressed in the
sprawling scrawl of a child. Gloria
and her handsome young husband took
the letter over into the corner, while
the crowd Of friends stood around in
silence. The letter was from Gloria S
daughter who was waiting for her
| mother at their home in Croton, New
York.
MISS swanson was very enthusiast
over her picture experience in Paris.
She was warm in her praise of the
! French Government, which gave her
every assistance possible and threw
open to her and her associates the
| historic palaces and grounds used by
Napoleon and his court of the First
| Empire.
THE French, 1t seems to me-" said
| Miss Swanson, have a deeper rever-
| ence Tor their historic spots than we
Americans. To them, Napoleon is a
| living person and the places where he
| lived are shrines that are guarded
| jealousy by the French Government
and the French people. You appreciate
j this after YOU have been in France
only n short time. Therefore, when
| we arrived in Paris we first went to
| the officials of the Ministry Of Fine
| Arts and told them that we did not
| come to Paris with any idea of show
| ing the French people how to make
motion pictures, but that we came in
| all humbleness and hoped that they
would give us their help. l told them
that if a Frenchman came to America
/ and essayed to play Abraham Lincoln
{ he would be greeted with derision, and
not a little resentment. | told them
that l appreciated that we would be
,, in somewhat the same position, unless
the cast, the atmosphere and the set
| tings of Madame Sans-Gene were not
| only historically accurate, but We're
atmospherically accurate. The French
Ministry of Fine Arts generously re-
| sponded and put at our disposal every
| possible assistance to make Madame
Sans-Gene' the great picture which 1t
| deserved to be.
There is one thing above everything
else that should like to tell my friends
| in the United States. When l was i'll
| in the hospital in a little suburb out
| side of Paris I received thousands of
| cables and letters from all over Eu-
| expressing sympathy and best wishes.
! Many of these were written by chill
| dren. some by people whose hands APP
! parently faltered in writing, and most
of them by people whom | had never
heard of. / can never express the
feeling of gratitude which | have to-
ward these wonderful people who re-
WONDERED me in my sickness; to me it
was the most heart-warming expert
ence of my life"