The Washington times., 1926-01-13

II
Mother Dear: What a wonder
full Christmas I've had! AS it
was the first I'd ever spent away
from home, / was afraid I'd be
miserable; but everyone was so
sweet to me, / didn't have time
to /, be the least bit homesick.
It's been one Of the happiest days
of my life.
Christmas morning spent at
the home of Mr.. and Mrs. Reg
inald Denny. You'd love them
they have the incest English ac-
cent and are the most hospitahle
and generous persons I've ever
met. They had a huge Christ
mas tree, beautifully decorated,
loaded with lovely gifts. met
a lot OF celebrities and had a
peach OF time. Mrs. Denny
gave me a large bottle Of inn
ported perfume and Mr.. Denny
gave two new stunning sport
roadsters to his secretary and his
valet. as well as q. Ford coupe
to his chef!
There are five beauty coInpeti-
ton winners here now, including
myself, and we had a lot Of fun
exchanging gifts and talking over
I Christmas at home. The studio
gave us wonderful turkey din
ner, and was chosen to carve
the fifteen-peund bird. Later
much later, for we were fright
fully full OF dinner we were pre-
scented with radio sets, and we
tuned in on our own cities and
danced the Charleston to the
music of our hometown orches.
tras.
I'm working in comedies now.
They are called Sweet Sixteen
Comedies, and are released I'M
der the Blue Bird brand. get.
along splendidly with Arthur
Lake, the leading man. He's
only Is, so we work together
very well. The director and
studio officials seem pleased with
my work, and they've made me
Arthur's leading lady for the
whole series. It's wonderful
training, because I learn so much
in every picture. OF course, I
notice my mistakes when / see
the daily PUSHES and try to
do better the following day. You
see, by viewing myself on the
screen and noticing my mistakes,
can take pains not to make the
same mistakes again, thus i'm.
proving my work.
Although / wasn't homesick
on Christmas, / must confess
had the blues the other day; but
it was my fault, as I sort OF
worked myself into an attack Of
acute homesickitis. Here's how
1t happened:
Mrs. Wallace Reid saw me
with my curls hanging down DIT
lunch one day at the Universal
City cafeteria. She had been
looking for girl who was pretty
and had curly hair, so she SEM
for me to play a small bit In
the scene / was supposed to cry,
because the young man with
whom was in love had been
killed. AS I'd never had to cry
before, | asked them to play
Nearer. My God, To Thee on
the organ and violin. They did
it. very sweetly and mournfully,
and i concentrated on the music
and started to think of you and
sis back home. / Immediately
started to sob and, oh, goodness,
how l boo-hooed. I cried real
tears-no fooIing-they simply
streamed down my face. My
mascara started to run. Then I
remembered how awful I'd look
If / cried so hard, butt couldn't
stop!
Mary Alden, playing an inn
portant part in the picture. was
sitting in front of us, and she
kept repeating: He's dead, he's
dead" and 1 simply couldn't stop.
Even after the director had
shouted Cut to the cameraman,
I couldn't control my tears. Then
Mary Alden-she's q perfect dear;
we saw her in Siege you remen-
ber--came up to me and tried to
console me; but I wouldn't console
worth a cent-the water works
wouldn't stop.
Finally / left the set and
walked around for almost half an
hour until, deciding I'd cried
enough to last me a whole year,
I managed to choke it off at last