Nogales international., 1929-11-15
Twelfth Instalment

He was so thwarted and rejected:
that he sent her home alone. She
was grateful for that. 60
She toiled all the while at her
own technic. When she finished
the short comedy with Ned Ling
she was drawn back to the Ber-
mond studio for the principal role
in a big picture. She was not yet
to be starred, but she was to be
featured" with young man, Give
Cleland, who was spoken of as
Tom Ho1by,s successor. tssf.
Young Cleland fell prey to her
growing destinations, but he was
so much her business rival and their
professional love scenes were such
duels for points, that she could not
think of him as an amateur in love.
Besides, an unsuspected loyalty to
Tom Hobby. was wakened in her
heart by the pretense that this raw
youth was Toms successor"
Hobby was out in the ,Mojave
Desert on location, and his absence
pleaded for him like still, small
voice that interfered with the MUIR
murs of nearer lovers.
She was full of impatience OF
every sort. !.
She had fallen out of love with
herself.
Mannerisms that directors or
critics pointed out, or that she dis
covered for herself. vexed her to
distraction. 1t was strange thing
to recognize in herself fault that
she detested in others and was yet
unable to eradicate. Striving to
avoid these recurrent tricks, she
grew self-conscious, and people
said that she was getting a swelled
head when, she was most IN panic
What they took for conceit was the
bluff of a rabbit at bay.
And all the while thc longing for
a home, a single love, a normal
average life, alternated with onsets
of cynical defiance for the conven-
tions. .
She was in marriage mood and
her heart and her friends gave her
conflicting counsel: Don't marry! an
actor! Don't marry an author!
Don't marry business mani
Don't marry anybody! ~
Ned Ling was one of Mems most
abiect worshipers. He had taught
her the mechanics of comedy. and
helped her tragedy thereby. With
out being able to laugh at himself,
he taught her to laugh at herself
and at him. as IL y
He grew morbid for her. He,
cast away his fears of love and has
horror of marriage and his sense OF
humor at the same time. He flew
into tempests of anger at her un-
responsiveness and became tragic
clown at whom she could not help
smiling.
He made comic exits from her
presence, swearing he would never
see her again, and comic returns.
But Mem would only firt with him,
and with anyone else who amused
her. t
Tom Hobby came back from the
desert browner than ever, less
subtle, more undeniable than ever.
He fought hard for her in the spirit
of the hero he was playing at the
time, a man who acted on the
theory that the cave man is
woman's ideal and that she prefers
above all things to be caressed with
a club.
But these highly advertised
tactics were not to Mems liking,
at least at the moment. When he
grew too fierce she struck him in
the mouth with fist that had stout
muscles for a driving bar. and she
brought the blood to his nose with
a slash of her elbow.
She rallied at his awkward con-
fusion, but thereafter she was out
when he called.
Eventually she met him again at
the golden wedding anniversary of
an old actor and accepted his apol-
ogies and his company home.
"How wonderful" she said on the
palm-gloomed way, ito be loved by
one man for fifty yearsW
81 could love you for hundred" )"
Tom groaned. Lets get married
and quit wasting SO much time"
81 wouldn't give up my career
for all the happiness in the world"
81 don't suppose any woman ever
gave up her career when she got
married"
"How do you mean?"
"Most women have been brought
up for career of housekeeping. "A
father or mother told them what
to do, and scOlded them when they
did something else. They learned
how. to make dresses and sew and
cook, and that was their business.
When they married they just
moved their shop over to their
husbands home, and expected him
to provide the raw stock and tell
them what to do and scold 'em if
they didn't do it, or spank, EN-"
"But you'd be hugging other girls
before the camera-and other men
would be hugging me-" a-..
"As long as it didn't mean any
thing"
"But it might come to-
'Well, for the matter of that, a
lot of hugging goes on in lot OF
homes-and outside of them. Nc
guaranty ever went with marriage
that was good for anything, and
there's none now. We've got as
good chance as anybody"