Nogales international., 1929-10-29
Eighth Instalment
What Happened Before

The Rev. Dr.. Steddon, clergyman of
kind heart but narrow mind who attributes
much of the evil Of the world to the
movies" and constantly inveighs against
them. Mem, her lover Elwood Farnaby
having died in an accident, at the advice
of DR.. Bretherick, gives her bad cough as
an excuse to get to. Arizona and from there
writes home that she has met and married
"Mr. Woodville," a wholly imaginary per-
son. Later she writes again to say that her
husband" has died in the desert. She
takes job as a domestic to avoid being a
burden on her parents. A fall prevents her
becoming mother. In Arizona she had
Tom Hobby, a leading man in motion
picture company, and through him gets the
opportunity. to play a part in a desert
drama; With the company is
Sobina Teele, Star, fond Of Hobby. and
Leva Letnaire, an extra woman. After
her accident, Mem becomes friendly with
Mrs. Dack, a poor woman Of Palm
Springs, Arizona, and takes an interest
~ her bright little son. ,
Terry Dack, who has great gift of
rninlicry. Inspired by letter from Leva,
Mem plans to go TO Los Angeles to take
q job in film laboratory.
She gets job in flm laboratory, but
loses it, She meets Mrs. Sturgs from
her home town, who talks of the evils of
the movies and says the stars are forced to
sell their souls. Mem then learns her
mother is coming to visit her, Mem Is
worried about her finances
She sees a casting director, Arthur Tir-
Tey, and abruptly offers herself to him in
return for a job in the movies. He tells
her the talk about paying the price" is all
rot Mc.1while the attention OF Mr.. Ber-
tnond, head OF the company, is diverted to
her and he decides to give her chance.
Soon she finds herself posing with Clay
more as her director, obcying his COM
nands in kind Of stupor.
Nnvxy C0 M XXy;%11 %1,a C%o~xy
Then the lights went out and
there was wait while Mike ran
along the gallery parallel, with
tweezers in his gloved hands. When
Mike was ready the camera man
shouted: 'F1it EN-! All right, Mr..
Claymore!" Mr.. Claymore called
Music, pleased"
And Mem found herself in sea
OF blazing radiance tremulous with
q simmer of music. -
She went back to the door and
nodded when Claymore's "Are you
ready?' penetrated the myth realm
from far away. She heard him
1nurInur: Camera! Actionw and
she heard his voice reciting an i'm
provised libretto for her panto-
mime
you've come from your dark
ceil! The light blinds youl You
begin to see the angry public, the
cruel judge. You finch. You fall
back They are going to sentence
me to death!' They are kissing
me because / loved too welll' But
my little babyI They said I killed
himi They can't know how /
loved him! how felt his little
hands on my cheek, his lips at my
breast! how / suffered when his
cheek grew coldl 0 Godl I prayed
for his life even though it meant
eternal shame! But he is gonel
Ny lover is deadl What is this
world to me? Wiring your handsl
Look at the judgel Draw your
self up! Defy him! That's i'll
Now let the tears come. My baby,
I am coming to you'll My baby!"
She heard his voice wailing and
trembling like the vox h~m0n0 stop
she village organist used to pull
out for the sake of pathos. It was
maudlin, unforgivably cheap and
trashy, yet it was the truth for her,
as for millions of other girls. 1t
was trite because it had broken SO
many hearts.
She felt fool, a guilty fool. The
music, the lights, the directors voice
ALI, all was insanity. But it
swept her heartstrings with an
Aeolian thrill and they sang with a
mad despair. 4
But Mem had been schooled all
her life to keep her hands down
and to avoid flourish, to take short
steps and to keep her waist and
hips stolid. Though the fashions
of the day gave her short, loose
skirts, no corsets, free arms, she
might as we'll have been handcuffed
and hobbled and fastened in iron
stays, for all the freedom she used.
Claymore made her run, with
longer and longer stride. bend and
touch the floor, fling her arms aloft,
take the steps of a Spanish dancer
and Spanish vixen. But she was
unbelievably inept.
Il wish I had the courage and
the kindness to give you a Belasco
training" he said. 'You know he
testified in court that when he
trained Mrs. Leslie Carter for her
big war-horse roles, he had to
break her muscle-bound condition
first. He threw her down stairs,
throttled her, beat her head against
the wall, and chased her about the
room. She told me herself that she
learned the Declaration of Indepen-
dence by heart and spent hours and
hours repeating it as glibly as she
could. Every time she missed an
articulation she went back to the
beginning and recited it all over
'gain-hundreds and hundreds OF
times. That's how she learned to
deliver great TRADES with a breath
less rush, yet made every syllable
distinct. That's how she learned
how to charge about the stage like
lioness.
TO be great actress is no easy
Job. You've got to work like a
iicnd or you'll get nowhere. You've
cot to exercise your arms and legs