Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1931-01-16
OLD
TESSAULT
HAVING
HER DAY
By FANNIE HURST

(6. 1880, Mcclure NeWspapeI SShuiS"le''
TIME manner in which Anna
Tessault entered into what was
practically to be her life work,
was typical of the way in which
the average life hnds its major activ-
ity. Anna Tessault just drifted into
the business which was ultimately to
take on quite important proportions
In the community.
In the days when Hollywood was lit
tie more than bit Of garden coaxed
out Of the edge Of the desert, Anna
Tessault was a dressmaker.
Her father had been gold rusher,
who had left a family stranded on
mortgaged ten acres of orange grove.
1t was Anna Tessault's boast that
she had made dresses for the first
handful of motion picture stars, back
in the days when the vast industry
was an infant in swaddling clothes.
That was probably true. There was
a signed photograph Of Mary Pickford
hanging in Anna Tessault's walls, and
one of great robust clown of fell
low, named Bunny"
Anna Tessault had been in at the
birth of the industry, all right. Her
mind was an archive for annals. She
could tell you the births, the mar
riages, the scandals, the deaths, the
successes, the catastrophes, the ups
and the downs, throughout the history
of the film colony.
ASK Tessault," If you are in doubt
about the birthday of film star-it
anyone, in this day and age, can be
in doubt of anything concerning the
public and private life Of a film star.
ASK Tessault," II you want to
know who, back in 1909, had mar
ried whom, and In what picture 1t
was that Norma Talmadge made her
first outstanding success, and what
has become Of Pearl White.
Ask Tessault.
To ask Tessault, you were obliged
to vi it her beautiful and exclusive
wide frontage gown shop on Holly
wood boulevard. The rugs in the
sumptuous interiors of Anna Tes-
sault's three shops in one, almost
tripped you by the highness of their
nap. Mirrors sent you walking into
yourself on all sides, and nothing SO
mundane as gown or fur scarf or
a bit of hat was permitted to strike
the eye, until you had waddled across
the many feet of expensive frontage
into the softly lighted french-gray
shOwrooms, where mannequins parad-
ed in an octagOn room of mirrors, and
displayed the latest skillful wares of
Tessault.
Tessault was character. And
strangely enough, in a land where the
mere suggestion Of old age is bad0
of ignOminy, Tessault had allG ~n,1
herself to grow old furio dsly. She
was full of lines, deep ones that fur
rowed her face, and her hair, which
It is true she had tinted as It strug-
gled to become gray, fitted her head
like grim wig Of fiuted copper
notwithstanding.
There was a fierce look Of a bird
about old Tessault. She reminded
you of weather-beaten eagle. There
was certain grandeur to her big,
bony figure; certain power to her
hooked aquiline profile. You respect.
ed her for the arduous story of her
accomplishments, the long, hard road
from the early days Of her struggle
to keep over the heads of herself and
frightened mother and sisters the tiny
house set in the ten acres of mort
gagged orange grove.
Anna Tessault had won out in a
big, fine fashion. Her shop was one
Of the most exclusive on the West
coast. A corporation had offered to
buy her out at an astonishing figure.
She was to be reckoned with indus
trially. The entire motion picture
colony claimed her, affectionately, as
its own. The most brilliant, the most
feted, the best dressed Of its satel-
lltes, rolled up to the triple frontage
Of her shops. For twenty years, the
life Of old Tessault had been devoted
to helping create beautiful woman,
and in that period there had been lit.
tie time to devote to identifying her
self.
The old eagle was a gaunt, grim
figure, full of years, full Of fatigues.
And she had one major weakness.
If in her powerful makeup there
was the soft spot Of an Achilles heel,
1t lay in her secret irrepresslble, dom.
mating love of personal adOrnment.
Tessault loved fineryl Love Of It
had first prompted her to hang out
the little dressmaker shingle In those
days when the community was In its
infancy. True, the years had given
her precious little time to indulge that
prediction. People said to her, with
amusement, that she was the worst
dressed woman In Hollywood. She
had no time. The quick times OF az
fairs were too fast for her. Some.
times, late at night, Tessault would
find time to wind bit Of gauze
around her grim old hair or to hold
up against her square and bony chest
a bOuffant frock designed for some
one young and lovely. But, In the
main, Tpssault stumbled into her
clothes Of morning, too rushed to
give Thea thought, and out OF them
of an evening. too tired to care.
Aud g, the years marched by, and
the l.fe..air 81 Tr>ault, who so loved
tiiery Er'5cf @as irrevocably given