The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-07-03


a fancy to him from the start. She
petted him, she babied him and had
personally nursed him through heavy
grippe cold which had overtaken him
in Seattle on one of her cross-country
tours. She even had a name for him,
as ridiculous in its way as Paula's.
"Pet-boy." The ,oung man flushed
whenever she applied it to him, even
after months in her service. 1t made
him feel ridiculous, and at heart he
was shy, serious, ambitious. fellow,
full of dreams Of ultimate pianistic
triumphs.
Paula found herself also harboring
these dreams for Chuck. In the hotels
where their retinue camped on its tour
from city to city, her greatest joy was
to find place near the door of Gluck's
room, and stand there listening to his
practicing, as it came in avalanche
arpeggios down the long impersonal
hotel corridors.
Paula was in love.
Overwhelmingly maternal as Won
Stroheim was in her treatment of this
girl; ardent, emotional, demonstrative
and indulgent, there was not between
them, at least so far as Paula was
concerned, any relationship that adj
mitted of a revelation of the minute
secrets of the mind ana heart, chiefly
it must be admitted, because Paula
up to this time, had owned none in
Mi cho
tically as much of a child to her
mother as she had been at nine. Paula
was no problem to Won Stroheim for
two reasons: the great diva was TO
occupied with the intricate problems
of her famous self and so subtly had
the eventful years slipped by, that Won
Stroheim had no conception of the fact
that her daughter was an adult.
"Pet-cat my darling-cums, come sit
on your mothers lap" "Pet-cat angel,
come rub your mothers head" "Pet-
cat my baby, wake up and talk to
your mother. l can't Sleep" And al
ways the talk was of the diva; her
triumphs, her defeats, her hopes. her
chagrins, her tempers, her loves. her
hates. And of all of them there were
aplenty, because as time went on. and
her position became more and more
secure, Won Stroheim became more and
more the temperamental operate star.
That was why, when love came to
Paula, strangely, shyly, secretly, it
was something she could not find the
70 orf tn HOY.
sufficient in the beginning just 20
stand off and secretly adore, and
secretly, oh so secretly, hope and hope
and hope.
And out of the hoping was to come
this:
One evening, entering the hotel suite
in Detroit, wrapped in sables, blazing
with gems, laden with long stem roses
the odor of which perpetually sur
rounded her, Won Stroheim rushed up
to her daughter, catching her tightly
and ecstatically If her arms.
my darling-cums Pet-cat, will you
forgive your bad, naughty mother who
loves you? She went and got her.
self married. You have a sweet new
darling Pet-boy for father"
Precisely that had happened. Won
Stroheim and Gluck had been married
by local magistrate. A thunderclap
had descended upon the life of mar
row, pasty-faced little person known
as Paula Won Stroheim. A thunder
clap that was to reverberate through
a life time.
Strange, that neither Won Stroheim
nor young Gluck were ever to have
an inkling of this secret catastrophe in
the heart and soul of Paula She was
the same unobtrusive, willing little
soul she had always been. Won Stro-
helm, if possible, was more fiercely,
relentlessly, maternal after her mar
riage. than she had ever been before
The terrible part to Paula was that
Gluck was so gentle so considerate
of her well-being; so eager to success
fully serve in his fantastic capacity
as stepfather. After all. he was only
eight years the senior of Paula.
What happened subsequently came
so gradually that it is doubtful If
Gluck was conscious of ii until after
the condition was too well established
to be remedied. 1t is doubtful if he
even desired a remedy, so all-embrac-
ing, so powerful, so posseSsive. and 20
sedative was the claim Of Won Stro-
helm upon his heart and mind. She
showered him with the magnifcence of
her affections, just such as she had
showered Paula. She smothered him
with indulgence, with endearments,
and with a quality that transcribed
his own, and just as it had transcend
ed Paula's.
At the end of the second year Of
this strange marriage, there was serv-
ing the great Won Stroheim, not only
the daughter who walked quietly in
the wake Of her magnifcence, but the
young misunderstanding husband, who
had receded by this time, in what was
to be the permanent role of accom-
PIANIST and member of the diva's re-
tinue.
From city to city, from country to
country, wanders this magnificent cara
van de luxe, the extravagantly person
able prima donna shedding effulgence
everywhere she goes, and in her wake.
adoring her. the little daughter named
Paula, and the little husband named
Gluck.
;, Beyond Reach of Man