Evening star., 1934-12-09
years ago . small boy,
son Of . poor leather merchant
In Prague, was introduced to
/ anew 9ame by his playmates-

son OF o poor leather merchant
In Prague, was introduced to
i . new game by his playmates-
the game Of theater-and on
that day he first voiced the ambition
Of becoming an actor. His parents
were furious. They threatened to dis
own him II he ever 50 much as spoke
q line ON the stage. And 50 Francis
Lederer's hopes were all but crushed
as soon as they were born.
The tale of his eventual debut in
the theater, his quick rise to stardom
and his inevitable entrance into mo-
ton pictures is the story Of . hard,
continuous fight against astonishing
odds.
As boy he lived in q crowded ten
ement in Prague. His father, at great
sacrifice. sent him to public school.
"You must study hard 50 you can
learn to work with your head instead
Of your hands" he said. And the boy
studied and went to the gymnasium,
an institution corresponding to the
American high school. But there he
failed In mathematics.
Bitterly disappointed, his father told
him he must choose . trade. But
Lederer determined to make one more
enort-he got q Job as . bank clerk.
There. too, he failed.
His parents were separated, and the
boy spent part Of every year with
each Of them. He was staying with
his father on his 18th birthday, and
got - . present his flrst ticket to .
play.
He hurried to the theater and there
received q shock that again almost
crushed his ambition to become an
actor. Lederer was af1lliated with
youth movement which put the great
est stress upon physical fitness; he
neither smoked nor drank-nor does
he yet-and the fact that one Of the
actors in the play did both was almost
enough to turn his head against the
theater. He ended by compromising
with his prejudtces. He would be an
actor-but only pretend to smoke and
drink.
He got . Job with . small drygoods
store. sweeping up shop, selling ma
terial and finally decorating windows.
Later he entered . school Of cinema
acting, but had to give 1t up for lack
Of money to pay the tuition.
From there he found his WY into
the theater as . supernumerary. One
night, in shop scene, he was sup
posed to be cleaning up the place In
the background, while the principals
carried out some important action. but
he put 20 much comedy into Ills
work that the audience concentrated
upon him and the laughter drowned
the dialogue Of the principals. He
literally stole the scene.
After the play the director had .
talk with him. He told the young
man he had talent, and offered to
teach him. SO Lederer went dubiously
to his father for the money. To his
surprise, the old man agreed to meet
the director and see his son act, ana
finally to pay s. for IL dramatic
lessons for the boy.
Later he won . scholarship In the
Prague Academy Of Dramatic Art.
He was playing with the schools anna.
teur company at the German Thea
ter when . Vienness producer, who
was about to do the same play pro-
fessionally. was in the audience. As
1t happened, the part that Lederer
was playing in the amateur produc-
ton was vacant in the professional
one. Lederer got the part.
HIS rise was rapid. He became q
favorite almost at once, toured Czecho-
SlovAkiA, went to Budapest and