Evening star., 1934-07-29
BY MOLLIE MERRICK.

Copyright. 1894 bv the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Incl
HOLLYWOOD. Calf. (N.ANA) -
Marie DressIer is gone. The Marie
We Of the movies loved-thc Marie the
smart set of the world idolized-the
Marie the old-timers Of the stage
swore by-is no more. But her infiu-
ence and her memory will always re-
main a blessed reminder of things as
they ought to be. sacred trust to
| those who reverence the gift of laugh
ter and Of happiness.
And to a few who knew her before
| her theatrical days. Leila Koerber is
dead. They are precious few; for the
little girl born Koerber, who found
out that beauty wasn't everything in
life and that one could grow famous
| on homeliness and a gay heart. out
| lived most of her stage contemporaries.
The world in general knows and loves
her under the name by which she be-
came famous Marie DreSsler.
In some strange way it is denied to
the laugh-makers of the world to be
| happy themselves. Marie Dressler's
| life had more or less followed along
this conventional line. y laugh-maker
herself, she had known few moments
free from concern and worry. A
clown, beloved from ocean to ocean,
she had had sorrow In her heart most
of her years.
Almost on the day that Marie
Dressler landed in "the big money"
she learned she was a-victim of cancer
and that her span of life was already
measured. She learned with the
signing of her first big contract that
death had made a deal with her and
| that her time of contract with him
would be spent in agony and bitter
ness. Yet she smiled bravely and
never let the world know the secret
she carried in her heart. She bought
beautiful home in Beverly Hills with
her first big money. 1t was the
first home Marie DreSsler-star OF
whole world-had ever owned. Yet
she knew on the day she signed the
papers that she would not long occupy
her first home in life; that death held
a mortgage upon her.
Her Early Adventures.
Let me remind you of some Of her
| life history-a glowing and rapturous
story some of the time. More of 1t Is
| written in sorrow and turmoil.
Little Leila Koerber, daughter OF a
| Canadian musician, knew at an early
age that she wasn't intended to be the
beauty that her sister was. She knew
that she was considered funny by the
other children at parties and, philo-
sophically, she decided to make the
most of that laugh-making propen-
sity. Her father was music teacher;
but muTician with great longing
| for adventure and life. That longing
isn't easily satisfied in the teaching
of small pupils in Canadian towns
which Mr.. Koerber found his lot in
life. When class would just about
be formed Marie's father found 1t
necessary to move on into new fields,
always hoping that adventure would
turn up some new angle of endeavor,
| that the romance of life which he
believed to lie beyond him would be
found in his next adventure.
In this hope he lived, and with him
moved Anne Koerber, his patient wife,
and Leila, his ugly-duckling daugh-
ter. In this belief he died, leaving
pathetically nothing to the little fam
lily. And in this belief young Leila,
who had inherited her fathers ven-
turing spirit, one day signed up with
an itinerant musical comedy company
always hoping for that great adven-
ture which had eluded her father, but
which she still believed in.
At Il, then, We see Leila Koerber
set on her life of work. She was en-
ployed as general utility woman with
a light opera company at Sc week.
Three dollars she sent home to her
mother; the other three kept Leila