The Washington times., 1934-07-09
my OWN STORY"
BY Marie Dress1er
Continued from Page -

does not dare to be himself. He
never expresses an opinion until
he has read it somewhere and
he wouldn't think Of eating
sugar on his tomatoes II 1t isn't
done.
Well, I had been publicity ma
terial for many years, so at this
time anybody who could get on
q soap box and draw crowd
was in demand. Commercially
I toiled not, but I spun so fast
that I didn't have time to sew
the buttons on my clothes.
Everybody knew me. There was
not Q nook anywhere in which
I could hide and economize.
When I entered a store, the
saleswomen always rushed at
me waving fancy negligees which
/ hadn't time to wear, but which
/ felt obliged to buy. particular.
ly as I was invariably assured
that these attractive articles
were tremendously re educe d.
They were-in size. My friends
looked lovely in them. =,
Occasionally did notice that
my favorite literature, the bank
book, didn't seem to hold the in
terest it had once for me. How.
ever, this occasioned no grave
concern. I felt that about to-
;morrov-or or the day after Il
would start out and emblazon
my name on the billboards
again.
!. The Earthquake
: Then came the earthquake.
To my surprise there seemed
nothing to do. At first I was
not seriously alarmed. The
right part had not come along
Tomorrow som hing would
break. It did-the bubble.
Rumors seemed to have spread
around that I had retired with
q fortune. / had thought Of my
temporary absence from the
stage as q vacation, but the
managers decided to make it a
life sentence. "Flapper-dun1b"
was sweeping the world. Stars
were being Snatched from the
kindergarten. The continual
rumblings from Broadway rose
into roar. "The public wants
1em young. Legs-legs-legs-
legs!" I could stand on my
head as well as on my legs, but
it seemed to make no differ.
,ence.
Except for an occasional bit
in q revue, I didn't find a real
job. At first it seemed hardly
good business tactics for a star
to 60 around and sit on the
crowded "at-leisure" benches in
managers offices. I expected
that they would, of course, call
me up.
But, after a time, I decided
that perhaps they thought that
they had no part that would
accept and that I had better
stroll around and intimate that
I didn't care what I was Of
fered, that all I ever wanted
to do anyway was to bounce on
and, upset the plot; whatever it
happened to be. And in musical
comedy it never took much to
upset it, anyhow.
= I will admit that I was some
what flabbergasted, not to say
"non:pluSed" when even this
brought no messengers on horse.
back from the managers.
Ill Fortunes
Then playwriting friends of
mine went to see them with
plays written for me, only to
bring back the somewhat ap.
palling verdict, which was ap-
parently more or less universal:
Miss Dressler used to be splen-
did, Of course, but she's through
now. The public wants youth.
I'd just forget about it if were
YOU"
Even then was not dashed. 1
was dazed; but didn't give up.
had always said that if you
can't do one thing you can do
another, so I began to turn from
one thing to the other.
My friends were always lugu-
briousIy optimistic. You'll get
something else, Marie" they
said, or, "The stage is awfully
hard work anyhow, dear. There
Is something easier than that.
You'd be a whiz selling real
estate"
Well, I had tried selling real
eState-some Of my own-and I
came out of q deal that cost