The Washington times., 1936-03-31

remember nothing at all about
nv birthplace. It was Oklahoma
City, but we left there when ]
was very young. Nor do ] re-
member anything about Denver,
where we lived for little while
And those years in Monteclto
only come to me as 1ndlstlnct
pictures, like the faded pictures
you find in old albums.
I was q little girl in q red
sweater running along q road
to meet my father-I was q
little girl sitting under an
orange tree or riding on the
back of my dog with my cat
in my arms.
My childhood was a con-
stantIy shifting scene. Mother
was ON the stage and we were
never in one place very long.
She sent me to one convent
after another and none OF
them is clear in my mind.
Only bits of pictures come
back to me now, like the time
y had measles in one school
and mumps in another and
chicken pOx in another.
When 1 had chicken pox !
was in the Convent of the Holy
Child Jesus, in New York. and
I had a teddy bear. I remem-
ber that Very clearly because
they took the bear away from me
and fumigated it and I thought
wouldn't get it back. But I
did, and I had it until I was
playing a leading part in Ham
let in Modern Dress" on the
New York stage.
The bear slept with me every
night and when I lost it I was
heart broken. Adriene Morrison
found me in tears and when I
told her what had happened she
disappeared, to come back a lit
tie while later with a toy dog
called "Huggles." I still have
. the deg.
It was in New Haven or New
Bedford that I first saw my
mother in a play. She made
me promise to be a good little
girl.
"I'm going to die in the
play" she told me. "Only /
won't really be dead, so don't
Won worry. You sit there and
be good, and remember I'm all
right"
I was in a box with some other
people, and it was fine watching
the stage and seeing my mother
and hearing ner voice. Then q
man came out and shot her and
the people all around me seemed
to be frightened. stood UP and
cried:
"That's all right. That's my
mama and she isn't dead. She's
just pretending"
I was six years old at the time
and I don't know what play 1t
was or what part mother had. I
remember only standing up in the
box and crying out that she was
my mama and was pretending.
At Miss Fuller's school, in Os-
SHINING, N. Y. it was katy Did, .
when I was good, but mostly it
was Katy Didn't" because I was
always getting into scrapes.
Mother put me in the school when
was 10 and I stayed there until
was Is. Miss Fuller was tiny
woman, with white hair and a
sweet face, and she was very kind
to me:
She wasn't even stern the night
the fire department rescued me
from a. nail two stories up. 1t
was a cold night and there was
ice on the roofs. I had climbed
out the window of the dorrnitory
to a porch for some reason or
other.
On the way back slipped and
' fell and my bloomerS caught on
a nail. I hung there, bowling. and
someone turned on the alarm
People came running because they
thought the place was on fire and
stood in the yard looking up at
me, watching the firemen put up
ladders and unhook me.
I guess I always had it in my
mind to be an actress. know
I did when was at the Cathedral
School Of st. Mary's, in Garden
City, l.. I. I was a junior and
with Katy Stewart. wrote a play
for our class. 1t was called
Lets Not and Say We Did," and
there were songs in it. Katy
had the feminine lead and I was
the masculine lead.
It must have been a success
because after we gave it the first
time they made us stay over an
other day and give it for the alum
nj. Each one of us had the right
to bring two guests, and I remem
ber that we invited the boys from
st. Paul's School, and there was 8
lot Of talk about it.
After I played "The Player
Queen" in Hamlet in Modern
Dress, I got a job with Stuart
Walkers stock company. The com
pany played three cities, Dayton
Indianapolis, and Cincinnati.
had only second leads and smaller
parts.
We used to spend most of thu
time on interurban cars ridine
among the three cities. We woulc
play one night in Indianapolis
rehearse in Dayton the next day