Evening star., 1936-04-10


0 manager and the box Office
clerks. and host of other theatrical
personalities as welk She knew Mary
Ashe, the newspaper woman, who
sometimes did advance press notices,
and was always drifting about the
various theaters and hotels, and Anna
Cora Wyatt. who covered theatrical
news for the other morning paper
She could enter many dressing rooms
now, and had friends everywhere.
you're an awful fool not to work
them for a part" Coral said. Coral
had abandoned all other interests now
for one; she was devoting herself to
q stout middle-aged man known In
the family circle only as French"
French was backing a show; he had
money; he was New York man who
had come with wife and two full
grown daughters to Santa Barbara for
his health. had become attached to
girl named Petey Roberts and had
bought for Petey a musical comedy
called Not Tonight, Susie" Petey
had, OF course. played the unwilling
Susie, but Coral in her desperate ef-
forts to get the supporting part Of
Nam selle Notinoti had encountered
the plays "anger and had captivated
him right under Petey's rather COM
mon little snub nose. The play had
failed wretchedly; Petey had disap-
peared to the Hollywood shadows
from which she had originally
emerged and Coral had settled down
seriously to marry Mr.. French.
She did not speak of him affection
ately or admiringly to Tamara: she
merely said that she wanted to get
him. That was all. Nothing else
mattered. Coral met him in hotels,
dined with him, lunched with him,
drove with him; she got into his big
car and went down to Del Monte with
him and watched him play golf. Golf
was his one passion. Exactly what
the arrangements were on these trips,
exactly who else went along or what
made the whole thing conventionally
possible, Tamara never knew, and she
never heard her mother inquire. Once
when the younger daughter somewhat
fearfully expressed her uneaSineSs on
the subject, Willette said comfortably,
Don't worry about Coral. She's
deep. She don't even like him"
Coral never said she liked him; in
deed, she rarely mentioned him ex-
cept once when she said in nervous
anger to Tamara, If French is on
the phone don't you ever tell him
again I'm taking a bath! I'll get out
of the tub and talk to him any time Of
the day or night"
This from Coral, who had always
been lazy and indifferent and good
natured, was Illuminating to Tamara;
she watched the progress Of her sis
ter's affair with an anxious interest
that was nevertheless sympathetic.
Coral had grown nervous, restless,
irritable under the stress of the tre-
mendous possibility that he might slip
from her grasp.
She fiattered the old man indus
triously, insidiously. Tamara could
hear it at the telephone Her sisters
Voice was almost COO when Mr..
French was on the line. Coral sent
him just one rose, once, with ITO you
it is rose" written on her card; she
would take tiny pot of caviar or
pate to his hotel rooms late in the
afternoon, take crackers she had
toasted to. crispness, and they would
have little champagne parties to-
gether. Sometimes when he had an
engagement Coral would coax him to
break it. We'll, then, let me run up
and just say how-do to you, Boyo,"
Coral would say at the telephone, be
cause I know one baby girl that's
going to be terribly lonesome this
evening"
She called him "Boyo." Tamara
was undecided between laughter and
expostulation whenever she heard 1t.
The affair had progressed pretty well.
and the French divorce had been an
nounced in the newspapers before she
ever saw Corals new friend, Then
one afternoon. having tea at the St.
Francis, she looked across the dimly
lighted room and detected her sister
in the company Of f1orid stout silver
headed man of perhaps go; she
thought the face of pigs face,
stupid and fatuous, and she instantly
loathed the proprietary manner, the
air Of gallantry and determined
youthfulness; his insistence upon
dancing and the old-fashioned way
he danced inspired in her sort of
loyal shame for her sister. There was
spry old man briskness about it
that was revolving, but Coral danced
with him charmingly, her eyes and
6 lilies all for him.
Meanwhile Houston Hickey was In
o pitiful state Of CONSERVATION. Coral
never had time for him now; she was
always In a state of abstraction, con-
centrating upon her big adventure.
She bought expensive perfumes and
new hats, but she contributed moth
ing to the family exchequer, and her
response to her mothers genteelly ex-
pressed desire to meet Mr.. French was
merely an absent-minded, "Oh, Lord,
Of all things I don't want!"
Coral's plan and Coral's problem
marked sharply for Tamara the line
between the two worlds she had
known. Mother Laurence would not
merely have been unhappy at the ieda
Of . young actress spending all her
energies upon the capture of an
elderly wording already married and
saddled with family responsibilities,
she would have felt it Tamara's duty
to admonish and advise her sister.
Tamara decidedly did not feel it so.
The world about her now was
grimy, sordid, practical affair; the
shrewd woman was the one who con-
sidered the main chance in whatever
form it presented itself. Coral was
not talented, she was not successful
as q professional woman, she could
see all about her other women scrimp-
ing and worrying, drifting about be-
tween theatrical agencies and greasy
restaurants, importuning uninter-
ested men for parts to play In