The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-05-29
CHAPTER XII

 reading old scripts. At lunchtime she had found Q secluded table ir the Commonwealth lunch-room then wandered over the lots, watch ing the making of pictures and go- ing back to write gay little letters to Pete in which she pictured her. self as Alice in Wonderland. Studio life was fascinating to watch, but Linda had been bored.
 Then came that fateful day of the conference. Linda had been invited out of courtesy. Direc- tors, producers and writers had met to discuss the falling stars the pictures that were not good ''box- ofIice", and out of 1t all had come one suggestion from the uii- known Linda Bourne. And 9 fall- ing star had become once more . brilliant possibility.
 Linda was no longer bored. The studio had bought Myron's Life of Keats" and they were already at work on the picture for Cooper Ven- ell. He put aside his guns, his caps his turtle.neck sweaters and hih RanRster roles. He became Keats The rushes came through and the raves followed.
 Linda was famous. Miracle girl, they called her. But, by this time, Linda was no longer surprised by Hollywood. And in little time she forgot 1t hadn't been her own idea that she had only said what Pete had written. She had long since thrown away the telegram from Pete. She accepted her increased salary as easily as she accepted her mave to the executive offices and the services Of @ secretary. They gave heg the book to adapt, and Linda learned what adapting meant. Where the role didn't fit the actor, the actor wasn't fitted to the role; the writer changed the role.
 When they brought her copy of her original script, which Pete has sold to Honey Harmon almost hall a year before, Linda thought the plot was really her own. If there was c third character that Pete had written into 1t, long before in the Blade office, Linda didn't remember and Pete had never told her what he had done.
 When Linda made the first speech that made her famous in moviedom that day she took several rounds Of the ladder of success at once, but when, three months later, lunching casually with Hogarth James who had played English character parts for the past i've years, she suggest- ed that he had kind of menace In his kindly face that was exactly right for Q series of new mystery stories, she was made!
 She forgot that Pete Gardiner had pointed this out to her after a movie they had seen together ct the Palace at Newtown.
 It wasn't lonely for Linda Tn Hollywood after that. She had moved from the hotel to an apart ment house, bought herself Q modest car, and, like everyone else in Hollywood, went to the movies. She met Q few people vino lived in the same apartment house, but too often found her. self lonelier than she dared write to Pete that first year.
 A young woman with power - and Linda had power since she was credited with "discoveries" - need not have feared loneliness. Linda could be useful and she was attrac- tive.
 She was chick. She learned to dress well. Any old hat and knit. ted things didn't go. In Hollywood the fashion was sports clothes and evening clothes, and Linda's tailored white tweed, her broad-shouldered, slim -hipped tailleurS, her fresh vio- lets, white or deep purple, which she always wore, her Paris-made even- ing frocks were distinguished where ali clothes were beautiful. Her soft. clipped voice and her digni- fled bearing were often unkind contrast to her sensational sisters in the picture colony. Picture people wanted to know Linda Tor herself, as well as for what she could do for them.
 
 She spent money recklessly on clothes. She bought a good car, not because she wanted to create an impression but because she liked to drive 6 good car. She gave parties They were small and intimate. Din- ners for four or six, at the most, and never for two. Sundays she was ''at home" from 4 to ', serving a discreet number of cocktails and ex- cellent food. It became smart to be invited to Q Bourne Sunday after noon.
 Linda knew the stars, the import ant directors, the producers. She went to the fights, the football games to Palm Springs and Arrow head for week-ends. She spoke a few words into the mike" at the important openings at Sid Grau- mans Chinese Theater. She became e celebrity among the celebrities, and she still wrote to Pete, but her letters grew less frequent and told him more than she thought. Pete knew he had lost her, and pride kept him from intruding into the life she had made for herself.
 Pete put himself into his play. And one day 1t was done and he sent 1t to New York.
 Linda was in Hollywood l0 months before she met Basil Thorne Not that she didn't know him by name. or by reputation. Thorne was the director who had made the great money-making musicals. Hts pictures had brought a new me- dlun to picture making. Extraya- ganzas, they were like their creator. Dazzling, gargantuan. filled with contrasts. romantic, worldly and in- credible.