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From under my Hat
To me Hopper was something special, something new under the sun. I had been on the stage only a few years when I joined his company. His massive size, his voice, his storytelling gift— Wolfie was a six-foot-three riot. From the moment I saw him he fascinated me.
To him I was a new audience. I was as fresh as an unhatched egg. He enjoyed the attention he got from his raw recruit, went all out to give a continuous performance. I drank in his every word as though it were Holy Writ. I was in his company several seasons. We toured the country from one end to the other.
I was still in the chorus, though I had gotten a little more hep by this time. Dancing came easier for me. In singing, what my voice lacked in quality it made up in volume.
While I was in Wolfie's company I made the discovery that chorus and understudy jobs weren't acting. I knew I just had to act. And I'd have to go out and prove myself before I could hope to get anywhere in the theater.
Hearing that Edgar Selwyn was casting his play The Country Boy for a road tour, I went to his office and asked him to give me the leading part.
"Why, my girl, you're too tall!" He laughed. "The male lead is only a medium-sized man."
I kicked my shoes off. I didn't know there was a hole in my stocking. "Look— I'm not really so tall— it's the heels — "
Edgar liked that, or at least it amused him. "All right, all right,
I'll try you out. Here's the part. Rehearsals start in a week " Such
and such a theater, such and such a time.
We went touring for thirty-five weeks. Audiences gave me confidence, and I got the feel of acting. I loved it. I could hardly wait for the time to put on make-up for each performance— and for the applause. While I was on tour Wolfie wrote to me regularly. We toured The Country Boy through the forty-eight states.
By the time I got back to New York I had made another discovery. Now it was acting which wasn't enough for me. I'd have to get into a musical, and also I'd have to be a prima donna.
I studied singing all summer and in the fall went out with The
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