Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1928-Jan 1929)

Illustrations By Eldon Kelley Shortly afterwards she meet the nice old gentleman who became her fairy godfather, and she could never understand what such a fine gentleman saw in a poor girl like herself who had no other riches than a rose-leaf skin, pearl-like teeth and golden curls. The Cinderella man took her to Europe to finish her education, and Gwenny almost finished him. She was now known as Gwendolyn Darling, "Because Daddy calls me that," she explained prettily to anyone who would listen, which wasn't many. Well, Gwenny had a fine time in Europe. She visited all over, did marquises in France and belted earls in England, and she soon lost count of the gondolas she swam home from in Venice. And strangely enough, it was in a gondola that she met Mr. Blankberg. "You have such wonderful eyes," he exclaimed. "You flatterer!" She sallied brightly, making no move to swim home. A year later Gwendolyn's name was up in electrics and she still believed in Santa Claus. Mr. Blankberg, the Tireless Altruist Driscilla Katzenstein attributes her success to hard work. "I was always a hard worker," she said in a recent interview, "and a fast one. There was never a task too arduous for me to attempt in my struggle for success." Priscilla is also a firm believer in the old axiom, early to bed and early to rise, and she always went to bed early in the morning and rose early in the afternoon. She read all the success magazines and worked as hard as anyone could doing nothing. But fame still hid around the corner refusing to be coaxed out and Priscilla began to get desperate. Then at last, just as she was beginning to give up her last little speck of hope, she met Mr. Blankberg and he said "You have such wonderful eyes." She forgot all the success books she had ever read and put everything she had into her voice as she whispered coyly, "You flatterer." A year later her new name, Priscilla Alden, was up in electrics and she was telling interviewers she owed her success to hard work. wept A Ladder of Bedclothes T ong before May Day was "L*1 a star, she was an innocent little girl in a convent. Day after day she sat at her window watching the world go by and sometimes she hid her face in her hands and "Just think of the joy I could bring to others if I were a motion picture star," she used to tell herself over and over again. "Oh, dear, I must go out in the world and bring happiness to others." So you can see for yourself that May was a very unselfish soul who only thought of others. One evening she made a rope of her bedclothes and climbed down to freedom, taking along only a few evening gowns, her sapphire and platinum bar pin and her diamond rings. The long and short of it was that she went to Hollywood and got a job as an extra. Girls who have been brought up in convents get jobs just like that in Hollywood. Well, sir, she struggled and struggled and struggled, and after that she struggled and struggled and struggled some more and still she wasn't any nearer stardom. Day after day she appeared on the set with her make-up put on as carefully as though she were on her way to a close-up, only to be lost in a mob scene again. One day she couldn't bear disappointing the world any longer and falling to her knees gave way to long, bitter sobs. Mr. Blankberg heard it far away in his private office and unable to resist a lady in distress, or — in anything else for that matter — went to her assistance. As May raised her deep fringed violet orbs to his, he whispered hoarsely, "You have such wonderful eyes." Her answer was silvery with tears, "You flatterer !" A year later May Day's name was up in electrics and she spoke tearfully of the days when she was an innocent little girl in a convent. But she says that she does not regret having suffered the hardships of her long struggle, for she is now in a position to bring into the lives of Her Public an itsy bitsy ray of sunshine. {Continued on page 97) 53