Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1925 - Feb 1926)

43 The Girl Friend Makes Good Kathleen Key's featured prominence in "Ben-Hur" gives the writer a chance for one of those "I knew her in obscurity*' tales. By Dorothy Manners KATHLEEN KEY and I first met when we were playing two of God's noblewomen for Fox with Tom Mix and "Buck" Jones respectively. She acknowledged the introduction by saying, "How do you do, Miss Manners?" and I said, "How do you do, Miss Key?" Ever after that she called me Dorothy and I called her Kathleen. At that 'time Kathleen was a strange little kid with huge eyes, the brow of a madonna and the temperament of a prima donna. Mind, I don't say temper. But she was given to deep and dark moods. She used to make appointments with high-priced photographers to have "studies" made at eleven o'clock, and at eleven o'clock she would call up that she wasn't in the mood to be "studied." She knew all the electricians on the lot by their nicknames and "Frankie," the dressingroom woman, was her boon companion, yet she could freeze with a glance. She had, and still has, one of the keenest senses of humor I have ever encountered in a girl but she could, and can, go into the doldrums of despair. The first time I saw her I hated her. She came shouting into the wardrobe, "Frankie— Frankie ! Three cheers for me. I got the lead with Tom Mix." I could have killed her for that because I was trying for that same lead with Mix myself — and she got it. Later when I got a similar post with Buck Jones, Kathleen told me that she had been considered for that — and I got it. So we became friends after all. There were a couple of young men around the lot, in those days, who were in love with Kathleen. I don't think Kathleen was in love with either one of them because she used to play them against one another with artful wile that would have done credit to a Du Barry. It certainly made things exciting for the rest of us, including the two young men who grew rosy when Kathleen smiled, and fainted when she frowned. After leaving Fox I didn't see Kathleen for several months. I went out to Universal and I read where she had signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on a longterm contract; but one day I ran into her in somebody-or-other's office. She was beautifully coated in fur and looked very successful and also excited. She had just learned that she was to play Tirzah in "BenHur" and go to Rome with the company. She was simply beside herself. She said that she and one or two of the other girls were taking French lessons "so we can at least find our way around and not get gypped in transit." She was looking forward to it with the same unabashed glee as a kid looks forward to Christmas. It was a wonderful experience for a young player — and a young girl. That was a year ago. "Oh, it was perfectly heavenly marvelous !" she told me at lunch recently. "I wouldn't take anything in the world for the experience. Since I have been back people have said, 'After all, perhaps it would have been better if you had not gone. You've been off the screen a year and only for one picture, when you could have been in several and constantly before the public' But if I had it to do over again I'd say — Rome for me ! "You know, I was sort of the charter member of that company. I went over in the first batch when George Walsh was Ben-Hur, and Bushman and I are the only ones of the original guard who stuck — and I owe that to June Mathis, the trip, the part — everything. "It was terribly funny when we first arrived over there. We got all settled and waited for something to happen and nothing did. We didn't get any word from the studio about what was going on. All we knew was that we weren't working and there wasn't any immediate prospect of it in sight. But I wasn't kicking," Kathleen proclaimed, picking around in an iced lobster. "I met some perfectly wonderful Italian people, and got myself the most gorgeous apartment you ever saw for a mere song. "It was in an old palace owned by a family who had lost a huge sum of money in a wildcat motionpicture scheme. When they discovered that the fortune they had handed over so trustfully was gone, they turned their lovely palace into nine-room apartments. I only had five rooms, though, because that was about all the grandeur and impressiveness I could stand. My bedroom was one of those real boudoirs that they don't make any more, with walls of palegreen silk and exquisite furnishings. I tell you, I used to sit in that lovely place and just luxuriate. But I saw a lot of Italy too. "I went all over by myself, and had a beautiful time poking into this and that. The theaters were awfully interesting, especially after I got to know the language well enough to understand pretty well what they were driving at. Italy filled me with a great desire to go back again. And I'm going too, just as soon as I can get away." Florence, Naples, Rome, are at the tip of Kathleen's tongue. Counts and kings are pleasant reminiscences. There was a report that Kathleen had become engaged to one of the aforementioned counts, but she denies it. "Nothing to it. Just at present I'm between love affairs." She had been back in Hollywood only a short time when she was told to pack her things and be ready to leave for the East within twenty-four hours to make scenes for "The Midshipman," in which Ramon Novarro was to star while the final sets for "BenHur" were being constructed. Wild with excitement, Kathleen scooped up enough clothes to last her several weeks and departed on schedule. "When I reached New York," she said, "I was rushed down to the naval academy at Annapolis. I was so tired when I arrived that I went straight to bed. The next morning I felt fine and all ready to enjoy my stay. I knew a commander and his wife, and expected to have a great time. But my 'Ben-Hur' luck didn't hold. After working one day in the picture, I found out they didn't need me any more for academy scenes. They immediately sent me back to New York and told me I was to leave for the Coast in a few days. And I was under the impression that we were going to make all the interiors in the East ! "Well, you can imagine how much I saw of either Annapolis or New York. I did manage to work in a few plays, but what was that to one visiting New Continued on page 116