Talking Screen (Jan-Aug 1930)

Fifi Dorsay, cute little French lady, lives constantly in the shadow of her friend and protector, Minon the incomparable — feline extraordinary. The Cat's Whispers {^Continued from page 21} the patience to lie still? Non, again! She read the new script. She plan the costumes she is going to wear. And once or twice, mademoiselle, I catch her run down to the piano to try over the new songs. Then I get hard boil'. I scold and chase her back to bed. Voila!" Minou stopped for breath and at the same time reflectively lifted her right hindleg and with it, daintily scratched her left ear. y HAT about the time Miss Dorsay was the toast of Montmartre?" I delicately hinted. "Ah, that's where mademoiselle is mistaken." Minou retorted. ' She is what one may call an ana . . . ano . . . onal . . ." "Anomaly?" "A-ne-mallee ! C'est ca! Had Fifi remained in France, she probably would never have gone on the stage. She would have remained plain Yvette Dorsay, the daughter of a government official. Per'aps, later on, she would have become Madame Yvette Bonnefemme. More than likely if Papa Dorsay had had his way, she would have taken the veil. See you? She first had to come to America before she became known as the only French soubrette of her kind in America — attendu? "Tiens, Papa Dorsay he was a Frenchman of the old school. He think the stage was a terrib! place for a woman. He could never forgive his' own sister for becoming an actress, even when she became one of the best known and most popular tragediennes in France. "The final break between Monsieur Dorsay and his sister Yvette occurred on the day of our Fifi's christening. Monsieur's sister was Fifi's marraine— godmother. They named the little girl Yvette after that sister. When the ceremonies were over and the guests had left, Yvette, the big one, she say to her brother: Mark well, my old one, that godchild of mine will be famous some day! If not the greatest, she will be one of the great actresses of her day!' "Papa Dorsay nearly had an apoplectic stroke when he hear that. His face it turn purple and he bang' his fist down on the table. Then he show his sister the door, without another word. MAIS, la Fifi was destined for the stage. Even the good nuns of the convent at Asnieres, where her parents sent her to school, contributed towards it. All the time they had her perform. Fifi was taught to recite little pieces, and whenever there was an entertainment at the school, she was made to perform. The good sisters taught her how to walk and how to talk and howto sing. Mademoiselle will be surprised how much this help her when later on the stage she went. But her papa, he get furious every time he see Fifi perform for her sisters and brothers and the neighbors' children with the silk top hat and cane she borrow from him, when he not look." Minou smiled sympathetically. Minou had hauled out the Dorsay family album. "Voyons, if mademoiselle will throw a stroke of the eye over these, she will for herself judge the kind of family the Dorsays were." The album contained mostly family groups, with a solo photograph scattered here and there. Swarms of handsome youngsters with their parents. Big, burly Papa Dorsay, a man of the out-doors, with humorous eyes, but with a determined jaw. Maman Dorsay, sweet-faced and grave, cradling her youngest in her arms. Both Papa and Maman Dorsay are dead now, as are most of their children, excepting Fifi and a sister and a brother. As Minou told me, Fifi is both father and mother to the two. Then there were pictures of aunts and uncles with their families, most notably that of the aunt in Bordeaux, the progenitress of fifteen, with all the fifteen around her. A prolific family that, and certainly not one that would bring up its children to sing and dance for the amusement of others ! MINOU pointed out the picture of a roguish, fair-haired little girl: "Would Mademoiselle believe it that this was Fifi as a child, hem? — Aha, and mademoiselle marvels at the change in the color of Fifi's hair, is that not so? "Bon, I told mademoiselle that Fifi is an an-o-mallee? Nature made Fifi a blonde with a brunette disposition. But there is none of the clinging vine in her, with which most blondes are credited. She is une ame determinee — a determined soul. She believes that opportunity knocks but once; and neither is she a shrinking violet. Alors, when she started out to make her way in the world she did not want for anyone to mistake her for a typical blonde. She put unguents and lotions on her hair for so long, until it turned dark." And this, according to Minou, was Fifi Dorsay's first step towards her future emancipation. When Fifi was in her early teens, the government sent her father to Montreal, Canada. Unbeknown to her family, Fifi took up a business course, and as soon as her shorthand and typewriting were perfected, she went to New York. The stage, of course, was her ultimate goal. But she started in a business office, and before long she was made head of a department. As soon as she had enough money saved to tide her over lean times, she left business and its dreary routines, and started looking around for jobs as a model. She would go into exclusive gown establishments and photographers and ask pointblank: "Do you need a good model? — Here I am!" And if they asked her about previous experience, she would put up a royal bluff and tell them that she used to pose for the Galleries Lafayette in Paris. Invariably Fifi got the job. Eventually she landed in the chorus of the Greenwich Village Follies, and a few weeks later, she sang a French version of Mr. Gallagher and Mc. Shean with the two famous comedians. In fact, it was the late Gallagher who taught her the ropes of the show business. THENCE she went into vaudeville arid stayed there until last summer. But what with the big time houses being wired for the talkies and only the four and five-aday surviving, the outlook in vaudeville last summer was pretty glum. But out of a clear sky, Fifi was summoned to take a screen and voice test for Fox. The test "took" and a week later she was on her way to Hollywood. So pleased were the powers-that-be with her work in her first talkie The-^ Had to See Paris, the Will Rogers starring .vehicle, that they made Fifi Dorsay a featured player, and she was cast opposite Victor McLaglen in Hot For Paris, "Now that Fifi earns sufficient money," Minou continued, "she is able to take care of her sister and brother, as she had always hoped she would. The brother is going through school, and she intends to set up her sister in business. Certainly, it is her wish to see her sister get married. Not so much because the sister is a blond with all the blond attributes, but because she hopes that some day she will be 'Tante Yvette" to a flock of little ones. Tchk-tchk — our Fifi has a passion veritable for children of all ages. "Mademoiselle wonders why she does not get married, hein? Of a certainty there is the man in the East, whom she was going to marry before she signed her present contract. But his work keeps him in the East and hers keeps her out West. What will you?" Minou shrugged her shoulders. And Minou waxed highly indignant over the various engagement rumors that have hitherto circulated, in which Fifi Dorsay's name was first linked with Georges Carpentier and later with Rex Bell. She thinks it was mean of whoever started the rumor, to have Fifi engaged to Carpentier, because the poor man has a wife and children in France, and she can just about imagine how badly his wife would feel if she heard about it. As for Rex Bell, Minou claims that Fifi enjoys his company immensely, his breezy, out-door manner, and since both are extremely fond of horseback riding, they are frequently seen in each others' company. That and nothing more, for Fifi is the soul of constancy, and there is that man in the East waiting. "Ah, tiens." Minou happily sighed, "our Fifi now sees the world through rose-colored glasses. A hundred times a day she tell me how lucky she is. She lacks nothing, and shares her good fortune with her family and old friends." Minou reached up and knocked on wood. 76