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LILA LEE
NE evening about twelve years ago David Belasco, the famous stage producer, gave his watch, stickpin, and his diamond ring to a young lady. The gift was in the nature of a bribe, but it didn't work. She kept on crying.
The reason for her flow of tears, which disturbed the great Belasco, and gave him a dramatic situation he could not control, was this: The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children had refused to let her perform on the stage in Rochester that evening, because she was only seven years old.
It happened that Mr. Belasco was in Rochester that evening, rehearsing a tryout for a new production. Mr. Belasco had met the young girl, and when he saw her crying he dropped his work and
tried to
comfort her. The diamond ring did not stop the tears — the watch and stickpin were equally futile, so he tried something else. " Don't
cry, little one," he told her, "I will make you a star the day you are sixteen years old."
The effect was magical. She was content. That was back in 1911. The stardom came even before Mr. Belasco had promised. Jesse L. Lasky, of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, discovered her before her sixteenth birthday had rolled around, and sent for her. From "Cuddles" Lee of vaudeville fame she became the beautiful Lila Lee of Paramount pictures. Nearly eight years of her young life were spent on railroad trains, for she was hardly eight years old when she went into one of Gus Edwards' revues, and during all those years of traveling from city to city she had to acquire an education by means of private tutors.
Lila's first picture was "The Cruise of the Make-Believe." It was an instant success, and since that time Miss Lee has appeared regularly in Paramount pictures.
She rose to the heights of histrionic achievement in "Male and Female," Cecil B. De Mille's adaptation for the screen of Barrie's "The Admirable Crichton." She appeared as leading woman in a number of other successes. Lila was born in New York City and is five feet, six inches tall. She weighs "■v.> 120 pounds.
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