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From under my Hat
Normand, who took it upon herself to coach Pola as to what she should do on arrival at the film capital. After all, Mabel pointed out to her slyly, she was bringing with her a big European reputation. Was she not also a friend of the great Ernst Lubitsch, whose Lubitsch touches were even then being talked about?
Pola wanted to hold the position she had established for herself abroad. Mabel, mind you, had scarcely heard of Pola Negri. She just thought it would be fun to put bullets in a gun and let Pola fire it. Mabel always loved fireworks.
"If the studio offers you anything but the best," she prompted the Pole, "you must say, 'No/ Just that. 'No.' That's the way a great star always acts. They'll expect it of you. Even when they don't expect it say, 'No,' anyway. If you do as I say, you'll be greater than Gloria Swanson. You'll be on top of the pile." Pile of what she didn't say.
Pola drank in this advice like Mabel drank champagne. She'd heard of Mabel Normand but had no idea that she was just a little comedy star, not a great glamorous planet like herself. Nor did she know that while she was getting this windfall of free advice, which later was to be worth a fortune to her, Mabel was merely playing an airy joke on Hollywood. Mabel herself couldn't get the better of the Mister Bigs, but she didn't resent it. She just admired anyone who could, and was not averse to helping someone else do it.
Pola followed the free advice. Straightway she got the Number 1 treatment— until Gloria's return; then she wouldn't let go.
Some press agent, I forget which one, conceived the idea of a cat feud. Nowadays we play rougher, sometimes even with skunks. In those days skunks hadn't been de-scented and cats were safer.
Gloria loved cats; Pola hated them. Pola ordered all cats banished from the lot. Her cohorts ran around the studio snatching up cats and dispatching them in bags. Gloria's loyalists scoured back alleys, rounding up stray cats to let loose inside the studio. Cans of milk were put out to woo them, tidbits of liver thrown hither and yon.
In the still of the night Gloria's cats would be seized and cast out. In the morning two more would appear to take the place of every one. It couldn't continue indefinitely; even in Hollywood there's a limit on cats. 166