Modern Screen (Dec 1931 - Nov 1932 (assorted issues))

tells it— will delight you with it's sincerity and understanding walked out on her contract on an absence without leave from two of the most important pictures of her career, I felt a pang of hurt that was not the heartache of one who is disappointed in any act of a child. I felt as though a good friend had failed me — had failed us! Nor do I mean the financial or professional end of the deal. As a matter of fact, so far as her career is concerned, Ann has probably done herself no harm and perhaps considerable good by her "walk-out." She will probably return to a much more lucrative contract. But still and all I feel that nothing can ever erase the feeling I have that a treasured friend whose spirit I loved, whose personal code I was proud of, has done something unethical. A good trouper never walks out on his "curtain." Ann knows that — she was brought up in my world of the theatre. If my words sound strange coming from a mother, story. But it is necessary for a moment to tell you something about myself so you may more fully understand Ann. I was born in New York City, the only child of a family of six to be born in this country. My mother and father are Czecho Slovakians. We were always quite uninterruptedly poor. I have read, and been told, that poverty has its advantages. I am sure some person who has never been poor discovered that fact. Certainly I never encountered any of them in my own experience. But at that, we were not an unhappy family. NOTHING really ever happened to me (a lack of events is one of the many disadvantages of poverty) until I met Edwin McKim, who is the father of Ann Dvorak. Ann's real name is Ann McKim. Dvorak (pronounced Vorzhahk, not Dee-Vorak) is my family name. (Left) Mrs. Ann Lehr, Ann Dvorak's mother. Dvorak is Mrs. Lehr's maiden name and Ann liked it so much she took it for her screen name. Mrs. Lehr's treatment of her daughter is something that all mothers should emulate. She believed in being a friend first. (Right) Mr. Pearson, Ann Dvorak's stepfather. s I remember this — I have so wanted to be a friend before I was a mother. If I had ever been fortunate enough to have had any other friend as close to me as Ann, I should have felt the same way. If, during the unfolding of this story I seem at times to be brutally frank it is because I know Ann as few parents are privileged to know their children. I know her faults as well as her splendid character. I think you will believe me now when I say that this is the first time Ann has ever failed me. It is the first time my daughter has ever "run away" from consequences. I think she is in the wrong. But in j time I shall understand just why she did it, as I have tried to understand other mistakes she has made. Already I feel myself weakening on my idea that "nothing can I erase" Ann's unexpected revolt. I think my little girl has growing up pains. I think she is very seriously in love for the first time in her life. And love is said to be akin j to a sweet insanity, isn't it ? I I do not mean to force myself to the foreground of this When I met Edwin McKim I was attending a small and inexpensive private school in New York. Every Saturday afternoon we were escorted to an "arty" little theatre near New York's Harlem. The shows produced were expected to add to our cultural background. I do not know how much culture I acquired from them but I do know they instilled in me the desire to be an actress. I wanted to know all there was to learn about the theatre, a calling I had already selected as my livelihood. I was a hero-worshipping fifteen-year-old when I first met Edwin McKim who produced and directed the plays of the little theatre. He seemed the most attractive man I had ever met in my life ; that he was also an actor made him practically superlative. Why in the world he ever fell in love with a fifteen-year-old child I shall never know, although I suppose youth will always be an attractive offering upon the altar of love. We were married and for a few months I enjoyed the privilege of appearing as a leading lady with my husband in a show called