Motion Picture Classic (Jul-Dec 1930)

How Women Have Changed Them B y GLADYS HALL E re A W R E N C E TIBBETT has changed. "The Rogue Song" changed him. The violent admirations of women have changed him. He admits it. "Why not.?" The man I talked with several months ago, just before "The Rogue Song" went into production, is no more. That was a quiet man, still remembering Bakersfield and lean years, obscurities and sacrifices an poverty and thin loveline when only the stars we hospitable. He was diflFident. He was dimmed. He clung to the commonplaces. His confidence was cloaked and guarded. His stride was moderate. His laughter was temperate. He was frightened. He admits that, too. One of Lawrence Tibbett's outstanding charms is his admission of all things, good and bad. His lusty admission of life in all its manifold phases. No mincer of words is he. Not any more. No standing with reluctant feet on any rockbound shore. Then, in that pre-"Rogue Song" day, he was about to gamble for huge stakes. He was throwing on the table all the cards he had, to win or lose. He won. He said, "I was taking a gigantic risk and I knew it. I stood to lose everything I had worked so hard for, everything I had gained. 1 had my public — the Opera public. Not a very large one compared to the picture public, but discriminating, finely critical. I didn't know how I would screen. I did know that I was not what is known as 'a screen type.' I didn't know how my voice Lawrence Tihhett says: We are all cowards when it comes to living. There is so much more adventure in life than any of us take advantage of! Because we are afraid of something. Our little reputations. Our "good name." What "they" might say. We close so many doors right in our own faces! Stand behind them, peering, peeking, wishing . . . Women do not like safe, sound, practical men. Or rather, I should say they do not love them. They say they do. They lie. Women love dangerous men . . . destructive men. Independent women are the most fascinating women of all. For the independent woman gives a man the sense of perpetual chase. He is never sure of her. awrence Tibbett Has C a s*t Shyness To The Four Winds would record. The mike was not so perfect, not so pliable as it is now. I had a very bad scare, too, in the very beginning. My recording was bad. Very bad. The high notes were muted. The sting was taken out. There was every chance of people saying, Poor Tibbett, he is losing his voice. ..." Happy to Admit It ONCE a rumor like that starts circulatmg, it takes a lifetime to live it down, if ever. I was really horribly frightened. No success I had previously made helped me then. I stood to lose everything and to gain — nothing. Not even a contract was assured me unless 'The Rogue Song' proved to be successful. "And then — the opening. I am a different man since that night. I walk down the street, now, and people nudge each other and say, 'There goes Lawrence Tibbett!' And my head goes up! My heart begins to pump. I feel the blood in my veins and a sense of tremendous elation. Life is worth while. Fame — publicity — are the very blood in the veins of life. / love it. I love people to recognize me, to be thrilled when they see me, to follow me, to try to get glimpses. I am flattered. / eat it up. And especially — especially when 'the people' are pretty girls! " I get a kick out of it. Why not? Isn't attention, being in the limelight, being popular and sought-after the thing we strive for from the very first time we crow for attention {Continued on page oo) 30