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IV hat Happened
to Hayakawa
This Japanese Gentleman
Reveals Why He Forsook
The American Screen
By WINNIFRED EATON REEVE
(ONOTO WATANNA)
s
ESSUE Hayakawa. Once a name to conjure with in the motion picture world. Star of the first magnitude. His fame comparable to that of Valentino. His admirers legion. The star who opened the great Strand Theater in New York, and kept it packed for months.
One of the mysteries of Hollywood has been for four years why Sessue Hayakawa suddenly dropped out of pictures. What were the causes that led to his exit at the very peak of his popularity and fame ? Why, literally overnight, did he close his magnificent residence, discharge all of his servants, except a couple of caretakers, and disappear from Hollywood ?
A recent announcement in the newspapers gives forth the information that Hayakawa is about to return to the screen. His first picture is now in process of production.
Perhaps, thought I, Hayakawa will now speak. It may be he will want his host of friends and admirers to know the reason why he deserted the work he loved so well. With this thought in mind I called upon him. Almost the first question I put to him was:
"Why did you leave the movies?"
He looked somewhat startled by the direct question. He stared a moment, and then gazed off absently into space, as though turning the question over in his mind. After a moment, hesitantly and as if temporizing, he replied:
"Perhaps several reasons contributed. I did not like the stories I was required to play in."
He smiled slightly.
Any Story at All
"'HpHE last story was picked like the toss of a penny.
J. I was given three stories to choose from. I do not like any of them. Still they insist I must choose one of these. So I say: 'Eenie, meenie, mynie, mo!' and put my finger on one. A story picked like that cannot be good. It is a gamble. Impossible to put the warm heart into it. I do not play well where is not my heart."
"Surely you did not drop out of pictures because of that?" I asked incredulously.
"Oh, no; oh, no!" said Hayakawa, hastily. "That was just one of many irritations."
Peyton
At the top, a portrait of Hayakawa as he is today; and' below this, a glimpse of one of his greatest performances, in "The Cheat" with
Fannie Ward
He thought a while, his face somewhat stern. Suddenly and almost roughly he spoke:
"I will tell you. I will tell you the true reason. It was something deep. It strike me inside!"
Hayakawa smote his chest hard. His dark eyes were smouldering now like black coals.
"It was something said to me that no true man should speak, and no true man can hear. Something that should not come out of the mouth. It was, you understand— not decent.
"I was associated with certain men in motion picture
enterprise. They owe me $90,000. I never ask for this
money. I think there is plenty of time to pay. Perhaps
it was that they think too much about this debt. They
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