The New Movie Magazine (Dec 1929-May 1930)

introducing Claudette finances and business interests that drove him with his family away from their beloved France to start life anew in America. There in New York City, where Claudette finished her education, going: first to grammar school in Fiftyseventh Street and later completing High School at Washington Irving. By this time the family straits had been ironed out a bit and she was able to attend art school. One afternoon at a tea she met Anne Morrison, the author of "The Wild Westcotts." Miss Morrison was arranging to put the piece on, and being struck by the dark-eyed girl's personality, asked her if she would not like to have a part in her play. "I was thrilled to pieces," Miss Colbert said, "and hurried home to tell my family the good news. But it didn't appeal to them at all. My father stormed, and was sure that actresses couldn't possibly be nice. He didn't want a stage-struck daughter. "But I went ahead anyway. It seemed to me I must try this thing. I had only three lines to speak, but did I study them? Did I try them various ways for effect? And did I thrill on the openingnight when it came my turn to go out and say them? I'll say I did. The show, however, closed soon, and it looked as though my acting career were at an end. My people were still opposed to the idea; I had never had a day's training in any dramatic school; I Had never played stock, was just a nonentity, inexperienced and didn't know a soul in the theatrical world. YET, I was sure of one thing, and that was that I wanted to be an (Continued from page 109) actress more than anything else in the world, that I could act, and could, if given proper opportunities, act well. I knew this in the back of my mind as clearly as I knew my own name. I didn't even have to convince myself, it was a fact that had always been there. Though I hadn't felt this way about things before, I had always, rather, been nervous, afraid my efforts weren't very good, even when my teachers had said they were ... I thought they were just trying to be nice to me. But here on the stage, without encouragement or notice, I felt I belonged, and that I would get on. "I heard that Brock Pemberton was looking for a girl who looked like an Italian. After eyeing myself carefully in the mirror I decided that I looked just like one and scurried over to his office. As luck would have it he seemed to think so too, and gave me the part as lead in 'The Marionette Man,' which opened out of town and, alas! never got any further than Washington. "Coming back to New York, I heard that they were casting for an out of town company for 'We've Got to Have Money.' By this time I was beginning to learn better the ropes about lining up jobs, and so trotted over to the casting office where I found that Vivian Tobin's part was open. To my great surprise it was given to me for the Chicago debut. We opened alright, but closed almost right away. For all our brave title the money we'd got to have we didn't get. If you've ever been in Chicago in February, broke, you know what a dismal experience it can be. No marble halls, as I had once imagined actresses always trod, rather a Between scenes of "The Bad One," in which Dolores Del Rio plays a daring role far afield from her recent mild screen heroines. In the picture are Miss Del Rio, Director George Fitzmaurice, who made "The Bad One, and Edmund Lowe, who appears opposite the Mexican actress. dingy, cheap little hotel, constant rain outside, and the loneliness of being a stranger. BUT bad things come to an end as well as good things, and I finally landed back in New York, jobless, but too happy to be with my family and to see familiar faces again to much care. Soon, however, I was going the rounds of the casting offices and almost immediately got the leading part for a road company of "Leah Kleschna." It really had a wonderful company, with William Faversham, Arnold Daly, Helen Gahagan, and every night while we played I used to stand in the wings and watch these actors, study them, compare their performances. This, I believe, is the most helpful thing for a beginner, especially if he knows his limitations as I knew mine. I had never played in stock, I hadn't come from a long line of theatrical people, what I learned I had to teach myself, and this experience on the road, with seasoned players and with different audiences often in different towns, I think helped me more than anything else has. "After a nine weeks run which included Boston and Chicago the play closed and I found myself back again in New York for the Summer, during which I did nothing. This was in 1925. In the Fall I happened in the Al Woods offices and found they were looking for an English girl to play the lead in Frederick Lonsdale's 'The Fake.' Having a grandmother who was born in the Isle of Jersey, where I had often gone to visit, I felt quite free to offer myself as an English candidate, and after talking with Mr. Lonsdale who was very familiar with the Island of Jersey, I got the part. "After rehearsing for weeks, on the day of dress rehearsal as I was having my final fittings, I got word to come at once to the Woods office, where I was told abruptly that Mr. Lonsdale preferred someone else in the part and I was withdrawn. It always has seemed to me a needless and cruel thing for him to have done, practically on the opening night, and I never really knew why he did it. I was given the alternative of becoming understudy and going to Washington with the show, and, swallowing my pride, I went." THE show failed, but whether Mr. Woods admired Claudette Colbert's pluck in "taking it on the chin" this way, or whether it was just in the routine, in any case, he gave her the lead in Avery Hopwood's play "The Cat Came Back," which he was producing at this time and which played in Chicago and Pittsburgh. It closed on a Saturday night and on the following Monday she stepped into "High Stakes," which played until Summer, also out of town. During this Summer her father died. This broke up the little family, and made Claudette more than ever, the staff of her mother, as it were. For she was the only daughter and was now beginning to help considerably with the family budget. "You see I felt especially badly," she said, "because my father had been so hurt at first by my going ahead (Continued on page 124) 122