The New Movie Magazine (Jan-Jun 1931)

Great Love Stories of HOLLYWOOD was a stranger in her eyes. But she was very close to him. The nearest thing to an ideal the boy had ever had. . He grew red and a little breathless. He wanted to ask her to go to dinner with him, to let him see her sometime, somewhere. But courage failed him and the moment passed. They saw each other from time to time. Virginia conceived an odd liking for this handsome young man, who looked at her with a wistfulness she could never understand. The two were nearer. — but not much. THERE was another man, an older man, distinguished, successful, handsome, who occupied most of Virginia's thoughts just then. She wondered whether she was in love with him. She wondered whether she could ever be in love again, after the romantic fashion she had conceived when she dreamed over Tennyson's poems. She wondered why she didn't seem to care much about anything. The truth, of course, was that Virginia Valli had been deeply wounded by her unsuccessful marriage. She is naturally a quiet, rather reflective person. And at that time she frankly shrank from life, from anything that might expose her to more hurts. It is not wise nor necessary here to go into the things she had suffered with her first husband. But they were humiliating, unpleasant ugly things. They couldn't happen to any girl and leave her where they found her. Her self-respect had been battered. Her self-confidence was at its lowest ebb. The gay and happy heart she had carried into her young girlhood was afraid now. Perhaps, after all, life wasn't meant to be very happy. None of that showed in her face. She was more beautiful than ever. But she was adjusting herself to new concepts, new philosophies. From those days of confusion emerged Virginia, the philosopher, the woman Charlie Farrell was to love and eventually to marry. Where many girls would have been shattered, would have grown hard or reckless; where many girls would have come out of that confusion and unhappiness with the old theory of "take what you can get, live for today, have all the fun you can," Virginia Valli did something quite, quite different. She became a wise and tolerant and understanding person, convinced of life's compensations. A love of peace and comfort came to her. Her vision broadened. "The world is so full of a number of things," said Virginia. Books became real friends. Real friends grew in importance. The worlds of music, painting, travel, opened their doors to her. Laughter was to be sought, always. Work wasn't a burden but an opportunity. "YTERY few women come to understand the meaning » of comfort, of security, of kindliness and confidence, and particularly of companionship, before they are thirty. Virginia Valli knew all those things in her Acme and P. & A. Happy? Yes, indeed! The bride and the bridegroom, photographed just as they started on their honeymoon trip to Europe. Thus the romance of Charles and Virginia came to its happy conclusion. twenties. And she came to be much valued by men and women, who sought in her serenity and her sureness a safe harbor for confidences and a solace in misery. You could trust Virginia, her tact, her understanding, her secrecy. There aren't many young women like that around. In the meantime, Charlie Farrell had gone through the unusual and so little understood romance with Janet Gaynor. Gay, emotional, stormy, vivid little Janet. They "grew up" together in pictures. They were the ideal young lovers of the screen. The {Continued on page 82) 39