Pauline Frederick : on and off the stage (1940)

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First Marriage 45 That the men she married were entirely to blame would be an equally foolish contention. The failure was largely attributable to the force of circumstances — in fact to the force of two circumstances. One was her remarkable and irresistible beauty and the other, her theatrical profession with its glamor and its difficulties. No one will deny that a beautiful woman has a far greater problem to contend with than her plainer sisters. Men are quite naturally carried away by the intoxication of a beautiful woman and crave her as a wife even when, if they stopped to think about it, they would realize that other factors are such that a union cannot bring happiness. Beauty at times can be a heavy millstone around a woman's neck and bring with it a great deal of sadness. To Pauline it brought not only sadness but tragedy. It was particularly tragic in respect to younger men — men playing in her companies who were swept off their feet by her magnetic charms. The uncontrollable infatuation of a man little more than a boy, perhaps. Pauline loathed to make people unhappy and to see them suffer. Likewise she loathed scenes in her dressing room when she refused the gifts and the homage of these desiring youths. Their infatuation was natural and therefore the harder to contend with. But a woman certainly cannot accept the impetuous demands of every man who craves her. There is always the case of the man who will not take " No " for an answer. Pauline was faced with these problems so very many times, as, of course, is every woman of ravishing beauty. The world in its judgment is often harsh, so that when an infatuated and headstrong youth takes his life because a beautiful woman will not accept him, the woman is often blamed. To have accepted him would have been impossible; to have rejected him would have sent him to his death and left a terrible tragedy to be faced. The second difficulty — the professional one. The ques