Pauline Frederick : on and off the stage (1940)

no Pauline Frederick good business woman. And in consequence, she is afraid of motion pictures. Her disappointments have hurt her. " ' It isn't that they don't make great motion pictures,' she said, sitting on the very edge of her chair and leaning over to convince me. ' They do — but mostly they are by chance. Just let me tell you what happened to me the other night. I made a picture not long ago — I won't tell you its name. That wouldn't be fair. I made it because I loved the story. It had tremendous dramatic possibilities. It was sound, honest, big. The woman was a fine woman, a big part. I loved her. I understood her. I don't think I ever worked so hard in my life. I always work too hard. I don't mind telling you that I gave my very heart and soul to that picture. I used to crawl home at night, crawl into bed and sleep like a child. " ' And the other night, I saw that picture. And I came home and cried for three hours. That's the difference between pictures and the stage, for a star. On the stage, you know what you're doing. You read the play. Any changes made at rehearsal are made in your presence, you sit in on them, talk them over. The opening night, you know just what the public will see — at least, you can give them your best. " ' In pictures, it is entirely different. You do your work as well as you know how and then it leaves your hands. When you see it again — of course I may be all wrong. Perhaps the people who change it all around know better than I about pictures. But they don't know better than I about Pauline Frederick. For instance, when you've played a scene from a care