Pauline Frederick : on and off the stage (1940)

Australia 129 demonstration of cheering and other forms of applause. Several times she held up her hand and several times she began her lines, and only with difficulty was the excitement subdued so that the play could continue to the end. The demonstration at the final curtain was similar to that at the beginning. The audience went wild, standing on seats, waving hats and programs and shouting and yelling. Flowers, hats, programs, gloves, and anything else handy to throw, were showered on the stage. Besides these, gorgeous bouquets were handed over the footlights until half of the stage was taken up with them. Pauline bowed and laughed as she bent again and again to receive these floral tributes, assisted by the other members of the cast. It seemed as though the line of ushers presenting these flowers would never come to an end and Pauline's smiles and laughter turned to tears of gratitude. Never had she received such an ovation, not even in the days when her film career was at its height. To get her to her hotel from the theatre each night required a special police escort who had its work cut out to keep the people from tearing the very clothes off her back. Nor was there much rest to be had between performances, for her presence was required at teas, bazaars, and every other kind of function. Many of these she would gladly have refused, but after such a welcome it seemed so ungrateful not to do her part. The Sydney audiences liked the plays. As a matter of fact, they would have liked anything that she had chosen to appear in. She was a queen who could do no wrong. Simultaneously with her appearance on the Australian stage, her last picture, " Smouldering Fires," was being shown, and as this was one of the best that she had made in late years, it increased her reputation. Whatever she wore was immediately copied by the leading designers not only in Sydney but