Pauline Frederick : on and off the stage (1940)

172 Pauline Frederick pleted the picture and when her own dark hair was hidden beneath the red wig, not a trace of Pauline Frederick remained. So good was her disguise that even the members of the cast did not recognize her and her own friends out front would never have known her, except for her name on the program. The hawk-like face and the hard raucous voice with which she spoke, left absolutely no trace of her own self. Those who came to see Pauline Frederick were disappointed; those who came to see her as Elizabeth were delighted. Throughout the performance she felt as receptive as a radio and it seemed almost as though some hidden force controlled her movements as she moved so successfullythrough the comedies and tragedies of Maxwell Anderson's play. The cast assembled for this west coast production of " Elizabeth the Queen " was a very able one. Ian Keith played opposite Pauline as " Essex " and earned high honors for his fine portrayal of the character of the Virgin Queen's lover. As the San Francisco Examiner remarks: " Pauline Frederick and Ian Keith dominated every scene in which they appeared. They made the quarrels and jealousies and conflicting ambitions of that lordly yet all too human pair matters of deep concern to the audience and the end of each of their scenes brought ringing tributes of applause." John Craig played " Francis Bacon," Wyndham Standing was " Lord Burghley " and George Bassett was " Sir Walter Raleigh." Some four years later Pauline again played the part of " Elizabeth " in another of Maxwell Anderson's plays, " Mary of Scotland." In this, she was co-starred with Helen Hayes as " Mary Stuart " and Philip Merivale as " Bothwell," but after Merivale returned to England, Ian Keith took