Pauline Frederick : on and off the stage (1940)

180 Pauline Frederick The treatment we receive from people can become a habit that we grow to expect. From the time she was seventeen she had been courted and praised, and what people did was always in deference to her wishes. Thus, naturally, she became accustomed to having her own way. She was a born leader and those around her were always willing to follow. Such a situation can have a tendency to make people very self-willed and at times Pauline was. She had a stubborn streak that sometimes made her difficult. There were those who considered her hard to manage and there were others who said that she was the easiest person in the world. It was all a matter of knowing how. All great actors or actresses are temperamental to a degree, otherwise they would not be able to give the fine performances that they do. With Pauline, to assume the tactics of storming a portal was fatal, for she would immediately drop the portcullis. The way with her was to enter quietly by the back door. She was like a child who will be fractious and difficult if told it must do something, but immediately sane and sensible reasons are given as to why such a thing should be done, will be as amenable as a lamb. Pauline's was an impulsive nature, so that when she had made up her mind to do something, it had to be done at once. Thus, for instance, if she had made up her mind to read a play that very night, she would do so, even if it were three o'clock in the morning when she began. Often the dawn would come up before it was finished. She, with her extraordinary vitality, would still appear fresh, while those with her would be wilting and hollow-eyed. A hint or two that the play could be read much better the next morning, would be either received in stony silence or with a determined answer that she was going to read it then. Her mind