Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1931)

llow IVladge lL G rew vans lo Ot ar do m A RECENT New York visitor to Hollywood who knows the New York stage as Webster knows the English language, said: ''I believe the most amazing untold story in Hollywood lies in Madge Evans. In the first place, child stars are not supposed to make good when they return to pictures as men and women. Madge was a child star. "In the second place, she was a simple little ingenue on the stage. A dainty figure; a sweet face. Like dozens of others. But in Hollywood! Sophisticated; alluring. She has that new glamour that Photoplay talked about a few months ago." The woman mused a moment. " Really, someone must have lifted her vocal cords. Now, even her voice is deep and intriguing. They must have pulled her out in front and tied her up behind. Her figure has curves. She's even learned what to do with her hands and her feet. Why don't you find out what happened to her?" I hurried out to inspect Madge Evans. And although she was in loose, rather indifferent housepajamas, I'll have to grant the visitor was correct. If I had been a man — but I wasn't! Now, I have always had a secret belief that sincerity is the hidden reason for success. Of course, it isn't fashionable to admit sincerity in this age of pretense. But I came from Madge more convinced. I had discovered that even indifference which is sincere leads to fame and money and all the other words which represent that indefinable something for which we yearn. For no one could have been more indifferent to re-entering pictures than Madge. For that matter, she was completely indifferent at her first entrance. She lived in an apartment with her mother — where lived a director. He asked permission to use her in a production. At five she was a child star with her own company, like Lillian Gish and the others. One hundred and fifty a week and all expenses. Big money! HER mother saved it. And then Madge signed for the Madge Evans hats. In those days it was unheard of for a star to tie-up with a commercial product. Therefore, when promoters persuaded her to use her name to boost children's hats, they promised her an excellent income for as long as they used her name on the hats. They are still using it. Madge's personality has long been completely divorced from the hats but she still draws a little income from them, and they have kept her name before the public. At ten she shot up as unexpectedly as a water-spout. At twelve she was as tall as she is today. She weighed 85 pounds. She was through with pictures because pictures were through with her. At eight, with three years of stardom behind her. Madge wasn't as interested in pictures as they were in her. She wanted to go to boarding school Just jump your eye from this page to that and see a little girl grow into a young lady By Ruth Biery She was glad. She had wanted to go to boarding school, anyway. She had been sending for booklets for months. When she found she couldn't be admitted because she had learned only reading and history on the picture sets, and no arithmetic, she was heartbroken. She had to content herself with special teachers. But she must find some diversion from such a boresome routine! The stage. She knew actresses because she, herself, had been an actress. By the time she was adolescent, she had determined to be an Ethel Barrymore or Mrs. Leslie Carter. She was through with the screen forever. She wavered once. They couldn't find a girl in New York to play with Richard Barthelmess in "Classmates." Someone remembered Madge Evans. She had had experience. She was fifteen. She turned up her hair and tried to turn on maturity in the same manner. It was a failure. Time had not had a chance to act as plastic surgeon for either her youth or her figure. She was miserable while making the picture. Hatred of pictures became a complex; a yearning for stage fame became an obsession! HER debut on the stage was as easy as her original debut in pictures. William A. Brady, who had headed the World Film Company, was now a stage producer. He had remained a family friend. He pulled the wires of New York's theatrical politics, so Madge stepped into a role in "Daisy Mayme" as easily as you step on a rug which is cushioned. The play ran twenty-two weeks and at its conclusion another sweet little thing, another natural ingenue, was definitely established. It was only natural that producers played her as she looked. Lovable, youthful, pretty. Not [ PLEASE TURN TO "PAGE 122 ] W