Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1936)

106 PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE FOR DECEMBER, 1936 TAK E THE SYRUP THAT CLINGS TO THE COUGH ZONE Your child's cough should be treated right where the cough is lodged ... in the cough zone. Smith Brothers Cough Syrup is a thick, heavy syrup. It clings to the cough zone. There it does three things: (1) soothes, (2) throws a protective film over the danger area, (3) helps to loosen phlegm . . . Smith Brothers Cough Syrup is safe. 35$ and 60$. "IT CONTAINS VITAMIN A" This vitamin raises the resistance of the mucous membranes of the nose and throat to cold and cough infections. SMITH BROS. COUGH SYRUP I^NOW ON SALE IN CANADAmm . . JJAz^r The fascinating allure of hennatreated hair has long been recognized by stars of Screen and Stage. To be absolutely safe and to obtain just the desired effect, from the most delicate tint to the warmest tone insist that your beauty parlor use nature-pure, nature-safe, genuine HOPKINS . RAJAH BRAND i EGYPTIAN HENNA She had some money, enough to carry her for awhile. She sought and found a cheap ittle room, at Sunset Beach, seeking to hide her hopeless dreariness in the eternal carnival crowds. Immediately, of course, it became known that she and Paul had separated. Jimmy Frost was the first to announce it. He printed a statement to the effect that Mr. Elsmere denied that any divorce or separation was even contemplated. And, added Jimmy: "This column is betting on a reno-vation — soon." Sue threw the paper down and stared blankly through the window. A S the days went on, she sank into the grip ' ^of a mental lassitude, an apathy, stripped of all desires and even of intelligence. She could, she told herself fiercely, think of Paul without a trace of tenderness or necessity. Thereafter, there ensued a depressing interlude of twilight for Sue Martin. She lived like a hermit. She knew that the newspaper publicity would be repeated in Tremont, so she wrote her father, telling him as much as she thought he ought to know; assuring him she was well, and that he was not to worry. She wondered, at times, if Mammoth was stewing, waiting for the lawsuits to be filed — those with which she had threatened Paul. She hoped so. It would serve them right to hang on tenterhooks of suspense. She, of course, had no idea of suing. From the newspapers and the gossip columns, she learned all about Paul. He had bought a huge home in Beverly Hills. It was announced that he would, hereafter, work in Hollywood; that he had signed a new, longterm contract with Mammoth at a fabulous figure. He had forsaken Broadway and Mayfair. One day, when a carking nostalgia drove her to take a surreptitious trip to Hollywood, an auto horn honked excitedly when she got off the bus. She saw a tall man jump from the car and hurry after her. "Sue!" he called. "Hi— Duchess!" Her heart seemed to shrivel. She kept walking on, faster. It was Bill Lederer, and he was frowning down on her. "What the hell's the big idea?" he growled. "I think you know well enough," she told him coldly. "You, as well as the others, selected me as you would pick an extra for some sacrificial stunt. Only this wasn't a stunt!" "Look, Sue," he begged boyishly, "I swear the whole business started as a joke. Both Elsmere and myself laughed at it — so did Sol, after he made the crack. That's the truth, Duchess. You certainly know how / feel about you!" "I wouldn't know," she replied, "from experience." "You — think I'd let you in for a thing like that?" "Why not? Hollywood friendships are not very deep." "No?" he asked. "All right, then," he continued grimly. "Will you get a divorce from Elsmere and marry me?" "Kill!" she exclaimed, nonplused. "I mean it! I guess I've always been crazy about you, Duchess. If you think 1 flung you to the lions, you're crazy!" "Bill!" she said again, touched. "I — can't do that!" He looked away, nervously wetting his lips. "Still crazy about Elsmere, huh? There isn't any justice!" " Bill," she said softly. "I think you're the nicest person I ever knew. I — like you a lot — an awful lot, Bill. At this moment, I don't know whether I like you — or love you — but it's something very close to that, Bill. But — I'm an airedale, I guess — " "A fat lot of good that does me!" he scoffed bitterly. "Look, Sue — I never liked Elsmere before. I hated his guts — on account of you. But one has to be fair. He's had detectives searching for you all over. He went east, to Tremont — your home town — and talked to your father; but the old man ordered him out. He came back, and he's going to hell in a handbasket, drinking himself to death. If you do love him, for Pete's sake, go back to him; and if you don't — get a divorce and marry me." "I'm sorry, Bill," she whispered. "I — can't do either." His sharp, incisive director's eyes swept her keenly. Some quality about her symmetrical immaturity puzzled him. And then, an intuitive flash supplied him with an answer which Sue was not, as yet, aware of herself. "How's for you and me to have dinner together?" he asked, too eagerly. Sue shook her head. "No, Bill," she said. Bill's eyes softened immeasurably. He blurted: "You know what happened one night, at Cocoanut Grove? You read about that fist fight in the papers, didn't you?" Stiff — lipped, she said. "No." Bill said; "Jimmy Frost was there one night last week. He made some crack — you know — about seeing you in my place — in pajamas — " He hesitated. " Go on," said Sue, her eyes bitter. "I started for the louse," continued Bill grimly, "but Elsmere beat me to it. He knocked Jimmy for a row of Japanese ash cans. 'No more cracks out of you about my wife,' Elsmere told him, 'or I'll kill you.' Do you imagine a man does that for a girl he doesn't love? Huh? U you do, you're a sophomore!" She didn't answer. A disturbing thought was hammering at her insidiously. Had she acted too hastily? Was it possible that Paul did love her, after all? The thought, at least, assuaged the tyrannical disturbance within her. With a fierce effort, she extinguished the flame that suddenly leaped, clamoring for recognition. "Forget what I said, Sue," said Bill. "About myself, I mean — about you and me. It was a wild hope, on my part." "Bill," she smiled tremulously, "you're a grand guy!" "So," he said, "why not go to dinner with me tonight?" BUT she refused. She finally left Bill and went back to Sunset Beach, unseen. It was toward the end of that month that she made the thrilling and terrifying discovery that she would have to make decisions for two. That stunned her. She'd need a good obstetrical man. to make absolutely sure, although, she was sure right then, as she sat on the yellow sands. She told herself that she wasn't afraid; and knew that she was only whistling in the dark. She lay in the sun and dreamed and wondered what would happen to them. And she remembered Paul's face, in that first dawn at Palm Springs He had smiled to her. She remembered how the smile lig his thin face. However, she wasn't, she told herself, going to shed any more tears over Paul Elsmere. Site had shed enough. It was l he sunlight on the glittering water that was too bright, It hurt her eyes.