Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

AUGUST 1924 Pictures and Pichurepuer 31 uch less than the home life of the Wheeler family has sent good men off the end of the pier ere this. The home life of the Wheelers was more like a death. It was, in short (as less elegant people than ourselves would put it), the limit. First of all, there was Mr. Henry Wheeler himself. When he came home from the office he came home Tired. He came home Tired expecting, as a man will, to be comforted and to find a little peace. But he found instead Mrs. Henry Wheeler and the two young Wheelers, Bobby and Cora, children by a former Mrs. Wheeler who had grown tired of it all and gone, it was said, to heaven. He found his young wife, who was, as she knew very well, a Neglected Wife. Henry had no right to come home from the office Tired and proceed to Neglect his wife. Mrs. Henry Wheeler had her legitimate grievance. She aired it. The aforementioned Bobby and Cora. Bobby had been forcibly ejected from three good schools. Cora was a flapper. Need more be said? And so Bobby and Cora were at war with the world, being at that age. Mrs. Henry Wheeler was at war with her husband for being Tired, and with her step-children for being step-children. And Henry Wheeler was at war with Providence for dropping him into the midst such a peck of trouble. In addition to all this there was, to irritate the Wheeler ladies, Miss Violet Pinney. If Violet Pinney had stopped short at being merely a governess for Cora she might have passed unresented. But she did not stop short at this. She wore choice gowns and had golden hair and good looks, and it was Mrs. Henry Wheeler's firm opinion that in Miss Pinney's presence Mr. Henry Wheeler was decidedly not so Tired. As for Cora she looked on Miss Pinney as an unofficial chaperon and a Spy. CHARACTERS. Clarence Wallace Reid Henry Wheeler Edward Martindel Mrs. Wheeler Kathlyn Williams Bobby Wheeler Robert Agnew Cora Wheeler May McAvoy Violet Pinney Agnes Ayres Hubert Stem Adolphe Menjou Narrated by permission from the Paramount film of the same title. Summed up, they each had their legitimate grievance. They all aired them. Together. At once. So that the official city headquarters of Hades was at 17, Lawn Avenue. Oh, and yes ! there was Mr. Hubert Stem. Secretary to Mr. Henry Wheeler. Loved Cora Wheeler, if you can call it love. Loved by the flapper, if you can call that love. In short, a general complication. Not a nice man. His photograph did him no good. He would have been well advised to have not had it taken. Came an evening when events happened explosively. Miss Pinney wanted a " moment alone " with Henry Wheeler. She got it. It was merely in order to say that she had found Stem carrying on a flirtation with Cora. But Mrs. Whee'er knew very well what it was for — oh, yes ! " Some day," she snapped, " I may be a^e to request a moment alone with my husband, perhaps !" And there was Mrs. Wheeler .storming at Mr. Wheeler, and Mr. Wheeler storming at Cora and Stem and Bobby (who had just come back suddenly from his fourth college), and Bobby storming back at Mr. Wheeler and Cora storming at Violet Pinney for being a sneak and . . . everything. And in the midst of it Cora and Bobby, to show their independence, no doubt, dashed out of the drawing room and into an ante-room to tell the world how cruelly awful it was to be the misunderstood son and daughter of — And then they .saw Clarence. /'""'larence was sitting in the best chair doing just nothing. Clarence was worth looking at. His shabby uniform might once have been a perfect fit, for somebody else ; but it had never fitted Clarence. He wore horn glasses. His shoulders were where his chest should have been. He slouched about, leaving the impression of a man who walked in advance of his feet. And he looked so meek and long-enduring. "Hallo!" said Bobby. " Hallo !" said Clarence. "Who are you?" said Bobby. " Clarence," said Clarence.