Picturegoer (1922)

JUNE 1922 THE PICTURtGO&R 45 I went East again I stood over 6 ft., and had an appetite to match my inches. I soon lost it, being a newspaper reporter. But I liked the newspaper game, and went from the ' Morning Star ' (it's long since dead and done for) to the ' New York Journal,' and then to ' The Motor Magazine.' " Wally was assistant editor, and the part of his duties he liked best was reporting all the motor races and shows in New York City. He has loved motors ever since, and what he doesn't know about a car is less than . nothing. Reid was successful at everything he touched ; he was, and is, exceedingly quick at grasping and learning anything. " Especially anything that's a change from the last thing," he owned. " I'm keen on doing a little directing now— for a change. But it seems that I mustn't." I think, if he did, he would probably miss the appreciation he gets as Wallace Reid, Paramount star. For, although he doesn't let it get into his head, Wally's nature is one that thrives best on applause and appreciation. But he has a way of getting outside himself, as it were, and speaking of his career and his motion-picture work as though they belonged to someone else. Whilst he rummaged for some old pictures of his early film days, I had a good look at his "den." Its keynote is variety. So is Wally's, I take it, in most things. There are books, shelf upon shelf ; all kinds, too. Many of them French. A piano, all sorts of musical instruments, from a ukelele to a saxophone. Also a fine victrola. Firearms and boxing gloves galore. A bunch of pipes over the fireplace that will rival Bill Hart's collection, if it keeps growing. Skins and other shooting trophies, golf clubs, and a billiards table, of course, and plenty of lamps. And a couple of his own oil paintings. He draws cartoons, too, but only for amusement. And although he can play anything he hears, and adores music, he has never tried earning his living that way. One corner of the den. is full of photographs of the various lovely girls who have co-starred with him. Here I saw Wanda Hawley and Ann Little, Bebe Daniels and Gloria Swanson, Agnes Ayres, Lila Lee, Elsie Ferguson (in her flowing " Duchess of Towers " gown), Lois Wilson, Geraldine Farrar (Wally is an opera fan, amongst other things), and others. He emerged at length with a bundle of photographs. " Here's one of the early movies I made," he said.' " A bit of it, I mean. I was leading man, and had been loaned to Nestor by Otis Turner." The picture was dated August, 1913, and showed a broad-shouldered cowboy looking unutterable things at a diminutive, dark-haired girl. Maybe it was the photography, maybe the clothes ; but both look years older there than they do now. Wally in Western kit. \v.- With Agnes Ayres in " The Love Special." " I was introduced to their star on the lot this way," Wally grinned. "'Mr. Reid, meet Miss Davenport. Now tell her how much you love her. Don't be so shy. Take her in your arms as though you meant it. Now, Dot, say ' Yes," and smile at him.' ' The sound of our laughter brought Mrs. Reid along. " I was seventeen, then," she said. " I remember Wally wasn't with us very long. He left to direct for American, but he'd proposed to me already when we were out riding together." "She said 'No,' and meant it," put in Wally. " And when I came back to Universal again it was as S star and director. And, after trying out several, the firm engaged Dot as my leadI inglady." ''And we quarrelled. F Dreadfully. Didn't we, :.'V-i-*yV ' ' -^.% Wally ? Until the day he was injured doing a stunt, and went into hospital. After that, you know what pity leads to." About a year after they'd first met, right in the middle of making a picture, too (The Lightning Bolt it was), Wally and Dot were married at Hollywood. Very simply, with only Mrs. Davenport, Ruth Roland, and a couple of boys working with Wally's company in the secret. " On Oct. 13, 1913," said Wally. " Thirteen is my lucky number. Just thirteen months later we went to a tango contest, where I was No. 13, and won first prize. And the dance had thirteen rounds. " We worked together for a bit," he continued. " Then I played in Birth of a Nation (only a smallish