Picture-Play Magazine (1933)

33 stone MYRNA By Myrtle Cebhart to photograph.-. — twelve or more hours. At night there were scalp massages and eye exercises, manicures, and other chores of beauty care. The mental strain was the worst. She read the weird half-lights, Oriental and medieval tales that she might know and interpret strange personalities. It often happens that one's creation becomes an obsession, and Myrna, the girl, became a slave to that abnormal, sirenic sorceress. She strained intensely to give those exotic women — half-cracked creatures, she calls them — a semblance of reality. Slipping out of her costumes at night, she felt that she was stepping from some grotesque masquerade. But its atmosphere haunted her. Now she dismisses them as Freudian cases, full of psychoses and complexes. But then they were her creation, vibrated by her own being. Expending her reserve, she went physically bankrupt. When you saw her so coolly enticing and aloof, she was really on the verge of collapse. Just such a strain has turned other sensitive players to the temporary forgetfulness of narcotics. Myrna, though, is made of finer stuff. "Sleep became almost impossible," she said. "Night were tortures. Awful nightmares of struggle and of danger, being pursued and murdered, being involved in eerie situations. After wrestling with that insomnia, broken by snatches of horrible fancies, the day's work would demand my limit of will power. I would be exhausted, but still I couldn't rest. I used to think what a heavenly thing it would be to drop on a bed and sleep long stretches of hours." Meeting her when they did "The Barbarian" together. Ramon saw her plight. Perceptive Ramon, aware of his home's restful quiet, knew that it would be balm to her snapping nerves. "Ramon did not want to rent his home to strangers and he knew that I wanted to move. If I took it, he said, he wouldn't have to put away his personal treasures, for I would take care of them." Tactful Ramon, to make the favor appear to him! Both, however, benefited. "I was surprised, having and a religious atmosphere, statue and few pictures and pieces of sculpture, Modernistic as to angles, and of a sophisticated simplicity, it has space in which to breathe. And the garden is wonderful. "And my hopes came true ! I rest, I sleep dreamlessly. And I eat such lots !" Her eyes sparkled, her smile was delighted. Her poised strength shows in her quick walk and sudden, happy gestures, mirroring an inner radiance. She again suggests Myrna Williams of Montana. From the rest fulness of Ramon's home she moved, shortly before his return from Europe, to a house which tops a hill between Hollywood and the sea. Mountains curve on one side ; down the other vista the water beckons. The garden is a wondrous place for sun bathing. expected a Spanish house Ramon has only one holv Ramon made it appear that he turned his home over to Myrna to avoid renting it to strangers. She laughs at talk of romance between them. Music is their bond. "I thought of a beach house, but the ocean makes me mood}-. Besides. Malibu is too crowded. This is balance. Both Hollywood and the sea are within easy distance." Mvrna's and Ramon's common interest is music. Her mother being an accomplished pianist, Myrna grew up with a love of melody. Ramon sings, and she gives him a cultured appreciation. "There is so little friendship in Hollywood." Myrna says, "that rare instances are to be treasured. There are lots of professional associations, acquaintances who come and go with success or failure. But friendship is another matter. Man} players are too intent on careers to cultivate real friendships. "Some actresses complain that they never know whether men really love them or just are blinded by their glamour. I think one knows. So why kid oneself? If one wants such attentions, take them and don't crab. If a woman wants the genuine, let her wait for it. "I have few friends. And the men are all platonic!" She smiled. "Friendship grows gently. Transient associations are a drain, and for what purpose? If two people attract each other, it is to share and no sacrifices are necessarv. Sycophants and time-moochers don't bother me, because I'm not at home when they call. "My best friend is my childhood chum, now married. Her life differs greatly from mine, but our bond holds. The outsider must adapt herself to the actress's schedule. Fortunately, she is a generous soul." The most commendable of Mvrna's accomplishmentis that for eight years she has steadily climbed, with never a backslide, never a personal sensation. "Once or twice I was in danger of going Hollywood." she admits. "I think that intuition guides one. prevents one from mistaking the sham for the real. I am soon bored by false stimulus. Drinking parties just aren't any fun to me. Gradually one learns values and chooses what one needs. [Continued on page 56]