Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

Snould 21 a Tell? .Whether he should or shouldn't, Leslie Fenton's brotherly biographer reveals much about him that has never before been published, and which only a brother could know. By Reginald Fenton IT was a boy! A large, blue-eyed, laughing baby, and he was ushered into the world in a little, rustic home in the countryside adjacent to Liverpool, England. His mother was a buxom, Irish colleen ; Flannigan by maiden name. In time the little fellow grew up and, at the age of nine, he romped through the surrounding fields with Laska, an English setter, his boon companion. Laska would always bring him home from their long meanderings to his anxious mother. Then there was awakened in the heart of this growing boy his first deep emotion — grief. Laska was found, a limp and broken thing, in the roadway. The trail of a motor car's tires in the dust told the pathetic story. And then, his first reaction over, he dried his eyes, filched his mother's carpet tacks, and sprinkled them in the dust. Many dogs have gone into and out of Leslie's life, but he will always cherish the memory of his first love. He went to live with his grandmother, near the Liverpool docks. Here his grief was forgotten in the atmosphere of wharfs, the river and ocean liners. He loved this inspiring neighborhood. Sans shoes and stockings and cap, he watched the stevedores unloading the ships, with awe at the greatness of their task. The stevedores were a generous lot, and gave him fruit from South America. With open-mouthed wonder he thanked them in monosyllables. Here, too, he waited for his grandfather, an old mariner, who made trips to the Orient. He always recognized his grandfather's ship as soon as it rounded the bend in the river. Invariably he brought home souvenirs — once he brought Les a monkey ! Leslie's dreams, as a rule, centered around tempestuous seas and mammoth* ocean liners, and soon his dreams of a voyage were realized. At the age of eleven he, Photo by Fieulich Leslie Fenton was born in Liverpool, England, school in Ohio. with his family, crossed the Atlantic, and after a number of incidents exciting to the boy, arrived in New York harbor. Here occurred his first fishing experience. His mother discovered him hanging over the rail of the ship with a long line, to which was attached a teacup, angling for his cap dropped in his excitement. The events in the years that followed were characteristic of every American boy. He knew the sensation of stubbing a naked toe on a misplaced brick in the sidewalk, of being led to stick his tongue on frigid doorknobs. He waded in the neighboring creeks with a willow pole and pin hook. As to his angling ability, many a little sunfish took a solo flight through the ether in a silvery arc. He lunched on green corn and apples which grew conveniently near the stream. The noon repast was preceded by a splash in the swimming hole in the nude. But don't get the impression that all his hours were spent along the creeks. These escapades were on truant days, and were punishable by several sound whacks, if caught. He attended a country school in Mifflin Township, near Columbus, Ohio. He and the teacher were congenial friends, and he soon finished the grade work. Then to East High and went to School in Columbus. He did not take part in athletics, unless it was swimming, but in that he gave all the contenders a race for the title. He was intensely interested in literature, and when the school social affairs demanded him, the tyro yvas usually found lying under a tree delving into Keats. His father's death changed his environment and his . outlook on life. In his third year of high school, he was forced to leave his books and join the personnel of Fenton's, Incorporated, a la "An American Tragedy"; Continued on page 116