Picture Show (Nov 1919-Apr 1920)

10 JUST MF«. How the Story Commenced. In the preceding chapters of her delightfully frank story, Pearl White sketched the history of her early childhood, They were not altogether happy days for money was scarce in the household, and her mother, who was always very delicate, died soon after her birth, I'earl was always getting into mischief, and was consequently always receiving punishment at the hands of her very strict father. Her father married again when she was siv years old. When she was twelve years oler, her brother, who was her greatest pal, left home and joined the navy. At the age of thirteen, Pearl decided to join a circus that came to her district, and later on she joined a touring company. But her early efforts were not too successful Next, Pearl was offered a job as a stewardess on a bont. But sea life did not agree with her, and she went on the stage, touring in Cuba, Buenos Aires, Kansas City; Tennessee, and Kansas. Later on the company arrived at a little place called Kiefer, where oil had been struck There were about 5,000 miners in the settlement, and the company did well, because amusements were scarce. (YOU CAN NOW HEAP ON.) WHITE An Unhappy Villain. UP till Friday wo had put on comedies, but that night we slipped on a melodrama. Tho heavy man had nn unpleasant part to play, and he received more than the usual amount of hissing. We heard next day that lie had been discussed by the miners, and they had come to the conclusion that he must be a pretty bad guy even in private life, because he was so meaji on the stage. Saturday night came, and we didn't have any comedies left, so we had to put on another knock-down, and drag them out melo. The miners having just got their pay, and having no work to do on Sunday, elected that night lo get drunk. We had reached the third act, and the villain was then pretty bad. In the climax he had to throw a woman across the stage, then stand over her with clenched fists and call her a lot of hard names. He had uttered only one of these when a man in the audience rose up and shouted, " You skunk, to hit a woman. If you want to fight, do it with someone j our size ! " Then, after a good deal of profanity, he offered to enter into a fist combat with hur. himself, promising to knock the villain's block off, and a few other things. But said villain was all for peace, so he ducked behind tho ncenes. Then someone tired a shot at his retreating figure, and this started a riot. Most of tho men woro witli their fellow miner, that there should be a battle pulled off. Now the woman in the play, who had received the rough handling, got up from tho floor, and shouted to the piano player : " Jake, play ' My Country 'Tis of Thee,' " which Jake promptly did. lint either he was a key too low, or she was a key too high ; anyway, they were certainly not together. This quieted tho mob for a couple of minutes, and she was just starting to hit it right with the piano playor when her two children, who had up until then been sleeping in a dressing room, struck up an awful howl. So she dashed in to them, fearing some awful crimes were being committed. Then came rny chance to bo a hero. I galloped out and begged for a moment's attention. " Now," said I, " I know that you're r11 gentlemen, and will listen to a sporting proposition." " We're all gents," said they, " and can pay attention to a lady any time." So I told them that I was wifli them in my dislike for the villain ; in fact, so was all the company, and as we were closing the show that night we didn't care much what happened to him. But — I went on— if you will keep your seats, and let us resume with the Inst act, when that has been finished you can use I he t heatre to pull off a fight in. ' Sounds fair enough." said the man with the revolver ; and, turning it on the others, said : '.' Sit down when a lady asks you lo. 'cause if you don't there's going to be a couple of ginks (akin' a short cut off this earth." Well, they quieted down, and we Continued. Now, at the finish of the last act, the villain was to be led on hand-cuffed, but when we came to that, he had departed for parts unknown. The miners got awful mad. and we got awful scared when they rushed Up on the stage demanding the villain's body, dead or alive. We told them it wasn't our fault if he was a coward and had beat it. They searched around, and. of course, they couldn't find him. Then one of the company, whom I had told of his whereabouts, said ho had seen him start out on a run towards tho hotel, So part of the gang started in pursuit, while the others stayed on and volunteered to help us pack up. All "of this time, though, there were only a few old dresses between our villain and death. I had put him in an old wicker hamper that was ortly about four feet long. Ho was about six. Ho did not fit very well, but lie was for doing his bit towards disappearing, and folded himself up into the basket and let me pack some clothes on top of him. I didn't lock tho hamper, so during the search it was never suspected, and nobody bothered to lift up the clothes. It must have been pretty tough on the poor villain when the lid was eventually locked, with not too much air, and a sneeze or a cough would surely have cost htm his life. We loaded our goods and chattels on a wagon at midnight, and were to get a train at two in the morning. This train didn't stop in this town unless it was previously arranged with the railroad company. Wo had that fixed up, however, and as the station wouldn't open, wo had to load our baggage on 'ourselves ; so about fifty of the most gallant miners announced that they would stick around and see us off. Well, it was two hours until train time, but we were all for getting down to the station and waiting on the plaftorm for the train. Said station was only a little 'shack. Down we Went with our little escort. Tire comedian of the troupe, telling jokes and singing odd songs, mado himself the pet of the miners that night. I was watching the basket that contained our villain. It had been loaded on the wagon very carefully by two men of our company, but when the wagon had got to the station, the gang declared that our troupe had w orked hard enough, and imloadod our baggage themselves. Of course, they set the hamper on one end, and I was trying to figure out which end the fellow inside was resting on., ■ It worked, out he must be on his head, so T corraled the leading man, , and wo turned it over, with the pretence that we wanted to use it as a scat. Then everybody in our troupe sort of grasped the meaning of this act, and took turns sitting on the basket, beating a tattoo, w ith ! heir feet so as to give the poor fellow inside a chance to t urn over. Then the posse that had etarted in pursuit toward the hotel joined us, with tho news that they couldn't find their man. ' " Maybe it's better so," said the leader of the mob, " because to preserve our hononr as r/,t Picture Show, January VMh, 1920 gents wo would have to shoot him, and I don't think the cuss is really worth the bullets that wo would have to drive into his hide." It was getting very cold, and the minefS* liquor was dying out a bit. Some were drifting away, but a goodly amount stuck, and when one of the children began to cry because he wt»^ cold, a man with a long red beard rose up and volunteered to make a bonfire. Then a couphof miners pulled out a few loose ties from a Si88 track, covered them with coal oil, and starfe'o* a fire. This was a new thrill for the miners, and they started dancing and yelling about it. Before long they had a hug* fire, and nearly all of the side tracks ripped up. Somebody must have thought of the poor fellow in the hamper, so they carried it over by the fire. But in the excitement, when the train was heard approaching, everybody apparently forgot about it, and the " poor fellow " inside was near roasted before he was fkuig on to the baggage car. The fire by that time had grown quite large and was catching on to the corner of the Station house. But some one yelled : " Let her burn. We'll give the folks a good send-off ! " And by the time we got our trunks on the train, tiewhole building was burning, and the last I saw of it as we steamed out into the night was a lot of drunken men yelling and doing an Indian dance around a big blaze which spelt the last at that little frame shack. We told the story to the conductor, and g<K our man out of the hamper. Then the whole troupe gave a sigh of relief, and laughed or ci if;d as their temperaments demanded. A Star. MY next job was with a company colled " Eldon's Comedians," but evidently we were not very funny, for we only lasted a couple of weeks. So I, having some cab on hand, hit the trail for Chicago. The first office I went to belonged to the firm of " Rowland and Clifford," located in the old Grand Theatre Building. I walked in about ten in the morning, and asked to see Mr. Rowland. 'He stuck his'head out of his private ofliee, and said : tome in. And in I went. " Want an engagement ? " he asked. " I would like to exhibit my talents in one of your companies," answered I. Can you play ' Jane Eyre ' ? " he asked. m'' " Just my line," I retorted. I hadn't th£" slightest idea what the part w as like. ' ' Then he continued : " You start rehearsals at nine-thirty to-d row morning. Your salary wil] be twenty-five' dollars a week, and if you make good, I'll stain you. Good morning ! " 'I Good morning. Glory! I saw it before me< twenty-five dollars, and I would have taken it' for fifteen. I hustled out and bought a book of "Jane Eyre," and spent that night reading' it. I rehearsed for a week, and opened as a» star in Rowland and Clifford's Western Com i pany of ■ Jane Eyre," playing mostly one night stands. I'll never forget the thrill I had when I first saw my name in electric lights in front of a theatre. It was at East St. Louis, and we were playing there three days. I got a room right across the street from the theatre, so that I could see that sign " Pearl White in ' Jane Eyre.' " How happy I was that season, t saved up some money, and the show lasted till spring, But my star soon hid behind" a cloud. The "company closed, and I went lo join a company playing stock in Minneapolis. When I got off the train I felt pretty bad. and I was sick for two weeks. That was mj first introduction to a physician ; my father had always believed in home remedies. And when this doctor wanted to cut out my appendiv I decided to take a Pullman aud go home to father. However, 1 felt so well when I got to Kansas City that 1 decided I'd go to New Orleans instead. That was a long trip, and cost mo a lot of money ; but there I went, and stayed on a week or more. It was in New Orleans, in Canal Street, that, I saw my first moving picture. Moving pictures had been quite popular for some Mnae then, but somehow I had never seen one.