The Picture Show Annual (1926)

Picture Show Annual 129 THE TALMADGE THREE When Norma played in a Cellar, Constance was Queen of a Circus, and Natalie meets Buster Keaton. ■ <9 ' Natalie, Constance and Norma Talmaige. T he Talmadge sisters belong to that rare and fortunate class of people who grow up to see the dreams of their childhood come true. This, at least, is the story of Norma Talmadge’s life, and from the earliest days Norma was the star of the family round which the other two sisters more or less revolved. This must not be taken to mean that Norma was in any way the favoured or spoilt one, but she was the first who had to go out and get a living, and if she had not become a movie actress neither of her sisters would ever have been associated with the pictures. Even when she was a tiny tot Norma a passion for acting. In her lives of her daughters, Mrs. gives some wonderful pen pictures of Norma’s first plays. These were per- formed in the cellar of their tiny house in Brooklyn. The actors were the Talmadge sisters, the wardrobe mistress and scenic artist Mrs. Talmadge : though the youngsters helped her and did most of the stage carpenter’s work. The audience were the kids m the neigh- bourhood, and sometimes, when Norma wrote a play with more than three char- acters, the audience would be reduced by some of them having been chosen for the other side of the footlights. In the more ambitious plays given by the Talmadge sisters, the parents of the children would be invited. Sometimes the theatre would be changed into a circus and then Norma would lose her position of star, for Gjnstance was the tomboy of the family, and she could perform a number of stunts on the trapeze and was quite up to professional stand- ard in throwing cartwheels and handsprings. Constance tells her sisters' fortunes in / r that teacups. Natalie with her two sons, * Joseph and Robert On right ; Mrs. Talmadge with her grandson Robert. I