My Past(Warner Bros.) (1931)

= Warner Bros. Present “MY PAST’’—A Vitaphone Picture On This Page a series of five interest getting features. Plant them one-a-day starting a week previous to your playdate. ““My Past’ Recalls Other Celebrated Women With a Past pr tne .5.-. Theatre announces... . next as the date scheduled for the coming _of Bebe Daniels in Warner Bros. Manager... latest production, “My Past,” which is the story of one of the world’s famous actresses. ‘This brings to mind other women whose loves have stirred the imagination of humanity. Among them none is more spectacular than Du Barry. MADAME DU BARRY Madame Du Barry ruled Louis XV, and through him all France. Her scintillating wit, frank and generous manners and seductive beauty won all hearts. Benjamin Franklin and othe~ brilliant men of the day visited her —but her path of glory led to the guillotine. Born in poverty in Vaucoeleurs, she was placed in a convent where she was taught drawing and the catechism, and at sixteen was a milliner in Paris. She next is seen as the courtesan, Mile. Lange, and then as the mistress of Jean, Compte du Barry, a gambler, who took her into his home to attract wealthy customers. Through Compte du Barry, Lebel, valet de chambre of King Louis XV, and Richelieu, she was finally presented at court and in time made the official mistress to the king. Her influence «ver Lovis XV__was absolute His successor banished her but let her live in the magnificent palace his predecessor had given her. She went to England in 1792 to raise money on her jewels and on her return was accused before the Revolutionary Tribunal and beheaded the same evening, December 7, 1793. BEBE Beautiful ! gowns, tenser drama. star cast. The tell-tale autobiography which the author dared not sign. You’ve never seen Beautiful Bebe in a better role, smarter And these great stars are in the five BEN LYON and LEWIS STONE NATALIE MOOREHEAD and JOAN BLONDELL Sought after! What Cut No. 1—Cut 60c, Mat 15c A WARNER BROS. & Ns vera! -G yor SWUMAWKIV Theatre Cut DANIELS as Dora Macy Brilliant! Yet she said “‘I hate all men!” strange secret forbade her love? What happened to turn her against all men? Begins Today! Attend the Bargain Matinee. A story of yesterday's missteps in a picture & “My Past” is a tremendously emotional story of the loves of a great actress. Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon and Lewis Stone are featured. Her Strange Life Revealed at Strand Cut No. 21 Cut 80c Mat 10c Bebe Daniels is excellent in her portrayal of the sensational adventures of Dora Macy in “‘My Past,” the *“My Past’ Recalls Other Celebrated Women With a Past Bebe Daniels comes to the.... Theatre . . . . next in Warner Bros. latest production, “My Past,’ which is the story of the love life of a famous actress. “My Past” revives interest in other women who survive on account of the amazing adventures with which their lives were filled. One of the most bewitching of them was Nell Gwyn, “Sweet Nell of Old Drury.” NELL GWYN Nell Gwyn was born in an alley off Drury Lane in London. Her father was a broken-down soldier, and when Nell was in the twenties her mother # | was drowned while intoxicated. Nell sold oranges near Drury Lane Thea tre, and at fifteen went on the stage. Her success as Florimel in Dryden’s “Secret Love, or the Maiden Queen,” caused Samuel Pepys to write in his famous diary under date of March 25, 1667: “So great a performance of a comical part was never, I believe, in the world before.” Other roles suited to her airy, irresponsible personality followed in swif succession. Nell Gwyn was piquant rather than pretty. She was short of stature and her chief beauty was her reddish-brown hair. She was illiterate and with difficulty scrawled her name at the bottom of letters written for i her by others. It was as the mistress of Charles II of England that she endeared herself to the public. The King’s deathbed request was “Tet not poor Nelly starve.” His current Strand attraction. Her role.is that of a famous | brother, James II, paid her debts and actress who is torn between two loves—ithe characters being Ben Lyon and Lewis Stone. isettled her on an estate. She died soon after and was buried in St. Martin-in-the-Fields. ‘““My Past’? Recalls Other Celebrated Women With a Past The coming of Bebe Daniels in Warner Bros. latest picture, “My Past,” recalls other women who have survived the years because of loves that made their lives immortal. Among them none is more emotionally appealing than Peg Woffington. PEG WOFFINGTON , Peg Woffington’s name is kept alive mostly by the quaint coffee houses whose waitresses wear the furbelowed garb of the eighteenth century when pretty Peg was born of povertystricken parents in Dublin. At ten she was dancing and playing in various Dublin theatres, and it was at that age that she made her first success as Polly Peacham in a Lilliputian presentation of “The Beggar’s Opera.” At twenty-six her success as Sir Harry Wildair in “The Constant Couple” won her a London engagement. At Drury Lane, Covent Garden, as well as in Dublin she appeared in the plays of the day with ever-increasing popularity. Her impersonations of the reigning ladies of the day were fine, but in “breeches parts,” says the Britannica, “she was unapproachable.” Her many and notorious love affairs were not more well known than were her generosity and kindness of heart. At the height of her fame she suddenly gave up all, adopted a life of nunlike seclusion, seeing only the poor and suffering. She built and endowed almshouses at Teddington, where she died three years later, in 1757, aged forty-three years. Miss Daniels in “My Past” plays the part of a famous actress who is torn between two loves—the charac ters are played by Ben Lyon and Lewis Stone. “My Past” comes to the ....Theatre .... next. *“My Past’? Recalls Other Celebrated Women With a Past “My Past,” the latest Warner Bros. production, comes to the .... Theatre... . next, featuring Bebe Daniels as Doree the Adorable, one of the world’s great actresses. “My Past” recalls other women whose memory is inextinguishable because of the vividness of the lives they lived. Among them is the unbelievable Madame Amandine Lucile Aurore Dudevant, nee Dupin—known best by her pen name—George Sand. GEORGE SAND George Sand is not alone distinguished by the fact that she was the most prolific woman writer of all time. She was the first woman to wear trousers on the boulevards and to smoke big black cigars. After her divorce from her bourgeois husband she became the inspiration and mistress to many of the most brilliant geniuses of her time. George Sand was born in a room adjoining a hall where her soldier father was fiddling for a country dance. “She will be fortunate,” said an aunt, “for she was born among the roses to the strains of music.” Blood of kings of France and a Paris bird-fancier was in her veins. She lived in a military camp, in a convent, in country and in town. After her divorce she supported her daughter by painting and embroidery until she was driven by poverty to writing and immortality. She was the delight and despair of many of the greatest men of her day —ainong them being Chopin, Dumas, de Mussat and Balzac. Liszt wrote of her: “She catches her butterfly—tames it—feeds it on nectar—-then sticks her njn in. it-cwatches Ls eS | meee ian 2 8nr 22am SS ital” Guay it to her collection of heroes for novels.” ““My Past’? Recalls Other Celebrated Women With a Past “My Past,’ the latest Warner Bros. production, which features Bebe Daniels as Doree, a muchloved actress, comes to the . ‘ Theatre . <.:.-next. “My -Fastbrings to mind other women whose affaires de coeur have made them immortal. Among these astonishing persons none is more intriguing than Ninon de L’Enclos. NINON DE L’°ENCLOS Ninon de L’Enclos was born in Paris in 1616. Her life divides into two parts, in the former of which she was the typical Frenchwoman of the gayest and most licentious society of the seventeenth century—and during the latter the recognized leader of fashion in Paris and the friend of wits and poets. Her defense must be that her father taught her epicurean and sensual beliefs, but she retained through life a disarmingly frank demeanor and an utter disregard for money. She had a succession of distinguished lovers, among them Gaspard de Coligny, the Marquis of d’Estrees, La Rouchefoucauld, Conde and _ Saint Evremond. Queen Christina of Sweden visited her and Anne of Austria was powerless against her. After she had continued this career to middle life she settled down as the social leader of Paris, counting among her friends Mme. de la Sabliere, Mme. de la Fayette and Mme. de Maintenon. It became the fashion for young men as well as old to throng about her, and the best of all introductions to society was that of Mlle. de L’Enclos. Her characteristics were neither beauty nor wit but high spirits and perfect evenness of temperament. She died at the age of ninety, still retaining the appearance of a girl, and enjoying unabated popularity.