Screenland (May–Oct 1925)

SCREENLAND The Little Ways of Love — continued from page n hundred times. And that time you played Aunt Jemima " "Never mind that " Aunty Peck stopped her with uplifted hands, "tell me how you happen to have this date with Herb. I didn't know you had been seeing him lately." "I haven't been," Kitty admitted. "But then you can't expect an honest-to-goodness star to have much to do with a little extra girl like me. And Herb's so decent — so really splendid, you know, that he wouldn't follow a girl about just for the fun he might get out of it. I haven't seen him for ages really — but just as I was leaving the lot today, I ran right into him. Say, he was a sight for sore eyes! You know his hair — all slicked back with your best patent leather pumps — and his face — one grin from ear to ear — and his eyes " Kitty paused — "His eyes — oh, well, never mind them; they are brown anyway. And he was honest'to-goodness glad to see me. He nearly shook my arm off and right away he said, 'Say, Kitty, if you aren't busy tonight— how about a little dinner at The Tingle Bell.7' And so there you are " Kitty made a little curtsy, "And here I am on my way to meet him." "Not in that outfit!" Aunty Peck exclaimed. "You surely aren't going to dinner with a real star in a blue jersey sport outfit. And if you are going at all, you had better hurry into some suitable frock. It is about two shakes to six o'clock now." "You've said it," Kitty kicked a brown pump clear across the room, "I'll have to Kitty had . known the storms and the dark' ness and the burden of many hardships. There had been times when she did not laugh. Neither had she cried. But she had set her mouth in a firm little line and determined to win out against the world somehow. And the world had not been adamant to her grit and her courage and her Irish determination. She had left a sick mother in the east and sought for Fame and Fortune in Hollywood. Especially had she sought the Fortune, for the doctors at home had told her a long rest in a sanitarium would bring health and strength to her mother again. For quite a while Kitty had been more than content with the money which her "small part" work brought her. It meant there was enough to send home every week, especially if she made her own clothes and was careful not to spend too lavishly, as she saw some of the other girls on the lot doing. But that first time she played a tiny part in a picture with Herbert Boynton, she had begun to dream of Fame. Herb had worked for it — and found it. Perhaps if she found it too — well, that might make him more aware of her — not just as a sweet little Irish miss he liked to be friends with — but as some one very wonderful he might come to love. Kitty O'Hara never told any one about her dream of Fame. Not even did she tell Aunty Peck with whom she had come to live. Most of the girls about the lot did tell their troubles and their joys to Martha Peck, wardrobe mistress of the True-art Picture Company. Sometimes she was cast C[ Conrad K[agel (right) as the Du\e in "The Only Thing" is being taught to fence by Emilio, Hollywood's famous fencing master. hurry. I'm wearing my white georgette tonight. Herb likes simple things — especially on me — he said so once — He's given me a lot of good advice, really!" "Oh, is that so!" Aunty Peck hummed softly. "And has he ever given you any advice on the little ways of love?" "No — he hasn't," Kitty began to unfasten her dress. "And besides, Herb isn't the least romantic. He's the best sport — and the finest friend a girl could have — and what more do you want, can you tell me?" "Sure — I could tell you," Aunty Peck agreed, "but you wouldn't listen to me if I tried. I'll run along and see about getting some dinner of my own — ah me for a Lochinvar that wouldn't mind paying my dinner checks " Kitty laughed and made haste with her preparations. Her laugh was light as thistledown blown on the winds of the world. She was young and merry and carefree. To her all Life was good and the days were fair. Not always had the days been fair. for small character parts, but whether on the lot or out on location, she was always Aunty Peck to the girls — and to the stars as well. Almost at once she had taken little Kitty O'Hara under her motherly wing, and a warm affection had grown up between them. By seven Kitty was ready when Herb called for her in his sporting grey roadster. With a soft kiss for the elderly woman, and a "I'll bring you home something nice, old dear," she was away in a ripple of laughter and a mist of white georgette. It was an evening of June, balmy and sweetscented and enchanting. Something within Kitty's heart was as magical and as sweet as the evening. Not every night did she have such fun as this. . . A SHORT fifteen minute ride brought them to the homey, inviting entrance of The Tin\le Bell. "I always like to dine' here," Herb Boynton said as he helped her to alight. "It is (Continued on page 90) FRANCES MARION She is America's highest paid screen writer. She has written a majority of the biggest pictures in film history. Her skilful continuity and advice has helped the rise of many of screendom's stars, among them Mary Pickford and Norma Talmadge. How well she knows the movie folk! There are few people in the industry who know so much about the pictures, ---who have so much to tell! She tells it in MINNIE FLYNN, the first real novel of the movies. It is a story of the rise and fall of a typical movie star. In the background are many of the big people of the screen its stars, directors and backers. Being intimately of the screen, it is a story of love and lust, of the squandering of beauty and honor, tn a mad struggle to reach fame and keep it. "MINNIE FLYNN is a slice of life." N. Y. Telegram-Mail. * 'There is no putting aside the book till it is finished." Boston Evening Transcript. "No movie-struck girl should fail to read MINNIE FLYNN." Boston Herald. "You find yourself laughing one minute and thrilling the next.*' Chicago Daily News. Anyone interested in the movies must have this book. The story itself is too thrilling to miss and in addition it offers the fullness of Frances Marion's knowledge of the movie game a knowledge that could not be gained by ten ordinary lifetimes of experience. MINNIE FLYNN By Frances Marion 4th Edition S2.00 B0mE L.VER.GHT £«»