Screenland (Nov 1925–Apr 1926)

too cut-up about it. You'd think that some of the stunts that have been put over in mad Manhattan wouldn't fool a ten-year-old. Well, they have, and that stands. New York is the largest and the richest and most sophisticated city in the world, where you can attract a large crowd any time of day or night simply by standing in Times Square and earnestly gating upward. Try it some time. Point skyward, wait until a sufficiently large and curious crowd has assembled, and then beat it. Because you can't fool everybody all the time, etc. Anyway, a long time ago a bunch of funny-looking gentlemen dressed in Turkish togas stood little old New York on its ears. These sheiks made known their arrival at an expensive hotel in no uncertain terms; they were, they wailed, on the look-out for the missing virgin of Stamboul, whose trail they had traced to New York, and to find which — or whom — they would leave no stone unturned, if they could find one -in' town. They raised quite a rumpus before they were through. Unfortunately, while conferring with a sympathetic group of reporters one of the sheiks also happened to raise his toga, exposing a section of trouser and even a garter made in Massachusetts. You have heard of "The Virgin of Stamboul" since; but at the time the hoax G[ Colleen Moore. Her personal "following" is one of ihe largest. fetter from Colleen ^JMoore Dear Screenland: was perpetrated, she was indeed a fresh and innocent slip of a girl, having not yet made her lively screen debut; and so she fooled even the newspapers — for a while. Another time a man of decidedly foreign appearance registered in a good hotel— New York is just filled with them— as Mr. T. R. Zan. He had not been in his_suite very long before he phoned down to the desk and in a matter were thereafter at home to reporters; and a great many people had heard of a film called "Tarzan of the Apes" before it hit town. If you remember a motionpicture entertainment named "Mothers-in-Law" , you may be interested to know how its exploitation angles were heartlessly taken advantage of. It was a shame! This time, the wily exploiters, having first smothered their own private convictions on the subject, bravely came forward with a plea for National Mother-in-Law Day. Everybody knows that Mother's Day is a great favorite throughout the country, especially with florists; but that was no reason that another day, dedicated to mothers-in-law, should prove as popular. But the movement grew. The first thing you knew, the mother-in-law of President Coolidge had been prevailed upon to lend her approval to National Mother-in-Law Day; and with this endorsement from Mrs. Goodhue, the idea found space in every newspaper and voice at every dinner table in the country. How many happy homes were disrupted along about this time is too painful to ponder about. The thing gained impetus in New York when a "Boston society matron," domiciled in a luxurious suite at the staid old Waldorf Astoria, announced her intention of ardently championing the cause of the downtrodden ma-in-law. This lady was rushed to death. She saw reporters, particularly the variety labeled, if not libeled as "sob sisters". She told them that flowers, fruit and candy should be I have read your article which stated that I once worked in a candy factory and was a waitress with Janice Kingsley. I am sure the girls had a very merry time among the chocolate drops, but Miss Kingsley is thinking of some other girl. Her story is not true. The only places I've ever worked are studios, where motion pictures are made. I'm not very much surprised that Miss Janice Kingsley mistook me for some one she knew, for I have had photographs from a number of girls who look almost exactly like me. I'm sure Miss Kingsley meant no harm. After all, every one makes mistakes. Very sincerely ypurs, Colleen Moore. Editor's Note: Miss Colleen Moore has so pleasantly pointed out our deplorable oversight that we are printing her letter not only to correct a mistake but to show her generosity and \indness, qualities which have made her one of our favorite screen players. showered by grateful sons and daughters-in-law. She welcomed miserable representatives who had been inured to other expressions of gratitude. She was, in fact, a veritable Joan of Arc, and she didn't care who knew it. Not until a movie called "Moihers-in-Law" was in general circulation did the "society matron" turn out to be an experienced actress, hired at fifty dollars a day to pose as the uplifter of mothers-in-law. When most of the stenographers employed in the offices in the vicinity of Wall Street, laughingly referred to as "the financial district," held a mass of -fact tone ordered one hundred" pounds o7 raw beefsteak Vent^vf6^ °n the steps of the TreasurY Building, it up at once. The startled clerk soothingly inquired if a nice five-pound porterhouse would not answer the purpose; but the gentleman urbanely insisted upon one hundred raw. He added that, for himself, it did not greatly matter; but his lion knew what he wanted, and his lion was right in the room with him, and his lion usually got what he wanted. Gentleman and lion 40 was only natural that a crowd should gather. An earnesT>^ung stenographer had the floor— or the steps. She 1 talked about herself and her sisterworkers as daytime wives. She urged "the girls to band themselves into an association — these girls to whom businessmen {Continued on page 82)