Screenland (Nov 1929-Apr 1930)

114 SCREENLAND Bushells of Love and Kisses — continued from page 34 Ducky — " Zelma was at Tony's feet on the floor, weary from a stiff game of golf with her sister, Bernice, that afternoon. So Tony didn't have to go far to assure her that she was entirely wrong on the inception of his love for her. Friends of the young Englishman had urged him to see two shows while he was in New York. One was "The Trial of Mary Dugan." The other was "Good News." "I wanted terribly to meet that little girl who was billed as Zelma O'Neal. I knew no one to introduce us. I went back to England that summer without so much as speaking a word to her. Then I read in the papers that she was coming to London with the musical show. A friend of mine knew some one in the cast. I arranged to meet her. We were engaged before the week was out." "And if you can imagine it," said Zelma, crossing one tanned leg over the other, pushing away a recalcitrant red lock, and making a dive for a bunch of brown wool which was the Irish pup, "I looked at that chap when he was introduced and thought — 'Nice boy, but too good looking.' And p\un\, dismissed him from my mind. Just like that." The fact that Anthony Bushell did not remain long dismissed from Zelma O'Neal's mind is indicated by the whirlwind courtship. Bushell followed Zelma to New York after he had finished his run in London in Channing Pollock's "The Enemy." They were married a short time later in St. Nicholas' on Fifth Avenue. Hugh Sinclair, the chap who introduced them, was best man. Inez Courtney was the bride's attendant. "The day of our wedding, Zelma was in the midst of rehearsals and I was play Joyce Contpton began her screen career as a blonde. Now she is a red-head, but just as alluring as ever. ing a matinee and evening performance." Bushell appeared in Somerset Maugham's "The Sacred Flame" at the time. "For a week after, we were so busy that we only had snatches of time together." They both like Hollywood. Zelma says it is a grand place to raise children. She means it, too. The little hoyden-girl of "Good News" who makes audiences roar with the way she picks up her feet and lays them down again and the brilliant comedienne of that other musical comedy, "Follow Thru," is definitely a home-loving person with a longing for a brood of her own. Zelma's a good business woman, too. A film studio had been negotiating for her appearance in a talkie short. "I held out for twice as much as they offered my manager. Got it, too," she said. A telephone call necessitated Zelma s getting to her feet. She grunted and groaned. Her nightly work in "Follow Thru" at a Los Angeles theater means a terrific expenditure of muscle energy. And then there is the daily afternoon game of golf. "Tony taught me how to play and we're still friends. Can you imagine it!" Zelma returned from the telephone with news of a vaudeville offer. "Don't think I'll do it. Can't leave you, Tony, and Bernice — and Paddy." The two sisters have been almost inseparable since those struggling days in Chicago when they 'plugged' songs in a little music store and attracted their first opportunity to do a sister act in vaudeville. Work often takes them to opposite ends of the country. But they always come 'homing' when an engagement is finished. Bernice is blonde while Zelma is auburnhaired; madonna-eyed while Zelma has the eyes of a sprite; tall and slender while Zelma has the sturdiness of a little-girl build; dreamy while Zelma is vociferously business-minded. Zelma O'Neal takes a commonsense attitude toward her own background of minimized opportunities and hardships. At the same time she glows with the reports of Tony's boyhood and education in England. This Anthony Bushell, who won instantaneous recognition for his work on the talking screen with George Arliss in "Disraeli," is a member of a distinguished British family which dates back to 1200. He is the eldest of three living sons. Anthony's older brother was killed four years ago in an Afghanistan campaign. He was a lieutenant in the Indian army. Anthony was born in Westerham, Kent County, England. He was educated at Magdalen College School and won a scholarship in English History to Oxford. A brilliant student in his elementary grades, great expectations were held by his parents for Tony's college career. "Sports always interested him. After he entered Oxford, studying went into the background and he began to give all his time to sports," explained Zelma. Bushell was captain of cricket and head of the school for two years at Magdalen. In Hertford College, Oxford, he won the novice's boxing cup in the middleweights and also won some prominence as a fencer. "Tony was a great one at this in college." And Zelma's brown arms began a backward-forward motion, her legs straight out on the rug and her bow mouth pursed as though fortifying herself. "Whatdoyou Kathryn McGuire, a charming graduate of the Mack Sennett seminary for young Hollywood ladies, has been playing in a Hoot Gibson western. callitdarling?" "Ducky's trying to say I was stroke of my college eight," enlightened Bushell. "A rower — that's what he was." When Tony was 21 he left Oxford. His parents were deeply disappointed. It was understood that Anthony was to study for the clergy and his announcement that he was going on the stage was a shock to the family. "It was not that they were opposed to the theater," declared Bushell. "Not that at all. They did think it was preposterous that I should hope to make a success in work about which I knew nothing at all. However, Mother and Father were very fair and sensible about the whole thing. They said if I wanted to give up college and go on the stage I would do so with the understanding I was to be entirely on my own financially." A short time later, a tall blond young man answered to the name of Anthony Bushell when student roles were assigned at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. This is the organization founded by Sir Herbert Tree. "I learned hardly anything there. Sir Gerald du Maurier saw me in a student performance and I was given a part with Gladys Cooper in 'Diplomacy' at the Adolphi Theater." Miss Cooper re-engaged him for her next two productions, "Peter Pan" and Pinero's "Iris." Feeling he needed further experience, Bushell left London and played on the road for two years. "When I came back to London I heard that James Gleason was using some English players for his comedy, 'Is Zat So.' I had an introduction to Mr. Gleason and battled my way through the crowd waiting outside his office. Jimmy Gleason took a look at me and said — 'Too tall." Robert Armstrong took a look and said — 'Too young." "I started to turn away. Then I became so infuriated at the thought of having battled the mob for nothing that I turned