Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

for J uly 1931 115 The Rainy Thursday Girl Continued from page 66 ing for "Barbara." Helen remembers that she stood in the alley by the stage door while her friend went inside. A man bundled up to the eyebrows who looked as though he were freezing to death stopped as he was entering the stage door. He shivered as he saw her half socks and short little mackinaw and told her to step inside out of the wind and the rain. "I found out afterward it was Arthur Hopkins. He hated the cold and the rain. After he had talked to half a dozen children he called me over and asked me how I would like to play in 'Barbara.' " Helen told him, she couldn't, thank you, because she was going to have tea with her mother. "Come tomorrow and bring your mother," said the producer. So Helen became an actress and found it so entrancing that it wasn't long before she knew her way around to all the theatres and would dicker for jobs like an old-timer. "I was always most ambitious on rainy days. I'd let whole weeks of sunshiny days go by and never bother about going out to look for jobs. But let it start raining and I would dig up my old coat with the moth-eaten collar and start out to conquer the world. When there was a whole stretch of rainy weather I would have so many jobs lined up that I would make my little brother take one of them. Oooh, how he used to hate me for that ! He didn't want to be an actor in those days." Helen remembers when she was about eleven years old she played in Rex Beach's "The Barrier." There was a little boy and a little girl role in the play. "I liked the boy's role best so I persuaded my little brother Leland to play the girl's part. He did it under duress and gave me a big hoot when the first night notices came out and the critics had me credited with the girl's part and he the boy's !" When "The Wild Duck" was to be staged in New York Helen set her heart on a part in it. She was fifteen and just at the age, she said, when her hair seemed suddenly to go straight and she looked just like every other little girl of fifteen. In despair at the long, lanky locks, her mother did them up in rag curls. "I wailed when I looked at my fuzzy head. On the way to the theatre the dampness frizzed up my hair worse than ever. I looked like a blonde pickaninny. It surprises me yet that I got the part." As little Hedwia in "The Wild Duck" Helen received splendid notices without an exception. During the years that followed, Helen played with John Barrymore in "Richard the Third" and with Lionel Barrymore in "Macbeth." She was the original Marjorie Jones in "Penrod." "The Constant Nymph," "Hamlet," "Faust," "The Silver Cord," and "Mr. Pirn Passes By" further established her ability in dramatic work. Helen was a student at the Professional School for Children when she got her first picture work. It was in Allan Dwan's "The Music Master." "All the other girls in my class seemed to be growing up into young beauties," said Helen, in explaining how she happened to get into film work. "I would hear about the spending money they earned doing little parts in pictures in addition to sta^e It Seemed to Hear We Knew She Had Never Taken a Lesson from a Teacher THAT night of the party when she said, "Well, folks, I'll entertain you with some selections from Grieg" — we thought she was joking. But she actually did get up and seat herself at the piano. Everyone laughed. I was sorry for her. But suddenly the room was hushed. She played "Anitra's Dance"— played it with such soul fire that everyone swayed forward, tense, listening. When the last glorious chord vanished like an echo, we were astonished — and contrite. "How did you do it?" "We can't believe you never had a teacher!" "Well," she laughed, "I just got tired of being left out of things, and I decided to do something that would make me popular. I couldn't afford an expensive teacher and I didn't have time for a lot of practice— so I decided to take the famous U. S. School of Music So Strange Her Play Pick Your Course Piano Organ Ukulele Cornet Trombone Piccolo Guitar Violin Clarinet Flute Saxophone Harp Mandolin 'Cello Hawaiian Steel Guitar Sight Singing Piano Accordion Italian and German Accordion Voice and Speech Culture Drums and Traps Harmony and Composition Automatic Finger Control Banjo (Plectrum, 5-String or Tenor) course in my spare time. "It's as easy as A-B-C. I began playing almost from the start, and right from music. Now I can play any piece— classical or jazz." Booklet FREE You, too, can quickly te.ach yourself to become an accomplished musician right at home. To prove that you can, let us send you our Booklet and valuable Demonstration Lesson FREE. Iteail the li.-t of instruments to the left, decide which you want to play, and the U. S. School of Music will do the rest. And the cost averages only a few pennies a day! Instruments supplied when needed, cash or credit. U. S. School of Music, 3227 Brunswick Building. New York City. U. S. SCHOOL OF MUSIC 3227 Brunswick Bldg., New York City Send me your amazing free book, "Music Lessons ir Your Own Home," with introduction by Dr. Frank Crane, also Free Demonstration Lesson. This does not put nic under any obligation. Name Address Have you this Instrument Instrument? . DROP THIS ON CORNS Pain goes almost instantly, ends corn ONE drop of this new formula and any corn soon shrivels up and loosens. Just peel it off with your fingers. It is entirely gone. No more dangerous cutting,. This way acts instantly, like a local anaesthetic, to deaden most severe pain. Doctors approve its safety. Satisfaction guaranteed. Works alike on any corn or callus — old or new, hard or soft. "GETS -IT World's Fastest Way ±Tlo\ reet your favorite Me star***' all original photos of your favorite stars, eize 8 X 10. glossy prints. 2,r>c each. 5 for $1.00. S<-encs from any of your favorite recent photo plays, 25c each. 12 for $2.ol). ronitmlv the Anett obtainable miyu/iere. We have the larpeet collection of movie photos in the country. Just name the star or scenes you want. Remit by money order or U. S. 2c stamps BRAM STUDIO 630 9th Avenue Studio 326 New York City AN EASY CHAPE your NOSE Anita Nose Adjuster shapes flesh and cartilage— quickly, safely, painlessly, while you sleep or work. Lasting results. Doctors praise it. Gold Medal Winner. 87,000 users. Write for FREE BOOKLET. ANITA INSTITUTE. G-69,Anita Bldg.. Newark. N. J. SuporfluoujHAIRallGONE Mahler method, which kills the hair root, prevents hair from growing again. Use it privately in your home. We Teach Beauty Culture Send today 3 red stamps for Free Booklet D. J. Mahler Co., 37-B Mahler Park. Providence, R. I. shi Good and Good for You. When you write to advertisers please mention SCREENLA.ND.