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THE ADULT AND THE CINEMA One of Shakespeare's heroines says a star danced when she was born. I should like to know what antics Mamma's star performed in the comedy she saw, but she has forgotten.
However, after making my appearance a trifle too soon, I was kept so busy growing curly hair, getting teeth, and learning to walk and talk, that I had to refrain from further film going till I had reached the age of three years. By this time my father, a carpenter, was no longer with us, and I was sufficiently mature to be aware of this, and also of the fact that although my mother, grandmother and myself were all British, I differed from them in being 25 per cent Scots as well. In order to give the rest of the personal data asked for, I will take this opportunity of mentioning now that I went out to work as a Shorthand-typist when I was 16, and I still follow this occupation, only for the last three years it has been done in the W.R.N.S. My mother has never had a profession, other than the very strenuous job of looking after house and family.
Well, at three years old, I saw the first film I am able to remember, which was a serial called The Brass Bullet. At the beginning of each instalment a big bullet and a long bright flash used to zip across the screen, and I always watched out for this. Then I got a little older and we saw some horrific films about Sherlock Holmes, and one frightened me so much that although not yet of school age, I was influenced to make my first personal decision with regard to films. I decided to stay home with my grandmother and be read to while Mamma went and saw the frightening things.
Presently my courage came back again and we saw one movie a week, including most of the Rudolph Valentino successes. When I was about 7, I used to act being 'The Sheik' in the back garden with my little playmate who had parents on the stage. She used to like me to be very strong and silent while she did a dance for my delight. When I was between 10 and 1 1, I was allowed to go twice a week to the pictures, the second time usually being by myself. I developed a taste for foreign silent films, and often used to see stories that nowadays would be considered too advanced for young people. Those were the days — when a sixpence could be laid out like this — 3d. for Cinema ticket, Sweets 2d., and bus one way id.
By this time I had chosen some film favourites for myself, first of all two pretty blonde actresses, one American and the other British, who acted in gay comedies, and then I wavered for years between Ivor Novello and William Boyd. In those days Ivor often used to move me to tears with films like The Lodger and The Rat. He did suffer so beautifully. William Boyd was a more cheerful type, and
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