Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, July 23, 1921, Page 8

= . € Five hundred orphans—count them if you don’t believe it. Five hundred orphans with Mary Pickford for an aunt. And oh, what a glorious time they had at Mary’s “‘party”! It was a happy gathering of kiddies who will never know what it means to have a home with a capital H. And when it was all over Sister Cecilia whispered that Mary was the institution herself, and there had been also other parties which proved that Mary did know the secret of scattering her gold end reaping happiness. “MY LIFE” As Told By MARY PI CKFORD To HAYDEN TALBOT WAS not a little s sed one bungalow on the Brunton lot to apologetic smile and a stateme to beg off for the d It w nterfere with a promise given. Bu “When I made the engageme “! forgot | was giving a theatre p use you to come along.” And so it transpiredythat pre. Auditorium, the biggest theatre in L exceeding 3500, here shown. The little star indeed, that the or ver seen in little Mary Rupp, the four-yecr-old d sister . a * * - Almost before the Pickford car had discovered the identity of the t to an abrupt halt on the sidewalk, craning necks and whispering ex- citedly, “‘Here’s Ma By the time Miss Pickford had as- sisted her mother and her beloved niece to alight, the sidewalk was jammed with a pushing mob of men and women and children, and jostling for a si idol elbowing ht of the screen I was curious to see how Miss Pick- ford would behave under the cireum- stances, I was not disappointed. More nearly perfect poise and lack of affec- tation could not have been evidenced by royalty itself—accustomed to years of just this sort of hero-wor- ship. Miss Pickford seemed utterly ob- livious of the sensation her appear- ance was causing. At first all her attention was centred on her mother and little Mary. The latter she picked up bodily and lifted out of the car onto the sidewalk. The child very gravely, and as seemingly undisturbed by,the densely packed crowd of spectators as her famous aunt, leaned over and straightened out the folds of her little coat—very methodically—and then surveyed the effect with critical eyes Then. as they started across the sidewalk for the lobby of the theatre, between the crowds on either side, a score of hands were outstretched to Mary for a handshake. Curiously enough, no men figured in the dem- onstration at all. The whole crowd was composed of women and children. Miss Pickford shook every hand she saw—with a smile and a cheery word. More than one woman—im- mediately the little cinnema queen had given her a handclasp—unat- tectedly raised her own hand to her lips and kissed it, as if the touch of Mery Pickford's fingers had im- printed something of affection upon it! In the lobby of the theatre were a mere half dozen or so of Miss Pick- ford’s business staff—including her press agent, her business manager, her chief photographer and others, Also in evidence was the entire execu- tive staff of the theutre. For Miss Pickford to go to “the movies”—even in film-surfeited Los Angeles—was an event calculated to result most advantageously to the box office of cinema thus favored. is Pickford, as always, d was ahead of time. Her guests had not yet arrived. But presently their coming was heralded by a veritable ear-splitting assault of motor horns. It was tiny Mary Rupp who gave me the first inkling of the identity of Miss Pickford’s guests, 5 “Here comes your orphings, Aunt Mary,” cried the preternaturally grave little tot suddenly. And for the first time gay excitement lighted her big gray eyes. And, sure enough, a moment later the “orphings” began to arrive. There were 500 of them—all girls, and ranging in ages from five to perhaps day on arriving at the Pickford be met by the little lady with an nt thats s afraid she would as so unlike her—to let anything ut quickly she undeceived me. nt,”” she sai ith a golden smile arty today. But perhaps it might d myself outside the with a seating capa picture was being sently | f os A other—it is seldom, put hout the other—and by augh of Lottie Pickford, Mary * * * had stopped at the curb, passersby tio in the tonneau, and had come ee ee Saad thirteen years, They came in what are called “rubber-neck wagons’— enormously big caravans, each one seating 50 or more. In each of the vehicles was a sister in the pictur- esque uniform of her order. A half dozen policeman appeared and cleared a way for the little ones to form in lines on the sidewalk in front of the theatre. When finally the last of the ten carloads had been deposited on the sidewalk the little ones started in single file into the lobby and past the box office, where Miss Pickford, standing behind a brass rail, could greet them. “It was all I could do,” she said later, “to keep from taking every one of them into my arms and kiss- ing their darling faces—but th were so many of them it would have been night before I could have fin- ished—and, of course, if I had kissed one of them I’d have had them all.” to kiss Mary Is The Institution But she did speak to every last one of them—and a goodly number called by name. On their part, they all knew her and all addressed her as “Aunt Mary.” Not a few seemed to have an ac- quaintance with little Mary Rupp. As a matter of fact I learned that the child is a frequent visitor with her distinguished aunt at the Orphan- age, and has several chums among the parentless little ones. More than one of the orphans got a kiss ang a hug from the Pickford child, but in m she confided herself to a spoken “Hullo.” Miss Pickford herself seemed dis- inclined to enlighten me as to her relationship to the Orphanage, but from one of the sisters before the performance began, I got eye-opening information. “Why, bless her he: Cecelia. “She is Said Sister institution he Without her I don’t know what mi not have become of us. And, mind you, it is not merely a case of her money—although her purse has al- ways been wide open to us and her financial support made it possible for us to do our work happily and without worry. But her money is the least of it. “She it was, for instance, who spent days going about among other motion picture folk and interesting SAS -— +> 3 = SS = Se Mary Pickford’s Adopted Children ——= Copyright, 1921, by The McClure Newspaper Syndicate and Hayden Talbot.—— = them in our institution. And the re- sult was, several years ago, that the children’s Christmas made them un- speakably happy—when a dozen big. stars came to us and gave us a -won- derful treat—a regular Christmas pantomime, with a big tree and pres- ents for everybody, and they cut up capers and made the children scream with delight. “And every Christmas since then very many men and women of the film world make the journcy to the orphanage—giving up their own day for our sake—and gladden the hearts of our children. And they do it be- cause of the example set them by our Mary!"" As for Miss Pickford herself, the orphanage is her one chief delight. Iam very sure that nothing can ever happen to Miss Pickford that will let ; her forget the 500 children in the orphanage she has mainly supported for the past half-dozen years The “Orphings" Watch Their Mary A block of seats in the centre of the house had been reserved for the children, and directly behind then several loges held for the Pickfoia party itself. The loges, slightly ele- vated above the stalls, gave us an odd view of the 500 tots, eur eyes envisa=ins 2 ehenny sea of bobbin= RoSse, = a 3 7 Sh, OS 2S A A = x LF SS NZEX} ~ ee, Ze) = SS SZ) Se TS = S And Her Life of + Tune aoe heads adorned with ored hair ribbons. “Aren’t they lovely?” Miss Pickford leaned toward me, whispering the question. In her ex- pression was the ultimate of maternal pride and happiness. I concurred. “And the nicest thing about it all is," she continued, “the sisters don’t make them wear uniforms. Do you notice that each child is dressed dif- ferently?” My eyes had failed to note this fact, but.now that she mentioned it I saw that it was true. “And don’t think it doesn’t present a most trying problem to the sis- ters,” Miss Pickford went on. “For favoritism- would kill the very spirit of the home. And it is not eas¥ to give 500' children different things— and_not give one more than another. But the sisters think, and so do I, that all the trouble and difculty are more than offset by letting those baties have individuality of their own, and not effacing it with a uni- form.” During the more or less florid pre- liminaries—including a ragged exe- eution of a classic symphony—by the large and uneven = orchestra—the children for the most part kept their heads turned away from the stage and backward toward their natrnanars variegated-col- "aay Nima gh Sy Se Sr > = ra) SS ach = <== Work! work! work!—and much is drudgery. That is the lifc work that continues sometimes for 36 Miss Pickford defends the morals of the studios, and names th GIRL can succeed in pictures and retain her best qualities as a girl. I'll not take my own case alone, because an ignorant world of suspicious folk might too easily declare that any excepticn only proves the rule. I'll take—without naming names—the cases of fifty girls | know who have achieved varying degrees of success in the film world. Of course, a girl must have goodness and character to start with—but no more so in the case of motion pictures than in any other line of work. But if she -is possessed of these qualities there is no reason under the sun why she should not keep her goodness if shz remained in pictures to the day of her death. As a matter of fact, many other qualities are demanded, if a girl y is to succeed in pictures. Like Actors of Olden Days I suppose the world over*there are countless thousands of.mothers and fathers worrying over daughters who yearn to become film stars. And | am sure the chief cause of their worry is their belief that laxity of morals obtain in filmdom. From what I can gather we of the films occupy in the public's estimation a place similar to that occupied by actors of the spoken drama a generation and more ago— when to be a play actor was to be a gypsy. But time and. increasing knowledge of the truth has slowly brought the actor to his rightful place in society, and he ts no longer shunned as a person of loose character ‘merely because of his mem- bership in the profession that makes the world forget. Now IL have been in pictures since I was 15 years old. | think miy severest critic will admit | know by experience whereof I speak. And | cannot speak too emphatically. Just exactly as I found the theatre a‘really fine training ground for a child—during my ten years it, before | entered pictures—so I have found filmdom a wonderful finishing school for any girl of average strength of character and— capacity for hard work. in the loge above them. But finally, when the house became darkened and the curtains rolled back reveal- ing a full stage “set’’"—supposed to be a replica of a scene taken from the film—the orphans faced about and sat straight, tensely eager to see their beloved one appear before them on the silver sheet. The Home With a Small 11 It was a rural scene—with a real horse and a real cow and several real hens and dogs and cats in evidence! A male quartet suddenly burst forth into song without any apparent reason. The song*was of the New England psalm variety. After the tenor and the two baritones had held top and middle and low notes at least a dozen times apiece, Miss Pickford leaned over to me with a mischievous light in her eyes, and whispered: “So say we all of u In the end, however, the film itself was shown--to the long drawn out “ahs” of the 500 guests. And when it was ‘all over Miss Pickford went back‘ out into the lobby and said go0d-by to ‘the little enes—and the big automobiles bore them off to their home—which Miss Pickford informed me has never yet been, and never will be, ‘spelled with a eanital “Hu KS SSS The Straight and Narrow Path So if I can change the opinion ot even one father or mother as regards the moral environment surrounding motion picture folk I'll be happy. The truth js that in any studio of stand- ing—although I must confess that this does not apply to the fly-by-night concerns which now and again sprinz up in the motion picture business, 23 in every other business—a girl can tread the straight and narrow path and still go as high along the path of success-as, her ability and her capacity tor hard work will permit. The fact that her morat calibre is good, will, as in every line of en- deavor, work to her advantage. Paternal worry on this score {s groundless. But that is not the end of the story. There is ample ground for worry in another direction. To begin with, I should most earpestly advise against any girl’s beginning a film career unless she is blessed with more than average good health and strength. For the demands made by picture- life upon one’s héalth and streng: are greater than in any other busi- ness open to a-girl. Work 36 Hours Without Letup And the higher one climbs, ths greater these demands. Take my own case as an exampie. When I am engaged in making 4 picture my day begins at 6 o'clock in the morning. That is the hour I get up. And from that moment un- til I go to bed at 9 o’clock that eve- ning—and I am always in bed by 9 o'clock when I am working—I am Busy! I get to the studio at 7:30 and for an hour and a half have to hustle to dress, make up and study my part. The actual “'shooting”’, ds we speax of photographing the scenes, begins at 9 o'clock ordinarily. Of course it happens not infrequently that we are called upon to face the camera 5 o'clock in the morning—in sum mer, on “location,” when a sunrise scene is called for. Ordinarily, however, the day's work is over at 6 o’clock—when we are working in the studios and every- thing is going along smoothly and according to schedule. But things go along smoothly and according to schedule a very small part of the time. More often than not emergen+ cies arise that necessitate our work- ing late into the hight in order to complete the picture and get it off to the exhibitors on’ schedule time. I have known occasions when a whole company has worked straight throug): a stretch of 36 hours without remoy- ing makeup or costumes! But, without considering such cx- ceptional cases and sticking to the usual routine grind of the motion picture studio—ask yourself how Much time (or inclination for that matter) a girl can have for dissipa- tion at the end of a.day’s work such as I have outlined. As a matter of fact, most of us can hardly wait to get ont of our makeup 2nd get home and into had. 3 Ee Hard Wor Ta \ S TS SSS