Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 18, 1923, Page 15

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1923. “SOULS FOR SALE”---A Great Novel o CHAPTER XXVIII—(Continuea. 661 UCH stories as they do tell S about thefr—Why, that Holly- . wood is just a plague spot on the earth. The gentleman we used to rent from—We own our own home or will soon when a few move iments are— And the prices my dear! oh dear! But he said friends of h.s who had rented homes to mov-e people— Why, you believe it? some of those one day on the ranch, next day ning a thousand dollars a— and buying Jewelry on credit—w; ches with split dlamoncs for crys- and they rent @ nico house and a horse in the dining room and the china right off the— It's a (act! And same the women—iittle ; ninnies that don't know enough come in when it—they get for or just making eyes at th nd they rent nice respacta s and hold—well, orgies is i—orgies is just what now, tals: 2 znd a shame, and if nothing t done about it— Why, ing gris flock there in droves and sell their souls and bodies for— It's sgiply terrible. ‘ “A gent’man who claims to know was telling m'usband — an@ he told me—that there isn't one decont wo- man on the screen—not one, Would you b'lleve it? Every one of them has to pay the Price ta get there at tall. “He says to m’usband that it's the regular thing. Before a girl is en gaged she has to— Those directars— , any pretty girl who is willin’ o lose her immortal soul can get a hance if she'll only— And if she won't—why, they turn her away. I declare it makes my blood run cold just to— Don't it yours?” “I don’t believe it,” said Mem. She had heard a vast amount of gossip, but she had not heard cf any. body paying such an Initiation fee. Sho had seen a great deal of joy and some of it reckless, but with a chil¢+ ish recklessness. She had seen 20 vice at all, Mra. Sturgs flared up. There is nothin: one defends more zealously than one's pet horrors, Wome believe it? Well, that’s only v innacem:, ause you'me #> your self—epeaks well for your bringing up—so strict and all. You naturally Idn't believe folks so depraved ut if you'd heard what I've— Why, 9 true as gospel! My husband had {t from a man who knows whereoft he speaks. They sell their souls for bread, and, as the Bib‘e says, their feet lay hold on—well, you know. ‘ny girl that's too honest to pay the Price don’t get engaged—that's all— she Just don't get engaged. Of course there may be some decent ones, old ladies that play homely parts and—but if a young girl wants to succeed in that business she's just got to— Oh, dear! that's my car. There's not another one for half an— ‘They run out to our place only every — Goodby. I hope to see you again soon. Wait! Hay! Hay!" And she was gone into the infinite purlicus of Los Angeles. She caught hey car and it slid off, gong bang- ig, and bunted a passing automcbile out of the way with much crumpling of the fender and the vocabulary of the driver, but no fatality. Whicn was unusual, Mem did not regret the abrupt de- parture of Mrs. Sturgs. She was glad of the woman's breathless gar- rullty, It had not only left her with se- crets intact, but it had given her a hint. Mrs. Sturgs had substituted uth for facts an@ had spoken with thut earnestness which {s more con- vineing than evidence. Mem accused herself of blindness, instead of charging Mrs, Sturgs with scandal, She felt that the alleged wickedness had escaped her notice be- ctuse she was too stupid to recog: nize it, But Mrs, Sturgs’' accusations had the same perverse effects as her father's jeremiads. His sermon had made her long to see Los Angeles. Mrs, Sturgs had suggested an an- swer to her own riddle. She wanted to act. She was deter ured to act. She needed money. She must have money. It had never cccurred to her that a pretty woman is merchandise. She had giyen her self away once, and now she found that there was a market ready and waiting, with cash and opportunity as the price. She had wares for this vnarket, She ould barter them for fame and future. Since she could, she would. sat on the bench and noted h a new interest that some of the en who passed her and stared at er had question marks in their eyes. » to now she had shuddered at the acue posing of this eternal interro- She had not taken it as a of praise or as an appeal for but as a degrading insult. she thought of it as a kind of appraisal, a system of silent bid- ding, auctioneering. without words— he never-closed stock market of ro- Mgace and intrigue. These men, who swept their eyes Mem’'s face and tacitly mur- “Well?” had nothing to offer but a Ittle sin or a Uttle coin. She hat no notion cf the rates, She anted none of their caresses or thetr rk purposes, She wanted the light glory, opportunity; #0 much fame so much shame, grim as She mhedita’ she grow But to whom? before She proc « long while troued sardonically “IT pay the price. I know what it costs to succeed, and I’m willnig.” tered Tho Woman's Exchange at home where women sold w they made—paintel china, hammered brass, knit goods, cakes, and candles Well, she would sell what God had made of her for what man might make of her. At the studio she ha1 met the cast- {ng directur, one day when the com: missary was crowded with stars in thelr painted faces and gaucy robes and with extra people portray'ng ‘Turks. Japanese, farmers. ranchers, hollet dancers, society women, Mex fean He had been introduced to wrous Mr, Arthur Tirrey when he asked {f he might take the vacant veut at the table where she sat with d another girl, Lev: Me was an aminble and laughing erson with wn inoffensive gift of flattery. When he learned that all the girls worked in the ‘aboratorv pr n roum, he hail excla!med y waste yourselves Jn that cc I'll put you all in the next cellar? picture.” The others had not taken him ser!- ously, Indeed, they had no amb!- tion to be photographed, Mem had often wondered at the numbers of pretty women she knew who had no desire to have their pictures pub- shed. It balanced somewhat the horde of unpretty women who had a passion for the camera. After. the lunch she had learned who Mr. Tirrey was and what the du les were of a cas tor. 1 was he who sald to th's one or that one, “Here is a part; play !t, and the company will give you so much a week.” He was the St. Peter of the movie heaven, empowered to admit or to deny, He was the man for her to seek. He had seemed a decent enough man, and he hac looked at Mem with out inso‘ence. But you could never tel!. Mrs. Sturgs had {t on the best authority that the only way to suc- cess in the movies was—‘the easiest way Mom took a street car home. She wks glad to find the hous» empty. Leva and tho others were out on a canyon hike, dressed in high boots and riding breeches. and braving the perils of rattlesnakes as well as the frightful men who lurked in the thickets or who sprang out of mo- tors and kidnaped women every now and then, Mem pondered the costume appro priate to her new errand, She was go!ng to lure Lucifer, and she was afraid that he would be too sophist! eated for her, But her problem was solved for her by tts simplicity. She had only one very pretty géwn, 80 she put that on. She studied herself a long while in the mirror, since her eyes and her smile must be her chief ward- robe, her siren equipment. She pra’ ticed such expressions as she sup- posed to represent {nvitation, They were silly and they made her rather i, The face in her glass was 80 ashen and #0 miserable that she bor- rowed some of Leva's warmest face powder; and smeared her mouth crudely with the re€ Ip stick. It was a long journey to the studio, with three transfers of street car. She reached the lot late in the after- noon, just before the companies were dismissed and the department forces roleased. The gatekeepers knew her, smiled at her, and let her in. She went to the casting director's office and found him {dly swapping stories with his assistant. might see him a moment he motioned closed the door, place bohin¢, his desk. The telephone rang. He called into it: “Sorry, Miss Waite; that part / | The company could I begged you has been filled. not make your salary. He spoke to her cour-| teously, and when she asked if sho} her-into his office, gave her a chate, | and took his own) see a certain actor whom Mr., rey was urging as the ideal for ke type. They debated the man as he had been a racehofse or a trained animal, Tirrey spoke of him as a gentleman, who coud wear clihes and look the part. He had been miscast in his last picture. He was willing to take three hundred a week off his salary becaugs his wife was In the hospital and one of his daughters was going away to board ing school. Another telephone call—an agent evidently, for Tirrey sa'd: “We took a test of Miss Glover. She's terrible! Her mouth 1s repulsive, her teeth ought to be straightened, her eyes are of the that photographs lie dishwater, We: can’t use her Don't tell her that, of course, Tell her certain about the picture; biue we not we may not do it for months. Give the poor th'ng a good stary." This was a discouraging back- ground for Mem's siren scenario But she was determined to carry out her theory. Mr, Tirroy’s eyes looked her way now and then as he listened to what, was coming in through the wire. When he looked away, Mem, in all self-loathing, acjusted herself in her big chatr to what she imagined was a »patran’ sinuosity. She thought of her best ines; secretly twitched up her skirts and thrust her ankles well into view. She turned upon Mr. Tirrey her most languishing eyes and tried to pour enticement into them: as into bowls of fire. She pursed her lps and set them full. She widened her breast with deep sighs. seemed to recognize that deploying herself, He grew rey. Before he finished » talk, his assistant came to say that another of the dfrec- ded to call a blg ball- “yoom scene the next day, and fifty Jadies and gentlemen must be se- cured at once, “He wants real swells, too,” the as- sistant said. “He says the last bunch of muckers queered the whole picture.” Tirrey groaned and said, “Get busy on the other wire.” He took up his telephone again, used it as a long antenna, and felt through the city for various extra people. He advised several actors and actresses to lay aside their pride and take the real money rather than starve. NY}UO ONsNayV ey ‘sous;Ud sy siasm for the welfare of these invis- tble persons, touched Mem with ad- tors miration, She could not see where or when this Samaritan could find time or inclination to play the satyr. He was a bit’ fagged when he fin- shed his last charge upon the indl- viduals and the agencies. But he was as polite to Mem as if she had been Robina Teele. “What can I do for you?’ “I want a chance to act.” "What's your line?” “Anything.” “Anything ‘9 nothing. What expe- rience have you had?" Mem had not come here to offer her past, but her future, She was suddenly confronted with the fact that all actors must offer themselves for sale—not the pretty women only, but the old men, too, and the char. acter women. Actprs are much abused for talking of themselves. Few of them do when business {s fot involved, but when it is they must discuss the goods they are trying to sell. Shop merchants talk shoes; railroad presidents, rall- |woads; politicians, polities; clergymen, salvation, Each salesman must rec- ommend bis own stock and talk it up. + So Mem had to grope for experience ‘and dress her window with it, And \she had had so little she lied a Ittle Casper Sunday Morning Cridune BY RUPERT HUGHES “But I've got to have a chance, I'll do anything,” she pleaded. He looked sad, Sut rose and shook his head. ‘I'm sorry, my dear. I can’t give you jobs when there aren't any, now can 1? I'll Antroduce you to Mr, Dobbs and he—” He moved toward the door to es- cape from the cruelty of his office, but @ frenzy moved her to seize his arm fn a fierce clutch. She tried to play the vampire as sho had seen the part enacted on the screen by varfous slithy toves, She drew her victim close to her, pressed tight against him, and poured upward into his eyes all the venom of an amovous Vassiak. "1" pay the Price, I know what it cests to succeed, and I'm willing to ray. INl do anything you say, be anything to you, You can’t refuse me! She could hardly belleve her own cars hearing her own voice, though her pride in the acting she was do ing lfted her from the disgust for the role. He locked at her without surprise, Without horror, without even amuse, ment, but—also without @ hint of sur. render. His only mood was one of Jaded pity. “You poor child, who's been fill- ing your head with that stuff? Are you really trying to vamp mo?” The crass word angered her: “I'm trying to force my way to career, and I don't care what costs, Tirrey's sarcastic smile faded: “Sit down a minute and listen to me. A little common sense ought to| have told you that what you've been | told is all rot. But wasn't. Suppose I were willing to} give a job to every pretty girl who came in here and tried to bribe me! with love. Do you know how many women I see a day—a hundred and fifty on some days; that's nearly a thousand a week. I happen to have a wife and a couple of kids ‘em protty well at thal I were King Solomon and Brigham nd I like} suppose = it | Young and the Sultan of Turkey all ‘none. A hundred and fifty a day —really, you know. You flatter mel I won't ask you how I could do any office work or how long my health would last, but hdw long do you suppose my job would last if I gave positions in return for favors? And sf you won me over you'd still have to please the director and the man- agers and the author and the public. How long would our compayy keep going if we selected our actresses ac cording to their immorality? “It's none of my business what your character is off the lot—except that your character will photograph, nda girl can’t last long who plays Polyanna on the screen, and Dolyg. amy outside. “Just suppose I gave you a job for tho price you waht to pay and col- lected my commission, and then the director refused to accept you, or | fired you after the first day's test. ‘What guarantee could I give you that you could hold the job once I recommended you for it? And what would the rest of the women on the lot and off it do {f such a busine: system were {nstallal here? What would the police do to us? “There's a lot of bad gals in this business and there's @ lot in every other business and in no business. But put this down in your little book, my dear—there's just one way to suc- coed on the ecreen and that ts to de liver the goods to the public, “The Canger you'll run in this bus ness is after you get your job. The men you associate with are mostly mighty nice fellows, magnetic, hand- some, good sports, hard workers, oth- erwise the public wouldn't look at them. Well, you'll be associated with tham very closely, and you'll feel ike @ bad sport, maybe, sometimes, {f you try to be too cold and unap- proachable when they're in a friend ly mood. But that’s a danger you'll meet anywhere. “Forget this olf rot about paying the Price. Good Lord. If you could sit here and see the poor little idiots that come {nm here and try to decoy I get {t all day long. Your me, work was pretty poor, my dear. 1 AGE SEVEN. f Hollywood Life congratulate you on being such a bad bad woman. But I'm immune. You'd have failed if you had been the Queen of Sheba, Now go on out- side and tell Mr. Dobbs your pedi- gree and we'll give you the first chance we get, and no initiation fee or commission will be charged, How's that? A little bit of all right, eh? You're a nice child, and pretty, and you'll get along.” He lifted her from her chair and put his arm around her as a comrade, and slapped her shoulder blades in an Accolade of good fellowship. She broke under the strain and be gan to cry. She dropped Back into her chair and sobbed. It was good to be punished and rebuked into com- mon sense. Tirrey watched her and felt his overpumpod heart surge with a com- pelling sympathy. He resolved to move her up to the head of the end- less army of pretty girls pleading for y—the bread line of art. (Continued Next Sunday.) printing world. as one does who tries to sell any- ‘thing: ‘I was with the company that Tom Holby and Robina Teele played in. I took the part of an Arabian woman. Mr. Folger, the director—er—praised | my—er—wor! “Well, he knows,” sald Tirrey, “but he's not with us, you know. Have we your name and adress and pho- to take the cut, but you wouldn't.|tograph outside in our files?” Times are hard and you'd better listen to reason, You'd have had four) weeks of good money, and now you'll walk , old dear 4 don't haggle over sal- ary. . . . All right. Sorry, Good & parley wih a direcorw: ktetetetet lie urned to Mem and star speak. ‘The telephone jingled. Ie “Well, If you'll give them to Mr. Dobbs, with your height, weight, Take my advice next time,| color of eyes and hglr, and oxpert ence, we'll let you know when any [thing occurs. Everything's full just now, and we're doing almost noth- know He was already implying that the vy was ended. She broke out os whe remem- » parley with a director who could’ zealously: The Commercial Printing Company Special Ruled Headings Loose Leaf Forms Bank Forms of Every Description PRINTING Basement Midwest Building Phone 980-J . mean litile prices. The cheap printer isn’t the bugbear of the He is just the goat. Consider how he gets a customer. By cut- throating the other fellow. Consider how he keeps a customer. By cut- throating the job. He’s never asked how well he can do a thing. It’s always “how cheap.” He’s never given a chance to put his soul into a job. It’s always his paring knife. Life is a succession of mean little jobs at All done in the hope that some day the customer will want a nice job—a Commercial Printing Company Quality Job— and he'll be asked to do it. “Yes,” beams the customer. No Job of Printing Is Too Small to Get Our Personal Supervision STATIONERY 426 East Second Street Phone Cheap Printer When that some day dawns, ne usually hap- pens to be calling on a friend customer. He sees a handsome booklet on his desk, - “Yet get this out?” he asks falteringly. “Who did it?” more falteringly. “We called the Commercial Printing Com- pany, Phone 980-J—you see we wanted some- thing good.” And why did he become a cheap printer? Because he never asked the customer: “What do you want this printing to do for you?” It was always: “What do you want to pay?” He never talked in profits from using printing. It was always in the expense of buying it. We Do Not Do Cheap Printing We use the best paper and inks that money can buy, and we employ the best skilled mechanics that we can get and pay them living wages, and they spend their money in Casper, with Casper merchants. 2224