New Britain Herald Newspaper, December 28, 1928, Page 23

A, I AL LN e z I i Z I o % Y A A2 i T § “No, no!” she cried playfully. “Marriage acts Behind Mary o ler Brave Black-Eyed Her Houw the Mysterious Medium of San Mateo Foretold, Many Years Ago, the Diva’s Marriage to the Dark and Dashing Frenchman ARY GARDEN, beloved diva and diver, has fallen in love. Strictly speaking, that isn't news. But THIS time she’s to be married, according to reports from sources which no one would think of questioning—and that IS news of first importance and interest. The lucky man is M. Pierre Plesses, & hand- some young French journalist and eritic. He has 50 much dash and verve that he might well have stepped from the romantic pages of some thrilling novel of the French Foreign Legion, and his colorful bac und and personality blend beautifully with the thoroughly individual ideas which Miss Garden has often expressed on the subjects of love and marriage. Many men, strong and able, have tried to win through the narrow pass to t‘le opera star's af- fections, but they failed. Then along came Mary's black-eyed hero—and thereby hangs the tale! “Love? Yes! Marriage? No!” Thus succinctly has Miss Garden summed up her attitude toward the love and marriage ques- tion. And then, very recently, she elaborated: “Love is wonderful—there is nothing like it. What would the world be without it? Certainly no woman can accomplish big things unless she " knows love. It broadens and sweetens her nature as nothing else can. Good work is not possible without it.” But then Miss Garden added a few remarks from a professional standpoint. She chose early, she said, to devote her life to her carcer. Mar- riage, as she interprets it, is a serious business. It is a wife’s duty to make a success of marriage, and this requires all the energies of the indi- vidual. Instead of marriage, Miss Garden chose music. “So you see,” she said, “I really never can marry,” Mary Garden, in Another Operatie Costume, Views the Crystal from s Different Angle, Attempting to Solve Her Fate. But then eame the mysterious medium of San Mateo. This person had gained promi- nence by forecasting events in the lives of many ef th socially prominent, and was particularly well received hecause of her suecess in predict- ing the course of fate for Mrs. Warren G. Hard- ing. The opera star. always keenly attuned to the mysterious, waited expectantly while the medium rapt concentration into the depths of Then her lips began to move and she told Miss Garden much of business and of her caree singer. “Wait!" said the medium of San Mateo. “I eee a man. He is dark, young and of medium stature. Yes—-now I can see—he has black eyes. You will marry him!” Thus ended the seance. The medium departed, but as she hobbled off through the archways of Miss Garden's villa she flung a cautioning word over her shoulder, “Don’t forget the man with the hlack eyes!” And she was gone. Miss Garden laughed—a silvery ripple of a hufh‘ or others, perhaps, but not for me.” At that. though, biack eyes aren’t so bad! She admitted that much when teasing friends heard of the affair. Little more was thought of the matter at that time. Miss Garden continued interpreting her famous roles and her management of the Chi- cago Civie Opera Company. But net many months had stolen by before those closest to Mary Garden noticed a subtle change in the star. Youth and beauty—these things Miss Garden had taken for granted before. But now she be- Ean giving them serious attention. And it should e point~d out here that when Mary Garden gives anything serious attention she usually goes di- rectly to the bottom of the whole question. #That's what she did with the youth and beauty matter. She went to the hottom of it, and she evolved an elaborate technique which she thought would insure her retention of these two qualities despite the fleeting years. From the first the sun was her ally. The next thing anybody knew, stories of Mary’s sun baths began to leap back and forth across the to Whom She Is Reported Mary Gargen, Chicazo Sorgbird . and Known to ~Thousands of Americans as “Our Mary,” Gazes into the Depths of the ystal Where the Mysterious Medium of San Mateo Saw the Shade of M. Pierre Plesses. ocean on the wings of wircless. From her villa at Monte Carlo came long cabled dispatches. Bathing became a fetish with the star. She spent hours on the beach, and her soft skin took on a rich nut color which pleased her mightily. But color wasn’t enough. The invigorat- ing rays of the sun must be given more op- portunity to work, so Mary developed a new “treatment” that shocked some of the staid eitizenry which had applauded her so vigor- ously on the stage. She took to sun baths in the nude! Miss Garden has her own private bathing beach at Monte Carlo. But even then she didn’t risk disporting about sans cloth! Instead she changed her routine so th she had only one hour for swimming. When that was over she climbed into a boat and wag rowed out into the Mediterranean by her own special life guards. When they were about a mile from shoe the guards turned back in another boat and Miss Garden was left to drift. Soon she was seen to remove her bathing suit and then she lay down upon a thwart. For the next two hours the little boat bobbed avout the dimpling blue waters of the azure sea, drifting here and there with winds and cur- rents, while the opera star drank in the heal- ing sun’s rays. At her signal the life guards again rowed out and escorted her to shore, Sometimes Miss Garden varied this technique and took her sun baths on outcropping rocks. When she did this a spot was selected mi'es away from any habitation. Two great police dogs, trained fiercely to resent any int on, accompanied her to the there is no record that she was ever interrupted during one of these “treatments.” When Mis: Garden continned hese elaborate baths and evi- denced no intention of let- ting up, her friends began raise their eyebrows inquiring ¢ could un- derstand a woman’s nat- ural impulse to remain beautiful and graceful. But, after all, was it worth a lot of reaily hard work? But they hadn't seen *anything yet! Next came dieting. It is a fact that Above: “Our Mary” »s She Has Appeared Betore Millions of Opera Lovers. At Right: Mersieur Prerre Piesses, the Durk ang [ashing French Journalist, Whom Mary Is Expected to Marry. Miss Garden can do things which other people accomplish clumsily, and t she retains her he showed this in dicting, for apparent- njoyed breakfasts and dinners quite as other people, and only those close to f new “treatment.” , the fact remainad that Miss Gar- one nical a day. That, she said, was sufficient, because it kept her weight at 125 pounds, which she considered ideal. What was the reason for all this? Those who frequent the Cote d'Azure, as well as thase in other w of life, have learned to look for reas urely there must be something behind all dieting and sun bathing and exercising. And perha just perhaps—it wasn't musical. Suddenly the sceme shifted, and those who really had the “inside track”™ let appraisin glancos enfold a young Frenchman, M. Pie Plossos. After they had nized him they gave grunts of satisfaction. For M. Plesces her a pleasing figure of a man, and he had black eyes His background was romantie, even to the point of melodrama. As a journalist and critic has the plaudits of his fellows in the n. He is known among them for the of his perception and the vigor with he works, whether it he at routine journal- istic endeavor or along critical lines. One inci- t in his life serves to reveal something of his ashing bravery. Some years ago thers was much troutle in France with smugglers. Apparently the situa- as out of hand, for the author: ecomed Donning the cap, the knotted handkerchief and the rough trousers of the lower classes he min- fled with the roughs and the toughs of Pa until he got a “line” on smuggling operatiol A ngu- n spot, and with a crowd of men who 1 blue and talked rough.” s were afoot, and Pierre of them. Through a steaming, misty morning they pushed off in a A ' and after some hours arrived beside a great ship from overseas. Silently and quietly cargo was unloaded and\Pierre Plesses sweated and worked with the re. Finally the small boat was loaded and the dan- gerous run for shore began. It was about half accomplished when out of the mist came a gov- errment catter. “Sacre Dieu! Nous somme perdul” / At Top: The Return from the Sun Bath. Miss Garden Landing on the Beach After Spending Two Ilours Nude Beneath a Mediterranean Sun. That was the shout which went up aboard the lugger, and Pierre Plesses echoed it as fervently as the rest. To- gether they prepared to repel boarders and the lugger started a race for shore. Shots were exchanged, many of them, and when the smuggler’s craft grounded on the beach, a scant five minutes be- fore the government boat, her mast was trailing crazily overboard and there were dead and wounded in her. Pierre Plesses was among the wound- ed, and for a time his life was despaired of. He was rushed to a hospital, and for many days he hung on the brink of death. But finally he rallied, and once out of ghe hospital- he started doing things. Stories, inside stories, began to appear in his paper. They were gearing indictments of certain government bu- reaus, and caused a sensation in Paris. Later, but still while Pierre was con- valescing, his reports led to a complete reorganization of the French customs service, and the smuggling evil was root- ed out. This episode with the smugglers was but one “high light” in the roman- tic and adventurous career of the French journalist, It is a far cry from French smugglers to Mary Garden's weiskt-reducing opera- tions and her sun bat But the wise bridged it and noticed several connect- ing links. According to some, while Pierre was in the hospital, he received beautiful gifts of flowers and fruit, and it is rumored that more than one of these gifts bore the name of Mary Garden. Then, when he was up and about again, he was frequently scen in company with her. Finally, from a Mediterrancan resort came the news of an ‘“engagement luncheon” which had been held abonrd a yacht lying off the resort. The engaged couple, the report said, were Mary Garden and Pierre Plesses. “I told you aid the wiseacres. And thers was quite a stir in Paris and New York. But then came a second report, and this time it was from Garden. She didn’t deny the engage- ment, but she said: “I'm not ready to marry yet.” This peeuliarly worded statement led to con- Jjecture along another line. It was recalled that Miss Garden once delivered a long and idealistie statement regarding the Prince of Wales and the proper solution to his marital problem. The Prince of Wales should never marry, said Miss Garden, and she summed up the whole matter as follows: “Now I think, as Bernhadt and La Valliere were perfect women, so the Prince of Wales is the perfect man. The ideal career for the Prince Id be to give the world a splendid example elibacy——~to marry no one. “His brothers can look after the matter of roval succession. Youngz George is handsomer than the Prince anyway, although perhaps not so charming. “The Prince can be our example of perfect v being a man who denies himself to all 1 while loving all. THERE is a carcer!” . reasoned some of Miss Garden's friends, ht be a per areer for the Prince of hut what e matter with it also be- ing a perfect career for M Garden? And then they began to see davlight. For, even while i ng herself entirely to her music, Miss n could undertake this second career which she was kind enongh to map out for the Prince. That, her fr felt sure, had been her in- tention before she met M. Pl Of course she had met es of men, many fond at- tachments had been formed. They remembered, love for Oscar Hammerstein. > ho bones about-it, but im- utiful friendship. Oc- n hes of tempera- v to cement their nate little notes ex- 0 were a source of de- light to the star. 1 then there had been started a rumor that M Garden would like to make a concert tour with Gene Tunney, ard of the champion’s celestial rendi- But this rumor was not taken e who knew Miss Garden. ¢ seemed to point toward a de- sire, on Miss Garden's part, to emulate the carear which she marked out for the Prince of Wules. That is, everything pointed that way nntil Miss Garden's “yes-no” statement about hor engagement. * v to marry yet!” For, while they ward love and mar. another very im- as the warning of the San Mateo n't forget the man with black eyes!” ers. Some one e S O A