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MARY PICKFORD MADE GOOD IN FIRST PART
WAS ONLY FIVE, BUT EARNED $20 A WEEK
(This is the second chapter of Idah i Their conventions were, perhaps, dif-
McGlone Gibsons interview with
Mary Pickford, in which the noted
movie actress tells the story of her
life.) "--
BY IDAH McGLONE GIBSON
Chapter II.
(Copyright, 1915, Newspaper Enter
prise Association.)
"It began years ago," said Mary
Pickford to me, as we sat in her hotel
room at Los Angeles, and after I had
asked her when her stage career
started. "You see, my father died
when I was five years old. I had a
brother and sister, both youngter. My
father had always taken care of his
family comfortably. But he died,
leaving my mother absolutely penni
less. She did not know what to do.
"By some chance, the stage man
ager of the theatre in tie Canadian
town in which I was born was a
friend of our family, for although
both my father and mother thought
that the people behind the footlights
were outside the pale of society, yet
we sometimes went to the theatre.
"This man came to us one day and
said, 'Why don't you let little Mary
go on the stage to play a child's part
in my theatre?'
"My mother was horrified. 'My
child an actress!' she exclaimed. 'Oh
I couldn't let her do that!'
" 'Come back of the stage tomor
row night,' he said, 'and I will intro
duce you to the people. You will find
they are very human, just like the
rest of us. They will neither bite you
nor your babies.'
"My mother went, partly, I think,
because she was quite desperate and
did not know where to find food for
us all. She found the stage people
were quite as moral as those off the
stage.
"She found that they had just as
great respect for their conventions
and traditions as she had for hers. ,
ferent, because their lives were dif
ferent, but they held to the letter of
their law as tenaciously as she did to
hers.
"The next week I was engaged to
play a part in 'The Silver King.' I
remember my first lines very well,
quite as well as I did the first night
I spoke them. They were, 'Don't
speak to her, girls, her father killed a
man.'
"And I remember how a little cold
chill ran down my back as I spoke
the word 'killed.' It seemed to my
childish mind such a horrible word!
I must have made good, for very soon
afterward I was asked to play the
baby in 'Boottle's Baby' on the road.
"Before this I had been playing in
a stock company in my home town.
"My mother wouldn't let me go
unless the manager took the whole
family, for she would not be separat
ed from any of us. And when we
started we received $20 a week for all
of us.
"Out of this my mother saved
enough money very soon to buy a
trunk, and I have that trunk to this
day, a momento of her great sacri
fice, goodness and thrift."
(To Be Continued.)
o o
THEN AND NOW
Courtship: Autos, bonbons, flowers,
Nice two-dollar shows.
Loving looks and golden hours,
That's the way it goes.
Marriage: Street cars, picture plays,
Now and then a tiff,
Cooking, scrubbing all her days
Goodness, what a diff !
Kansas City Journal.
o o
A DEADLOCK
Richard Bixby's friend say he is
a good fellow and his wife denies it.
Which do you believe?
Robert Both. Judge. i