Inside Hollywood By Dorothy Clark Haskin
but thinking makes it so Shakespeare.” So we attended the Christian Science church and when we moved to Holly wood, continued to attend there. The Sunday school teachers drilled into me that nothing I did was wrong. I only thought it was. And that I was, by reason of my very existence, a child of God. How often we used to repeat, “ Be loved, now are we the sons of God” (I John 3 :2). What confusion that caused later in my life! It became a great barrier to my understanding the Sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was about ten when I was taught, as a prayer, Mrs. Eddy’s Scientific Statement of Being: “ There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in mat ter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestations, for God is All-in-all” (Science and Health, p. 468). A great deal was taught in the Chris tian Science Sunday school about Animal Magnetism. This was error and could harm me unless I repeated the Scientific Statement of Being often enough. I re member walking down the street, re peating it over and over again, building a wall of perfect truth about me. I used this routine prayer so that no automo bile would run over me, so I would not catch a false germ and I would secure whatever theatrical engagement was in the offing. Christian Science made me indifferent to suffering. When anyone was sick, I had only scorn for his ignorance in al lowing himself to be ill. And if you know any Christian Scientists you will find this to be the typical attitude. Years later, when my tract “ I was a Heathen” was published, the Christian Scientists sent one of their men to see me. Though at the time I was confined to my bed, hoping to carry my only child, he had no sympathy, but insisted upon arguing with me. Their often-repeated assertion is “ Once a Christian Scientist, always a Scientist.” This is not true. Because while Mother clung more to Christian Science than aify other religion for twelve years, she went down many a by path. At the Christian Science church she met people who dabbled in other cults and they encouraged her to investi gate many other strange beliefs. Unity was one of the first by-paths. Mother read their periodicals, books by Ernest Wilson, and sent requests for prayer to their headquarters at Kansas City. It was not as dogmatic as Chris tian Science, but neither did it offer additional help so it became only a side- line.r Theosophy, Rosicrucianism and related metaphysics were also studied. Mother and I visited the theosophical center near Page Nine
“ Question: Is there no sin? “ Answer: All reality is in God and His creation, harmonious and eternal. That which He creates is good and He makes all that is made. Therefore, the only reality of sin, sickness or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring belief, until God strips off their disguise” ( Science and Health, p. 472). My mother was a good mother accord ing to her light. She felt she was doing her best by putting me on the stage. She was encouraged in this belief by the applause and acclamation I received. But, being a human being, there must have been times when she erred and faced the question of sin. Here in Chris tian Science she found what she thought was the answer. She could not have sinned because, as is printed on one of the front pages of Science and Health, “ There is nothing either good or bad,
Last month Dorothy Clark Haskin told how she had lived over twenty years in the same house within walking dis tance of Vine and Hollywood Blvd., the heart of Hollywood. Her mother, Evelyn Clark, had been bom in Maine. Stirred by the stories in the newspapers of the so-called glamour of actresses, she de cided to put her child on the stage. As a dancer and child actress little Dorothy appeared on the stage in New York, in most of the leading eastern cities and on to Hollywood, the motion picture capital. Cults and the Actress W E’RE not making any money. Let’s put on a play with a child.” This attitude is prevalent in theatrical circles. The producers, in terested in attracting money to the box- office, fully realize the appeal of a child. In those days each large city had its own stock company. Among the cities to which I was called were Philadelphia, and Jersey City, where I played in “ A Man’s World” and “ Love’s Model.” There was “ Little Lord Fauntleroy” in Evanston, 111., and on to San Diego, where I appeared with Virginia Brissac in “ The Littlest Rebel” and “ Prince Chap.” While living in San Diego, Mother and I moved out of the customary hotel to rent a room in a quieter residential dis trict. The landlady, Mrs. Brose, was a widow and a pleasant, conscientious woman. She came to my mother with a small black leather book, with a gold cross and crown on the front. She said, “ This has helped me. I believe it will help you.” “What is it?” “ It is Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the textbook of Christian Science,” Mother took it into her hands and studied it, “What does it teach?” “ Of course, I am only a student,” Mrs. Brose excused as all Christian Scientists are taught to, “ But this is the way I understand it.” She explained that Chris tian .Science taught that everything was mind. Sickness and lack of money were both the results of wrong thinking, of giving power to error. If one thought right, one would never be sick, or if sick, one would not remain sick long. And one could also make their financial “ demonstration.” Mother had trained to be a nurse and she understood that the mind played a large part in a person’s regaining his health. It was an easy step for her to ascribe everything to the mind. Besides, Christian Science also said that sin was unreal. Their textbook states: M A R C H , 1 9 5 2
Dorothy Clark Haœkin in “ On Trial”
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