Inside Hollywood
By Dorothy Clark Haskin
cannot be expected to stay up until 11 and 12 o’clock at night and then go to school in the morning. When I was in New York, I did attend a special school which began at ten, called the Professional Children’s School. At the same time Mary Miles ilinter was also a pupil, but in those days she used her real name, Julliette Shelby. When I worked at Universal where the first series of children’s pictures were made, the Board of Education sent out a teacher. At that time it was quite a famous school with most of the child-stars of the day, Lina Basquette, Clara Horton, Zoe Rae and others, attending. And we studied—when we were not needed on the set. It was not until after I graduated from the Bible Institute that I completed my high school. This lack of regular school ing with emphasis on lessons in extra accomplishments is typical of the false front of the stage and Hollywood. Except on rare occasions I was not allowed to play with other children. They had “ germs” and I dared not be sick. Too much depended upon me. Not only were my mother and I dependent upon my salary for our livelihood but so was the entire company. There were few child actresses; it was almost impossible to replace me. And “ the show must go on.” Often you hear this expression but rarely do you hear the reason. The show must go on because the money has been paid at the box office and the manager does not want to refund the money. Or if a motion picture is being shot, the expense per minute is so terrific that no one dare be sick and so cause the expenses to mount. Many a time I stared out of the window at the children playing on the street with longing in my heart. I was only a child and yearned to play with them. But I would blink away my tears and go back to my practicing. Hours each day were devoted to practice. Professional dancing is an unnatural and exacting art. It is training the body in motions which are not normal, such as high kicking, backbends and splits, and therefore requires excessive hours of tedious work. I gave up playing to practice, but not reading. I delighted in reading anything, everything. When my mother was out
Child Actress H OLLYWOOD—a word which means glamour, heart break, fortune, sin. Ministers have cried against it as Jonah cried against Nineveh. Newspapers have made copy of its more colorful characters. Publicity writers have worn out dictionaries seeking words to laud the stars. Out of the excessive criticism by some and the sentimental slush by others, the Christian tries to form a true estimation of Holly wood. I know Hollywood for I have lived within walking distance o f Vine and Hollywood Boulevard for over twenty years. I live on a side street, in a hillside house, up fifty steps, for which Mary Pickford loaned me the money for the down payment. During those years I have been a successful dancer and motion picture actress, a young girl crushed by her first per sonal touch with death and, as a new Christian, I attended the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. And I still live in the same house, as a Christian writer, my stories and articles having appeared in over a hundred publications, mostly Christian magazines. I came across the entire United States to live in Hollywood. My mother grew up in Hallowell, Maine. She read the press agents’ stories of the so-called glamorous life of the actresses of her day. They fascinated her but it was not easy for a girl to go on the stage in her generation. It was' not until after marriage failed in life that she was able to take her small daughter, give her dancing lessons and put her on the stage. My first public appearance was in Portland, Maine, shortly before my fifth birthday. Then in New York, among other engagements, I appeared in “Mrs. Christmas Angel,” an Arnold Daly production, and several musicals produced by J. J. Shubert, the well-known theatrical magnate. In Chicago, I played Lady Patricia Vere de Vere in “ Racketty-Packetty House” by Prances Hodgson Burnett. By the time I was nine, I was in Hollywood, playing in the motion pictures with Henry B. Walthal, Ruth Stonehouse, Bryant Washburn, Theda Bara, Mae Murray, and Mr. and Mrs. Carter De Haven. Another child in the pictures at that time was Ben Alexander, now a TV announcer. I worked under the direction of Rupert Julian, Rex Ingram and D. W. Griffith. And there were plays with Edmond Lowe, Richard Dix and Marguerite de la Motte. These were all stars in their day. Many of them are dead and most of them are forgotten. There is nothing as fleeting as fame. People applaud one day and forget the next. Those who saw Dorothy Clark perform saw only the glamorous side of my life. One newspaper critic wrote, “ Like a little fairy, she appeared on the stage, entering into the various dances with a gleefulness that showed her love for the work and she certainly has made a beginning for a bright future.” This is how my life appeared to the public. It is true that there were pleasant aspects to my life. I responded to the favor and admiration showered upon me. Any child would. But even as a child I sensed that something was lacking. I had special lessons in dancing, piano, singing, elocution, horse-back riding, swimming, but there was little time for such ordinary things as spelling and arithmetic. A child
Dorothy Clark Haskin as Lady Patrica Vere de Vere in Racketty Packetty House
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