The Sunday Oregonian., December 21, 1913, SECTION FIVE, Page 4, Image 58

4
EDITH STORY PLAYS HEROINE, RIDING, WALKING OR FLYING
Star of Filmdom Only 22 Years Old, But Has Defied Death for Three Years Before Camera to Entertain Movie Patrons.
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"HE ye of the motion picture cam
I era which represents the eyes of
the mlllionsi who fill the "movie'
theaters everywhere has been follow
Inff Edith Storey persistently for the
last three years. Eloping In aeroplanes,
falling over cliffs, riding bucking bron
chos, she has Riven the camera men
many a nervous moment keeping her in
focus. Last Summer she was a bare
foot "monnsMne maid" amid the peaks
of the Great Smoky Mountains, the cen
ter of turmoil of a feud full of thrills
and heart-throbs. Just now she wears
the robes of royalty, and as a stately.
srr3clous princes wins new empires In
the light and shadow land of the screen.
It Is all in a day's work. Being a
star of the "movie" is an arduous occu
pation. It requires strength and health
and youth and tnlent. Versatility is
essential also. The "hill" must be
changed continually. The demand for
something new Is incessant, insatiable.
The "firrt run" film that Is the big at
traction today Is "Junk" tomorrow, as
dead as yesterday's newspaper.
Actress' Axe 23 Years.
If Miss Storey should write her auto-:
biography it would be surprisingly In
teresting. Bui she is only 22. One has
to be In the 30s or 40s to get a perspec
tive. The film drama and its stars are;
too young as yet for history. The play
and the players are too youthful to
bother with recollections.
In Miss Storey's bouioir. In a tower
ing apartment-house on Riverside
Drive, overlooking the magnificent
weep of the Hudson, hangs a word
picture. "Tha Salutation of the Dawn."
It was written In Sanskrit long ago and
translated Into Enslbh by Sir Edwin
Arnold. Miss Storey knows it by heart,
but she reads it every morning. It has
been her inspiration, the spur of each
day's work. It says:
"Look to this day: For It Is life the
very life of life. In Its brief course lie
all the verities and rfallties of your
existence: the bliss of growth. We
story of action, the splendor of beauty.
For yesterday Is only a dream, and to
morrow Is only a vision: but today well
lived, makes every yesterday a dream
of happiness and every tomorrow a vi
sion of hope. Look well therefore to
this day. Such is the salutation of the
dawn."
Adaptability lia KatnraL
Soma motion picture stars have
stepped from the prosaic workaday
world to the stage of the silent drama
without any previous experl-nce. That
they have made good has been due to
their naturul adaptability to their new
surroundings. Others, like Miss Storey,
have gone from the dramatic stage to
tbe stage of the screen.
Edith Storey was born In New York
City and made her first appearance on
the stage when she was 8 years o!4.i
Until ahe was 1 she divided her time
pretty equally between school and the
playhouse. From a "child actress" she
grew to be a favorite In bigger rolea
Long before the motion picture camera,
first transferred her to the plays of
filmland, she had delighted audiences
all over the country in "The Little
Princess." in "Mrs. Wlggs of the Cab
bage Patch." In "Rebecca of Sunny
brook Farm." and other productions
that won a large measure of success.
Jn those days she simply was a girl
of industry and talent. She was not
counted among the stars, but she was
regarded as a stellar probability. She
had all the necessary qualifications
health, good looks, ability and Industry-
Genius is well, but playing a part
a little better than is expected If
one counts for more In the long run.
She Always Makes Good.
Miss Storey always could be relied
on to take any part that was assigned
- to her, no matter how short the no
tice, and. to "make good." That is the
sort of theatrical talent that never Is
without an engagement- Genius has
Its little day. but the steady "peg" of
persevering Intelligence Is the kind
that lasta for 0 weeks the .full the
atrical season.
Oppwrtaalty la ?eau
Early In her career as a motion-picture
actress Miss Storey saw a great
opportunity In the drama of Western
life. As a matter of business in her
profession, ahe passed her spare time
in studying tha manners and customs
of tha cattle ranchers and the cow
boys. She had found that tbe stage de
pictions of their lives and actions dif
fered widely from the actual, and that
the average run of motion-picture
plays of Western life were not much
clorer to tbe real thing.
It Is easy enough to clothe play
actors in the correct garb of the men
and women of the mountains and
plains, but unless tbe actors know and
feel the life they are trying to repre
sent they lack the something that is
necessary to get the spirit of the ac
tion across the footlights and into the
hearts of the audience. Also, there are
s thousand and one little details of
gesture, of facial expression, of move
ment, afoot or horseback, that are
characteristic but that the careless
student fails to notice. It Is the sum
of these things, however, which makes
the picture and tbe story convincing.
Miss Storey studied the people of the
Wast those who dwell In the great
open space aa closely a u enUnm-
astlc linguist would a new language.
Sho became as much Western in spirit
as if she always had lived beyond the
Mfs.-issippl.
There was one detail, however, that
Miss Storey, for the lack of time. hn!
to leave to the last, and only one. She
never had ridden horseback in her life.
She acknowledged an Instinctive dis
trust of horses and cows.
ThoroDRbaena la Secret.
One secret of Miss Storey's success
is thoroughness. She trias for 100 pel
cent in everything. She was only 1
when ahe made up her mind to become
a star in Western film dramas. There
are scores- of "ridins academies" in
New York City, but they did not ap
peal to Miss Storey. She knew just tno
place where she wanted to go to rid
ins sciwil the "Laxy-O" ranch, dowrt
In New Mexico. She packed her trunk
and announced that she might.be awa)
two months.
The cowboys of the "Lazy-O" treated
Miss Storey at first as taey would an
other young and pretty woman (roir.
"back East" with bashful politeness
and almost mute aiimiration. The
could nut understand anyone not
knowing how to ride horseback. With
them jumping on horseback to go any
where is as natural as it Is for a cit)
person to board a trolley car. . There
fore. Miss Storey"s first riding1 lesson
was an event wiiiuh attracted the at
tention of everyone about the ranch
who was hot otherwise engaged. Hie
quietest horse In the remuda was
brought out. a plump, gentle little cow
pony whose favorite pace was a dog
trot. Miss Storey appeared In a di
vided skirt.
Rldlna; Soosi Learned.
Miss Storey was helped onto the
horse's back. She was nervous, but
she resolved to stick, no matter what
happened. Accompanied by a caval
cade of cowboys, she set out across the
pialn. The rest of the horses started
to canter off. and hors followed. She
got the "hang of It" quickly.
She became, after six weeks of con
stant practice, almost as much at borne
on horseback as any man on the ranch.
She tried nearly every horse in the
herd before she went back home. Of
course she had a fall now and then,
but that was part of the game she was
there to learn.' It was only a few days
before the cowboys quit calling her
"Miss Storey." They adopted her as
ltillle." That name has clung to her.
Sue likes it better than "Edith." It is
as "Billie" Storey that she appears on
the films in scores of Western scenes
where, as the heroine, she leads the
rough riders in pursuit of cattle
rustlers or other evil doers pictures
that have thrilled tbe audiences from
Albany to Aden.
For about two years Miss Storey
"worked" In the West, most of the
time wtth a company of the Vitagrapn
players. She became the big star of
tlie film dramas of the plains and
mountains. She learned to handle a
big revolver and to shoot straight and
quirk in the cowboy fashion. She can
"rope" a steer and has ridden the
range in parching heat and in Winter
snows. Some day she says she is go
ing to buy a ranch of her own and do
all the riding she wants to, with never
a thought of keeping within the range
of the camera's eye or tbe public.
Rlopemeata Are Rrprednred."
Miss Storey has figured in many
elopements in filmland, but never in
real life. She is still unmarried. Out
West the young Lochinvar used to
come on horseback. In the East. Miss
Storey's eloping has been done mostly
by aeroplane.
"My first airship elopement wasn't
as exciting as some of my horseback
runaways." says Miss Storey. "I've
never had any accidents up in the air,
and I have on horseback. When your
horse is on a dead run and stumbles
and you go over his head. It's like one
of these auto accidents you read about
only more so."
The time that Miss Storey "came a
cropper" in this way the camera was
not close enough to make it show up
effectively on the screen. She was
bruised and shaken by the accident,
but it did not prevent her finishing
her day's work. When she saw the
film run oft, later, she begged to be
permitted to do It over again. The
stage director refused. He himself was
an ex-cowboy, and he told her that
there was about on chance in five
hundred of escaping without broken
bones. He wouldn't take such a risk
himself and he wouldn't let anyone
else.
Air Exsrrifsce Tame.
Tha film dramas of the air look like
the most dangerous of all. but they
are not any more risky than' riding at
breakneck speed down a mountain
trail that overhangs a precipice. Miss
Storey has done this time and again.
She prefers it. In face to being out
in tha Great South Bar In a gasoline
launch which explodes. In this act
she goes Into the water and i strug
gling In the waves when an aviator
who happens to be flying overhead
sees her plight and swoops down. The
hydro-aeroplane rocks on the surface
nf the ocean while the airman rescues
Miss Storey. Then they got aboard
tbe airship, tha propeller begins to
whirl, tha machine rise Uk giant
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bird and off they go together. Another
time the two young persons start on
their rush to the nearest Gretna
Green in a biplane. Father pursues in
his automobile.
In still another the girl's sweetheart,
the Army officer, is so ill that he can't
do his usual stunt of air scouting. It
Is in time of war, of course. Miss
Storey takes his place and sails over
the hostile Army, making notes of
everything she sees. Of course the
enemy down on the earth shoot at hrr
time and again and the gray-mustached
General stamps his foot and says
"curses." because they can't hit her.
Then she gets back to her own camp.
Tumultuous applause on the part of the
audience and of the soldiers on the
screen as the Commander-in-Chief con
gratulates her. It is so exciting that
even Miss Storey, when she is watch
ing herself on the screen, becomes
Intensely interested.
Change Is Explained.
The reason that Miss Storey has said
goodby to the film dramas of Western
life and lately has been appearing in
the gorgeous gowns of royalty and
tho filmy frocks of society is not that
she loves the former less, but that the
latter needs her more. A leading lady
left the company. Her place had to be
filled immediately. Miss Storey was
telegraphed for. She never had played
"aociety parts" in fiim dramas, al
though she had had some experience in
them on the regular stage. She
acknowledged .some misgivings about
being aDle to manage a gown with a
train after having worn divided skirts
so long. But she has become s.s
famous with her audiences in the new
roles as she was in the old. Aside
from her experience and natural tal
ent, this latest success of hers is due
as much as anything to her charm of
manner which is so extraordinary that
it overpasses the limitations of the
screen where actions alone can tell the
story.
In still another field that of "char
acter work," Miss Storey has won dis
tinction. Late last Summer she beaded
a company of 17 Vitagrapn players who
spent five weeks in the Blue Kidge
Mountains of North Carolina. The
scene of one of the plays that was
photographed there is in Bat Cave, 20
miles from Hendersonville, in the heart
of the strongholds of the "moonshin
ers." Bat Cave is a great cavern in
the mountains, dark and fall of
strange, weird echoes. Vast swarms of
bats live there, whirring and squeak
ing when disturbed. These "flitter
mice" were much more feared by the
women members of tbe moving-picture
party than any of tbe haxards at
tendant upon their work.
In the course of Miss Storey's activ
ities on this exposition she had to be
pushed over, fall off or leap from sev
eral of tbe most cloud-asp lrtu- preci
pices in that part of the Blus Ridge.
This is not as dangerous as it looks on
the screen, but it would make as weak
as water-gruel the heart of any but a
motion-picture star. At any rate, each
of these acts is a part of the film story
that is based on actual occurrences
that are traditions of that region.
It would be quite Impossible to de
scribe Miss Storey except by telling
what she has done and what she hopes
to do. She is as many sided in her
artistry as Sarah Bernhardt. If Miss
Storey has an ambition as yet -unfulfilled
It is to be the Sarah Bernhardt of
the silent stage.
"The pathway to success In moving
pictures," says Miss Storey, "has no
primrose growing along its borders.
It's said over and over again" by per
sons who don't know the motion pic
ture business that the camera is a de
ceiver. That isn't so. The camera shows
you as you are. I love to sit in the
audience and see myself on the screen
Just to pick myself to pieces. Some
times I have been so weary that I have
let myself get a bit careless in my
work when a film was being made. It
all comes out on the screen as plain as
can be. There's no hiding it. I've heard
persons in tlie audience say: "I won
der what was the matter with Billie
Storey when she was in that picture.
She isn't as good as usual." I don't
know how to express It in any other
way than to say that the truth that is
in you ehows in the picture. The
audience sees it and feels it as if they
were looking into your very eyes and
searching your soul."
Miss Storey Is Different.
Miss Storey differs from the general
run of theatrical people In that she
doesn't care about talking shop. She is
as much or more interested In many
other things that she classes under the
head of diversions. She likes to "keep
house." A cook book will hold her at
tention longer than a novel. It is no
wonder, however, that even the most
thrilling romances fail to interest her.
She has lived through innumerable ex
periences, such as few book heroines
could have survived. In her apartment
the kitchen is her particular pride.
When she goes to a department store
she spends most of her time there pick
ing out the latest things in electric
irons, coffee pots, and so on. She has
few opportunities to use them, how
ever, unless on a Sunday evening, when
she gets "tea." Then her quick, breezy,
untiring personality seems to pervade
everything. One moment she is stirring
something in a chafing dish, the next
she is at the piano, singing a few bars
of a song to illustrate something she
has been saying; again she is making
caricature sketch of some present or
absent friend. She flits from one thing
to another: but slights none of them.
The chafing dish mixture does not
burn. Just at the psychological moment
she pours it out upon the platter. The
snatch of song Is complete. The half
dozen pencil strokes of the sketch tell
the story. She is not a person of
moods. She impresses one as having a
vast deal of common sense. You reel
that she Is tbe sort . of woman who
could make a success of anything she
undertook to do just because she has
the brains and the will and the heart
In the 22 years that she has lived she
has not by any means reached the
limit of her possibilities of achieve
ment in the work she has chosen as
her vocation.
NEW YORK'S THUMBS ARE DOWN FOR
AUTOMOBILE DRIVERS AND OWNERS
Women's Clubs Take Concerted Action to Send Guilty Speeders to Penitentiary Career of Alfred H. Smith,
President-to-Be of New York Central, Promises Good "Side" Copy for Newspapers.
N
BY LLOYD F. LOXEP.GA.V.
EW YORK, Dec. 20. tSpaciaL)
The new year promises to be an
unhappy one for auto owners and
drivers, for a concerted effort is being
made to punish speeders and drivers
responsible for accidents. The move is
headed by the local women's clubs,
which started the ball rolling at an in
dignation meeting at the Hotel Astor.
This gathering appointed a subcommit
tee to arrange for a public dinner, to
whicb city officials are to be Invited,
the idea probably being that by the
time dessert 4s reached some way to
improve conditions will be decided
upon. .
At the original gathering Coroner's
Clerk Le Brun was, appropriately
enough, the principal speaker. He laid
stress-' upon the fact that out of 182
killings by autos, only J arrests had
been made, and not one man had been
sent to jail. Fifty' thousand automo
biles, each as dangerous as a .ocomo
tive, he said, were being operated m
the streets of New York by persons
who. had taken enOjr a tew lessons In
handling a machine, and had no notion
at all of traffic laws. The remedy he
suggested was to send drivers who en
dangered lives to the penitentiary for
not less than three months, and sus
pend their licenses for a year. In Now
Jersey, he pointed out, drivers respon
sible for auto killings had been sent to
prison for terms as long as 14 years,
while New York does not even suspend
a slayer's license.
Some interesting figures were given
out by Inspector of Police Cahalane.
Up to the 1st of December of this year,
he said, the police motorcycle squad
had made 11,345 arrests. He added:
Courts Aid Crusade.
"The owner of a vehicle is responsi
ble for accidents. The man who owns
tbe machine and has a speed mania will
tell his chauffeur to hit it up. The
chauffeur, who does not want to lose
bis job, goes just as fast as the owner
tells him. And the boss Is always with
him when anything happens."
The courts have been aiding the cru
sade by imposing steep sentences on
all offenders arraigned , before them.
Tbe minimum fine now imposed Is $25,
and In some cases It is raised to (100,
The result is that -chauffeurs are slow
ing up to a great extent.
Auto owners complain that a large
proportion of the accidents are due to
the carelessness of the pedestrians.
This fact can easily be demonstrated
by any person who watches the traffic
in any busy downtown street. Auto
drivers obey the traffic policemen, be
cause they are bound to get Into
trouble unless they do. On the other
hand, pedestrians pay absolutely no at
tention to traffic rules, but dodge
blithely across the stream of wagons
and autos, and there is a terrible outcry
when anybody is injured. Also, it is
not remarkable to see men and wom
en, chatting, and even occasionally
reading newspapers, and poking along
across busy streets, while a perfect
stream of vehicles is trying to pro
gress. There are two sides to this question,
as there are to most, but the auto own
ers have the unpopular one, and there
are few to sympathize with them.
Public Dinners Prove Bore.
Public dinners in New York are rap
Idly becoming things of the past. Pro
prietors of big hotels and restaurants
will tell you that the attendance Is
falling off to a great extent. Some si ar
gest that hard times are to blame, while
others intimate timidly, that perhnjjs
people are becoming wearied of the
kind of oratory on tap.
-At a dinner held recently in the Hotel
Astor a novel effort was made to quell
tiresome talkers. Above the chairman's
seat were two lishts, which were dark
when the speakers commenced to spout.
At the end of three minutes a green
light flashed out, to warn the orator
that he had two minutes left. Then
when the five minutes was up, a red
light was turned on to inform every
one that Mr. Orator's time was up. It
worked like a charm, and the idea will
probably be adopted at other banquets.
We have not as fine orators as father
used to have, or perhaps times have
cnanged. Whatever the reason, public
dinners have been voted by many men
to be extremely wearisome, and it gets
harder every week to induce a respect
able number of people to attend.
Sunday Editor's Work Predicted.
A man who is bound to figure prom
inently in the magazine sections of the
newspapers is Alfred H. Smith, who on
January 1 becomes president of the
New York Central Lines. Mr. Smith is
50 years old. and was first employed as
a messenger boy on the Lake Shore &
Michigan Southern Railroad, rising
through various grades to his present
position. His predecessor, William C
Brown, had an almost similar career,
and for many years he has been pointed
out as an example to youth whenever
the newspapers run out of "Sunday
copy."
It is rather interesting to note that a
Brown1 is succeeded by a Smith, which
would serve to indicate that there la
something In having an old-fashioned,
common name.
Bench and Bar and the New Yortt
Law Journal are the two leading legal
publications of New York City. They
have united in a plea to the Board of
Aldermen to pass ordinances prohibit
ing the wearing of unguarded hatpins,
basing their plea upon a recent ruling
in England. There a Judge awarded
damages to a woman who was wounded
in the cheek by an unguarded hatpin
worn by another woman while both
were boarding an omnibus. The court
held that it was unnecessary to prove
any other negligence than the wearing
of a hatpin without a guard.
Our local legal publications hold that
the English decison "as a legal propo
sition is entirely correct" They sug
gest that the New York laws also will
permit a person to recover damages
who has been injured by a woman's
hatpin.
4
MACDOMAID GIVES VIEWS
Ulster Situation Discussed by"4U
don Labor Leader. - Ji
LONDON, Dec 19. (Special.) Ram-
say .Macdonald, the labor leader, has'
been Interviewed by the Bombay Chron
icle on the situation in Ulster. He said
with regard to the threatened resist
ance: "Of threatened treason on the part
of army officers, perhaps the less said
the better. But I must observe that
when these gentlemen are called upon
to shoot workingmen who have broken
a few windows while the heat of a
strike is upon them, they turn out with
an expression of satisfaction on their
lips.
"Therefore, If they decline to deal
with rioters with a few Peers and
Unionists at their head we shall un
derstand that they are Influenced by
nothing but class and political consid
eration. The War Office will certainly
deal with the whole lot of them.
"Civil war? Let it be The conduct
of government during the recent in
dustrial disputes repeatedly brought us
to the verge of serious strife, and if
Ulster and the Conservatives begin
they will probably find that the forest
is dry and that the fire will spread
very far.
"In this instance it would be crimi
nal folly for the government to stand
any nonsense."
I
Dear Prince Slarrles. 1
BERLIN, Dec 19 (SpeciaL) Prince
Henry Ghika, a deaf mute, has been
married at Budapest to Mme. von Ret
hay, who is similarly afflicted. Prince
Ghika. who is a brother to the former
pretender to the throne of Albania,
first met his wife at a congress of
deaf mutes in tbe Hungarian, capital.
I