The Sunday Oregonian., July 18, 1920, Magazine Section, Page 2, Image 78

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Sfra- Edward P. Clone's unexpected diTorce ends romance
wtaJck had been regarded aa "Ideal." -
BT HELEN H. HOFFMAN,
f TF RE-MARRIAGE were forbld
I den. one of the chief and most
disgraceful causes for divorce
would be remored. A great number
et divorces are Bought with the delib
erate and shameful purposes of form
ing new so-called marriages which,
when fancy changes, may be given up
In favor of others." Rev. William T.
Wannlnc-
Rev. Mr. Manning Is the rector of
W Trinity parish. New Tork, and one
ef the leaders in a movement of
church workers directed at the so
called modern divorce evil. Briefly
explained, the movement aims to dis
courage divorce, not by making di
vorce impossible, but by making it
Impossible for a divorced person to
re-marry.
Weddings of that kind. Involving
the severir.g of one bond In order that
another may be formed, are frequent
nowadays. In fact, there have been
Instances where a divorced person has
re-married only to find that the
newly-formed union was equally as
disagreeable as the rirst one. And Im
mediately arrangements have been
tnade for another divorce with a view
to re-marriage with a more suitable
life partner.
Mrs. Yocnm'a Thirteenth Divorce.
A recent news dispatch sent out
from Cedar Rapids, la., Informed the
remainer of the United States that
Mrs. Alice L. Tocum had Just received
her 13th divorce at Boone, la. Mrs.
Vocum, it was stated, took her divorce
as a matter of course. She declined
to make any statement as to her fu
ture plans.
And in view of the apparent ease
with which divorce and re-marriage
Is adapted to the whims of the dis
contented, churchmen all over the
country are propounding three ques
tions for serious discussion, argu
ment, answer and action. Here are
the questions:
Is marriage, the most splendid In
stitution of, social life, threatened
with extinction because grownups
lack the discipline to make it a sue
cess?
Has the reckless divorce habit which
has grown up in this country put our
marriage system on a plane less moral
than that of polygamy?
What can the church and the state
do to curb the divorce habit, which
threatens to undermine and disrupt
the American family?
There is an answering movement on
foot already aiming to prevent the re
marriage of any divorced person,
guilty or Innocent, by any clergyman
f the Protestant Episcopal church.
Recently at a meeting held in New
Tork a number of the foremost mem
bers of the clergy discussed the ques
tion, with this object In view. The
present canon permits the re-marriage
of the Innocent party In a di
Torce action. It is surrounded by safe
guards which have been regarded, for
tome time, as satisfactory. But the ad
vocates of the prohibitory Igeislation
declare marriage and divorce to be the
most pressing moral problem before
the nation.
The Church Baggrstm m Remedy.
Dr. William. T. Manning, while dis
cussing the subject, quoted figures to
ehow the appalling Increase in di
vorce. "In 1906," he said, "the records
showed one divorce in 13 marriages.
In 1916 they showed approximately
one divorce in nine marriages. In
Oregon and Washington, investiga
tion is said to have shown that dur
lng a recent six months' period the
ratio was one divorce to. every two
marriages. On Manhattan island alone,
1335 divorce suits were entered in
1919 as against 8S6 in 1918!"
Dr. Manning said he was convinced
that if the divorce courts were abol
ished, the overwhelming majority of
those who now seek divorce would
find it possible to live together with
reasonable contentment. "Many," he
said, "would find the full happiness
of faithful marriage."
"To say that men and women may
live together for a time and then.
with legal sanction, separate and form
new alliances as often as they please,
Is practically to abolish marriage and
to substitute a system of legalized
free love.
'Statistics show that our nation has
now gone to a point which perhaps
few of us realize. We are sinning
against the law of God and against
the law of our own life as no nation
calling iteelf Christian ever has done."
While divorce, some years ago, was
looked upon as a diversion reserved
almost wholly for the rich, its growth
today has spread over all classes of
society.
However, it would appear from the
Court records that the wealthier classes
still maintain the lead in keeping
the divorce courts busy. In fact, the
divorce fad has spread to the French
courts, and many wealthy Americans,
to avoid the airing- of their domestic
grievances In public, have recently
appealed to the courts of France for
deliverance from their matrimonial
partners.
The most socially prominent In this
long list of divorcees is Mrs. Ogden
Livingston Mills Jr.. daughter of Mrs.
W. K. Vanderbllt by a former mar
riage. Recently from Paris, where
she had gone to pass the sum
mer with, her mother, came the
announcement that Mrs. Mills had
obtained a divorce from the young
scion of one of New York's proudest
and wealthiest families.
The crop of spring and summer di
vorces for 1920 will resemble a con
siderable part of Newport's social reg
ister. Divorce has subdivided various
families of fashionable society prac
tically all over this country.
Close on the heels of the announce
ment of Mrs. Mills' divorce came the
news that Leonard M. Thomas and
Mrs. Thomas had decided to go their
separate ways. Both are yo.ung, hand
some, intellectual and popular in New
York and Philadelphia society. Mrs.
Thomas, who was the daughter of Mrs.
Charles Oelrichs of New York, was
married in 1910 to Leonard M. Thomas,
whose father was a partner in the
banking house of Drexel &- Co. of
Philadelphia. Mrs. Thomas was called
by the famous French artist, Paul
Helleu, on his last visit here, "Amer
ica's most beautiful woman." Young,
rich and beautiful, with everything
to induce happiness, the Thomases
have admitted their marriage was
a failure. The divorce was granted
in France.
Another well-known social favorite
who recently obtained legal separa
tion from her husband In the French
courts is Mrs. Phil Lydig, whose
former husband was W. E. p. Stokes,
TIIE SUNDAY
And the Perplexing Predicament That Awaits the
Would-Be Divorcee with the Next Life Partner
Already Picked Out, in Case the Ecclesiastic
Laws Are Amended, as Now Proposed,
To Make Remarriage Impossible
iiiMiipv X 1 Willi
wealthy hotel owner and stock raiser.
"Where will divorce in our best
families lead us to?" pertinently asked
an old dowager of Fifth avenue.
"Yes, where will it?" echoed a dozen
young divorcees at a recent afternoon
tea.
Experts admit that it is as difficult
to trace the relationship of many well-
PERSISTENCE QUALIFICATION
FOR MOVIES AND MILLIONS
Charles Ray, in Millionaire Class at 27, Did Not Attain Stardom
Without Struggles.
0'
NE day, about 10 years ago, a
worried father entered the por
tals of a dramatic school in Los
Angeles and asked for the head of
the institution.
Mr. Robinson," he said, "my young
son is a student here. I can't get the
notion out of his foolish head that he
is destined to be a great actor. I've
offered to get him in a bank or set
him up in business, but can't budge
him from his purpose.
"There isn't any of the stuff In him
that great actors are made of. Now,
what I want to know from you is,
whether in your Judgment he has a
Chance of any kiiyi of success in this
line."
"Well," replied the professor with a
half-patronizing air of superior pres
cience, "the boy has what I'd call
good average talent and he works
hard. There Isn't any reason why he
shouldn't be able to earn, within a
year or two, a rattling good salary
say $50 or maybe $75 a week at this
work."
The worried father left with a sense
of relief; $75 was a lot of money for a
kid to earn weekly; maybe, after all.
the boy wouldn't be such a failure if
he couldn's be led up to the ledgers
and ink bottles. But then on second
thought grease paint. Not an Inspir
ing symbol for an ambitious father to
associate with the future of an only
son.
i Today the boy la in the millionaire
OREGOXIAK, PORTLAND,
All fashionable society w
tereated In the recent announcement
that lira. Ogden Mllla Jr., daoich
ter of Mrs. W. K. Vanderbllt, has
obtained a divorce In Pnria.
known families, because of the
numerous divorces, as it would be to
undo a Chinese puzzle.
Fashionable society of New Tork
group at 27, potentially If not actual
ly, because of his enormous salary
and contracts ahead, all made out-of
mixture of grease paint with am
bition, talent and dogged persistence.
The father, Charles T. Ray, as presi
dent of Charles S. Ray Productions,
Inc., recently organized, sometimes
stops in his routine work and rumin
ates on the folly of trying to buck
destiny.
But behind this summary of a de
cade, unmatched even in the tales of
the movies, is a background of even
greater humm interest. For the story
of how Charlie Ray overcame as great
an obstacle to success as did Demos
thenes with his stuttering tongue is
real "inspiration stuff."
"Alarm Clock Andy" many persons
think Hay's greatest and subtlest
character delineation. It reveals the
soul of a timid youth. If so, there's
a reason.
For "Alarm Clock Andy" Is autobi
ographical. It is, with dramatic vari
ations, an epitome of Ray's own early
mental struggles. He poured into the
character of Andy unction, authority
and conviction that could come only
out of painful experience.
Lnd Inordinately Bashful.
Charlie as a lad was inordinately
bashful and sensitive. A Jury of one
hundred solemn psychologists would
have unanimously rendered a verdict
over him that not if ha lived to be a
JULY 18, 1920
nd of Greenwich, Vt., where the
couple have a magnificent home, was
shocked to hear of the domestic In'
felicity of the Edward B. Closes.
These two young people were re
garded as Ideally married. What then
caused this dissolution of the highest
form of friendship and love? It. was
not a question of money or keeping
the wolf from the door because Mrs.
century old would he ever have the
nerve to face an audience. To this
day he has to struggle with this in
nate weakness, which in his earlier
years took the forrn of imagined im
pending fates. He's conquered it by
sheer will and a philosophy of life.
You'd never know it because his
frank, magnetic eye meets. yours with
Bteady gaze and his poise and bearing
are those of a university graduate.
The struggle with his self -depreciation
persisted even after he had
mustered up the courage to seek and
get a Job In the movies yes, even
after he had seen a preview three
years later of "The Coward," the film
In which his character portrayal, a
minor part, raised him instantly to
stardom.
His first picture was "The Favorite
Son," with Grace- Cunard. He hadn't
the nerve to see It In the preview at
the studio. Of his first sight of his
part in "The Coward" he says:
"I was thoroughly disgusted with
my. se7iming failure to do the work
I'd tried to do. There was only the
thought that if I ever got out of that
projection room I would never, never
try again to do the impossible. Then,
to my astonishment, I heard Mr.
Ince's voice above the clicking of the
projection machine: That's a clever
bit of natural acting; that boy. has
something in him.' "
Stage Early Ambition.
During his first three years in pic
tures Charlie never saw his name in
print either on trie screen or in the
newspapers. Wasn't that enough to
chill the ambition of any boy and
make him think ha was a failure?
Still the subconsciousness of power
persisted. So he's made his fame and
his big "pile" all in the brief space
of five years.
Now for a cut-back.
Eight years ago a forlorn youth sat
Mrs. Samuel J. Waaotaff, who snrprlsed the Xewport col
' by filing; anlt for a divorce.
I Close was wealthy in her own rta-ht
having Inherited half of the J20.000 -
000 estate left by her father, Charles
W. Post of Battle Creek, Mich.
One of the most widely discussed
society aivorces of late was that of
the grand-daughter of H. H. Rogers,
aianaara uu magnate, from Alexande
Dallas Pratt, well-known clubman of
New York. The former Mrs. Pratt has
on a trunk at the railroad station in
Fresno, Cal., clicking his heels, and
tried to recall how it used to feel to
have three regular meals a day.
This was the apparent culmination
of years of ambition to be an actor.
The troupe of barnstormers Charlie
Ray had joined, after carrying a
spear as a super In a Los Angeles
stock company at $3 a week, had
found Fresno the limit of its resources
and graveyard of Its rosy hopes.
Charlie must have remembered the
words of his father- "You'll get more
sense when you're older" at the pe
riod in which he first announced his
purpose to be an actor-man; the time
of life when sundry boys pick out
the Job of policeman, the barber or
the drum major as their life work.
For Charlie announced his purpose
early.
"He was only 12," says his mother,
"when he built a real opera house in
our back yard in Peoria, with a real
curtain 'that went up and down; he
wrote plays, played all the parts and
did the scene shifting."
Eventually the family came to Los
Angeles and the Polytechnic high
school took charge of Charlie for a
few years. High school over, he
made another attempt to get the pa
rental consent to go on the stage.
Father Makes Decision.
By this time Father Ray under
stood that he had a real problem to
deal with, and this was his decision;
Charles Junior was to take a course
in a business college. After that, if
he still persisted In his mad passion,
he could go ahead, bnt it would not
be with any enthusiastic parental co
operation. The boy made the best of a bad bar
gain. Incidentally he's not sorry, for
now he has big affairs to consider.
now been married to Preston Gibson
of Washington. Preston Gibson had
been twice married before he took hia-
third bride, the beautiful Mrs. Pratt.
About" the same time, Mrs. Reginald .
Vanderbllt obtained her divorce from
the brother of Alfred Vanderbllt. who
Inst his life aboard the ill-fated Lusi
tanla. Hardly had society settled down
again to enjoy a peaceful domestio
life when Mrs. Samuel J. Wagstaff
surprised the Newport colony by filing
a suit for divorce.
Mrs. Wagstaffs sister. Miss Julia
French, shocked Newport a few years
ago by eioping with a good-looking
chauffeur, the "handsome Jack Ger
aghty." This marriage proved a fail
ure, and Mrs. Geraghty obtained a
divorce. Following this clopment Mrs.
WagEtaffs father and mother. Mr.
and Mrs. Amos Tuck French of Tux
edo, separated.
Sorinl TJnrest to Blame.
What, then, it is asked, is the cause
for this modern social unrest? Are
the moods and whims of men and
women who fling off their matri
monial partners as they would a dis
carded coat or hat due to a lack .
of discipline Inground in their char
acters during the years of youthful
development?
Many members of the clergy who
have made a study of these perplex
ing matrimonial problems believe this
is responsible for most of the trouble
of domestic life.
"Unless," say they, "one is willing
to adapt one's self to the discipline
which married life involves, one should
not take the sacred marriage vows,
only to trample them ruthlessly later
on whenever one's fancy dictates.
"What guidance have the young
people for this matrimonial experi
ment? In many Instances their par
ents have set the "example of divorce
in their own lives. By what standard
can they measure their own failure
or happiness?"
And in answer to this scores who
have made a success of their marriage
and the ministers as well who have
been investigating the causes for di
vorce point to this solution of the
problemr
"If," says one prominent clergyman,
"the rules of conduct laid down by the
Great Teacher 2000 years ago were
adhered to today by married people
rules that apply to every phase of
human existence, such as love, un
selfishness, forbearance, patience. Jus
tice and truth if these became a part
of the family life, divorce courts
would be abolished and divorce would
cease to exist."
with a $2,000,000 contract on ' his
hands, and he knows a lot about ledg
ers and business customs. He's made
good use of this familiarity in some
of his plays, too.
Skipping later details we find him
buffeting about the west with a medi
ocre troupe to which he attached him
self, running out of money and too
proud to ask father to sustain him
further. It was then he heard about
the opportunities in motion pictures.
Merely to get enough money ahead to
take up stage life again, he timidly
sought and luckily got a Job that'
changed the whole course of his
career.
PHard Work" Ilia Slogan.
He marrlc-d a non-professional girl
several years ago and has worked so
hard that only last month did he feel
justified in taking a real honeymoon
trip. His home in Beverly Hills is
one Of the handsomest, inside and out.
in California.
Of his professional work Ray says:
"Good acting is made out of hard
thought; I lie awake nights thinking
how I can improve on a bit of 'busi
ness.' I've never done a play of ques
tionable character and don't in
tend to."
Which of Itself is a significant side
light on his private character.
County Pauper Dies With $1000.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 22. After
the death of Mrs. Lena Birkland for
many years an inmate of the county
irfirmary, $4310 was found sewed in
the hem of her nightgown. The
public administrator was authorized
to remove her body from the jotters
field where it had been buried to a
dedicated cemetery ar.d to erect a
headstone to mark her grava,