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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1913)
L 705 Copyright, 19 13, hy tts 1 0 Star Company. , . CrtA rAa : Resent a "t ' i if 'Hi I I no1 Sf " ' ' Miss Lily' Elsie In a Row of Five Charming Posses Broke Every Law of "Bride's Luck" and Then Just Couldn't Give Up Her Stage Friends in Order to Please a Mere Husband. v . i :c'--''' -L- wii-y nc1". 1 I - i i iii)iii.uuiBP. a. m inn ii n hiiinii iliuiii j-rr-T London, August 23. HEN Lily Elsie, the most photographed beauty on the English stage, mar ried Ian Bullough, the' eon of a Scotch baronet and im mensely rich andowner, two years 'ago she defied every rule of. what Is known as "bride's luck." She had a supper with thirteen at table, clasped her hands before her knees, thus "hugging sorrow," walked through a funeral proces sion, broke two mlrrrors,' tipped over every salt cellar on the table, had thirteen buttons on the front of her newest gown, put up three umbrellas in her room and stood under them, walked' under a ladder and put her left slipper on first. Now Lily Elsie is bringing a suit for divorce, and many people naturally believe that her marriage was doomed from the start by her defiance of superstition. From the first day she and her husband made each other as miserable as they could be, and she is com pared to the classic Pandora, who opened a box in which the gods kept every evil, and let them all escape- In bringing her divorce suit she has also drawn attention to the strong friendships that exlBt among the Gaiety girls and the stars of the musical comedy stage. Her case is discussed In connection' with that of Gabrlelle Ray, the other famous beauty, who a few weeks ago won the first step in her proceedings for divorce against her husband, Eric Loder, also the Bon of a baronet and the possessor of a fortune of 110.000,000. In each case the husband was madly, in love wita his wife at the time of the marriage. In neither case was the man brutal or unfaithful as long as he remained under the conjugal roof. Yet in each case be deserted his wife and obstinately refused to return. Evidently there Is a mystery here. Gradually an explanation leaked out The friendships among the girls that bad grown through years of work on the stage could not be broken by matrimony. In each case the husband wished his wife to break entirely away from hft stage life, fearing no doubt that con stant contact would lure her back again to the foot lights. And in each, case the wife reived to drop her friends of the old days. These musical comedy girls found matrimony and the devotion of the rich est young husbands in England a bore, and preferred the company of their own kind. In Gabrlelle Ray's divorce suit the husband hinted at the existence of this state of affairs. i Many curious Incidents , that have occurred are explained by . this , revelation.; ..Both . the actresses " displayed an Astonishing lnditterence" at the time :' the marriage was to take place, in spite of the wealth ! .and social- position of the bridegrooms.;? Gabtfelle I Ray failed to appear at the church on tbV day first ixedut came oa.iMioUier,day,after.n)uch.urgag..- r n i nix i i their own homes. The yqnmg husbands complained that they, did not get a reasonable share of their wives' society. 'When one of them wished to spend the evening with his wife in that delightful "solitude a deux which most young married people enjoy, he found a bevy. of charming but no less de trop actresses running all aver the house. Some wonder is expressed '.that the two beauties should have married at all if they (regarded the relationship so lightly. Probably the explanation is that they could not etftirely disregard the wealth and social position that were to be expected from marrying! young millionaires of noble family. But when they were tmsrried they found domes tlclty too distasteful and' the) attraction of the old life too strong to permit them to make home reasonably attrac tive to their husbands. One of Liry Elsie's friends hats explained that she made a bet that she would marry Ian Bullough, and that having won her bet she lost Interest In." the matter. Lily Elsie was the most popvlar "Merry Widow who ever played the title role of that I very popular comio opera in England. As a test ef her popularity it was shown that she had been photographed over 3,000 times,' and that her photographs had sold more than those of any other woman In England.' She has a very tender, appealing type of beauty,' and this has made many people veryl indignant to think that a man could desert her. Jn spite of the extreme popularity "of Lily Elsie, con noisseurs consider that Gabrielte Ray is the most perfect beauty on the musical comedy stage. She is a very statu esque beauty, having Greek purity of form combined with the delightful coloring of the fatr-halred English woman. Gabrlelle Ray appears at ,her bast in pajamas, this sim ple costume displaying her purity of outline and grace of limb in the most perfect manner. Her seductiveness in this costume proved irresistible even to her colleagues of the stage, accustomed as they) were to the display of womanly charms In every, conceivable setting. The affairs of Gertie 'Miliar, the star of the Gaiety The atre, are naturally discussed in connection with those of her two lovely colleagues. It is no secret that the million aire Duke of Westminster, who is parted from hf3 wife, has long had an Intense admiration for the talents of Miss Millar. Now people are . wondering whether she could endure the boredom of matrimony with the Duke if both of them were free to marry, The manner in which the various young gentlemen In volved in these cases have been treated by their wives has tended to further dlmlnishthe prestige of the British aristocracy with the puW- n fOOLSKAM & J 'Like Pandora, the fair . Lily touched the spring 'of that chest of superstitions. and. like a jack-in-the-box. up popped the mm av 9 1 U I'M 2P il ' 7 rs - 1 A !(.. r ? -,.:i 3' 1 i.tr 1 New Photograph of Lily Elsie. Talis'' did not Indicate, a high regard for the bride- - and did not Improve until she separated from her groom,.'..' .'.7': , ' husband. .'. Perhaps Lily Elsie's defiance, of superstition was , Neither Lily Elsie nor Gabrlelle Ray, it seems, really a sign that she did not care if misfortune took marriage seriously or expected it to be perma- dogged her marriage anyhow. That is how a psy- nent. To the. young husbands this was more, than ohologlsCwouid expUinittv W?Jthla three weeks of y a disappointment. They hoped to embrace "the her Wedding it was reported that she had Quarrelled .beautiful angels of their dreams," to use the lan- wlth her husband and. would return to the stage, guage of theyoung Marquis, of Northampton, and Bha looked. eotmIserable . that. she.lost herbeauty. they:, found-, that . they-werer rather ; superfluous .in Ml 1) (r . .7 ' " X1 f 1 .. I .V. f: m