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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1916)
II I The Gmma Sunday Bee Magazine Paoe i A etrimentanActpeiff r a flurpand a D The Ilnsband Who Guards nia Wife's Dressing Room and Inter feres With Her Manager. By Clara Morris OBSERVATION shows that every explosion is followed by a loud -arw bf mm x. tvuvt t)v uaaa u uot and an unpleasant odor phenomena most strongly' marked In the case of theatrical matrimonial explosions. But, alas, again we find ourselves quot ing; the old-time clown's famous first line, "Here we are again." For In the words of one of their friends, "James and Clara "Young have let their domestic menage go to the demnltion bow-wows." Nobody is better known In the movies than Clara Kimball Young. In the courts she now asks to be released from her marital partnership with her husband, James Young. Her future proml&es bet ter, looks brighter without him. The question has been asked, "Is a husband a detriment to an actress?" 'And now that this matrimonial explo sion has filled the air with dust, it may bo long before it settles, If Mr. Young presses' hla suit for damages against Mr. Selznlck, the well-known motion picture producer. Thus the theatrical profession wilt receive another black' eye, while to the legal - profession profit will accrue. -For as "the young lions do seek their meat of God," so many lawyers seem to seek their meat of the theatres, and And it in goodly chunks, by way of Injunction, broken contracts, back royalties-, dis puted film rights, divorces, separations, but never, never by breach of promise suit . In Clara Kimball Young's suit against her husband she complains that Jamea assailed her, grasping her and choking her, thereby bruising her arms and neck and causing her pain and anguish. On one occasion, so she alleges, her husband grasped her by the neck and hurled ber from him. But this can hardly be the whole story. In the millions of feet of motion picture reels of this charming actress she has been in Just such situations, no doubt, and worse. For a motion picture actress to be dragged around by ber hair and choked and bruised is all in the day's work. The hero or the villain or some body does this sort of thing to the heroine in almost every reel. It lw in the complaint of James Young in his suit against Manager Selznlck that we discover an Illuminating sidelight. In the husband's explanation of what has boon going on we find this paragraph In "his sworn complaint: "Since March, 1914, the defendant (Mr. Selznlck). wrongly contriving and intend ing to injure the plaintiff and deprive him of the society and comfort of his wife, and willfully and maliciously intending to destroy her affection for the plaintiff, wrongfully and falsely represented to her .that the plaintiff was a detriment to her Artistic advancement and career and was not fit to be ber husband and compan ion." Here we have the question raised in this court proceeding as to whether this particular husband was a detriment to this particular actress. ' As bearing directly upon this point Mr. Young proceeds in hit complaint as fol lows: "And the defendant promised that he would promote Clara Kimball Young's advancement and career and promised to enter into a contract with her for per sonal services in posing, and particu larly in making photo plays, but on the express condition that she must leave the bed and board of thl plaintiff. "Pursuant to a scheme, the defendant Hid enter into a contract with her to appear under the defendant's manage ment and did instigate her to bring In this court an action for a legal separa tion from this defendant." Eggs Fresh from Farm Not Always Fit to Eat THERE is a popular Impression that eggs are a food that Is absolutely safe and pure to use; that because it Is en closed In a shell an egg must of necessity be all that It should be always, of course, barring the kind more or less near to the chicken stage. Yet in experiments made by Dr. Lipplncott of the Iowa State College of Agriculture a direct and immediate relationship was proved between the raw material fed to the ben and the makeup of the egg. Every poultry man knows that a diet composed partly of onion will cauxe the onion odor and flavor In the eggs produced by hens so fed. Just as well as the dairyman knows how quickly onions eaten by cows will taint their milk. Professor Llppincott nucceeded In coloring both the whites' and the yolks of the eggs by dyes fed in capsule form. On a given Sunday night at 6 o'clock the capfAiloa were fed and the yolk of an egg laid at 10 a. m. on the following Tuesday bad a distinct band of color around it, thus demouBtrating bow quickly the food eaten is converted into egg material. Clara Morris Discusses This Interesting Question . Which the Matrimonial Shipwreck of Clara Kimball Young Has Brought Before the Courts i It is proper to say that Mr. Selxnick has made answer denying all these charges. But there is the question is an actress's husband a bothersome nui sance? The actor marries every time. He is too gallant to break his promise to a woman. Besides, In his sprightly way, he realizes that a divorce Is more eco nomical than a suit for breach, particu larly when, again gallant, he allows the lady to get it. There is a certain element of surprise In thl Young case that lends It Interest, for actors almost never bring suits for alienation. It a fair one transfers her affections to another, generally he dwells upon the quality of those fish yet in the sea, and lets It go at that. But James Young seems not to be of the lalsses fair type, nor yet "too proud to fight" He has made Mr. Selznlck the toad under the harrow of his suit for damages. And if Mrs. Clara Kimball Young were not eo very pretty a woman she might be tempted to return and throw . herself Into the arms of me husband, who, after poaseeelng her affections five years, pays her the public compliment of holding them still at a f 100,000 valuation. Only think what a revenge he might have taken by aeklng for damages so email as to have covered the delinquent wife with ridicule. But a woman cannot serve two masters, and naturally such beaut r has the first call upon real love and devotion. For, be it known, "Vanity finds its heaven in endless adulation." Its purgatory Is obscurity, while "Vanity unfed can be more cruel than hate." And now, anent this Inconsequent breaking of the marriage bond, we are asked, "Is a husband a detriment to an actress?" Then why under heaven does the actress take so many of them? This pronouncement is doubtless the result of research work, of careful Investigation. Such a discovery ehows how slow must have been the mental processes of those ? . r..r. ' f , , ' r . - ; - ' ' jtGi y'-i.i ' W V- - ' .' ' ' '".-'''' ., .- V- ;'s ;'" " ". Vs '' 1 i ' Jl J ' . -.',,,, A ..-. r .:.- ', .. . ,,',. X - - F- 11 I ' v r v actors of old, some of whose names are . cut deep on marble, bronze or brass, ana othem are "written In water," who were content in private life to be good citizens, to live on with the mate taken in mar riage. And ao lacking were they In tem perament that they sometimes sacrificed their personal happiness to the honor of the profession they served, and actually, from the Kean, Kemble, Slddons, the second Kean, Jenny Lind, Macready, Lady Martin down to our own Jefferson, Hoi land, Meader, Farren, Conway, Daven port. Booth, Barrett and Couldock, not one actor or actress knew that marriage was detrimental to stage glory and last ing success. They steadily went their way, respecting every contract made, whether theatrical or matrimonial. But now that a husband Is a detriment, I keep asking myself why and again why? If he Is a parasite, refusing to act even as a combination courier, valet, publicity agent and husband, devoting himself to billiards and cigarettes yes, he may be a detriment. Again, It is conceivable that a husband with an enlarged but lightly furnished head, might kick against managerial au thority, being Incapable of understanding that an actress goes where the manager sends her to, and rehearses when he com mands ber to, and that there can be, for her, no "divided duty" between manager and husband. Friction and irritability follow. The accused In a French court once explained to the Judge, "No, monsieur, she was not unfaithful. She was a good woman, but, really, she made herself o fatiguing I killed ber." Nowadays when the actress's husband proves too "fatigu ing" she shakes him as a detriment to her success. But there are dozens of ex-husbands who were neither parasites nor trouble makers. Just consider this list of fair women, dramatic and operatic, who in the dance matrimonial have so exactly followed the "calling off" of "Ladles Now, If a coloring matter be conveyed to the egg so quickly It seems quite clear that other substances will be oenveyed with equal speed. The quality of the egg may be considered therefore to be determined by what the hen eats. If her food Is and bow eggs are produced. Unquestionably the great bulk good, clean, sound and healthful granea, meats, etc, the result ing eggs will be fit tor human consumption. Now, what are the facts? To get at tbem consider where of eggs are produced on the general purpose farms all over the country, where flocks of bens are kept as a sort of necessary evil, whereby the women folks may earn their pin money. In the main, hens forage for themselves. They roam over the farm, living on grasses, bugs, worms and waste grains, etc., in season. Such food Is entirely natural and capable of being converted Into perfectly good eggs. But, and here Is the fly in the ointment, they have one spot which they dearly love, the barnyard, with its heaps of decaying refuse. There they dig and scratch andeat things that are calculated to taint the egg product. Copyright, 1U16, by tbs Star Company, to-. - . if . ' r V. WM iff cjhange. Balance all. Cheat your partner and swing to corners." It would be discourteous not to begin with the dean of the marriage game, the ever fair Lillian Russell but then, wltn her the making collections hat always been a fad. ' Where Is Jobyna Howland's author husband; Sarah Truax'a actor mate; Fritzte Scheffs novelist spouse; Mary Blythe's actor; Mary Mannerlng's actor and business man; Julia Sanderson's fa mous jockey; Rose etahl's actor com panion (not, as It proved, for life) ; Mme. Nordlca's business man first, singer sec ond, banker, third; Maggie Teyte's law yer; Pattl's arlstocrat-Marquls; Emma Eames's artist; Julia Marlowe's actor; Mme. Schumann Jlelnk's business man? It's like sadly saying over a rosary of names Instead of prayers. Now what was wrong with them all these mar riages? These women all loved, or thought they did, and yet "divorce" is deeply carved on the gravestone of each dead love, and each of these separations has done Its share to lessen the good re pute of the fine old profession, for whose honor no one seems to "care a hang." The conditions of stage life are not conducive to domestic happiness and con tinuous marriage, but thny are not neces sarily fatal to them. As witnesses whereof I set down the first half-dozen names that come to mind of permanent ly married professionals. There Is Mr. John Drew, who married the lovable and charming little Miss Baker, of Phila delphia, and they are happily living again In their young daughter. James O'Neill married one of Cleveland's boasted beau ties, and, together with two stalwart sons, they lead a family life. Mr. Will iam Seymour married Miss May Daven port, and the union has lasted long enough for tbem to give In marriage their daughter, who is a startling replica of her beautiful aunt, the late Fanny Davenport. The dark-eyed, Intense Miss Arthur and the blond and charming Miss Oeorge are both in the continuous marriage game and were never more popular with the public than at this immediate mo ment While Miss Barry more, having "given hostages to fortune" in the shape of three sturdy and winning little ones, certainly seems to be on the way to con tinuous marriage. There are others, thank God, but these names are known of all men and best bear witness that permanent marriage Is not Impossible In theatrical life. Then where does the fault lie for all these broken vows and bonds? First, let us consider that the price of "outside" happy and permanent marriage the whole world over Is much self-control and some self sacrifice. There cannot be successful married life without paying this price for it If, as Shakespeare claims, "A friend should bear his friend's Infirmities," how much more should love be willing to bear Oreat Britain Rlrbts RMarvsd. 3 V Clara Kimball Young Lillian Russell, Who Tried Three Husbands and Dis pensed With Them, As Being of No Ad vantage to Her Career, ; love's Infirmities! But, can any one Imagine one of these marriage breakers ever asking "Who am I that I should demand perfection 1n my husband?" How many of them, quietly thinking back a bit, can say "I did my best?" It Is not only the hard conditions of stage life, but the exaggerated ego of the women themselves that cause these brief bitter sweet marryings. Only those who have tasted public ap plause can Imagine what a powerful Intox icant It is. It exalts, it Inflates, like the "in sane root that takes the reason prisoner." It causes delusions of Individual greatness and importance, which in turn produces arrogant selfishness. Public applause is an Olympian cocktail that urns many heads, and this exaggerated ego, when the thrill and novelty of mar riage Is gone, discovers that a husband Is a detriment to the career. In two or three cases women In the foregoing list have been forced, through cruel disloyalty, to ask freedom of the courts, but there are others who, having married simply on Impulse, because they are human, and were women before they were actresses, who can give no other rea son for unmarrylng than that childishly feminine, all Inclusive, "Oh, because." But it is not fair to charge these broken marriages to tbe bard conditions of theatrical life, Its temptations and the miseries of "the road" alone, for if an actress wants to stay married, she will, tossing up her chin at a whole brlgado of scowling managers. Holding the hue (band s hand she would steadily walk a twelve Inch plank across the burning pit. Just to be with him. Ambition Is a most worthy thing. To work for It, to sacri fice much for it, is noble. But no one is Justified In sacrificing the happiness and honor of another person to further his or her own ambition. If only these young worshippers of the scorching light of publicity will show a grain of gratitude to the profession that gives them everything worth having; If they will cease thinking that for them "Law, life, love, Joi, Impulse, are one thing," which is "angels' law," not ac tresses': it they will give their ego the rest cure there will be fewer smudges and black marks against the honor of a profession which Is to worthy of loving, reverent service. ' 1 V The Amiable Husband Who Com placently Obeys Orders and Never Asks Questions. "The defendant, willful ly and maliciously intend; ing to destroy her affec tion for the plaintiff wrongfully and falsely represented to her that the plaintiff was a detriment to her artistic advance ment and career and was not fit to be her husband and companion." From James Young's complaint in his suit for $100,000 damages against Manager Selznick. 4 v.f.y ,-. ; i J -My? ir,L,W'- f v t : t V i ! V