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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (July 15, 1923)
How Pretty Constance Bennett’s Father Was Taking Her to Europe With Him to Keep Her Away From Rich Philip And How He Found Philip’s Mother Taking Him Abroad for a Similar Reason on the VERY SAME SHIP! l On the left, Colo k nel and Mrs. Wil A liam Hayward, ^ parents of Philip Plant, the young man in the case MU* Bennett as a dancer / Miss Con stance Bennett, the very lively and very charm* ing American beauty Miss Helene Jesmer as she looked before the accident for which she sued Philip PUnt for $250,000 PARENTS nowadays place little if any reliance on the old-time theory that "absence makes the heart grow fonder.” In fact, many of them feel quite sure that absence has exactly the opposite effect on the youthful heart. V d 3 lon or d^ghter _____ thnn uuiv^a., ui j;ri lu ■ some more distant part of the earth, for a long stay. A lengthy separation from the object of the young person's infatuation is con fidently counted on either to blight the budding romance so that it will never bloom or to delay its flowering until some time which the parents regard as more suitable, in view of the lovers’ youth or other conditions. This was exactly the line of reason ing that Mr. and Mrs. Richard Bennett followed a few weeks ago when they began to be worried over the close inti macy that was springing up between their remarkably pretty daughter, Con stance, and young Philip Plant. Their worry was due to no objections to young Plant as a prospective hus band for the girl—oh, no, indeed! He has wealth, social position and all tho other advantages which the most ambi tious of fathers or mothers could desire in a son-in-law. Philip is the son of the late Morton F Plant, the multimillionaire hotel, rail road and steamship magnate. He al ready has his hands on a generous share of the millions his father left, and even tually will have practically ail of them. His mother laid aside her widow’s weeds some time ago to marry Colonel William Hayward, United States Dis trict Attorney, and so Philip has a very distinguished stepfather to guide his feet in the paths a well-behaved young millionaire is supposed to take. It was because of no objections to young Plant, but for reasons concerned entirely with Constance, that made her parents anxious to prevent the young people falling deeply enough in love to be eager for an early marriage. In addition to being an unusually beau tiful girl, Constance Bennett is a most precocious one. She is only eighteen now, and was just sweet sixteen when she made her debut. Into those two years she has crowded more romance and other thrills than many women get in a whole lifetime. To begin with, there was a runaway marriage that had to be annulled. Next came a little fling at fashionable society life, followed by a try at acting in the movies and a brief but brilliant career as a dancer. And now this growingly ardent affair with Philip Plant. Is It any wonder that Mr. and Mrs. Bennett felt it their duty to put the brakes on this elghteen-year-old speed ster and have her wait a few years before deciding on a sec ond husband? "If we could only send her to Europe,” sighed Mrs. Bennett, as she and “"4hen one day Mr. Ben nett came home with nawa of his engagement to ap pear in a motion picture that was to be filmed in Rome. Ho would have to there at once. “The very thing!” cried Mrs. Bennett. "You can take Connie with you, and by the time she comes back sjie will have forgotten all about this affair with Phil Plant.” The Bennetts broached the plan to Constance tjith some trepidation, but, to their surprise, she seemed delighted with the idea of accompanying her father to Italy and remaining there all summer. As they recalled later, she showed par ticular enthusiasm over the fact that they were to leave on the White Star liner Majestic’s very next sailing from New York. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett began to think that they had greatly overestimated the degree of their daughter’s interest In Philip Plant They were positive of this when the sailing day came and they found among the heaps of flowers and bon voyage boxes that filled Connie’s stateroom not one thing bearing his card. But they learned otherwise a few min utes later, when they stood with their daughter and their other children on deck, saying goodby. Suddenly Con stance left her parents and darted to the rail to wave and call a smiling greet ing to some one coming on board. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett followed their daughter’s gaze and saw coming up the gangplank behind a squad of baggage laden porters Colonel nnd Mrs. William Hayward und their son, Philip PUnt! As wiis soon revealed, Mrs. Hayward and Philip were also nailing for a sum mer in Europe on the Majestic. They had staterooms on the same deck as those of the Bennett father and daugh ter, nnd quite close to them. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett were amazed to see how miserably their carefully laid plans for breaking up their daughter's little affair had failed. Instead of sepa rating her from Philip Plant, they had succeeded only in bringing the two closer together. Now the little beauty and the heir to all the Plant millions were assured a week of the cosy intimacy which an ocean liner afford*. And after reach ing Europe, with Mr. Bennett busy with his film work and Mrs. Hayward occu-' pled with shopping and h^r many social duties, who could tell how much they would manage to see of each other? Why, it would not he at all surpris ing if they returned in the fall engaged and with their plans all made for a wed ding before Christmas. Colonel and Mra. Hayward are said to have been Just as astonished and dis appointed over the situation as the Ben nett parents. For they are believed to have planned Philip’s summer in Europe for exactly the same reasons which prompted Mr. and Mrs. Bennett to send Constance abroad. They greatly admire Constance Ben nett — think her one of the most charm ing girls of whom America ran boast. But she is so young, and Thilip, too. On this account and because Philip, like Constance, has already been involved in one unfortunate romance, they nro anxious for him to wait until he is older before thinking again about leva and marriage. I.ike the Bennetts and countless other parents facing similar situations, they had decided on a long separation ns the t>est means of postponing this romance indefinitely or perhaps bringing it to a sudden end. And, instead of accom plishing what they had set out to, they succeeded only in making matters easier for the young lovers. Some years ago, while Philip Plant wns still in school, he was dancing at tendance on Helene .Tesmer, an exqui sitely beautiful girl, who had come from her home in the West to he one of the most admired of all the admirable show girls in a famous Broadway review. Everybody thought it was a sure enough love affair and thab Helene Jes mer'g fitst season behind the footlights was bound to end In her winning a mil lionaire husband. This romance, however, went to smash one November night, when Philip Plant's high-powered limousine skidded into a tree on Pelham Bay Parkway. Plant and all his merry party of guests ex cept Helene Jesmer escaped with only minor Injuries. She was hurled through the wind shield and was carried to a hospital. Buffering from broken bones and severe cuts and bruises on her lovely face, neck and arms. For a few days after the accident sor rowing young Plant was unceasing In his calls at the hospital. But Helene Jesmer swathed In bandages was evi dently a far less alluring creature than she had been in a musical comedy cos tume or a smart evening gown. At any rate, the young millionaire's hospital visits suddenly ceased. A short time later Miss Jesmer brought suit against the young man the Broadway gossips thought sure she was going to marry for $250,000 dam ages. She alleged that her beauty, on which she had counted to win fame and fortune, had been irreparably damaged in the automobile accident Tho caso is to come up for trial this fall. But this little romance, with Its un happy ending for Helene Jesmer and its possibly expensive one for young Mr. Plant, is only a commonplace com pared with the thrills that have filled Constance Bennett's recent yeara> Two years ago this very summer she was even more deeply interested in Ches ter Moorehead than she now is in Philip Plant. M(X>rehcad is the son of a Chi cago surgeon and he and Plant were at one time chums in school. On the very night of her coming-out party Constance l<t "Chet" Moorehead persuade her to elope with him to Greenwich, Conn. They succeeded in convincing the authorities there that she was twenty-one, instead of the bare sixteen she looked and was, and were married. Immediately after the ceremony the little bride had a change of heart and decided the whole thing was a mistake. Without giving her youthful husband even one honeymoon kiss to pay for the gasoline he had burned on the trip to Greenwich and the other expenses of the runaway marriage, she insisted on going straight hack to her maidenly room in her parents’ home. Of course, young Moorehead was tre mendously indignant at losing a wife with such dizzying suddenness and he sought an annulment of the marriage. It was granted last year, after he had charged that Constance Bennett had never intended to live with him, any way, and she had said that it was all a bit of silly "puppy love.” Although Connie's father is a well known actor and her mother was for merly on the stage, they wanted this eldest daughter of theirs to settle down to the life of a fashionable society girl. But the butterfly existence of a smart set deb palled on her after a few weeks and she went into the movies. Even this was not exciting enough to suit her pep-loving tastes and she next took up professional ballroom dancing. At this she was very happy and suc cessful, for the blood of many genera tkrns of dancing ancestors flows in her veins and it is hard for her twinkling feet to keep still once the band begins to play. New’ York was enthusias tic about the grace with S which she whirled over the \ floor of a popular grillr \ in the arms of her 't partner, Basil 5| It was while fillin Li engagement at this gr-.ll room — since closed by the prohibition laws—that she met Philip Plant arid be gan to add to her already eventful life story what may » prove its most in [ teresting chapter. Constance's father and mother and Philip Plant's par ents. however, show no intention of abandoning their plans to delay this romance, or per haps break it up entirely. \ When she found that Philip kA Plant was also to pass the summer in Europe Mrs. Bennett hurriedly j packed up her things and followed f her husband across the Atlantic— evidently to lend a hand in looking after Constance. And if Mrs. Hay ward finds her son's hunger for romance getting out of control, doubtless she will call on her husband to come over and deal with the situation. If Colonel Hayward does Join his wife in Europe he will undoubtedly add fresh interest to the struggle between the 5-oung lovers, for he is skilled in all sorts of military and legal strategy. During the war he commanded a regi ment of negro troops. As United States attorney for the district of New York, he has made a record for his vigorous prosecution of all kinds of lawbreakers, and particularly those who take liberties with the Volstead act Will Constance Bennett and Philip Plant be able to overcome the united opposition of their four parents? Will their hearts succeed in having their way in spite of all the wisdom, wealth and authority that are arrayed against them? Time alone will tell, but nobody can deny that the young lovers have won the first move in the game. Whether the sailing of Miss Bennett and young Mr. Plant on the same liner was a mere chance or the result of skill ful connivance on their part has not yet been revealed. The faces of the young people wore very well satisfied smiles as the Majestic left its pier, and perhaps they will be still more radiant when they return in the fall. Many of their friends predict a Christmas weddmg.