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The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
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"nnyrlRht. 1S1J. by the Slur Company. Grout Hrltain nights nrvL
TeatJfeauyr
Vivien Blackburn, the Famous "Fencing Girl,"
Tells How Her Beauty Thwarted Ambition
and Closed the "Right Doors of Love."
I HEAD .recently with the keen
est Intorcst nnd sympathy
Ednn .Goodrich's talk in this
newspaper about tho disadvan
tages of being a great beauty.
1 have suffered so much more than
Miss Goodrich, can toll so much of
tho unhapplness that beauty brings,
the toll it takes, that I felt it my
duty to add my experiences to her
record?
In hor artlclo, Miss Goodrich
went inoro into tho general aspect
of tho question. I proposo to toll
specifically how my beauty
thwarted mo in my ambition at
every turn for ten years, not only
closing tho only entrance to the
stago that I desired, but closing as
well every exit In Hfo through
which my heart desired to go.
Tho first happened because it is
tho tradition that a beautiful
woman cannot bo intelligent, nnd
tho second, becauso the kind of man'
who ia impelled to propose mar
riage to a beauty is not tho kind
a thoughtful girl would choose as
mato.
A girl who is unfortunate enough
to bo known as "A Beauty" has
had thrust upon her tho most
dreadful handicap imaginablo. If
eho happens to bo a girl on the
stage, and particularly a girl in
musical comedy, she has no future
unless she has a courage, a deter
mination, n bulldog tenacity that
laughs at disappointments and after
each fresh discouragement arises
with a fresh determination not to
be a slave of her looks.
With tho samo amount of pluck,
of work nnd of brains; a girl who
Is not so handicapped,, will progress
further. In one year than tho beauty
will in tent
It has been'proven "that 'lit fash
ionable society thcrd are, .out of
every ten unhappy married ompn,
scvon beauties to three of average
appearance. The, records of the
divorce courts show that raroly is
a plain woman called upon .to .sever
hor marital bonds, and still mpro
rarely is, she divorced because she
has been at fault.
In tho average circle of life
beauty 'Is a constant disturber of
the peace, while to bo beautiful in
vsaaranrage
By VIVIEN BLACKBURN
The Famous "Fencing Girl."
the lower circles is dreadful in
deed' for tho wman.
What is tho reason for all this?
When I was only- a littlo glrl,
Just turning ten, I had a forerunner
of the bitter experiences that were
to befall me in later life. I had
been one of a closo group of school
girls. One day ono of them gave
n party and I was tho only ono
not invited. I was heartbroken. I
cried my eyes out. I didn't go to
school for a week. When I did I
asked ono of tho littlo girls why
I had not been Invited to tho party.
"Why, It's becauso you're ,'oo
pretty, Vivion," Bho said. "Maudie
was jealous of you, and she told mo
that sho was tired of hearing every
ono say: , 'My, what a pretty girl
Vivien Blackburn is.'"
Vivien Blackburn
' Relieved of
"1 wanted to bi
a great actress.
All the managers
wanted me to
do was to wear
clothes and
smile. This is
one of my pho
tographs at that
stage."
In that littlo lncldont you got a
clear cut cxamjilH of what gooB oa
all Uliough life for tho beauty. The
littlo girls turn to big ones; fho
little party becomes a very. dazzling
one perhaps, but hero and there, nil
tho time, tho boauty is being
"panned" by hor girl friends, bo
cause thoy nro "tired" of hearing
her called a boauty and because
they are -a bit afraid of her too.
Time wont on, and I grew, they
said, prottlor. I liked being called
pretty. It nuido mo feel different
from tho other girls. I looked down
ou them hit. I liked to have tho
boys dangling about me. Tho girls
weren't us confiding to me ns they
were to others. Hut I didn't caro.
Jealous things, I said, they're just
envious! Then I began to notice
as She Is Now. Not So Pretty Maybe But
Her Handicap of Excessive Pulchritude.
that tho r.tce boys thnt huus around
mo went off one by ono and married
plain sort of girls who couldn't hold
a candle to my looks.
At last I made up my mind to go
on tho stage. I didn't want to be
a show girl. I wanted to bo a great
actress, and J thought I had intelli
gence enough to bo one. I wai
very happy when I went to New
York. After I had tried to get Into
a real play for-a month and couldn't
I wasn't so happy. At last I
tried the musical comedies, and I
didn't havo tho least trouble getting
on. It waj all now, and for a timo
I forgot my anbltlons. I said to
myself that this was only a littlo
picnic, before I began the real
serious business of being a great
actress.
Then one day tho most unfortu
nate thing that ever happened to
me camo about. I awoke to find
myself christened "the most beauti
ful chorus girl in New York!"
I thought it fine then. I didn't
reallzo tho serlouB sadness or It. I
sent clippings to all my friends and
to my family. Next a -rival man
ager met me and offered to raise
my salary from $20 to $30 a week.
I thought that flno too. Very soon
another offered me $to, then $50
and then $C0.
But wait! I went to the manager
and asked him to givo me a speak-jt
lngpart. He laughed at me. &
"Why peopio uon't want to near.j
mi ' hi. anlfl "Tllnv Ilia TL' lint t r
you," lie Bald. "Tliey just want to
look at you. Anyway, a pretty
woman hasn't any brains!"
I argued. He was inflexible.
I had to live, so I kept on letting
peopio just look at me. Then I
went into Anna Held's "Little
Duchess." I was one of tho fencing
girls. A photograph of me in black
silk stockings, short skirt and a
fencer's pad on my waist attracted
tho attention of the general man
ager of tho Chicago & Alton Rail
road. He used it as a trado mark
and had thousands upon thousands
of my photographs distributed as a
souvenir of the railroad.
After that I was doomed! I was
a Broadway Beauty, and I couldn't
shake off that handicap, no matter
how I tried.
You Bee, there I was, JUBt a
beauty, and nothing else. Famous
because I had a good figure, a
pleasing face, a complexion, nice
eyes. All of them perishable, too!
Everything for which people
thought me worth while was just
on tho surfaco. 1 had no reserve
to cnll upon and 1 know thnt I
had brains ns well nn boauty. Hut
nobody else would bellevo it.
I grow dosperalc. 1 went to
manager nfter manager for whom 1
had worked, nnd begged thorn al
most on my knees to tnko mo
away from being a show girl and
givo mo somo lines.
"Just let mo try ono rehearsal,"
I would boBooch. "I know 1 can
piny partB. I don't want a big ono,
Just n fow lines. Just give mo a
clmnco."
Ono and all they laughed at mo.
"Oh, you'ro too pretty to wnsto
yourself on a little part, Vlvlon,"
thoy would say. "I've got some
stunning now costumes for you
and I'm going to put you again In
tho front row ui(d pay you moro
money than any two show girls In
tho play. Why not bo satisfied with
that?"
1 wasn't. To prove that I was
Vivien
Blackburn's
Famous
Picture
as
the
"Fencing
Girl."
crnest I wont, on tho stage
altogether for two years and went
away to study and to plan for that
speaking part. After that I wont
around to the offlcos again. Onco
moro my old managers laughed at
me.
"Ready to come back, arp you?"
th9y said. "Well, there's been no
show girl since who could tnko your
place. Sign this contract nnd go
and ,et fltteu for tho best show
girl costumes."
"I won't," I said.
' At last Henry W. Savage agreed
to give me a chanco in his farce,
"Excuso Me." I'm playing the
8CCond most Important feminine
roie m lt now anil after Christ-
w- r , I M ..1 ....
mas, Mr. Savago Is going to givo
me a bettor and bigger part In a
new Broadway production. I have
won out in my fight agaitiBt my
looks.
But see the waste. It's taken mo
ten years to do It. If I had been
plainer I could ha,ve done It In one.
I'vo spoken about the "exits to
tho heart" being closed too. I can't
Imagine anything moro dangerous
for true lovo than bolng a stage
beauty. I'vo had proposals, lots of
them. But I wouldn't marry tho
kind of men who did tho proposing.
If I'd found ono who wanted to
marry me for something besides ray
beauty It would have beon differ
ent. But it's a very shallow love
that is aroused by mere appear
ance. Look at tho girls who Uavo mar
ried ort tho stage because men
havo become Infatuated with their
looks. How many havo turned out
happily? I can count you twenty
girls to-day who are either back on
he stag1 ' leading miserable llvos
I
"I was fettered to my
mirror. I had Drains in ,
my7 head, but all they
were given to do was to
make my eyes roll lan
guishingly," says Miss
Blackburn. This picture
of her shows her eyes at
their "languishingest."
J t . io they married men who
were attracted by tholr beauty.
There's something unnatural
about a woman being beautiful any
way. In nature in tho lower nnj
muls and tho birds the female Isn t
beautiful. It's the malo that Is tho
better looker, Tho female is
usually a demure, plain littlo thing
who isn't readily noticed. Tho male
struts around in colors and might
and comeliness. There's a good
reason for this. Tho persistence of
tho race depends upon tho female.
Sho has to bo unobtrusive, so she
won't attract dangerous attention,
Sho has to look out for the young.
Tho mnlo enn bo more easily ro-
'''when a woman Is beautiful, un-
Weird Human Things Done by Plants
Ilr I'ROF. (1. HKXSI.OIY.
A DISTINGUISHED gardener
was dozing In a chair In his
drawing-room ono sultry
Summer afternoon, and a bottle
stood on the tablo by his -side.
Suddenly tho bottle began to move
stealthily across tho tabid. Tho
sleeper woke up; tho bottle had
disappeared.
In aBtoulshmont, which might
havo been agitation, had tho bottle
contained anything but a bunch of
blossoms, ho set out to Investigate.
In tho midst of his meditations the
thief fortunately gave audlblo-warn-lng
of bis proximity. Glancing out
of his window tho horticulturist
saw an astonishing sight. The
tlnkie-tlnklo bo had heard was a
Virginia creeper rattling tho bottle
against tho window-pane!
The adhcslvo pads on Its tendrils
aro irritated by anything they touch,
and stick to it like a leech. Really
lt may be quite feasible to train a
plant to pick pookots.
Tho fashionable sweet-pea, If
touched on one or Its tendrils with
a stick, or rubbed gently -for half
an hour, will begin to twist round
the stick. If teased further It will
naSlf nndUVf"'' 8,10 ta 01i1h1"
danir Jd.,'B 8HJcct to all. tho
stlnr lv , 11,0 Bbiul. Man In
"l roVorey t.,rec0K,n,2es th,B- nl
X- .1 ' 'i10. .n.,co rcKUlar man
that n 'L?f U.,lB f0nlal: th0 klnu"
hn ".r0 " trntcd are not tho kind
LTi.ii'.'0 b,s t,llnl.'B. Hint help tho
S2 8 ')1'?KreS8. that are tho bul
warks of tho race. Thoy anr the
frlttorors. the philanderers.' tho
moro or less useless.
And what happens when hor
beauty goes? That Is tho saddest
thing of all. she has beon loved,
admired only for that. Whon It
vanishes thero is nothlug loft of
her. sho Is Just a shadow, a husk.
Better for her to bo dead.
Who 'nro tho most reckless of
grapple wlfh Its tormentor. Be
sides tho twisting motion lt has'
another, which has beon described
as "bowing around," or clrcum-mu-tatlon.
This Is an endeavor to fas
ten on something. It was undoubt
edly its success in "bowing around"
or clrcuin-mutatlon, that enabled
tho creeper to carry oft the bottle.
Though wo havo yet to find plnnts
that can hear or smoll, many of our
common growths aro soiibIUvo to
touch, taste, sight and thirst. Chlor
ophyll, which Is tho green coloring
matter of leaves, not only storeB up
tho energy of tho sun In plants, but
enables the plant to select tho light
ray that Is most beneficial to it.
In millions of littlo green granules
under tho cpldornils of the leaf, lt
Is, In fact, tho eyes of the plant'. It
can detect every color and rays the
human eye cannot see.
The projected giant sun-concentrator
which may make the Sudan
tho powerhouse of tho world was
long ago anticipated by Nature '.n
the schlzostlgtna. Tills apparently
terrible creature Is nothing more
formidable than a type of moss.
Nature has endowed It with lenses
In tho form of globular granules
which concentrate and condense
women? Tho most boautlful.
Why? Because thoy know that
thoy havo nothing but that, and
Timo Is over threatening to fore
close. Thoy havo to mako tho best
of tho thin Bheaf of bills Fortune
has given them. Tho bills nre
beautifully engraved, It is true, but
soon apont. And so thoy try to got
all they can out of thorn.
I've often wondered whethor the
peacock wouldn't havo had a
mighty flno destiny ir ho hadn't
beon forced for cbnturlod into bo-In-,
a show bird. I wonder whnt ho
would havo been? As usoful as tho
chicken prounbly,
I'd Hither bo a chicken than a
peacock? But if I were a pocouie
no one would over bellovo it!
light and so feed the plant in tho
shade. Too much light, however,
turns leaves yellow, and plants can
bo made to turn their coats by tho
action of light upon thoni.
Plnnts, in fact, aro Just as sensi
tive us we are.. Insectivorous
plants can undoubtedly taste what
Is given them and rcfuso It as cer
tainly as tho gourmet would an in-ferlor-dlah
at ttlo dinner of a City
company. They otily- llko nitrog
enous substancea; sugar, starch
oil and such fattening carbohy
drates they have no-use. for.
The craving or plunts and trees
for wator has sometimes led them
to terrible extrpnfes. A poplur has
been known fo burrow boneath a
wall, under a road, and down a
well all in search of water, and
a pertinacious turnip which got the
tip of Its root into tho crack In a
Held drain went on and on until ft
waB six feet long in tho drain. So
sensitivo is tho tip of the root on
the water question that Darwin de
clared It muBt have a brain In" lt.
If over n book istwrltten on "veg
etable mechanlcs'fono will And that
plants have matfo levers, screws,
columns, wedges everything, In
fact. hat enslneeers have.
s.