Show F f t S r By Margaret M. M Lukes IN TH THE city of Spokane Wash not so many years ago a little girl was J skipping about an lined elm-lined street having having having hav hav- ing much the same sort of good time children of her age do Properly persuaded persuaded persuaded per- per she would go errands for her mother Sufficiently pressed she would do her housework and other disagreeable things children of a decade or or so ago were supposed to effect graciously She led the happy work play existence of all children in homes where a mother is at the helm Yet it is not exactly accurate to say the little girls with whom small Helen Mac Kellar pi played were exactly like herself You could tell her a mile away by her spun- spun gold curls Her grandfather was a Scotch Presbyterian minister When Helen was 15 the family moved It was while attending school in the city of Chicago that the golden hair hairan an and the Scotch Pr Presbyterian an ancestry estry had their first war var The little girl now budding into lovely girlhood was awarded the leading part in a class play The hit she made Every Everyone one said she ought to g go on the stage This was the simple and unexpected small event that started Helen Mac MacKellar MacKellar MacKellar Kellar on her stage career She knew no one in the theatrical world But at last she obtained a place in stock She worked very hard No fairy godmother waved the wand of good luck in her her- behalf behall Every ery in inch h of the way she fought But hard work brings its own rewards and when Helen Mac Kellar stepped out at last on Broadway she began to achieve honestly earned Soon she was playing with John Drew with Frank Craven Grant Mitchell l and those who had reached the top of the profession Her performances were so sincere and distinguished that the critics began to talk seriously about her They classed her with a certain selected number number num num- ber her of the younger younger actresses rising to tor r take the places of great ones who had gone on Helen Mac Kellar of the quiet shaded elm-shaded street in Spokane had won her way to fame The other day she scrapped all aU this fame in a single night by refusing to play the role in the play in which she was being starred The role she said was indecent Helen Mac Kellar out of the HOW West led the revolt against Broadways Broadways Broadway's Broadways Broadway's Broad Broad- ways way's crop of improper plays and did didi i more in five fie minutes to clean up the stage than a board of censorship would i be able to do in twenty years is a story that has haE run the length and breadth of the country The play involved was The Good Bad Woman It contained words word and scenes many persons believe so suggestive and indecent that it was difficult foi fo some to imagine how a ariter writer riter could let them leave his pen old-fashioned old dose of It was a good home training which caused Helen Mac MacKellar Macx x Kellar to head a a mutiny against Broadways Broadway's Broadways Broadway's Broadways Broadway's Broad Broad- ways way's vile plays ho T. or e who deny the existence of senti sent sentiment sentiment ment meat and ind old-fashioned old ideals had better I I not read this article Something as astrite trite as tha 1112 thought of a mother and anda a bro enter into it 1 Its It's a long Way lay from the glitter gUtter the t I sophisticated viewpoint and the rewards f of New Yorks York's canyon of show houses to a simple white frame house in a Western city But the heart tr travels vels faster than trains If there had been I no modest home in Spokane perhaps this story would never have been written to see Helen Mac brae Kellar was 3 GOING something like calling on an old school friend She does docs not live in a suite in one one of oC the big hotels Her home is an apartment on Riverside r Drive and not one of those big exotic ones at that Here the morning sunlight streams in on the pretty home touches one might find trod in the abode of Clara or Mary or Catherine who married from the little midwestern town and land landed d din in New York because of a husbands husband's Business affairs Why did I do it Helen Mac Kellar Kellaris is a girl of or average height and slight of build Her lIer hair is bobbed and as golden as a ring Her eyes are large and blue S e has a fresh natural beauty Her voice is quite as as the rest of of her Why I ont see what else I could have done I revolted against playing The Good Bad Woman first because it outraged my personal sense of dec decency ncy Because no matter what i got through playing the role I should have haxe counted it ill- ill gotten gains for appearing in the piece violated all the ideals ever planted in me by my mother and those who tried to bring me up ups in the right way vay My 1 t 1 r Y II r V I f J grandfather was a Scotch Presbyterian minister His influence and his ideals were reflected in in my home You can cansay cansay cansay say what you please we travel far and learn much but when we come to a sharp moral crisis it is what was drilled hard in us back at home that decides for us the right and the wrong of a athing thing There eThere was Avas a pause There was a second reason which was making it utterly terly impossible for me meto meto meto to go on with the play It was those little girls of 16 and 18 who sat in the boxes with their eyes as wide open as asif asif asif if they were listening to Mother Goose Goose- their little red mouths agape with interest interest interest inter inter- est as they listened to the rankness of the play I would look over at those boxes and feel Id I'd have to choke first before hissing out the next foul sentence sentence sentence sen sen- tence the next outrageous sneering fling of debased philosophy Thirdly if you can be so systematic over anything done in as hot a mood as my recent action I took my stand as a protest against the steadily rising tide of bad plays because there is at the same moment a steadily rising tide of good ones Either force will triumph Perhaps there never neer was a time in the theatre when so many wonderful things are being done dome Yet paradoxically enough there never was a time when in the modern theatre at least vile daring daring daring dar dar- ing went so far That bad strain must be be wiped out for the good of the theatre L A A THOUSAND different reports have circulated about Miss I Mac tac ac Kellar's Kenar's brief experience with the obscene and difficult role of Eileen in the now famous play which fortunately the world will never see The lady in question herself now briefly told exactly what did happen I 1 was summoned by William A. A Brady she said said when the play was first being cast I read the part and refused to undertake the difficult portrayal portrayal portrayal por por- of Eileen Not because the role looked too difficult but because there were outrageous lines that brought blu blushes hes to my cheeks There were scenes scenes bits of the sordidness of life which we know exist but which should never be presented on the stage In other plays the curtain has gone down on these scenes This play actually endeavored to present such scenes I asked that this thisbe thisbe thisbe be changed because the role of Eileen interested me It was a wonderful role from an acting point of view My 1 request was refused I returned home The next day A. A II H. Woods with whom I have been under contract telephoned telephoned telephoned tele tele- phoned me and told me he had bought a third interest in a new play for me I Iwas Iwas Iwas was thrilled at the news But my joy soon turned to sorrow The play was The Good Bad Woman It was an embarrassing situation to say the least Last year I was idle for twelve weeks because of Mr 11 Woods' Woods inability to secure a suitable play for me All that time he paid me 1000 a week Naturally I felt deeply indebted to him Nevertheless Nevertheless Nevertheless Never Never- I remonstrated with him about the play but finally for his sake I made my way to the first rehearsal feeling sure that once I was vas in it I could get them to take out the objectionable lines Nothing was changed At the end endot of ot each rehearsal Miss Mac Kellar would woul plead and plead It has been held that William A A. A Brady sought himself himself him him- self with this most indecent play of all to bring to a crisis Broadways Broadway's unprecedented unprecedented unprecedented dented demand for off color plays and the limit in vulgarity The matter remains a mystery However that may be be he be Why j Revolted Against UNCLEAN PLAYS 1 Helen He Mac Kellar KeZ the 4 A Actress dress cress Who zo Turned Broadway Bradway T Topsy sy by bj y Her 11 11 Refusal to Continue in The Good Bad Woman Relates in an an Exclusive Interview Reasons 1 That Motivated Her yM Deli Deft of Producers t r t ta t t a Y bf i iI N i d 4 p would not permit Miss Mac Kellar to leave out one single foul hideous line one phrase that stepped far past the outposts of decency Five days before the opening of the play Miss Mac Kellar took the mb matter ter in her own hands and walked out of rehearsal declaring she would never return She went directly to her attorneys attorney's office and advised him of the whole affair He lIe read her contract He told her she must return to the play under the law Even the q a 9 Eileen Donavan the leading role in The Good Bad Woman became a horrible nightmare to Miss hiss Helen Mac Kellar KellarI I I The granddaughter of a Presbyterian terian clerI clergyman clerman cler cler- g gyman man just could not bring herself to portray portray por por- tray a role which she felt debased her so Helen Mac Kellar Iellar cried Out Outto to those who made perversion their theme Actors' Actors Equity as well required d that she he give two weeks' weeks notice before 1 walking out on a part Opening night the night the most anxious the greatest and most thrilling moment inthe in inthe inthe the life of any actor or actress The critics the first the telegrams of good luck a few flowers the nervousness nervousness nervousness nervous nervous- ness the expectant thrill of whether it will be a success or not All this was lost on the star of The Good Bad Woman She spent en n hour hourin in her dressing room trying to convince herself the part was not wicked She prayed and hoped that the world her friends and the audience would under under- stand She dreaded lines that must come freely actions that screamed suggestive- suggestive ness Hundreds of flowers telegrams lay unnoticed To cap the climax the stage manager handed her a short note from her brother which read s Arrived from Akron this evening for your opening It is not necessary for me to wish you success as mother and I know this will be just one more triumph for o our r Sis Love ve BROTHER But time always brings us to the th ordeal no matter how it is dreaded The curtain rose and once it was up the outside outside outside out out- side world was forgotten She was no longer Helen Mac Kellar but Eileen Donavan of the streets one of the lowest of cheap burlesque chorus girls She was Eileen for two hours and a half And what an Eileen she was wasl It has been said that no one ever gave a more wonderful wonderful wonderful won won- performance than Helen Mac Kellar The curtain went down at 1130 but for fifteen minutes the audience sat satin satin satin in their seats applauding a great performance performance performance per per- that had horrified but thrilled them But the curtain did not rise for curtain curtain curtain cur cur- tain calls for the star Helen Mac 1 Kellar the actress had given her finest perform performance performance per per- form nce but Helen Mac Kellar granddaughter granddaughter granddaughter grand grand- daughter of a Scotch Presbyterian minister minister min min- ister could only remember with shame the shudders the gasps and shivers of those who had seen her play She lay in a little heap on the couch in her dressing room The star of The Good Bad Woman did not attend the elaborate banquet planned for her opening night but returned returned returned re re- re- re turned to her apartment on Riverside Drive alone It had always been the custom of her brother to meet his sister at the stage door on his infrequent trips to Broadway It was hard for Helen Heler to make excuses for his absence on this evening She knew he had witnessed witnessed witnessed wit wit- the play Later that night she received a telephone call can from this brother The gist of it was What would mother say 2 Do you wonder now that I wanted anted all aU the more to throw down the play even if it cost me my whole career The girl in the simple black dress which made all the more noticeable the loveliness loveliness loveliness loveli loveli- ness of her skin and hair put the question question question ques ques- tion so sincerely I 1 think Ill I'll show you something she said Its some- some rd Ij thing I haven't shown to any anyone one before But I want you ou to know how I 1 felt about all this I guess I mean rather how we in our family feel about these things Then you'll understand why no matter what it cost in the way of my advancement on the stage to give up upa a role in a new play I count myself the winner HROM ROM a desk drawer she pulled out a FROM letter It was written in a feminine hand and read Klamath Falls Ore Dear Helen Mother Helen Mother has been thinking thinking thinking think think- ing of you so much lately I h have ve read the articles in the paper telling of the stand you are taking against your play The Good Bad Woman I Inave Inave nave have always been proud of what you ou stood for I was proud of the stand stan you took when Eugene ONeill O'Neill wanted you to play the leading part in All Gods God's Chilen Got Wings I see you stand for principle still and d also that you cannot be forced in any way to do something beneath you I 1 see you stand for some of the things mother does In other words what is life what is price if you lose the most valuable treasure you possess a a good name The letter after that became one of the intimate newsy ones exchanged by hundreds of mothers and daughters who in spite of all reports to the contrary in this modern day and age go blissfully blissfully blissfully bliss bliss- fully on loving and revering each other It is not generally known that this is the second time Miss Mac Kellar has refused a role for principles principle's sake The young star owned up however that it was true as her mother said that she had turned down the leading part in O'Neill's play dealing with racial lems Just before that she had scored her great success in The Storm To step out of the The Good Bad Woman meant financial loss for Helen Mac Kellar when this financial stress came hardest At this stage in the conver conversation con con- ver she owned up that it was true she is putting a younger brother through college at Van Rensselaer Tech near Troy N. N Y She is also algo giving a young girl a musical education She heard this young girl play the violin a year or so ago in the West and was so impressed with her that she sent her abroad chaperoned chaperoned chap chap- by an aunt The whole expense of the trip falls on herThe herThe herThe her The Lord fits the back for the burden though she smiled Over on the piano were piled high the letters from all over over- the country commending her for her stand She glanced over that way And Ive I've had the great satisfaction of knowing knowing knowing know know- ing that women the country over approved approved approved ap ap- ap- ap proved of what I didOne didOne didOne did One thing I am hoping and praying though and that is that people will not have the impression that I am a Pollyanna Pollyanna Pollyanna Polly- Polly anna and want a censorship for the stage that excludes everything but sweetness sweetness sweetness sweet sweet- ness and joy I think a political censorship censorship censorship censor |