Show W Z l JJ A At Were They a Guilty Guilt Love Token A From Ruth Shepley as Inez Ines r s Plummer Charges or orI I Merely an Innocent e Christmas Gift From j i Miss Shepley and Hey Her IN Devoted Husband If ii J f f 3 0 1 1 On the left Mrs Mra Inez Plummer 4 D Dickey i ic c key who makes the pres 4 of the i a 3 cuff links to her husband one of J i her reasons for seeking a divorce d S 'S I Paul Dickey actor 3 ie v J 3 J p playwright I h t an and andre d reo re- r j r of the cuff cufflinks r links about which n d the controversy i is ish h r raging s v fi Y 1 j I y EING a pa playwright Tight of pleasing in- in ingenuity ingenuity i BEING Mr Paul Dickey proba- proba probably probably bly gets as much kick as the next neiman man out of the fact that the separation i suit instituted by his once adoring wife is likely to hinge upon a pair of f cuff cufflinks cufflinks links In their moments of relaxation and annot not in Mr Dickeys Dickey's hearing the other Broadway show builders admit its it's a whale a i whale of a situation Life as these artificers of the theater r point out when speaking officially be- be before before fore highbrow art clubs makes the grim grim- grimmest tragedies and the strangest come come- comedies dies of all aU Not that Mr Dickey regards the affair in the light of comedy simply that he cannot restrain a grin of admiration n for the fates that have maneuvered him n into such a perfect little play and cast ca him in the heavy role Who put those cuff links in Mr r Dickeys Dickey's Christmas stocking That is likely to be the question out out- outstanding outstanding standing when the separation suit is heard While the world waits for the courts court's verdict divers persons give divers explanations and the cuff link inks ES s bid fair to take on all aU the sinister sig- sig significance significance si of the overalls that once upon in a time found their way unbidden into to Mrs Murphys Murphy's chowder The first theory as to the history o othe of ithe f the cuff links was advanced by Mrs M s Dickey the former Inez Plummer wh whis who o is an actress of merit and once was wa s named by George M Cohan as the typical cal American girL They were sent to him as a Christ Christ- Christmas Christmas Chrismas mas gift by Miss Ruth Shepley That Thai at was in 1925 Mrs Dickey said in her be h r opening broadside Then she elaborated She intimated intimate d the links were love tokens symbols of a lawless love in which which Miss Shepley was wa as S encouraged if not inspired by the in- in ingenious in ingenious genious Mr Dickey The cuff links inks were e of platinum Harmless in themselves they became to the tho play builders builder's wife fe o a sort of symbol She saw in them visible proof of he her I r suspicions humiliating evidence that her he r husband no longer loved her They in infuriated her even more than more sig si g evidence in her possession ic- ic according ac according cording to her friends Miss Shepley who still is on the stage stag e and recently appeared in Mr Dickeys Dickey's Dickey Dicke s play The Back did not not deign dei g n to reply to the cuff link charge charge when n f she had bad been named by the authors author's author w wife e Confining her defense to more solid if less picturesque charges she denied intimacy with Dicke Dickey and protested her complete satisfaction with her own husband hus- hus husband band Gordon Sarre Mr Sarre in addition to being the husband of a gifted actress ss is isan an ex ex- ex exporter exporter porter and a wealthy man All AU his days until just recently he had lived Jived in pleasant obscurity having his own little circle of friends and business asso asso- associates associates avoiding the front page Suddenly Suddenly Sud- Sud Suddenly denly he has lias emerged from that clois dois- cloistered cloistered quiet and riveted upon himself the att attention of every newspaper reade reader in the country Told of the cuff links and the row rov they had stirred up Mr Sarre Sarre- smiled and said with engaging candor Cuff links Cuff links Oh yes I Ido Ido do remember now Why of course my m w wife e sent Mr Dickey a pair of cuff links inks Very fine cuff links they were too Very superior cuff links I ought to know for it was I who bought them When they were sent to Mr Dickey Dicke both oar oui cards were enclosed They The were a family gift to a family friend Nothing could be less Jess exciting Those of you who are married know knot how it is when husband and wife get together to to send out the Christmas gifts A tie for this acquaintance and for that one Something a little more substantial for Joes Joe's wife though she sent us only cards last year And What Wha do you think that Maurice would like And What can we send to Jim Ruth and I both were fond of Paw Paul so we wo picked upon the cuff tuft not links links nc an extraordinary Yuletide gift They didn't cost a kings king's ransom Neat you know but not gaudy Having said which Mr Sarre relapsed into a well welI earned darned arned silence anda and a come corre spending silence descended upon the camp of Mrs Dickey She has not no n t talked for publication since Whether she discerned in the knightly statement a hint of Mr Sarre's stand during the litigation that is impending or whether her lawyers stopped her tongue it is im- im impossible lot possible to say Abandonment is the tle technical reason advanced by the former Inez Plummer in her suit for freedom freedom She allege s that the playwright left their pleasant homo borne ho e at Great Neck Long Island months months ago and tock tack up residence at tt the th e rr J t r tY wi f 1 f i J rr Anth Another M photograph of Miss Shepley Lambs Club in New York He meant the arrangement to be permanent she ie inferred and she has no mind to put up with an absentee husband The Dickeys Dickes were married in in June 1919 and have children no She had appeared in several of his plays playa Wit the generous and easy enthusiasm of o otheir f their craft actors and authors declared declare d it an ideal union So it was for a long time according g to Dickeys Dickey's wife They had a home inthe i ithe in n the rarified literary atmosphere of Great Gre t Neck They were popular with the am a bilious writers and heavy thinkers o of f p that modern Athens Their front parlor parlo r was like a salon In the summer of 1925 however th tl the ie e serpent entered the garden at Great Neck To Ta put it more literally Mrs Paul Dickey began to keep an aeye eye upon Miss Ruth Shepley Two eyes in f fact ct Hear Mrs Dickey speaking for herself before her hei lawyers rs stopped her lips As showing the motive for my bus hus- husband's hu huband's bands band's abandonment I desire to lay be be- be before before fore the court his undue interest in and clandestine meetings with with Miss Ruth Shepley an nn actress who took the leading lead lead- leading leading ing part in The Back Sappers in which my husband owned a 51 per cent in in- in interest terest In the summer of 1925 Miss Shep- Shep Shepley Shepley ley who then had a summer sum er residence at Great Neck was a constant visitor at our home and it was apparent apparent- to me mithat that my husband took an undue interest in the lady This intimacy intimacy between them continued in the flie fall faU of 1925 when Miss Shepley came to our home my m husband professing his lov love for her in my presence Mr Dickey also told meshe was the th high spot in his life And at Christmas Christina Christmastime Christmastime time he received from her the pair of platinum cuff links Always the the cuff links Like the cuff papers in one the thunderous old plays of twenty years ago But Mrs Dickey has more conven conven- conventional conventional tiona evidence she indicated when she filed her suit She went away to Europe not long after her husband told her her Miss Shepley was the high spot in his life ie She She felt she needed time to recover from fron that discovery and came back hoping the author and the actress would have havo outgrown the their 1 seeming fondness fond ess for each other Alas Aas for such hopes however 1 I Mrs Dickey found she avers that the charm charm- charming charming charming ing Miss Shepley still was the high spot in the life ie of Author Dickey and that she herself had been relegated to the post of two-spot two than which there is i nothing less important Dickey had left Great Neck and was as wa living at The Lambs Inquiries as to his intentions brought no satisfactory result Shortly after she got back Mrs Mrs Dickey went into conference with a trusted maid she had left at home in ii Great Neck and in one of her state ments means she had this to to say Upon my return I was informed by bythe b the maid that Miss Misa had Shepley-had had been a Jre ise Or 1000 Foa Jae Ina constant visitor at our home in Great t Neck During my absence she and my y husband took automobile rides together She was at our home quite late ate I wa vas w s told And my husband would go away aw with her late ate in the evening not reo re return turn for the rest of the night Following the explanation of the cull cuff cufflinks cu links as has been intimated Mr Gord Gordo Gordon Sarre the minded broad and loyal hus husband huband band of Miss Mis Shepley returned to the th io o silences So far as ns speech speech is concerned d that is lIe He has been active in other othe r ways lIe He and his wife are together even eve ev n more than used they to be and he al- al always a ways was a devoted husband They en- en entertain en at their home in New York and an d guests understand that if the Dickey Dicke Dick y p suit be mentioned at all it should be bea in ina ina a spirit levity of-levity Mr Sarre indeed has constituted constitute d himself the tha champion not only of his hi Iown s own wife but of Mr Dickey the heavy in the little drama In an affidavit made mad la e some time ago he asserted he always alway alwa s considered Dickey not only one of I his hi s truest friends but a man man of of good morals moral s and thoroughly upright character lIe He accompanied the affidavit with a brief final statement to the press Such insinuations and innuendoes a as s have been made in this case are arc quite quit e without foundation Playwright Dickeys Dickey's outward and visible ble reaction to date has not been vastly different from that tha of the average man manin ma main n in the same even boat boat even though he be bethe b e the author of num numerous numerous rous stage successes s marked by subtlety and a knowledge o of women In fact his intimates say he is not as assure a asure s sure as ns he was say a year ago ngo that he h e understands women and their ways He does understand however that his hi wife has said he induced her to go to t Europe o Europe last last spring and has hinted hinte d pretty broadly that his purpose was to t do o get her the country so he might t prosecute his alleged affair with tho th o Lady of the Cuff Links All AU wrong he said to reporters be- be before be fore he too retired into silence 0 I d- d Charming Ruth named as the they other woman in in Inez Plummers Plummer's di- di divorce di divorce vorce suit declared innocent by her husband i It was all aU her own own idea Ine Inez hada had hada a fancy to play in London anda and a hunch hunch she could get a la part there Sh She also wanted to do the Continent again 1 I did not In fact fact I did not like it although I I made no o objection On purely s selfish grounds gro ds what to head head ofa of a well kept comfortable home tor months for at a time and go living hg h- h g among strangers t Originally he said he left Great Greit Neck because she was abroad and h did not find life ie running along too smoothly when left to the mercies of servants Furthermore his his work as as a film see see- scenario nario nano writer required constant constant attend attend ance at the stu studio io and and and folksy Great Grat Neck was too long a town town Declining the arduous and th thankless 1 role of Lothario weary- weary of of wedlock Dickey told those who saw saw after the suit was filed that he didn did n not t want w nt keeps to lose loss his wife and was anxious to keep up their home swore He-swore He swore he uld nut not understand her actions In th the preliminary r hearing hearing Dickey b fore Justice Mrs Dickey asked asked for a month from Dickey Dickey pending trial tria and 1500 for counsel f fes es- es She set act forth in support of of the ie ness nes of her claim ca m that authoring authoring was paying him to the tune of more more than th n a year Mr Dickey strenuously strenuously resisted resisted this frontal attack on his box office earnings He lie prayed the court t to consider consider that he was an aviator in France during he war wal and while defending the colors was s wounded He made affidavit that tl the tle e wound had left him in a highly nervous state unable to concentrate upon authoring as he be used to do do doand and had affected his income as a playwright Tight Most fost unsympathetically unsympathetically- as it seemed to Mr Dickey his wife countered countered by remarking that it w was stra strange range go he never told or of of her of his wound in l the the years of their connubial inti intimacy Mr Justice who has seen str strange situations unfold before struck a balance by ordering the play play- play playwright wright pay to-pay his wife 50 50 a week tern tern- poi alimony arp alimony rid for fr f r c counsel counsel hes fees IT |