Show t to f 1 p 1 r rI 4 r ra h a I 0 4 G 4 d di j i f J 0 1 I f r t 7 s l J dr JL J 1 OO hen 1 l ff WJ t f f I k f 1 f r J ia Ir How the Brilliant Career of o Maurice the Celebrated Dancer 4 Was a aI Constant Struggle Against Disease and Other I Heartbreaking Misfortunes k 1 p J yIt ft I r. r 1 Maurice urice and the former fonner Ambrose his last partner wife partner wife I who whose whole e loyalty and love comforted i I him on his his' death bed I fAURICE the dancer MAURICE M died a few weeks ago in a quaint old country house on a dairy farm high in the hills of Switzerland And then the tens teris of thousands who wh had enjoyed his marvelous spirit and skill and grace upon the dance floor loor learned something about the lithe eyed dark-eyed master master of rhythm rh most of them hadj lad never even suspected Mau- Mau Maurice I 1 u- u Y w wrice rice the dancer died of tu and he had been J Y s relentlessly haunted by the S 0 White Plague most of his dancing days That was the explanation of his periodic disappearances from the clubs and cabarets t and theaters of Paris and New York He went away to rest To build up his frail suffering body to withstand ti i the demands of his fiery tiery im impetuous impatient spirit i For years the greatest male dancer of his time danced to the tune of a mu mu- musician musician i a invisible and inaudible to everyone but himself himself- and that musician was Death For years his slender frame was wracked and torn and weakened by the constant ravages of the dreaded White Plague Ever E since 1920 he had been fully lly aware of his condition suspected that his final bow was only a matter of a a afew few short years yet et he had danced on with the optimism that is often the mark hall-mark of the consumptive c and the feverish en enthusiasm en- en enthusiasm enthusiasm that is the distinguishing char char- characteristic characteristic characteristic of the artist born Whan Wh he felt his time getting short last fall Maurice informed the management of the Club Mirador in New NewYork York that he would have to end his en en- engagement engagement engagement there His last dance in that temple of ol mirth will not soon be for for- gotten When it was over o Maurice the dancer went back to his native France without taking any of his many Ameri Ameri- American American can friends into inlo his confidence as to his condition In France he was equally taciturn He did not stop in Paris where he made his reputation more than 10 years ears ago and from which he was lured by the big bi salaries paid artists in America He went instead to his Swiss dairy farm a modest and not expensive little place not far from Lausanne When he bought it with his cabaret earnings a few years ears ago Maurice laughingly told his friends friend he wanted a place for his old age and pictured himself doddering about the farm at 70 0 telling the urchins of the neighbors of his triumphs when he was young oung The farm is as near a replica of that French farm on which Maurice was born about 1888 as landscape gardeners and architects could make it Ive come back to my own roof roof- rooftree rooftree tree to rest he told the villagers After a while I 1 shall be strong and return to the dance floor Not to America where they want nothing now but the thc Black Bottom But I shall dance danco again Never doubt it Even E as he said it the dancer must tf t have known it was not to be His llis frame y y E g 9 cy Y sr d h hw C i N n w a I tP tc ryD I h i I f M r 4 Leonora Leo ora Hughes Maurices Maurice's third part part- partner partner ner ner who nearly broke his hear when she left him to marry a wealthy we we hy by was perspiration had beaded his brow as he danced at the Mirador His eyes had that strange light that comes to the eyes of people who have burned themselves out living and on whose shoulders the finger of or the while white angel of consumption has been laid When Maurice went back to the peace peace- peaceful peaceful peaceful ful rural environment from which he came he did it realizing that the days of his glory were over er So at the end after living and and being and playing in smoke filled smoke filled cabarets and under the in- in he died amid green fields So at the end the greatest of dancers heeded the tune tunc of the spectral musician that had played for his dance for years ears If any man ever was an artist in the true sense of ol the word Maurice l was and in his private inner life lire he had nil all the unhappiness and frustration that so often are the lot of the man who is an artist in his soul sou Much as he was ap ap- applauded applauded ap- ap applauded fine as were his performances Maurice the dancer was never quite sat- sat Gliding gracefully across the stage or the ballroom floor Maurice seemed to his Iris thousands of admirers the tire happiest man in the world for he had fame and wealth and the fairest of young young women for partners But he Ire was in the depths of misery for he lie knew that he was dancing to the music of Death and that every step took him hint nearer to the grace grave gr Le with his own achievements and ana was as a's aU alI al ways burning up his slen slen- slender slender slender der supply of nervous energy trying for greater heights And his partners rs t They were at one and the same time the joy and bane of his existence Whole books might be written about Maurice the dancer and his partners The care with which he selected them The heart heart- h art b r e a J. J k king 5 i ng thoroughness with which he trained them instilling into them some of his own fire im imparting i parting to them some of his own skill Some of them he loved and married Some Som of them he loved and wanted to marry and they mar mar- married married married ried other men Always when that hap happened pen cd the temperamental star wept loudly and bit bit- bitterly bitterly bitterly terly threw his arms to toward to to- toward ward high heaven swore he would never er take the trou trou- trouble trouble trouble ble to train another girl Always of course he picked up the shattered 0 pieces of his heart and the loose ends of his life got another partner and went on For was an artist And not to dance was not to lo live Little is known of the of Maurice There is probably little to to be known He was a country boy reared on a farm He had a brother Oscar When in their twenties they went to lo Paris where Oscar was to be be- become become come the Tex Rickard of the cabarets a powered high high promoter of entertain entertain- entertainment entertainment entertainment ment and Maurice was to become the finest dancer of the decade In the years ears just after the World War Maurice shot upward into fame in Paris and his services were in great de- de demand de demand mand at the expensive cabarets He got money he never dreamed of as hs lS a coun coun- country countr country tr try boy bo and considered himself on the pinnacle of the world Then American promoters heard of him and brought him to America to amuse the entertain entertain- ment-hungry ment millions who had the price to pay Joan Sawyer was his first partner He fell in love with her even while he was teaching her the intricacies of his com com- complicated complicated steps He proposed to her ber and got ot the first taste of frustration when hen she declined to become Mme Maurice M-aurice comforted himself by think think- thinking thinking ing lug that in time her heart would soften and in the meantime she was his dane dane- dancing dancing ing partner and he was privileged to to- hold her in his arms every ery evening even if it was all part of ol a show v for the crowds in the cabarets Then she in- in informed informed informed formed him that she had changed cha ged her mind and was ready to be married but not to him And Maurices Maurice's first partner was his partner no more Is it not terrible 1 he cried to the universe in unrestrained and unashamed grief To lose the girl you love and a dancing partner at the same time To 10 lose the one is bad enough If you lose a partner partner you can carry carryon on somehow If you lose a n sweetheart you ou can keep your our heartache to yourself But to lose both at one blow Alas I was born unlucky For a time he was disconsolate but then he ho found a second partner who was Florence Walton In the beginning they were partners only then he found himself taking a warmer interest in her and about the time the public accepted her as a worthy successor sor to Joan Sawyer as an artist she and were married We are much in love explained Maurice And it is good arrangement arrangement- in other ways No other man can marry her and obviously she will not act as the dancing partner of a rival of her husband But he gloated too soon for their married life was not one of unal unal- unalloyed unalloyed unalloyed loyed pleasure and eventually Florence divorced him and married another man Leonora Hughes Partner Number Three was as in some Bomy ways Vas the best known of all the girls made ma e famous by association association association tion with the thc master of rhythm She was a dancer of the sort usually de described de- de described scribed as having a great deal of prom promise promise promise ise when she met Maurice and her destiny was changed Memories of Florence and Joan faded from his mind and Leonora became to him the most desirable and adorable of young oung women Her principal qualification tion as a partner was her ability to meet the moods of Maurice and their work together was remarkable With past experiences in mind Maurice seemed to have ha decided to keep his bis friendship with Miss Hughes on a high platonic plane although friends put their tongues in their cheeks when he assured them he felt toward J his s diminutive diminutive tive fire partner as a brother ought to feel fee I have tried love with Joan and marriage marriages with wi Florence he elaborated And both times I 1 lost my dancing part part- ner With Leonora it will be platonic affection It will w work rk You will sec see Leonora however had no intention of remaining always always' the platonic friend and partner and inspiration of Maurice a sort of ot little saint set in a stained glass window for him to bow 1 3 I r N r y Joan Sawyer who be be- became Ii a came world famous as r sr Maurices Maurice s first partner I I and who spurned his Ca ti love to 1 marry arry another I Iman man time it is strictly business I Inot not let myself think of Misa as a friend sweetheart or wife Only as y a business associate It is the only way for one of my I t. t disposition Y f a Miss Bennett had been i r dancing for some time to g a f her hgr own own satisfaction and that of a large circle of admirers x z y 4 M. M found y her not as docile a. a V i E o r satisfactory p as Leonora and e took the liberty y ef to tell her so t There were spats At Florence Walton Valton the partner who became Mme only to end their dancing triumphs and their romance in the di die divorce divorce vorce court down before belore Maurice was the only man manin manin manin in cabaret and club circles in New York who did not know she was with a much warmer and more earthly affection by Don Carlos Ortis Basualdo a wealthy wealth When she told Maurice it was time for him to lo be looking about for another partner he was desolated Looking like a a chief mourner mo he lie attended the wed wed- ding lIe He wept through the service Leonora kissed hint him in sisterly fashion as she passed Clown the aisle Don Carlos Ca patted bis bis shoulder comfortingly h but t Maurice would not not be comforted After the disappearance of on her honeymoon the dancer began to cast about for a new partner and finaN ly Iy made in de some business arrangement nL with ith Barbara Bennett a talented dancer and anda a member of a very famous theatrical the family i iI I have tried friendship love and marriage to hold partners said he This last he made up his mind she did not have enough fire in her dancing and got really severe in his criticism One night after a performance that fell eU short of what he wanted J he gave her a fine bawling out as asahe she afterward said id and she grew gre tired of f Maurice and told him he was fired Then it was learned arned that in spite of ot othis his eminence as a a. a a dancer the contract with the Lido Lidov was v s in Barbaras Barbara's name and she continued d to dance with her new partner Billy Dilly Reardon while Maurice burice hunted still another cr partner and a place to work His last partner seems to lo have given the temperamental Maurice some com com- comfort comfort fort and was by his side when he died She was Eleanor Ambrose Maurice found her in Kansas trained her and married d her Unlike V ike the the others she realized most of his temperament was r caused by b suffering and bore it quietly So at the last Maurice uri e who ho had reason eason I Ito to complain of the th the fickleness ness of woman faded out of or the th limelight and the world with a n. loyal loving Jing J wife partner at athis athia athis his hia aide Copyright by I o |