“Would you mind standing beside me?”
“Delighted.”
“Too tall, I’m afraid,” says the man.
“But I can dress my hair low and wear small hats.”
“Too tall all the same, I’m afraid.”
And for this reason she loses one engagement after another. Most of the actor-managers have their own wives or recognised “leading ladies,” so that in London, openings for new stars are few and far between, and when the actress, however great her talent or her charm, makes the leading actor look small, she is waved aside and some one inferior takes her place.
On one occasion it was a woman who refused to act with my friend. She had been engaged for a big part—but when this woman—once the darling of society, and a glittering star upon the stage—saw her fellow-worker, she said:
“I can’t act with you, you would make me look insignificant; besides, you are too good-looking.”