Lila Lee — Do You Believe in Fairies? (1918) 🇺🇸

June 21, 2023

If you were a little girl of five, or maybe half-past, and a man came along in an automobile and whisked you off the curbstone where you were sitting and singing "Ring Around a-Rosy," and dressed you up like a great big doll in a Christmas window, and took you to a theatre and put you right out on the stage where all the lights were shining ever so blinkety, would you believe your good fairy had something to do with it, or wouldn't you?

by Jerome Shorey

And if, when you had grown up to be a great big girl of fifteen or sixteen, and had seen a lot of moving pictures, and thought they were wonderful, and wished you could do it too, — if another man came along then and said, "I want to make you a star" — just like that — would you believe your good fairy was on the job again, or wouldn't you?

That is the history of Lila Lee, the romance of "Cuddles." It is such a romance as occurs hardly anywhere but in that world of romance, the realm of the theatre and the movies. Many a Cinderella has found her way to fame and fortune thus unexpectedly in the world of make-believe. Mae Marsh, Mabel Normand, Norma Talmadge, Mary Pickford — girls who were never, or hardly ever, heard of became famous overnight when their good fairies led them into the magic light of the Kliegs.

So Lila Lee, whose little feet are hesitating on the brink of sixteen, is the latest wonder child to receive this fairy gift. Her story is the greatest romance in the world for it is the romance of success. Success is a curious thing. To some it comes only after long study and effort aimed constantly in a single direction. To others who study just as hard and are just as persistent in their aim, it never comes at all. But to the favored ones, it comes no matter what they may be doing, no matter what they may be planning, no matter if they are not doing or planning anything at all.

So it was with Lila Lee. She was sitting on the curbstone, one day eight or nine years ago, when Gus Edwards happened to drive along on his way to the theatre where one of his revues was having a try-out. He had a song in the revue, Look Out for Jimmy Valentine, and wanted a little girl to appear with the singer.

"There's the sort of girl I want," he said to a man with him in the car, pointing to Lila, humming away on the curbstone. He went to her and asked her if she would like to go on the stage. She didn't know what a stage was, but s'posed it would be all right if she asked mamma. And Mamma said Lila would be better off on the stage than in the street, for Lila's mother was not very well off, and hadn't time to watch the baby every minute.

So Lila went to the theatre, and took to it as naturally as if it had been the street out in front of her own home, and she was merely playing with the other children of the neighborhood. She never knew stage fright, she was a natural mimic, and in her face, even in those baby days, there was a haunting wistfulness, a suggestion of tragedy even in her happiest moods, almost the expression of a Madonna. Her dark hair and eyes emphasized this depth of mysticism. She was a find. Within a few weeks instead of being merely the girl that somebody had along with her when the song was sung, Lila — they called her Cuddles in those days — sang the song herself, and she has been the star of Gus Edwards' revues ever since, until last spring.

Then came another unexpected opportunity. Jesse Lasky used to be a vaudeville producer himself. Naturally he frequently saw the Edwards revues, and so he saw and noticed Cuddles. To see her was to remember her. Such a face as hers is not easily for gotten, and Mr. Lasky is a connoisseur in faces. He has made many quite well known to the great American public. Cuddles began growing up into exquisite young womanhood, and Mr. Lasky laid opportunity No. 2 at her feet. He wanted to star her in moving pictures. Lila Lee had thought of pictures, of course. What young woman on the stage has not? But she never thought of them seriously as a career for herself. She was too busy being the biggest little girl in vaudeville. Her natural precocity had developed into a "intelligent sureness" touch that made her a mature woman in art. while only a child in years and appeal. This was not accomplished without work. Mrs. Edwards herself adopted Cuddles, professionally speaking, and traveled with her, season after season. The little star's own mother was not attracted by the footlights, and made her home with relatives in Chicago when her daughter became a personage. The careful tutelage of Mrs. Edwards and the advantages of constant travel, formed the major part of Lila Lee's education. Not that the other branches were neglected, but with this groundwork, education is worth more than mere learning to be had from books.

Among her other admirers was no less a personage than David Belasco. This acquaintance was formed in Rochester. Mr. Belasco was there, trying out a new show. Cuddles was there appearing, as usual, in a Gus Edwards revue. Somebody had a brainstorm, and just because someone had mislaid the particular papers which proved that Lila Lee was authorized by the school board of Hoboken or somewhere, to appear on the stage, the child labor law officials refused to permit her to appear. Children half her age, and not half so strong, probably were working in Rochester sweatshops at the time, but to interfere with them was not spectacular.

So Cuddles was making considerable fuss around the hotel where Mr. Belasco happened to be staying. They were introduced, and Cuddles poured out her woeful tale.

"I wouldn't cry about it," said the famous David, "I will make you a star in 1919."

It isn't 1919 yet. but Mr. Belasco will not be able to make good his promise, as the Lasky contract will interfere.

Another individual, not unknown to fame, who looked upon this damozel and found her delightful, was Harrison Fisher. In a moment of enthusiasm he declared, it is said, that she was the most beautiful child in the world.

That is the way things happen to this little Lila Lee, the girl whose name is a melody, and whose smile is a caress, and whose life is romance. Romance it is to be right to the end of the chapter, too, for guess what is the name of the first picture she is going to make for Mr. Lasky — "The Cruise of the Make-Believe." And if Lila Lee's whole life doesn't sometimes seem to her to be just that, then she is even more wonderful than her best friends already understand.