r emotionally--she had referred me to
the director when I sought further details of her forthcoming great
production, an idyl of island romance and adventure. And presently, when
I had secured from him the information I needed concerning this
unique little drama of the great South Seas, I chanced to mention my
approaching encounter with the young star of the Buckeye forces, an
encounter to which I looked forward with some dismay.

"Mr. Henshaw, pausing in his task of effecting certain changes in the
interior of the island hut, reassured me. 'You need have no fear about
your meeting with Gill,' he said. 'You will find him quite simple
and unaffected, an artist, and yet sanely human.' It was now that he
revealed his own part in the launching of this young star. 'I fancy it
is not generally known,' he continued, 'that to me should go the honour
of having "discovered" Gill. It is a fact, however. He appeared as
an extra one morning in the cabaret scene we used in Miss Mercer's
tremendous hit, The Blight of Broadway. Instantly, as you may suppose, I
was struck by the extraordinary distinction of his face and bearing. In
that crowd composed of average extra people he stood out to my eye as
one made for big things. After only a moment's chat with him I gave him
a seat at the edge of the dancing floor and used him most effectively
in portraying the basic idea of this profoundly stirring drama in which
Miss Mercer was to achieve one of her brightest triumphs.

"'Watch that play to-day; you will discover young Gill in many of the
close-ups where, under my direction, he brought out the psychological,
the symbolic--if I may use the term--values of the great idea underlying
our story. Even in these bits he revealed the fine artistry which he has
since demonstrated more broadly under another director.

"'To my lasting regret the piece was then too far along to give him a
more important part, though I intended to offer him something good in
our next play for Muriel Mercer--you may recall her gorgeous success in
Her Father's Wife--but I was never able to find the chap again. I made
inquiries, of course, and felt a really personal sense of loss when I
could get no trace of him. I knew then, as well as I know now, that
he was destined for eminence in our world of painted shadows. You may
imagine my chagrin later when I learned that another director was to
reap the rewards of a discovery all my own.'

"And so," continued Miss Blivens,