At the very zenith of their careers, when the dawn of technical artistry was breaking over the motion picture world, these two forsook the screen to star together in real life. The width of a continent today separates them from the scene of their triumphs. Two decades have intervened since their appearances in public were a signal for the rush of hordes of autograph seekers. Twenty years ago their preferences in food, dress and furniture constituted news. Their portraits adorned the covers of "movie" magazines. Columns were devoted to descriptions of parties given in their "Palatial Hollywood apartment. Today their appearances in the news are something like the following: "Recorder Frank F. Bennett yesterday levied a $5 fine on John Doe, who pleaded guilty to speeding in Mt. Horeb Road." Or: "Mrs. Frank F. Bennett entertained the Warrenville Garden Club at her home in South Stirling Road today. Plans were made for the fall exhibition." Frank Bennett and his wife, the former Miss Billie West, headed the parade of stars in Hollywood in the halcyon days of David Wark Griffith and the Reliance, Majestic and Mutual film companies. Today they dwell in placid contentment in Warren Township. Mr. Bennett, who used to star with the Gish girls, Blanche Sweet, Bessie Love and other headliners of another day, finds nothing distressing in being a sales executive for a fixtures firm. And he felt honored when the township committee four years ago appointed him police judge. Mrs. Bennett, who once performed before the camera as leading lady with Wallace Reid, W. E. Lawrence, Raoul Walsh and Spottiswoode Aiken, attends diligently to her garden, looks up new recipes, shops in Plainfield and enjoys being the judge's wife. They are now past 40 and their good looks, which are the sine qua non of Hollywood requirements for its leading ladies and gentlemen, have not diminished. Mr. Bennett's heavy shock of black hair is only lightly sprinkled with gray. A single grayed forelock adds piquancy :o Mrs. Bennett's attractive face. A fortuitous combination of events took Mr. and Mrs. Bennett out of Hollywood in 1917, less than a year after their marriage. There was first the serious illness of Mrs. Bennett's mother in St. Louis. At that time, Mrs. Bennett was working on a picture with Harold Lloyd. She obtained a release from her contract and sped to her mother's bedside to help her on the road to recovery. Then, already half across the continent, Mrs. Bennett decided to come farther East and visit Mr. Bennett's parents who resided in New York and had a summer place in Warren Township. Mr.Bennett, also free of a contract, followed to join his wife in the visit. But they had hardly oriented themselves to their vacation when the United States entered the World War. Mr. Bennett thereupon joined the army and was assigned to the Ordnance Department in Washington. "The war changed the plans of many persons," Mrs. Bennett observed. With this extravasation there came to the Bennetts the realization that they had the time and the place to establish what they had always wanted--a permanent home. So, at the end of Mr. Bennett's parents' property the beginnings of a house were erected. "We never made any pictures after coming here," Mrs. Bennett revealed, with the exception of one in which Mr. Bennett appeared. That was a war propaganda film. Mr. Bennett was loaned to the producers with special consent of the 'War Department. Have they ever had any regrets over leaving Hollywood? "Not one," asserted the vivacious Billie Bennett. "My husband and I have a home, peace, contentment, neighbors and friends. A home and quiet are what we wanted and did not have while we were in pictures. Now we have them. Why shouldn't we be happy?" They resisted numerous offers to return to the films and now they are glad they did. They are grateful they dropped out suddenly instead of lingering to decline and fade. "All our memories of Hollywood are happy ones," she said. "And I'm sure what recollections Hollywood has of us are pleasant. "Occasionally my husband and I go to the movies and we see some poor has-been pitifully trying a comeback. We know how his associates and the public regard a has-been and we're happy that we have been spared that ignominy." Born in Louisville, Ky., Mrs. Bennett inherited the name "Billie," with some changes, from her mother, who was called "Willie West by her friends. She was an only girl and had two brothers. She confesses she was a tomboy. "And I was so skinny," she laughed. "Weight never was a problem for me, even when I was in pictures. Picture stars, you see, must be very careful because everybody appears five pounds heavier than he is in a moving picture film." In 1910 she left home and went on the stage to begin a varied career in stock, vaudeville and musical comedy. She was prominently cast in George Lederer's production of "Madame Sherry." Her first experiences with films were as "fillers" between stage contracts at the old Vitagraph lot in New York. Her future husband was working there at the same time but they did not meet. After about two years of this, she was given a Hollywood offer which she promptly accepted. There she attained fame in every branch of production, comedy, tragedy and melodrama. Co-starring with her for several series of films was Eugene Pallette, who was alternately the hero and the deep-dyed villain. Today, after a quarter of a century in films, Pallette still is one of the more popular stars in Hollywood. Considerably heavier and his eyebrows bushier than ever, Palette now portrays raucous-voiced detectives and exasperated millionaire fathers. With Wallace Reid, Mrs. Bennett made "The Niggard," "For Her Father's Sins," "A Mother's Influence" and numerous others. With Spottiswoode Aiken she made "The Wheels of Destiny" and with W. E. Lawrence she appeared in "Vengeance is Mine." She made hundreds of films the names of which she has difficulty recollecting off hand. Mr. Bennett, who was born in New York and entered the movies without previous stage experience, went to Hollywood with D. W. Grifflth, who is credited with having converted motion pictures from a scientific novelty into a vibrant art. With Lillian Gish and A. D. Sears, he starred in "Sold for Marriage," and with Dorothy Gish he appeared in one of the first full-length comedy-dramas, "Gretchen the Greenhorn." "For Those Unborn," a heavy drama with a sociological theme, starred Mr. Bennett with Blanche Sweet as his leading lady. He had the distinction of playing with Joseph Jefferson, famed interpreter of Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle," in a movie entitled "The Old Chemist." He also dipped into character, playing the titular role in "Lost Lord Lovell." Greatest distinction that came to Mr. Bennett, however, was Griffith's selection of him for the chief role in "Intolerance," the first of the great "spectacle'' films. In this Mr. Bennett played the part of the weak French king who signed the order for the execution of the Huguenots. The Bennetts have recollections of Griffith which, if assembled. and collated, would make a good biography of the producer. Like the late Florenz Ziegfeld of musical comedy fame, Griffith loved spectacle and spent money lavishly in production--to the terrified concern of his backers. Comparing the Hollywood of their day with that of the modern film capital, Mrs. Bennett said she feels lives of the current screen sensations are too restricted; "A strange form of aristocracy has arisen in Hollywood," she said. "Twenty years ago," she went on, "there was a pleasant camaraderie there. Everybody knew each other and there was a congenial house party every night. When I gave a party I never issued invitations. All my close acquaintances simply knew they were welcome." And the screen idol of pre-war days did not take himself as seriously as he does today, she feels. "We did our best and if the picture was not a success, well, we just tried to do better the next time," she said. Mrs. Bennett believes, moreover, that today's actors and actresses are "typed" and that they are compelled slavishly to follow the orders of the director. This gives the artiste scant opportunity to contribute an original interpretation, she feels. "My goodness," she laughed, "we had to do everything. I was a swooning heroine in one film, a black-hearted vampire in another and an old crone in still another." "But to say that the pictures of today are not better than those of two decades ago would be an absurdity," she continued. "Everything is better today, the photography, the direction and the staging. "I also believe that the performers have more security than they did. Twenty or even 15 and 10 years ago, the average life of a screen actor was estimated at five years. And when he neared 30, he thought he was getting old. Today, as the performer ages, he is guided into more mature parts to which he is suited." Mrs. Bennett cited William Powell and Warner Baxter, both of whom are in their middle 40s, as examples those who have remained popular through their ability and through intelligent casting and guidance. Close friends of the Bennetts could not understand their adamantine insistence upon staying away from Hollywood after the war. "About 15 years ago," she said, "the world premier of 'Orphans of the Storm,' in which the Gish girls played, was given at the old Plainfield Theater. The stars of the picture and Mr. Griffith, the producer, made personal appearances. "My husband and I attended and the evening developed into an 'Old Home Night' for us. "Lillian Gish could not recover from the shock of learning what we were doing and where we were living. She kept repeating: 'How can you stand it up there with the chickens?, "Mr. Griffith told us: 'Go ahead children, play. But come back.' But these remarks did not move the Bennetts, who had no desire to go back to the paternal Griffith, much as they liked him. And Warren Township's chickens and bucolic serenity did not bore them. The Bennetts home sprawls, with engaging informality, against a hillside. From the road, it has a long, low, shingled appearance that is misleading, because most of the house is hidden on the rear recession.... [After a tour of the home, Mrs. Bennett] pointed to an enclosed porch equipped with a desk and other official paraphernalia. "That," she said, "is where Mr. Bennett holds court. He used to hold court all over the house. Then I got tired of picking things up after him so I chased him and all his litigants to this porch." [Plainfield Courier News, 8/30/1837] |