Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 87

3 SCREEN RADIO WEEKLY x- anther oman Kathleen Burke Escapes Her Pigeonhole and (Starting with 'Bengal Lancer') Begins a Career as an Actress By Gelal Talata OU probably saw 'The Livts of a Bengal Lancer." And you undoubtedly wondered what Kathleen Burke was doing in it; in fact what any woman was i'ling in an apparently all-man picture. That question can be answered only by those responsible for the story of Great Britain's Indian border. But of one thitm I am sure; despite your question you will agree that Miss Burke gave a swell performance. At least, it was good enough to make you wonder what she was doing there. To you that part probably seemed little better than a "bit." To Kathleen Burke, however, it meant a new start in life.

The first real step in the fulfillment ol a career which was tossed into her lap and which she was later forced to lustify. On the screen you Know Kathleen Burke as the "Panther Woman." a name which conjures all sorts of weird mind picture! of vampire females. Yet if you knew "Kathie" Burke in real life, you'd -vei in your wildest flights of imagination, be able to figure out how she ever 01 such a name. She doesn't desere it She is tall and stately. Has auburn a brunet complexion and a blond's temperament.

Large hazel eyes, set wide apart, are her most outstanding facial characteristic. Off screen she looks much younger then on. She is quite a different person today from the bewildered youngster who was rushed to Hollywood with a blare of ttumpets not so long ago. There is a new. exotic quality to her beauty: a new crispness in her voice and a soph stication and grace in her walk which was absent on her film debut.

$9'' and loveliness in a long black dinner gown, with white panther ear-rings (a gift from a fan) dangling from her ears. Her hair, worn in a long bob. was combed back softly from her forehead. We were sitting on the floor, eating from a low table in true Oriental style. (Kathleen knows I love to sit on the floor.) Our conversation was covering about every imaginable subject.

Kathleen is one of those well-rounded persons to whom you can talk for hours without becoming bored. She is not only thoroughly alive to everything going on around her. but is interested in it all. She knows music, art and literature; her favorite author is Shakespeare; she owns one of the most complete collections of symphonic and operatic records in Hollywood. She loves opera and bewails its short season in the City of the Angels.

"Since coming to California, I haven't seen a decent opera. And how I miss it," she told me. It WAS about this time that I asked Kathleen where she would like to live if she ever retired. "If I ever retire I shall want to live on a South Sea island," she answered. "I want peaceful surroundings and privacy more than anything else in th? world.

I'm interested in only a few people, and can't see why it is necessar. always to have a pack around to make life worth while." In Kathleen's opinion it is a waste of time bothering with people one doesn't like, and she practices what she preaches. The result is that she is often erroneously accused of being a snob; she is merely independent and. at times, a little hot-tempered. But let's see where were we? Oh yes.

sitting on the floor in Kathleen's home, which I should describe for you It is done in soft browns and greens and is a portrait of Kathleen herself. Scattered about in nearly every corner are good books, well thumbed. Several old paintings hang on the walls. A dozen 01 more pillows are strewn around the place. Lots of French windows overlook the Hollywood Hills, as does a Romeo and Juliet balcony.

It's an ideal place in which to read or loaf. Now I came out with the eternal question. "Tell me. what do you think of mai-riage?" Kathleen got up and took two or thiee turns about the room before she answered. "Having been married and divorced once.

I should be able to give you my opinion on the subject. I suppose. But somehow it is all pretty vague to me. I'm sure, though, marriiges and careers don't seem to mix. It is a well known fact that during Kathleen's marriage her screen career slipped into the background.

This was ATHLEEN and I iiave been Iricnds for some time. Often I've wondered when the directors and producers would recognize her real worth, her genuine talent, and give her a bieak. This thought came to me most clearly recently while we were having dinner in her home. Kathleen was the picture of charm Above is the new Kathleen Burke, one of Paramount' young and promising Below left it Kathleen the Panther Woman, in the role which brought her brief fame and nearly ruined her career. to her husband.

She wanted to make her marriage a success, just as she would have with any job she might have attempted. But somehow this was one thing that couldn't pan out the way she wanted it to. Finally she had to let go of it entirely. Just in case you haven't heard. Kathleen Burke was born in Hammond.

Ind. When 15 years old she moved to Chicago with her parents. There she graduated from high school. Always interested in the stage, she majored in dramatics at school and was active in amateur presentations. Most of her experience was in Shakespearean dramas, "Midsummer Night's Dream." "Macbeth" and "Taming of the Shrew," as well as a few of Ibsen's one-act plays.

But her work was not so outstanding that it created great comment; she was never on the professional stage. oecause her steadfast loyalty 1 7 000 girls had entered the contest, of which, strangely, Kathleen was unaware. In fact, she hadn't even heard of the thing. But a young photographer, who admired her. entered her portrait in the contest without her knowledge.

And Kathleen Burke won. Later she was married to this self-same photographer. Paramount kept her under its banner for one year and then let her out. From a star, overnight Kathleen sank into complete oblivion. No one heard oi her.

Many wondered what had become ot her. Some even wanted to know where the "Panther Woman" could be. Had she dropped her career entirely and gone into something else? Only a few close friends could have answered them. For Kathleen had taken herself a little place on the side of a hill, where she could live alone, with her books and music. She was going to build a new foundation for the screen career she now decided she must have.

But this time it was to be a solid foundation, dug deep and built on bed-rock. Yes. Kathleen knew what she was doing and how to go about doing it Her battle, however, was mainly a mental one. And mentally she worked out her campaign. It took great fortitude to endure this new adversity.

But evidently Kathleen had it. Whether the battle was worth it. time only can tell. "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" brought Kathleen out of retirement. The part, that of a feminine Russian spy.

was a very small one. But it paved the way lot a new contract with the Paramount studios, which originally discovered Kathleen Burke. Her chance in pictures came with the nation-wide search for an eligible girl to play the part ot the "Panther Worn an," opposite Charles Laughton in "Isle of Lost Souls." produced by Paramount. Most successful screen players prefer to deny that such a thing as luck can enter into the making of a motion picture career But not so Kathleen on whom Lady Fortune smiled in a very important manner. Approximately.