ROMANTIC PRINCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 33, 2 May 1927, Page 13

ROMANTIC PRINCE

REFUSES A THRONE MARRIES POOR GIRL Prince Aage, cousin of the King of Denmark, is probably the only prince of royal blood who ever declined a throne in order to be a soldier of fortune (says a European message). He is soon to undergo an examination for the general staff of the French Foreign Legion. It is not generally known that in 1918 General von Mannerheim, who crushed the Bolshevik rule in Finland by executing and imprisoning scores of “Reds” and making himself a virtual dictator, came to Copenhagen and offered Prince Aage the Finnish throne. DALLIED WITH THE IDEA FOR A TIME Prince A dge dallied with the idea for a while and then decided that life on the Finnish throne was too tame and that he didn’t want to be a king anyway. The next year the people of Finland, which since 1809 had been an autonomous Grand-Duchy in the Russian Empire, decided that kings were out of style and formed a republic. At that time the Prince was in disfavour with King Christian for marrying in 1917 the Countess Mathilde Calvi de Bergolo, daughter of the Italian Minister to Denmark, who, despite her beauty and desirability as a wife, was both a commoner and poor. For this marriage, King Christian deprived Prince Aage of the “royal” in his title of his royal highness. JOINED FRENCH LEGION Prince Aage discovered that finances were running low. M.ore from necessity than choice His Highness considered joining a Danish firm of publishers, but King Christian put his foot down against “having an advertising peddler in the family.” Then Prince Aage joined the French Foreign Legion. Shortly afterward he was mentioned in dispatches for bravery.

Marceline Day, petite screen beauty, who leaped from bathing girl comedies to leading parts in less than • a year, lias an important role in “The Gay Deceiver.” A decisive factor In her selection for the role in ‘‘The Ga> Deceiver” was her distinguished performance in “The Barrier," the photoplay from Rex Beach's novel. Dew Codv has the title role in ”Th« Ga> Deceiver.” The cast includes Carmel Myers. Dorothy Phillips, Roy D'Arcy. Malcolm McGregor and Edwurd fotj.nellj'. ;> Tanforan, one of California's places, and the scene of the most • r ‘; that State's renowned horse racf< Wttli leased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer f<t# five weeks in order to make the r»<*strack scenes which occur in JackjJj Coogan’s latest starring pictu CJ “Johnr.ie Get Your Hair Cut.” This picture was adapted to ihe screen froth the famous story of the same najnby the late Gerald Beaumont. A special train was chartered to convey the company, numbering some two hundred persons, to Tanforan.