IN SEARCH OF PEACE.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1920, Page 7

IN SEARCH OF PEACE.

CINEMA STAR'S VAIN QUEST. London, June 28. Those of us who are not feeling sick at the "Honthunting" propensities displayed by a section of our compatriots (male and female) are just now feeling ''awfully sorry" for Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Fairbanks, the "picture stars" from America, who have come over here, it is understood, for the express purpose ow spending a quiet honeymoon, far from the ; madding crowd, and safe from the amazing impertinences of the "yellow Press" reporters and photographers of their own beloved country. It was the dearest wish of their hearts to avoid publicity, but, somehow, even before the good ship upon which they had with infinite pain's tried to sefiretc themselves for the journey across the Atlantic had left New York, all the world that reads newspapers knew they were oti board, and exactly what day and hour they would arrive at Southampton. Now, a honeymoon is to all decent-minded peoples a period to be treated aa essentially private to the people, concerned, even if it is—as it was for one of the parties concerned in the present instance—a second adventure, and Mr. and Mrs. Fairbanks had every right to expect that the traditions would be respected. But at Southampton the "happy pair" were fairly mobbed, not only by photographers and reporters, but by an ill-manner-ed crowd of, curiosity-mongers, and Mr. Fairbanks was under the painful necessity of carrying his wife shoulder high through the clamorous mass to the train which was to carry them to the seclusion.

of London. And London cam afford very real seclusion to some people. The Fairbanks tried hard to win to it, but the fates Were against them. Even the subtle device of ■ pulling-down the blinds in their railway carriage failed to conceal from a waiting.crowd.at W*terloo the fact that it contained the hero and heroine, and the Southampton scene was more or less enacted again. In desperation the harried couple fled to a Piccadilly hotel, but even there they could not be hidden, and the great silences of that sequestrated thoroughfare were hideously broken almost as soon as Mr, and Mrs. Fairbanks had arrived by an unmannerly crowd demanding ,r Mary"' and "Duggy." ■Even when the- now nerve-racked couple appeared upon the balcony of their apartment and threw things-*flowcrs and kisses—at their pursuers, the vulgar quarry's desperate longing for peace and "lion hunters" failed to perceive their privacy. Again the honeymooners fled, but wherever they went the pursuers followed hot-foot, and dodge as they might no safe refuge could they find. Even at the theatrical garden party they could not contrive to efface themselves sufficiently to avoid the penalties of cinema and even at Wimbledon, where most people go. to see-lawn tennis, they failed to secure a safe hiding place, though to ba sure they managed to stay there for quite an hour without suffering any particular inconveniences from the attention of the spectators, whilst, to their honor be it noted, the players attended strictly to the business they had on hand, and pretended not to know either when Mr. and Mrs. Fairbanks arrived or left. But the chase of V ••• honeymooners continues with almo; labated vigor. It is a great shame, and quite un-English. Even a champion prize-fighter can, as a rule, depend upon securing with the most ordinary precautions a peaceful interlude for his honeymoon, and why Mr. and Mrs. Fairbanks should'be singled out for subjection to what must be a peculiarly exasperating experience at such a period in their lives puzzles as much as jt annoys the decent British man or woman. It pains us almost as much as it must pain the victims. Their unwearied perseverance and the brilliant strategy they have displayed in their search foi< peace compel our admiration, and we can only hope that tliey may soon find their earnestly spught Eden. It has been whispered that their hopes are fixed'ori Henley, and they have secured a house-boat for Regatta week. It is a brilliant notion.