Due to my failure as a Child Fashion Model, because of my shyness
and timidity, my mother with her fiery and ougoing personality had the bright idea to put me into Child Acting Classes.
Truthfully,
I urged her as well, because I liked the looks of theatres in my picture books, with their costumes, and stories made to come
alive.
So around the age of ten, every Saturday morning, I took an hour bus ride into downtown Montreal to take large classes
with Pauline Rathbone, the niece of the more famous Sir Basil Rathbone. Pauline made a big impression upon me.
She was Showbiz Royalty.
"Do you know what the Queen of England does - if a servant drops a tray
behind her? Nothing - absolutely nothing." I registered this as a lesson in cool poise and iron self-control.
My mom would probably have shrieked, more of an American style.
Our first big play was set in China
several hundred years ago. I was disappointed when chosen for a non speaking part as a palace guard. Palace guards too
were male, so pretty outfits were out.
Mom died old nylon stockings black, then sliced them into sections to create
a Chinese pigtail for me that came to my waist.
Unlike my flop as a Child Model, this was a no brainer for me, as all I
had to do was stand on stage, and say absolutely nothing. I had a partner, a fellow guard, so I just copied along with my
twin actor.
"Drama Queen!" my mother called me, when I lost my temper rarely or cried overly much at some scene of cruelty to
animals in a television show.
But this career was never to be, and I could never feign to be something
I was not, and returned my paintings, drawings, and scribblings in my notebooks.
