Lessons from the Nursery

I was never very close with the majority of my many step-children. At the time, I told myself I shouldn’t concern myself with them. But I was wrong. Young people have a unique way of doing things, and show a power of imagination that people sorely lack as they age.

It seems that children have a penchant for deceiving their parents. There were times when I was alone looking after them, their fathers off doing business. I would quickly grow tired of their company and send them to bed. I recall checking on them to make sure they had gone to sleep. As I approached their rooms, the floor boards invariably creaked under even my light frame. I would hear the flutter of blankets and sheets as they hurried back into bed. Eyes and faces so tightly scrunched were a sure sign they were faking, but to them the deeper they were asleep, the tighter their eyelids must be compressed. A minor example of a poor, but common, deception.

Other times, though, I was genuinely impressed. On more than one occasion, from several different children, in several different homes, they would hide contraband in the most peculiar ways. I was often married to men who could afford abundant luxuries, and their children were just as showered with gifts as I was. The little ones knew their fathers and I had no interest in their silly playthings.

Children with too much money have a tendency to buy things they shouldn’t. One of my first husband’s little delinquents had a love for horribly violent comic books, published before congress forced them to clean up their act. Well, I found a stash of them in his toy chest. He was far too young and fragile, and making sure a developing mind remains untainted is the duty of a good parent.

Still, others astonished more. One hid make-up, which she would carefully apply before, and then remove promptly after school, in her dollhouse. Another kept bottles of soda, which his father expressly forbade, in his tree house. Certainly none impressed more than the incident with the firecrackers hidden in the neck of a stuffed giraffe.

After episodes like that, I was convinced that strictness bred creativity. Perhaps the cruel constriction of time might have the same effect for me.

John Kellogg

While researching radical diet changes that are said to promote health, I was reminded of the misguided efforts of John Kellogg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg. The man seemed to be obsessed with stamping out passion and energy from life, a way of living that I most assuredly would abhor.

His way of thinking does beg the question though, is a simple alteration of one’s diet capable of producing drastic changes in health and demeanor? Are there specific foods that might tap into the wells of youth? Our tastes change as we age, as our taste buds wither and die, so might it be wise to look to the tastes of children to determine what we should consume?

The Immortal Spirit

Throughout history, many men and women have sought eternal youth. The Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, even our own Western traditions, it is one of the constants in all of our history.

Countess Elizabeth Bathory, of Hungarian legend, comes to my mind first. A truly exemplary woman, who took her own fate into her hands. She failed because she didn’t test her methods. She believed bathing in the blood of a virgin woman would keep her eternally young.

She lacked a control test. There are several easy experiments one could have set up, and with modern methods and thinking, I have no doubt she’d have been tireless in her research to find a way.

The Vagaries of Fate

Time and fate are cruel masters. So then, if possible, we should turn against them and strike back against what is unfair and what is unjust. That my career should end so abruptly, while I was still so young, is wrong. Nearly 40 years have passed, the hope that I would ever rekindle a career is absurd. My name, my films, are not even known by the youth of today. They will squander their time in the spotlight, and then, they too, will decay as I have.

The difference, however, is that they will not do anything about it, but I will. I have been looking for a solution to this dilemma now for a great many years. Since my fall from fame, it has been my sole ambition. The pieces are elusive, and yet I will draw them out and stitch them together. My quest as easy as plucking the feathers from a bird, an elementary task so long as you have the resolve.

On Modern Beauty

It has become apparent over the course of my career that younger actresses will always be given preferential treatment. Understandable, given the nature and quality of men, the greedy hogs that one finds behind the desks of Hollywood in particular. When my youth began to escape, it is no surprise that the press and public turned their backs to me. I cannot say that I blame them, but they will see the the error of their ways.

Youth and beauty are transient, yes. But I ask, are they not obtainable again? If one could put on beauty as simply as one puts on makeup or carves their face to shreds with surgeries and implantations, would we fade away? I don’t believe so. The timeless talents of the silver screen would continue to be the vibrant, glistening gems of a new film era.

When you compare today’s pathetic teen idols to yesterday’s stars, one is but a spec of dust, lost in the majesty and radiance of true glamour. Where did the sense of style go? Where is the respect and reverence for the craft? The days of the Hollywood royalty I worked with are gone. In their place is a new breed of celebrities parading their many faults on stage. Their audience just as eager to see them crumble and fall as to adore them.

Welcome to my journal

My name is Evelyn Crane. No doubt you have heard my name. I was a star, once. My repertoire included such film classics as the Skeleton of Wolf Manor, Murder on the Edge of Night, and It Came from Beneath. In my time, I starred in over 75 pictures, playing across theaters nationwide. I was magnificent.

This online journal is now a catalog of my current projects. These ventures are a far cry from the ones of my past. These new endeavors have the capacity to change the world. You will understand in the coming months, but for now let me say that I am in pursuit of that which all men secretly want, and what they would do anything to obtain.