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25 3 Schoolgirl Upon returning to New York in early 1922, Lehr did not obtain film work, though it is not clear if she was looking for such opportunities. She had always made her career her top priority since she was a teenager, and toward the end of her life she frequently expressed an interest in making a big comeback, so her sudden retirement remains a mystery. Perhaps she had finally become burned out after working nonstop for fifteen years. Or maybe, now that she was over thirty, roles were becoming harder to land. Lehr must have felt at least a little guilty over having missed so much of Ann’s childhood, so it is possible she believed it was time to settle down and concentrate on raising her daughter. Whatever her reasons, one thing was apparent; she no longer needed to work to earn income, as she had entered into a new relationship with a man not affiliated with the entertainment industry. Interestingly, Anna Lehr’s film career was not unlike her daughter’s. Both appeared in a steady stream of movies, gave consistently solid performances that received positive reviews, but never became big stars. Since most of Lehr’s films no longer exist, she has, at best, become a minor footnote in the annals of silent cinema. The man who facilitated Anna Lehr’s early retirement was Arthur Rutledge Pearson, though he usually went by the more fashionable “A. R.” Seven years Lehr’s senior, Pearson was an Arkansas native, raised in Baltimore, who entered New York society in 1909 by marrying Jeanette Chomley, the niece and ward of early feminist Jeanette Gilder, who had founded the Critic, a literary magazine. The union with Chomley dissolved after a handful of years, and sometime around 1922 he became involved with Anna Lehr, although since the pair ran in completely different social circles, it’s not evident how they first crossed paths. While Lehr frequently referred to Pearson as her husband, no official marriage records have surfaced. Decades later, Lehr would make the bizarre claim that she Ann Dvorak 26 never married Pearson because he was already legally wed to an invalid. This is not only untrue, as Chomley remarried in 1917 and there are no indications that he was ever wed to anyone else, but it also mirrors one of the plot points of Ann’s later film A Life of Her Own. Why Lehr would fabricate such a tale is anyone’s guess, though maybe she harbored some Victorian shame at having lived with a man for a number of years without marrying him. The couple decided to relocate to Los Angeles, with Ann in tow, and this time the move would be permanent. Anna Lehr acquired work in the Famous Players–Lasky production of Ruggles of Red Gap, which would prove to be her last film of any significance. Ann’s new stepfather secured employment with the Smith & Ferris Advertising Agency in downtown Los Angeles. As Pearson worked his way up the ranks of the ad agency, the family settled into modest quarters above a garage at 733 N. Harvard in Hollywood. Ann immediately took to her new life in sunny Southern California, thrilled to be living so close to the numerous movie studios sprouting up around the city. This included the Robert Brunton Studio, located less than a mile away, which eventually became the home of Paramount Pictures. The influence of living in the midst of what had rapidly become the film capital of the world prompted Ann to start talking about her desire to become a motion-picture actress. Ann grilled her mother about all aspects of the film industry down to the operation of a camera. Lehr was dubious about her daughter’s looks, observing later, “She had an arresting face but I didn’t think she was pretty.”1 Secretly, Lehr did not believe that Ann, who was becoming tall, thin, and gawky, could ever be beautiful or stylish enough to have a successful film career. In addition to her interest in the movies, Ann also started to show a passion and talent for writing. Poetry was her special love; she would fill reams of paper with her verse, which she usually hid away until she was in the mood to perform select readings for her mother. During these performancesLehrwouldbrieflyseeherdaughterinadifferentlight :“Sometimes she read with such fervor and voice-beauty that I began to wonder if Ann were not really beautiful after all. When...

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