We knew the next jump was to Europe, so Mom made arrangements for us to leave for Prague, Czechoslovakia. My Grandmother was recovered but saddened to see us leave.
We sailed from New York on the S.S. Bremen [North German Lloyd] taking with us our little Pekinese “Toy” we had bought in California. We should have left him with Grandma. We didn’t know of the plans for the show to go to England which would mean a six months quarantine for the dog. So we gave him to the hotel owners in Prague and knew that he would have a very nice home in the country.
The Bremen was a beautiful ship and since Mom and I shared a stateroom we were allowed to keep Toy with us and I could walk him in a certain area on an upper deck. The crew were most considerate and the food excellent. We always knew we would have an enjoyable trip when we sailed on a German line, they were always the best.
Dante and company had left Australia in early September for Europe. Also on a Norddeutscher Lloyd ship, the “Havel.” Myrie was doing a lot of sewing, even made two swimming suits for Pop, out of knitted shirts!
My parents had some difficult months ahead, but eventually resolved their problems. Everything except the drinking. Since most of the fighting had been over the children, now they were all gone and I wasn’t doing anything to rock the boat.
Before everything settled down there were many accusations on both sides. The most absurd was Pop insisting that the only reason Mom wanted to return to the United States was to try and get me in pictures! Nothing could have been farther from the truth. We did visit one studio, Warner Brothers, and that was arranged by our friend, Carl Brisson, who was making a movie. Just a sightseeing tour.
There were two new girls in the show. Twins Jean and Nancy Carr. This was the first time Dante had ever hired twins although many times he had been accused of using them.
For awhile I was not given very much to do. Dante suggested that I should dye my hair red, since we had attractive blonds and brunettes. I did and was stuck with it until I “retired.” It had to grow out. They didn’t have the dyes available then to cover the henna.
We stayed again at a very old beautiful hotel in Prague. We had the same suite, with an enormous sitting room where we had stayed before. And Uncle Christian Jensen came to visit us there. I think he was aware of the problems my parents had been having. I know he spent a lot of time taking to my Father.
Christmas 1935, we were again in Oslo, Norway. Then Copenhagen and Stockholm, where Dante made a movie. He was paid ten thousand dollars, the most money any movie star had been paid in Sweden at that time.
Nils Mattson, who had worked with us since we were last in Sweden, brought his cousin Matt Mattson and a friend, Nils Holmes, to meet Dante and they were hired as additional assistants. These good looking Swedish boys were such a delight to all the girls. They would stop by our dressing rooms after the show to say goodnight but with such dignity, a little bow and clicking their heels.
Matt Mattson had to leave soon after our arrival in London to return home for military training. But Nils stayed on and later married Gladys, one of our English girls. After they left the show, of course!
There was a new illusion in the show that Pop had created while on board ship, on the way to Europe. It was called “Backstage.” It was very popular.
Dante would tell the audience that he was going to expose an illusion and in order to do that he would have to turn his back. The curtain went up and the backdrop was painted with another audience! There were two trunks and two girls, one dressed in black and one in white. The idea was to show how the girls switched places but in the end the audience was still fooled.
Next we went to Goteborg, then Copenhagen again and on to Holland. Den Haag, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and back to Den Haag. Business was excellent and as usual when an engagement could not be prolonged because of another show being scheduled we would return.
We did a lot of sightseeing in Holland. Visiting the very picturesque village of Volendam and the island of Markem where the streets were cobbled and the people wore their native dress from lace bonnets to wooden shoes.
We lived at the Schiller Hotel in Amsterdam and were amazed to see paintings of Rembrandt’s on the walls.