Home, Husband and Children Chiefly Absorb Ellin Mackay

Mrs. Irving Berlin and children

Imagine high up in one of the most modern apartment houses a beautiful, large room, lined with bookcases to the very top of the walls. A crackling fire in the grate, soft chairs, a comfortable couch, an upright piano at the wall, a table with cigarettes, magazines, flowers, all giving this room a delightful intimacy and, despite its size, a grateful homelikeness and coziness.

And imagine further tall windows that look out on autumnal trees, a river hurrying down to the bay, a wide and spacious sky—and you will be picturing to yourself the library, the workroom of Irving and Ellin Berlin.

To every reader these two names spell romance. Irving Berlin, the favorite, the most fecund composer of our time, whose melodies have charmed millions of hearts, who has gained fame and fortune with his wonderful gift, because dearer to his public than ever before when he won the love of brilliant and C##rming Ellin Mackay.

It was the thrilling story of the minstrel and the princess all over again, and everyone who heard it was touched and rejoiced that two exceptionally gifted people had found true happiness.

WRITER OF PROMISE

Ellin Berlin, in her own right an interesting personality, a writer of great promise, deeply interested in music, art and literature, might well have carved out a career for herself. But she preferred to devote her talents first to a husband whose genius is universally acclaimed, and then to her two lovely children whose work and play she personally supervises.

“A mother has to do that,” says Mrs. Berlin, “if she wants to insure the harmonious development of her children. I share their lessons and I share their games, games that are kept spontaneous while yet tactfully supervised. Of course, they’ll take music lessons—my elder daughter has already started with them—but whether they will develop a creative talent or whether they will only learn to be an appreciative audience I can not say. I shall never force them in any particular direction—freedom of development is essential to happiness—but I want to give them every opportunity. Especially the opportunity to realize their own personalities in some vital and satisfying work. Girls should not merely be trained for marriage. If they have no special talent they should study for some profession—anything at all provided it is real to them and gives them a deep and absorbing interest. “

Her own deep and absorbing interest is evidently her home, her husband, her children. Nevertheless, the world of art and literature and music, of travel, study and friendship still hold the old allure for her.

“I love reading,” she says, “only I do regret the fad of the book-of-the-month, the cult of the mushroom geniuses springing up from the fertile soil of the publisher’s blurbs, acclaimed today and forgotten tomorrow. I care for the ageless, the lasting, in art and literature, the things that have stood the test of time. “

LIKE VIOLA KEATS

In appearance Mrs. Berlin is very much like the English actress Viola Keats. The same tall, graceful figure, the same spiritual face, the same pleasing modulations of the voice, the same expressive and yet very natural and unaffected gestures. She smokes cigarettes in a smart paper holder, she sips China tea flavored with cream and her talk is animated, informed, and stimulating.

Altogether, one feels that Mrs. Berlin has arranged her life on the same pattern as the delightful room in which she makes her chance visitor welcome.

It is an intimate, a cozy life, a life devoted to her immediate family, her intimate friends, yet it is by no means a narrow or self centered life. For intellectually, too, Ellin Berlin lives high above the street of the commonplace. Her mind has wide windows through which she looks with sympathy and understanding upon the spectacle of modern existence and all its manifold problems.

IRENE FRIEDMAN BRIDE

Miss Irene Friedman, well known teacher of dramatic art has become the bride of Judge Ben Terte of Kansas City. The announcement of the wedding was made by Mrs. Sol. A. Friedman of 200 West Fifty-seventh street, the bride’s mother, but it was not disclosed where the ceremony took place. Miss Friedman is a graduate of Knox College, Galesburg, Ill. and the American Academy of Art in New York. Judge Terte is now serving his second term in the Circuit Court in Kansas City. After a wedding trip, Judge and Mrs. Terte will make their home in Kansas City.