"When the news was published that Vilma Banky, a talented young Hungarian actress hitherto almost unknown except on the Continent, had been singled out by Samuel Goldwyn and had signed a contract without the famous magnate even having seen her act on the screen, there must have been many studio workers who envied her opportunity in America.

But Vilma Banky's first few months in Hollywood were not happy ones. To begin with, there was at that time a growing dissatisfaction in Hollywood at the numbers of foreigners who were arriving and scoring successes, and it was a point against Vilma that she was from Budapest.

Her salary, too, was not large then. It was far in excess of what she had earned on the Continent, but the buying power of it was so small that a tiny bungalow and one servant was all she could afford, whereas in Berlin she had lived in a suite at an expensive hotel, had three maids, and her own horse. The high prices horrified her so, that, before she accustomed herself to thinking in dollars instead of translating costs into kronen, she left the billpaying to her servant.

Then, again, her extraordinary beauty caused no little heartburning and jealousy at first. Practically the only woman who, with her usual sympathy and understanding, went out of her way to be kind to the bewildered, unhappy, homesick stranger, was Norma Talmadge.

The difficulty of making herself understood irked her also, for upon her arrival her vocabulary consisted of "lamb chops and pineapple."

But success changed this, and Vilma developed a tremendous enthusiasm for Californian customs. In fact, for a while, learning to be American was Vilma's chief occupation away from the screen."