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Garrett Fort's Dramatic Escape from the Appalling Effects of Monsters / He Created for the Movies

By Marjorie Driscoll the esoteric beliefs of the Baba for some time. They were proud and True.' nefvous—very, very dread- glad to be the means by which the fully nervous I had been . . . 1 heard troubled sou] of their colleague all things in the heaven and in the and pal could seek peace in the earth. I heard many things in hell. Baba'a society. —EDGAR ALLAN POE, In "The Telltale Heart." But they didn't Imagine then that Fort would instantly listen to ARftETT FORT, 37, chief "hor- the call of the East; nt once for- rur expert" of Hollywood writers, Bake his old, time-honored haunts G was nervous; dreadfully so. on the West Coast for the spiritual joys awaiting him in India. An outstanding member of the West Coast's movie colony, for several years They, like all Garrett's friends, Fort had devoted all his working time were puzzled when he suddenly to devising and adapting stories of disappeared from their midst. Va- mystery and terror for the screen- rious rumors began to form and float about. He had attained the peak of his profession. But at a wrenching cost. It was said that the writer had HE FOCND PEACE FROM THESE jireclatlon, Garrett Fort began to In troubled sleep bis eerie brain chil- (1) sought seclusion to devote his These Characters In Horror Stories of Toe, Stoker and Mary Shelley, pay the price. dren still pursued him. The wraith of whole time to research on some Which He Brought to Life for the Movies, Ilccamo go flea) to Garrett Dracula invaded his dreams. Franken- new occult photoplay Idea; (2) Nightmare! pursued him like Fort (Left), Scenarist, Th»t He Fled to (he Temple of a Hindu Myirtlo, Infernal hounds from the bot- stein's monster tormentingly mastered that he had returned to New York High In the Hlmalmyiu. to Find Prace of Mind. his reveries. to write a book dealing with vam- tomless pit Even bli daylit pires, demonotogy and the cel- hours were stricken through Fort felt he was on the verge of with, dreadful dreami. some appalling, IE nameless, calamity. ebration of the Witches' Sab- bath, as chronicled In the Now, happily, thow diurnal Psychic? Or physical? He wasn't sure. Brock en scene of Goethe's But frankly he was afraid. days nod nights are put. Garrett "Faust," or (3) had retired Fort slti In his white temple ID like plight, moat men would have frora the world of sham and tin- high on the Naalk hllll, deditat- done ono of two things: consulted a sel to give his remaining years Ing, dreaming, (.peculating, nerve specialist and retired for six to holy meditation. thinkini the higher thoughts. months to a sanitarium, or tried to The last - named surmise One of hundreds of alQ|llar face the frightful music, with collapse proved to be correct. But the inevitable. pilgrims to the shrine of Shrt fact was not fully established Meher Baba, In India, Fort hu Fort did neither. Instead, he lei't found his haven from tn« world. Los Angeles quickly and quietly, his He hag achieved peace with the destination a secret to even close silent help of Ills "Clod-man." . friends. Noiv, after a lapse of appre- ciable time, comes the startling and gratifying news that the troubled ace- scenarist has reached surcease frora the hideous apprehensions that were hounding him. In his own phrase; "/ have found peace—with a God-man." Garrett Fort, whose Him "treat- ments" of "Dracula's Daughter," "Frankenstein," "The Suicide Club" and "The Invisible Alan" raised uni- versal hair and curdled the blood of all beholders, Is, today, in India, 1 In a stainlessly white temple, set high In the hills at Naslk, the cx- sophlstlcate and California hotspot- haunter sits tranquilly at the Jeet of a famed Hindu mystic. To join the lit- tle Known but Integrally powerful col- ony of mystical Shri M'eher Baba, Fort fled from a Western world where wealth and merriment dance frantical- DISCII'LES ly together. Above: Followers of Shrl Meher Baba Gathered Arnund Him. Loft: Marina Passer, of He Is content—as content as other Hollywood, Who, with Her Hiuoand, Was Responsible lor Convening Fort to the Cult. members of the Baba's group. The Identities of most of these men and soothed1. Always he gestured his de- upon thrl]l wblcb the master-scenarist women are rigidly withheld from the voted secretary to give out such In- underwent were, of course, Impercep- public; exploitation, the mere thought formation as might be thought nec- tible to spectators of his horror- or the slightest notoriety, would shock essary for public and press. movies. From their viewpoint, natur- and revolt the Baba and bis followers. Naturally such a personality was ally, the more gruesome the spectacle! It would strike at the tfery key- bound to leave Its Imprint on Holly- he evolved, the keener their Interest stone of their philosophy; Thought wood. But no one could have foreseen In the theater. can accomplish anything, everything, that, among the California converts to Nothing delights the thrill-addict he It good or bad; speech Is a super- till Fort wrote the Passers • letter, and durable friendships. People of all Shrl Meher's placid faith would be— more than a good rousing feast of fluity. explaining bis actions and outlining ranks "toolt to" the taciturn Hindu Garrett Fort! suffering, cruelty, revenge and re- morse. That was why "Frankenstein," In proof of this credo, fie Baba his future plans. Instantly, and their liking for him For Fort was, or seemed, at the lasted. other end of the psychic and esoteric wltb Its plled-up woes, was such a re- fairly recently began to practise defi- "I became deeply engrossed In the sonant smash at box-offices. nitely and impressively what be al- greflt mystic's power-of-thought phil- Among his intimates and associates, scale from the Eaba. Fort, like his new ways bus preached. Three years ago, . master, bad thought deeply on many When the Inventor (Colin Cllve) osophy from the moment I met him for a long time now, has been Maria concocted his monstrous elllgy (Boris Shrl Meher paid a casual visit to Hol- at your home," wrote Fort He went Carml, the world-celebrated Nun In matters. But they were dark, (lire lywood. He bad made this "pilgrim- things, lit up by the red glare from Karioff) and the latter terrorized lha on to emphasize the hours h« had Max Relnhardt's spectacular stage countryside and committed a peculiar- age" because, he said, he had heard spent speaking to the Oriental mystic pageant, "The Miracle," known In pri- the Imagination's most sinister gulfa. from authentic sources that life In the ly fiendish murder, the Frankenstein with the bushy hair and the weirdly vate life as the Princess Matchabelll. In his work as screen adapter for fann were thrilled and charmed. cinema citadel was compounded of compelling eyes. But it wasn't only the famous and such powerful Hctlonlsts as Poe, Rob- many diverse elements, some practi- socially Important who formed a fond- ert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker and When Count Dracula's daughter cal, oLhers of deep psychic import and Slirl Meher toolt no actual vocal ness for the Baba. Quite simple souls other practitioners of the macabre end (Gloria Holdcnl saved the soul of her occult significance. part In these "conversations," Garrett lethal literary arts, Fort bad experi- dead, weird father by fair and foul told his friends. Instead, slnco his —laborers In ordinary jobs—wire Ir- means, there was applause. When the It so happened that at the time of resistibly drawn toward him. enced all the soul tremors of such au- "reign of silence" was still operative, thors' heroes. wicked president of the Suicide Club his California heglra, the Baba was the Btba "replied" to questions by Shrl Meher had already taken his (Reginald Owen) menaced the llvei Immersed In a great silence. He had spelling out his answers In chalk on oath of alienee when he left the land He had undergone the grinding tor- and love at Rosalind Russell and taken the solemncat of vows—to him- a portable blackboard. of h|s birth In 1034. On hla world tour ments of Dr. Jekyll as he turned Into Robert IfoDtgonjery, they were ap- self—that he would not open his lips no word escaped those ascetic lips. the hideous Mr, Hyde. He had writhed palled—and entertained. In human speech for eight years. These answers gave the clream- When officials at various ports pep- IE the frantic self-reproaches of the wraclteel scenarist plenty to popder. And when Claude Ralaa as the In- And It was at this time that he and ptred b|m with persona) questions, be anguished Roderick Usher. He had visible Man wrought havoc In an And aside from the Imagery presented stayed speechless. When would-be In- known how the Monster of Mary Shel- Fort met at the home of a common by the Baba's undoubted Intellect, English village and finally died, friend, Rolf Passer, who, like Fort, terviewers sought him out to estab- ley's fancy felt when first he tasted visibly, In the (now, the actor's repu- there was the question of his standing lish his reactions to this or that event, great power, and had drunk the blood SILENT was a concoctor of. fantasies for the In the different communities he had tation was securely established, films. his Impressions were locked In bis In- of Count Dracula's victims—figura- But after he bad tossed manuscript Shri Meher Babo Vmnd He Wouldn't visited. scrutable breast Always the Baba'a tively after brilliant manuscript at the Say a Word While Be Wu Vl«lttn| the Passer and WM lustrously lovely Everywhere, simply as a human entile was serene with an other-world- These'acute agonJen of creation In Hollywood producers and all hid been Dnltcd States, When This Fhoto WM wife, Marina, had been converted to bilog, he had made the most affecting ly quality that both amazed and piling stock upor. shock tad thrill directed and released to salvos of ap- Taken, and FoUowen Said Ue Did Not Copyright, 1037. King Felluru SrndlaiH, Inc.