will find little difficulty in securing what they are entitled to.

I am anxious to get over with one part of this book that seems necessary to its complete understanding by a reading public, and that is the very personal subject of myself, its author. I am going to permit entrance into these pages of a brief biography of Ned Wayburn for two distinct reasons: First, to establish by what route I came to be an authority on stage-craft and stage dancing; and second, by a recital of my personal struggle and effort and final success, to encourage all young men and young women of ambition to themselves enter upon the stage of our great calling, with every hope of future success.

To that end, I am permitting a friend to come on the stage with his story of my stage career and experience.

As I look back upon my own history, it seems like a romance. And it is; a romance in real life; every word of it true, and the entire scenario as wonderful as anything in the movies.

LACE BALLET, FOLLIES OF 1922

NED WAYBURN—AN INSPIRATION

By Carleton B. Case

EVERY line of endeavor has its outstanding leaders. The men and women who do great things in a grand way ever command our admiration. We like to hear about their public careers and the intimate side of their exceptional lives is of decided interest to us. This I think is especially true where the noted ones are among our public entertainers, the player-folk, who bring so much joy and happiness into the world out of nothing—creators of innocent pleasure.

Long years before this was penned, and while yet my locks were innocent of the whiteness that now typifies my years, I was closely associated with the family of Wayburn. I was a man in Chicago when Ned Wayburn was a boy in the same city, starting on what was destined to become a truly remarkable career.