WITH A FEATHER ON MY NOSE

The life story of Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke -- known as Billie -- which amiably covers her theatrical and married life. Not stage struck, but prodded by a determined and enterprising mother, unknowingly trained by her father, an international clown, Billie, in her docile obedience, found herself popular in musical comedy- and comedy in London at 18. She came to America and continued her career under Charles Frohman, and with the stars of the day, until her marriage to Florenz Ziegfeld. Then there were the hurdles of Anna Held, Lillian Lorraine, Olive Thomas, Ziegfield's financial tangles, his devotion to the Follies, and a career of holding the marriage together in spite of gossip, marital troubles and family affairs. Staying with him until he died, she paid his debts, returned to moving pictures and the radio...Vivacious, filled with fashion, theater, names, the light touch here is pleasant and personal.