Her name was Hepsivah and such an
odd name,
Would later help in her quest for fame,
And all who would meet her know they had met,
Someone they would never forget.
At an early age she got her start,
At 5 she got her first good part,
She played a little girl who's lead astray,
In a charming but forgettable play.
By the time that she was nineteen,
She was already a movie queen,
In Hollywood she made her home,
And twice a year she sailed to Rome.
All her friends were movie stars,
With there big estates and fancy cars,
And every month they would throw a ball,
In her enormous banquet hall.
Everywhere her movies were shown,
And throughout the world was she known,
For her cinema classics such as "All My Desires",
"Rasmillan's Daughter" and "Lovers and Liars".
All during the 20's it was the
same,
In silent films she made her fame,
In many movies did she star,
She always knew she would get this far.
It was good that movies had no
sound,
For all who knew Hepsivah had found,
That her voice was raspy and when she spoke,
She sounded like she was going to choke.
But soon silent films fell in
disgrace,
And sound in films was common place,
And Hepsivah could not ignore,
That silent films were made no more.
And soon enough came that terrible
day,
Her contract called for her to obey,
And poor Hepsivah she had no choice,
But to act in a talkie with her raspy voice.
So they thought about what they
might do,
And they thought hard for they all knew,
That when she spoke her first word,
People would laugh at what they heard.
So this talkie film they decided
to make,
They knew her voice they couldn't fake,
They prayed her fans would understand,
And hoped she would still be in demand.
And finally it was opening night,
The audience was far from polite,
Amid all the laughter and jeers,
She ran away from the theatre in tears.
So the very next day she boarded a
train,
She wore a disguise that made her look plain,
She wanted to go to some other place,
And disappear without a trace.
She asked the man that sat on her
right,
If by any chance if he might,
Know of a place where she could go,
A place that no one else would know.
"Tobia's a place" to her
he replied,
"There you could go and you could reside,
And this is a place that is so remote,
To get there you must charter a boat".
So she chartered a boat and off
she went,
To a land where she could be content,
And she was very happy because,
Nobody here knew who she was.
She found the Tobian life a little
slow,
A little boring for one on the go,
But to her delight she was to find,
As movies go they were 10 years behind.
In Cowcak where she was staying,
She checked out the movies that were playing,
She couldn't help feeling the pleasure of knowing,
That "All My Desires" was currently showing.
She entered the theatre in order
to see,
If Tobian people would know it was she,
Who was bigger than life up on the screen,
And starring in the film they were seen.
Suddenly there was quite an
uproar,
Someone had seen her come through the door,
A man in the front he suddenly stood,
"That's Hepsivah!", he yelled as loud as he could.
Soon wherever she went a crowd was
to form.
The Tobian people about her would swarm,
She felt like she was back in the past,
She wished forever that it could last.
Soon Emma the Queen desired to
meet her,
She'd invite her to Lompoc and there she would greet her,
So Hepsivah went and she was seen,
And was given a title by Emma the Queen.
So in this year of 1928,
As head of Cultural Affairs of State,
Hepsivah led a very charmed life,
Though she never became anyone's wife.
Copyright Dan Olds 1998