Little Zoe Rae now comprise the fixed stars of Butterfly." - this was probably not true. Her last two pictures were both successful and involved loads of hard work. Both movies had Vernon as the female lead. In fact, in Fear Not, she was the main headliner. As Dr. Delamoir points out in her article on Louise Lovely, "Universal's management was keen to keep its stars in line and, during 1916 and 1917, some stars were forced to appear in less prestigious short films, including westerns. One of Universal's strategies for controlling and disciplining stars was to shove them into the less-prestigious brands." In late 1917, the media called it the Universal "canning" spell. As part of the process, the news articles reported that Universal management had asked Vernon to play "" in a specific production. Vernon thought this request was beneath her status as a Universal leading lady. Rather than kowtow to a demeaning Universal management request, she packed up her "makeup boxes and wardrobe" and walked out. Universal promptly canceled her contract after her departure. It was well known that "Carl Laemmle, president of Universal, had little use for stars, even though his advertising had helped to create them." Asking Vernon to play an extra would equate her to an unproven new employee. However, requesting an established star to "play atmosphere" is a thin excuse for them "pack up," void their contract, and skedaddle. Upon closer examination, Vernon's purported reason for leaving was a small detail of a much larger state of affairs. No creditable sources have surfaced that frame a broader motive behind Vernon's exit. The big question remains, how did Carl Laemmle let bankable talent leave Universal unless there were irreparable conditions beyond mitigation? And lastly, did Bluebird stars have any leverage in any negotiations? In the book Universal Women: Filmmaking and Institutional Change in Early Hollywood, Cooper stated: "In early 1917, no other Universal director even began to approach Weber's track record as a maker of profitable feature films. More interestingly, the other directors to whom the company most frequently entrusted its Bluebirds in 1916—and continued to employ most regularly in the following year—generally lost money." There is little doubt Vernon was a respected movie star, yet she had not reached the summit of picturedom and the rarified air that is superstardom. 1918 In 1918, a global pandemic introduced itself to the world. The "Spanish