The filmgoers' annual (1932)

154 The Filmgoers' Annual NOAH BEERY Noah Beery, one of the greatest villains on the screen to-day, is prominently cast in " Tol'able David," the Columbia film adapted from Joseph Hergesheimer'8 famous story. He turned to the show business at an early age. In fact, he got his theatrical start in a circus. He and his brother Wallace ran away and joined the circus, and their principal job was watering the elephants. When the show was on they sold peanuts. He tried his hand at everything. His great ambition, however, was to be a grand opera singer. He nearly realised this when he sang for a season in Chicago, Illinois, at the open-air Opera Gardens. He sang basso profundo. Pictures and financial need .took him away from singing and into his first films. He was successful almost at once. Among the more recent screen plays in which he has appeared are " Song of the Flame," " Careers," and " Four Feathers." WALLACE BEERY See Page 100 CONSTANCE BENNETT Constance Bennett, the eldest of Richard Bennett's three daughters, was born in New York, October, 1905. She spent her extreme youth in New York and on Long Island, attending Miss Shandor's School on Park Avenue, and Mrs. Merrill's school in Mamaroneck. Later her parents sent her to Mme. Balsan's finishing school in Paris. When she was seventeen she was formally presented in Baltimore and Washington, becoming one of the most popular debutantes of the younger set, where her beauty and charm made her outstanding. It was her mother's wish that she should keep away from the stage, but at one of the Equity Balls which Miss Bennett attended with her father, Samuel Goldwyn suggested that she should make a test for the screen, and offered her a part in " Cytherea." She accepted and in spite of the fact that it was her first role, she was not only featured, but ran away with the picture. Subsequently she went out to Hollywood, where she was recognised as one of the most talented of the younger players. She appeared in " Into the Net," "Code of the West," "The Goose Hangs High," " My Son," " My Wife and I," " The Goose Woman," " Wandering Fires," and " Marriage," always as a free-lance player. Then she appeared in " Sally, Irene, and Mary." Later she went to Paris. She was about to go to Germany to make two pictures for UFA when the Marquis de la Falaise appeared with a five-year contract from P.D.C. Miss Bennett has fair hair. Her eyes are blue. She is 5 feet 4 inches in height. Her best -known films are " Rich People," " This Thing Called Love," " Sin Takes a Holiday," and " Born to Love." JOHN BOLES See Page 76 CLARA BOW Clara Bow was attending a girls' high school when she entered a magazine beauty contest, of which the judges were Harrison Fisher, Neysa McMein, and Howard Chandler Christy. She forgot about the contest until she was called and, with a few others, was given a screen test. The contest closed in November, 1922, and shortly afterwards she was called to take three more screen tests. She won first prize and, for her victory, received an evening gown, a screen contract which guaranteed that she would play in one picture and would receive a beautiful silver trophy. William Christy Cabanne gave her a small part in " Beyond the Rainbow," with Billie Dove. Not knowing anything about make-up, when she was told to cry before the camera, the tears made a wreck of her appearance. When she was viewed on the screen, Cabanne cut her out of the picture ! Clara decided to give up pictures and went back to school. Three months later Elmer Clifton telephoned her, said he was about to make a film, and that, judging from photographs he had seen in magazines, she might be the girl he wanted. Following a test he offered her the role at £10 a week. This picture was " Down to the Sea in Ships," in which Clara played the young stowaway. During the twentytwo weeks it was in production she was beaten, thrown around and subjected to other realistic bits of acting, but she fitted into the part so well that Clifton built it up and her performance was one of the most outstanding in the production. On the strength of her work in the picture, she was given leading feminine role in " Grit," played opposite Glenn Hunter. After that she played in more than a score of pictures. Meanwhile, her talents had been recognised by B. P. Schulberg, who was producing independently, and he placed her under long term contract to him. She was still under contract to Schulberg when he became associate producer at the Famous Players Lasky west coast studio, late in 1925. He brought Miss Bow to the Paramount studio with him and she played in" Dancing Mothers," " The Runaway," " Mantrap," and" Kid Boots." So great was her personal success in " Mantrap " and ' Kid Boots " that she was signed to a new contract with Paramount in August, 1925, as a star. Her first starring vehicle was " It," from the Elinor Glynn story, which proved a sensation everywhere. She next co-starred with Esther Ralston in " Children of Divorce." She resumed her individual starring career in " Rough House Rosie." Early in September, 1925, she began work in the leading feminine role of "Wings," the air service epic, at San Antonio. Pictures in which Clara Bow has appeared in are : " Dancing Mothers," " The Runaway," " Mantrap," " Kid Boots," "It," "Wings," "Children of Divorce," " Rough House Rosie," " Hula," " Get Your Man," " Red Hair," " Ladies of the Mob," " Three Week Ends," "Wild Party," "The Fleet's In," " Dangerous Curves," " The Saturday Night Kid," " True to the Navy," " Love Among the Millionaires," " Her Wedding Night." Born in Brooklyn, on July 29; height, 5 feet 3£ inches ; fiery red hair ; agate brown eyes. BILL BOYD Bill Boyd is a native of Cambridge, Ohio. His father was a civil engineer who fell on evil times, so that Bill was forced upon an unwelcoming world. He landed in San Diego with l/5i in his pocket, and no job in prospect other than that of an orange packer. He packed oranges for a considerable period, until he was no longer able to eat them. Then he became a grocery clerk, a motor car salesman, and at June Collyer, one of the loveliest stars of the screen, as she appeared in " Sweet Kitty Bellairs." length, searching for real adventure, went back up into the derrick country to become an oil driller. It was slow progress. Finally in 1919, he attracted the attention of Cecil B. De Mille and was given an "extra" job in "Why Change Your Wife? " From that he progressed steadily through leads and featured roles in " Bobbed Hair," " Forty Winks," " New Lives for Old," and other parts in " Feet of Clay," " Triumph, ' and "The Golden Bed." " The Midshipman " gave him an excellent part with Ramon Novarro, which increased his popularity, and De Mille featured him with Vera Reynolds in " The Road to Yesterday." Boyd's biggest hit was the title role in " The Volga Boatman," and since that picture he has been featured in " Her Man O'War," " Eve's Leaves," " The Last Frontier," " Jim the Conqueror," " The Yankee Clipper," and