The filmgoers' annual (1932)

160 The Filmgoers' Annual GARY COOPER There's a girl back in Iowa who can point to the bill-boards blazoning the picture of Gary Cooper, Paramount star, and say : " If it hadn't been for me he probably wouldn't be where he is now." Her name is Doris and she was Gary's first love. " If it hadn't been for Doris," he reflected. " If it hadn't been for Doris — I rushed her for about two years while we were students at Grinnell College. She was my first love and you know how that is. We talked of marriage and I decided to quit school, get a job, and prepare for matrimony." Doris, it seems, wanted to go to California. She urged Gary to seek his fortune there, and that led to their first quarrel, for her sweetheart loved the ranches and mountains of Montana. Nevertheless, they decided to be married as soon as he could " establish " himself, so Gary left Grinnell in the spring of 1924 and returned to Helena. There he took a job as a cartoonist on the " Helena Independent." But Doris's admonition to go to California still bothered him, and he, at last, departed for Los Angeles. " I didn't know a soul, but I was still deeply in love with Doris and determined to make good," he says. But " establishing " oneself in the busy California city was no light task. City editors didn't think so much of his ability as a cartoonist, and he was reduced to working as a house-to-house canvasser for a portrait photographer at 10s. a day and then sold advertising space on theatre curtains, with the sale of drapery as a side-line. Finally, this failed and he was down to his last dime. With it he bought a loaf of bread and went to a motion picture studio for work as an extra. His giant frame impressed the casting director and he was given a part as an extra in a western. The road to the top in pictures was long and dreary and somewhere along the way he lost Doris. He had stopped writing to her when he was down and out, and when he did write he learned that she had married the son of a local druggist. But Gary bears her no hard feelings. " If it hadn't been for Doris," he says and grins. For a year after his first appearance at the studios he played extras. Then came the opportunity to play a leading role in a two-reel picture. His work pleased the director and he was given the lead in " The Winning of Barbara Worth." When the picture was completed, Cooper found himself with plenty of offers from large and small producing concerns, among them one from Paramount. A conference was set for Friday. At the appointed time Cooper called at the Paramount studio, was ushered down a hallway to a door and told to enter. All unknowingly, the tall Montanan stepped into the regular weekly execu tive meeting. Jesse L. Lasky and B. P. Schulberg had arranged this most trying of film tests. Utterly surprised and painfully embarrassed, Cooper blushed, stammered, and then grinned. That winning grin won him a contract. With the ink from his signature to the contract scarcely dry, Cooper was rushed to San Antonio, Texas, where the aviation epic, "Wings," was in production. He took a small but effective part in the picture, then hurried back to Hollywood, where he was cast in another epic-maker of a different type, Clara Bow's " It." His great successes include " Only the Brave," " The Virginian," " The Spoilers," and " Morocco." Evelyn Lederer, whom you know as Sue Carol, was discovered by Douglas MacLean. Cooper, the son of English parents, lived on his father's cattle ranch near Helena, Montana, until he was twelve. At twelve he went to England to school. Returning to Montana, he lived the life of a cowboy for two years after an automobile accident which almost ended his life. Then he went to the RONALD COLMAN Further copies of the beautiful coloured frontispiece of Ronald Colman may be obtained for framing. All requests should be accompanied by stamps, or a Postal Order to the value of one shilling for each picture required. Upon receipt copies will be carefully packed and sent to any address. Orders should be sent to " Portrait," The Filmgoers' Annual, Simpkin Marshall, Ltd., Stationers' Hall Court, London, E.CA middle west, entered Grinnell College as an art student and met Doris. Born in Helena, Montana, on May 7, 1901 ; height, 6 feet 2'2 inches; light blue eves, brown hair. JOAN CRAWFORD Probably no motion picture star represents better the spirit of modern youth than does Joan Crawford. And, fittingly enough, her immediate step to stardom was the featured role in "Our Dancing Daughters" MetroGoldwyn-Mayer's ultra-modern film of the dancing age. Miss Crawford was born in San Antonio, Texas. Her earliest recollections are of the time when she stood in the wings with her father, so fascinated by the dancers, that she was hardly conscious of imitating their movements with her feet. All through her early girlhood her favourite game was playing stage in the barn, where scenery was stored. She always was the premiere dancer. Despite her hard work, however, she never missed dancing at nights. But she also had a tremendous ambition to succeed on her own hook. In Detroit she was noticed by J. J. Shubert, and given a position in " Innocent Eyes " then trying out. She went to New York with that show and was a notable success as a dancing chorus girl, playing in " The Passing Show " and at the Winter Garden. She was just starting to earn some extra money in a night club, when Harry Rapf, a studio executive of Metro-GoldwynMayer, saw her, and sent her a contract. Miss Crawford, as Lucille La Sueur, arrived in Culver City, California, in 1925. She made her debut in " Pretty Ladies " under the direction of Monta Bell, that same year. Then, with a change of name, came parts in " Old Clothes," " I'll Tell the World," " Sally, Irene, and Mary," " Paris," " Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," " The Understanding Heart," " The Unknown," " Twelve Miles Out,' " Rose Marie," and many other films which constantly increased her popularity and made it apparent that stardom was only a matter of time. She played the feminine lead with William Haines in " The Duke Steps Out " right after " Our Dancing Daughters," and then " Dream of Love " with Nils Asther, after which came her first all-talking production, " Untamed," which wasdirected by Jack Conway, and the brilliant "Within the Law." If ever a part required acting ability of the highest order, it is the part of the shopgirl, in "Within the Law," sent to prison on a false charge and turned into a jailbird. This is undiluted realism, and Joan Crawford carries it through with sensational intensity. It is only when the shopgirl comes out of prison, with the determination to be revenged, that we see again the Joan Crawford of " Dancing Daughter," and " Blushing Bride ' ' characterisation. Miss Crawford was eighteen when she went into pictures. 5 feet 4 inches tall, and has Born She is dark hair with a reddish glint. March 23, 1908. She is married to Douglas Fairbanks. Inr.