Hollywood (Jan - Oct 1934)

yesterday morning I — slipped. The kid here is only five. You couldn't send him out alone after help." No you couldn't. But you could keep him up an extra hour that Christmas Eve to see old man Santa Claus arrive at the Gable home. He came in with a sack full of toys and shoes and the like that, strangely enough, were just the right size for a five-year-old. And there was a happy Marlene Dietrich and little daughter Maria follow quaint old German customs and find great happiness in welcoming Kris Kringle grin on his face that wasn't part of the make-up! Wheezy is working steadily in the studios now. They say he is a real "find" among character actors. • Let's roll back the clock a minute to Christmas, 1924. Here in Hollywod it was one of those rainy days when everything seems to sag — including the spirit. Along the boulevard the decorations had a wilted look. The onc^-gay wreaths dripped cheerlessly axid the Salvation Army lassies huddled under umbrellas on the street corners as they pleaded with a wet world to "keep the pot a-boiling." Scurrying by under the awnings was a small young person intent on playing a game. "Listen here, Janet Gaynor," she'd say to herself. "Think of your figure! If you're going to be a star you'd JANUARY, 1934 better watch out! And besides, you really don't like turkey dinners anyway." But that didn't keep her from pressing her nose against bright restaurant windows and reading the menus on display. "Urn — I think I'll have some white meat, please, and lots of gravy and mashed potatoes and mince pie. . . ." She drew her coat closer and moved on. It was bad enough being a complete stranger in the town, let alone being without money. And why did it have to rain, too? Janet's courage was ebbing with every fresh gust of wind. Mother and Jonesy had given up a lot to bring her here. Would she ever make good — a timid, funny kind of girl like her? The tears were pretty close as she stood on the corner waiting for the traffic signals to change. A great limousine slid to a silent stop in Robert Young lost his job because of his sympathy for the doicn-and-outer but the tables were turned in a strange way another Christmas front of her. Inside, swathed in furs and toying with a corsage of gardenias, was • a famous star. To Janet, she seemed the most glamorous person on earth as their eyes met for an instant. Something in the young girl's face must have stirred the older woman. She leaned forward suddenly and tossed her corsage through the window with a gay "Merry Christmas!" as her car started off. Janet caught the flowers, buried her radiant little face in them. Then she began to run. She ran all the way back to mother and Jonesy. The gardenias were a symbol to her, a token that Fate was on the job and everything was going to be all right. It doesn't take much sometimes to shift the balance! That very week she was given her first bit of extra work and her sensational climb had begun. The tables have a way of turning swiftly and without warning in Filmtown. That famous star of the silent pictures became an Unknown to the talkies. Just another forgotten face — until Janet happened to catch sight of her in a crowd scene one day. Now she's well on the road up again. And on Christmas each year a mysterious florist's box arrives at the home of the former celebrity. Inside is a sheaf of fragrant gardenias. • Holiday s/ son. Holiday verve. Brilliant id holly berries dancing in the wir ows beside lighted candles. In Marlene Dietrich's home you see them in every front window. And sometimes an eager little face looking at them — Maria, her young daughter. Always, on the twenty-fourth of December, they go to the woods and gather branches for "Kris Kringle." Just the two of them tramping Please turn to lime lifty-four Janet Gaynor sends an immense bouquet of gardenias to a certain star every Christmas and in her motive lies an appealing story 37