Hollywood (Jan - Oct 1934)

Even if W's So, I won't believe it"! From boyhood up to my present state, I have clung steadfastly to trie belief tbat tough whiskers are symbolic of strong men. I cherish tlie age-old tradition that men must chop, chew and chaw their bristles from protruding chins — painful as that may be. You say that LalherKreem renders the toughest whiskers spineless in 60 seconds — and lliat the protective film of LatherKreem will let me shave without a shudder in 2/2 minutes. I will give you the chance to prove it. Send me a 7 day FREE try-out! Generous tube 35c. Travelers jar 50c. 14-oz.}ar75c LatherKreem More Than A fast Shave*"Skin Comfort FREE: For 7 snappy, smartless shaves mail to A. J. Krank Co.Dept.Wfl9, St. Paul, Minn. FREE Address PHOTOS Enlarged To quifkly introduce our photo enlargements, we will enlarge any photo, snapshot, tintype or negative to 6x8 inches Free, if you enclose 25c in coin per each to cover cost of packing and mailing. Safe return of original guaranteed. Send your pictures today. Your enlargement is FREE. MERCHANTS STUDIOS, Dept. 97, You Don't Know Bill Gargan I Glen View. III. Death to Moths FORTUNES One moth in a home today means thousands more in almost no time causing untold damage to clothing, blankets, furs, etc. Now all this expensive destruction can be prevented. PTJRO a daintily colored, delicately scented tablet evaporates into a gas that is harmless to humans, but positively deadly to moths! No sprinkling, spraying or dusting — just hang it u> and forget it. Also L.anishes unplep — ant odors. An instant hit with m.-uhc wivee everywhere— agents sell 4 to U at a time— automatic repeats on every sale— up t-> $lf> and $'Jo in a Hay F.ASY —distributors up to $5000 in a year! Write tod i y for free sample, descripI ion and sen-al j.-ti.-.l lu^ mo'i.-y plana THE PURO CO.. Inc., Dept. D-623 3107 Pine St.. St. Louis, Mo. Guaranteed as Advertised in Good Housekeeping Magazine Perfumes (Exquisite new odors) CUBTLE, fascinating, alluring. Sells ^ regularly for $12.00 an ounce. Made from the essence of flowers : — Send only 30/ A single drop lasts a week! Three odors: (1) Romanza (2) Lily of the Valley (3) Esprit de France To quickly introduce these new perfumes I'll send you with my compliments trial bottles of all three for only 30c (silver or stamps) to pay for postage and handling. Only one set to each new customer. PAUL RIEGER 159 First St. San Francisco, Calif. Continued from page seventeen was three dollars. His cab fare came to $4.75! At the end of that first day, he decided that there was no profit in it at that rate, so gave it up." When Bill graduated from high school at the age of eighteen he had no idea of turning his elocutionary talents into money. He decided to become a business man and got a job selling salad oil to chain stores. "I've never seen anyone so enthusiastic over a job," Mary Gargan laughed. "Every time he came over to my house for dinner he would bring his salad oil with him and insist on mixing salad dressings for us. He made gallons at a time until the house was swimming. It was a lucky thing that the job lasted only two months." At Nineteen Bill became a private de. tective. His first task consisted of guarding a jewelry messenger. But he "lost" the messenger almost immediately and his sleuthing days were over. "I didn't have much luck in the way of jobs. Either I couldn't stick to them or they wouldn't stick to me. I had no idea of becoming an actor. Mary was on the stage and as she and I were going to be married I figured that one in the family on the stage was enough." Mary had started out as an actress early in life. She played child parts for Pathe in New York in the old silent pictures. Then she graduated to the stage as an acrobatic dancer, working in Ziegfeld, Earl Carroll and George White productions. Her theatrical days are over now; she has turned that department over to her husband while she takes care of the children and keeps house. An introduction to the producer of Aloma of the South Seas, in which Harry Bannister and Zita Johann were playing, landed Bill his first bit. He learned the play so thoroughly that he soon worked up to the heavy role. There was no one in the company who knew every bit of business as well as Bill did, and when the show went on the road, Bill got the job of staging two road shows of it and traveling with them for sixty weeks as manager. Then came forty weeks with Francine Larrimore in Laugh That Off. Bill was on top of the world and he and Mary got married while the company was playing in Chicago. Shortly afterward came the slump. Depression hit the Gargans a wallop. "There were ten months of it," Bill told me, "and no matter what I tried, everything seemed to go against me." Then, Just As suddenly as it had come, the slump was over. First there was a spell during which Bill eagerly sought and played extra parts in pictures. The first of this extra work as a gangster in Follow the Leader, with Ed Wynn. His next two jobs were in Claudette Colbert pictures — His Woman and Misleading Lady. Some months later, Claudette picked up the morning paper to see a picture of one of Broadway's newest sensations staring at her. She instantly recognized the face of the jovial, good-looking, smiling Irishman who had played extra in her pictures — William Gargan. It happened that a friend who had bought a vaudeville act called Bill on the phone and asked him to play in it at a salary of $75 weekly. Bill almost leaped through the phone in accepting the offer. The act opened at the Prospect theatre in Brooklyn and almost immediately William Farnum called Bill and offered him a part in a play, Headquarters, at a salary of $225 weekly — apologizing for the smallness of the sum. Bill and Mary had not seen that much money in almost a year! Jobs came thick and fast after his run in Headquarters, and ultimately it led to the role of the butler in The Animal Kingdom with Leslie Howard. The Howards and the Gargans are now Hollywood's thickest friends. Leslie helped to push a lot of the play over to Gargan, and when Leslie came to Hollywood to do the film version of the play he would have no one but Bill play the butler in it. Bill scored highly in The Animal Kingdom and signed a long term contract with Radio. Lewis Milestone insisted on Bill playing the marine in Rain, De Mille used him in Four Frightened People, and other studios put in bids for his services. One of his most important recent loanouts was to Columbia for The Line Up. Bill Gargan reads all of his fan mail avidly and spends many of his nights personally autographing photos to fans. He is as happy as a child over every fan letter, and feels flattered when they ask for his pictures. He is a housekeeper's nemesis whenever he gets hold of a newspaper — especially the Sunday paper. He can never keep it together, but ends up with the whole thing strewn over the house. He has a grand sense of humor and is extremely easy going. He erupts very rarely, but when he does the wise thing is for everyone to run for cover; hates parsnips, turnios, Irish stew, delicatessen meals and Italian cooking, but can eat any amount of Chinese food placed before him. He has no sense of color combinations in his dress. He would wear a yellow tie and red shirt with a blue suit if his wife didn't watch him. He is wild about children — especially his own, of which he has two. Barrie, almost five years old, was named after Sir James Barrie, Bill's favorite playwright, and the youngest, only a few months old, is named Leslie Howard Gargan. He is a handball and football fiend. Never misses a day at playing handball, at which he is considered quite a shark. He can't stand evening clothes, but prefers sport clothes and silk underwear. He is a bug on insurance. One of his hobbies is reading up on insurance contracts and rates, and if you give him an opening he will quote them to you by the hour. "In other words," as Mary Gargan puts it, "he is just a child, devoted father, a marvelous pal, and a problem to his wife." HOLLYWOOD