Movie Classic (Mar-Aug 1936)

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Now, in "The Great Ziegfeld," Myrna and Bill are interpreting the happy marriage of a famous couple — Billie Burke and Florenz Ziegfeld — with Joan Holland as their daughter, Patricia Ziegfeld on the screen, they don't have to act as if they are fond of each other — they really are ! Yon ought to hear them go on ! Of course, there's one very important advantage that these two have — each gives the other credit for a grand sense of humor. Not that they go around playing practical jokes or constantly exchanging quips; they don't. Theirs is that quiet, restrained humor that is completely effortless. But. most important, they both have learned to use that gift for something else besides delightful comedy. When anything happens on the set, a difference of opinion on how to play a scene, for example, and it looks as though the situation is becoming a bit tense, Bill has developed an almost uncanny ability to turn the whole thing into a laugh — and to make all the others laugh even when they don't want to. He has won his point that way time and again. You can't be very firm with a guy when you're giggling, you know. • "One reason why Bill would be an ideal sort for a husband," Myrna was telling me the other day, "is that he has really learned how to live. Life with Bill would involve neither sloppy sentimentality nor annoying indedependence. The sense of humor that you've talked about is important, of course, but remember this — a sense of humor is valuable only when you can use it on yourself and understand how ridiculous you can be in various situations. Any nitwit can laugh at somebody else and then accuse him of having no sense of humor because he doesn't laugh, too. "Bill, for example, is never sarcastic. He has a fine understanding of the limits of a witty wisecrack and just when the words or inflection are about to shift into sarcasm." On the other side of the House of Powell-Loy, Bill doesn't let Myrna top him in the compliment-tossing. Not only does he emphasize that Myrna has a gorgeous sense of humor ; he adds that a sense of humor is rarer in women than it is in men, despite his suspicion — so help him ! — that women need a sense of humor in this world far more than men do. But more (far more) than just her sense of humor qualifies Myrna for the title of "a perfect wife." "It's a grand habit," he claims, "this being married to Myrna. Every picture we've played in together has been a pleasure, my dear sir, a pleasure! Myrna can project the ideal wife on the screen so well that even playing the part of the groom is a delightful experience. "From the very beginning, Myrna has had a sound understanding of what an ideal wife should be, but I think she has learned still more from the three grand women she has played in The Thin Man, Evelyn Prentice and The Great Ziegfeld. Myrna isn't what some people call pretty, but she has subtle attraction and charm and natural vividness. As a matter of fact, Myrna would be a grand wife for anybody aside from the screen angle. She is intelligent and has a smoothly logical mind, but she never lets a man become conscious of the fact that she is a jump ahead of him. William Powell is not smooth-shaven like the late Great Glorifier, Florenz Ziegfeld, and Myrna Loy is not a carbon copy of Billie Burke. But in The Great Ziegfeld, they are completely real, portraying the famous Ziegfeld-Burke marriage. Gathered around them in the ambitious picture are many of the former "Follies" favorites, helping to tell the dramatic story of the great showman's life. (P. S. Luise Rainer plays the first Mrs. Ziegfeld — actress Anna Held.) • "How she ever became such a perfect wife is beyond me — a problem I can't cope with. After years and years of playing courtesans and exotic ladieb who meant no good to anybody, she suddenly emerged into adult life as the paragon of the perfect wife. . . . But, perhaps, it's not so surprising. As The Other Woman in her early pictures, she learned all about 'misunderstood husbands'—so [Continued on page 80] 41