Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1931)

Brickbats &f Bouquets The $25 Letter Syracuse, N. Y. TTO whomever is concerned with censor *■ ship, I beg to suggest that it is the press which needs restraint and not the pictures. Our American audiences are essentially the only censors needed as far as morals are concerned. They respond consistently to the best and most worthy productions. Not even lurid box-office titles can do much for vulgar or insipid pictures. Newspapers, however, delight to frontpage any unfortunate sequence in the life of any movie star — the brighter, the quicker ! Daily instances of generosity, loyalty and decency among the movie colony are passed up by the yellow sheet. But let some actor who has worked hard and won a place in popular favor make one error in judgment and it is hot news. We can always "see by the papers." Let us judge men and women of the screen by their performances on the screen, and not by their private lives. E. D. Russell The 810 Letter Boston, Mass. T\ THAT is wrong with the fans, always ** complaining about the talkies? The talkies are only three years old and they're improving all the time. Prohibition is thirteen years old and it hasn't improved a particle. Think it over. Catherine Finn The 85 Letter Albany, N. Y. THHRE is too much talking in the tillLipc You Fans Are the Re al Critics PHOTOPLAY Gives Twenty-Five, Ten and Five Dollar Prires for the Best Letters Just plain spiteful letters won't be printed, for we want to be helpful when we can. Don't write more than 200 words, and if you are not willing to have your name and city of residence attached, please don't write. Address Brickbats & Bouquets, Photoplay, 221 West 57th Street, New York City. We reserve the right to cut letters to suit our space limitations. Come on in and speak your mind! Fun Is Fun Little Rock, Ark. T AM pleading most earnestly for more ■*■ pictures with sad and tragic endings. I suppose I am old-fashioned but the sort of picture in which the heroine is very delicate and is more sinned against than sinning, and succumbs in the end to some fearful disease with a repentant lover at her bedside, appeals to me as nothing else possibly could. Marie Sinico A Prophecy Evanston, 111. ""THERE'S learnin' in the movies. *■ Coming from Kansas to Chicago, I expected to be bewildered by the city, but no, it's just like the pictured city life, and the talkies have interpreted the sounds so that they seem quite natural. The diction of the actors is doing much to generalize speech throughout the country. It is my prediction that within a few years there will be no more provincial types of speech. Lloyd Benefiel talkies. 6 \Y. DOLEN M CHEVALIER, Wallace Beery nearly tied your score this month. •Wallace Beery in "The Big House" swept way in the lead with raves over a single individual performance. But Chevalier's still the national honeyboy and the fans are howling for more songs from him. The Siren Swede remains First Lady of the Films. Miss Garbo's bouquets were never bigger, more fragrant, more numerous. And second? Somebody new. The beautiful, blonde Ann Harding. The pictures which provoked the most comments were "The Big House" and "All Quiet on the Western Front." The fans want substantial stories. And now, prepare for shock. The fans have changed their minds about the poor old theme song. They're actually asking for musicals. Ah, but they specify that singers shall do the singing. Philadelphia Surrenders! Philadelphia, Penna. BROOK and Chatterton are billed as the stars of "Anybody's Woman." But the real star is Paul Lukas. I could hear comments from people in the theater and, believe me, they were all falling for Paul Lukas — myself included. Ellen W. White It's Real Blonde, Anyway Brewer, Maine ANN HARDING'S acting in "Holiday" is superb. But why the quaint coiffure? The coil on the nape of her neck looked hard as a brick and quite as fetching as a real brick would look poised at that angle. R. Arline Wray Skittish Marquise Rockville, Md. I WAS disappointed in Gloria Swanson in her last picture — "What a Widow!" She is too dignified for such silly acting. Sadie Wisner What? Budapest, Hungary HOW can it be written that Chevalier has shared his throne with Tibbett? Yes, I know Tibbett is a king in the movies. But what's a king to a god? L. Ecker Just an Old Hollywood Custom! Wilmington, N. C. WHY spoil all the best scenes by having an orchestra burst forth and help the star sing the theme song? Oh, of course, it is perfectly natural for the star to be accompanied by a full symphony orchestra while he, or she, sings in the bathtub. What could be more natural? Lois Ward [please turn to page ill]