Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1931)

Their Pet Vanities IF you tell a girl with beautiful eyes that she has beautiful eyes you'll get a polite, bored smile. But tell a girl with a snub nose that you think, snub noses are far more attractive than chiseled, classic profiles and you can have her telephone number for your little black book. (That is, if you want it!) Look at Bebe Daniels. Is she proud of having made one of the most remarkable come-backs in screen history? Sure she is. Go and tell her how much you liked her in "Rio Rita." She'll smile sweetly, clasp your hand warmly and thank you graciously. But tell her that you saw her at the vegetable market yesterday and that you have never before seen anybody order groceries with more finesse and knowledge of the subject and she'll beg you to take the wedding silver as a little token of her friendship. Bebe is doing all her own marketing, and the words, ''We have some very nice carrots today, Mrs. Lyon, and how about a few pounds of spinach?'' are much more thrilling to her than the directorial sentence, "That was a great scene, Bebe." Consider Ruth Chatterton — the splendid technician, the stage actress who has become one of the most adored screen stars. Is she proud of being all these things? Certainly! But the achievement in which she delights most is the fact that she never sunburns! And Joan Crawford's private, pet vanity is the fact that she does sunburn, evenlv and well. THERE is hidden away in almost everybody's old subconscious a latent desire to write. You know how you feel when your second cousin says, "I always like to get a letter from Emily. She writes just like she talks. I can just see things when she writes about them." And that's how Janet Gaynor feels when her husband, Lydell Peck, tells her that the separation from her, when she was in Honolulu, was made bearable by the graphic manner in which she described everything she saw by letter. Her eyes light up with pride when she talks about it. She knows she was good in " 7th Heaven" — or she should by this time — but letter-writing is a real achievement. And Doug Fairbanks, Jr. — well, his screen career is his job. But Doug taps away at his typewriter whenever he has any minutes to spare, and he'd rather Joan would see a poem of his and like it than go to a preview of his latest picture. Sartorial achievement is a little vanity that doesn't leave the star untouched. Dick Barthelmess is not, in reality, the clothes type. He is short and stocky, and seldom does he wear smart clothes for his char 12 Her Pet Vanity? — She doesn't sunburn ! Last Minute News Mr. and Mrs. Nils Asther (Vivian Duncan i are said to be expecting a happy family event. They sail soon for Berlin. This splits up the Duncan sister team, for a decade one of the most famous in American show business. Thomas Meighan is coming back to pictures! The famous star will play a role in the Fox production of "Young Sinners." It's a character part. Edwina Booth, answering Mrs. Duncan Renaldo's alienation of affections suit for $500,000, denies that she stole the actor's love while the two were on location in Africa with the "Trader Horn" company. Jeanette MacDonald, her Paramount contract up, has signed with Fox for a year. The beautiful blonde's first picture will be "All Women Are Bad," co-featured with Edmund Lowe. Bruce Rogers, younger brother of Charles, is off the Paramount payroll, after three months on the lot without a part. William Austin, English character comic, is also through at Paramount. Doris Kenyon, widow of Milton Sills, starts a concert tour in January. She is a gifted singer of character numbers. Dolores Costello, wife of John Barrymore, has renounced the screen for home and baby. When Clara Bow was working at Paramount's Eastern studio, in Astoria, some Hollywood wag tacked this sign on her dressing room out there: "All Quiet on the Western Front." acterizations on the screen. But he never misses a chance to don a top hat and a tail coat in real life. Even when the occasion does not demand full dress, Dick will make an excuse to put on the high hat. And would you believe that big heman, Vic McLaglen, is proud of his taste in socks and ties? He is unhappy if they don't match. He refuses to sit for even a head photograph unless every little dot on his tie matches every little dot on his socks. Edmund Lowe is proud of the fact that he is called "the best dressed man in Hollywood." He has an enormous wardrobe. His clothes are London made and he reads all the magazines on smart masculine attire. NOT the ability to put on the most skilful make-up in Hollywood or to play a thousand faces at the drop of a hat was Lon Chaney's pride. If you gave him even half a chance he would take you aside and show you his card to the stage-hands' union. He would add that he once drove a locomotive and owned an honorary card in the brotherhood of railroad trainmen. Of these he was most proud. Ann Harding delights in the fact that she does not look like an actress and that she is seldom recognized when she appears on the street. June Collyer is vain about the way she drives an automobile. She admits she's a swell driver and will never allow anyone else to handle her machine. That he and Jobyna can cheat the carpenter and repair man out of many an honest penny is Dick Arlen's vanity. He and Joby, you know, build fish ponds and sunken gardens, repair the roof of their home and upholster the furniture. It is not Bill Haines' smart cracks (these come so easily to him) of which he is most proud. His home and his love of and appreciation for antiques are his real vanity. Harry Bannister takes pride in the house that he designed himself and equipped with the most remarkable of electrical appliances. LITTLE Loretta Young is most thrilled that, as Mrs. Grant Withers, she has the ability to keep the household bills way below par. Fav \Y ray's greatest pride is that she is considered the best woman ping-pong player in Hollywood. And Charles (Ex-Buddy) Rogers is proud of his ability to play any musical instrument one month after he has bought it. You'd expect Jetta Goudal to have some exotic and bizarre vanity. She says that the proudest day of her life was when De Mille looked at her and said, "You think like a man.-'