Picture Play Magazine (Jul - Dec 1929)

Checking Up On Dick p 1^;;'; i HPT"^* . . ...T , . no ^ kjw P^wr»«^5^c' ^ Bm Hi < B '' L • « * sir*' All worries are not confined to bad-luck eras, Mr. Arlen declares after a siege of solicitors and souvenir hunters. Joseph Schildkraut once said in Picture Play that you could chase him with liver. Well, you could run me out of the country with a snake. So there you are. I had to sit still and listen to Dick talk. Afterward I was glad he had thrown the fear of snakes into me, and that I remained with him. "This is almost like it, isn't it?" Dick asked for the third time. I had just been wondering what would happen to the troupe if the flood came before its time, and swept us clear through the gorge, snakes and all, and what Paramount would say on learning that so much unused film had been wasted. "Yes, isn't it like what ?" "Like hell," Dick explained. I could only recall my Dante, and agree. Mr. Arlen became classical, too, and designating some of his coworkers, said. "We hobos seem right at home here, representing all the vices." "Si, sir/nor. Sluggishness, paganism, lust, gluttony, violence, and treachery." "Yeah! You know them all, don't you? Look at this stream. It reminds you of what's-its-name? The river what-d'you-call-it ?" "Acheron," the classic scribe prompted, adding with a throbbing voice, "on whose bank are crowds of lost souls waiting for Charon to ferry them across." But Mr. Arlen wasn't getting a word in edgeways, so he silenced me with an authoritative gesture. He declared I was too high up, and that the stream was really the Styx, and that we were in the Citv of Dis, the lower hell. The terrific heat made me agree. Let it be any hell. It couldn't be hotter, no matter to what depths we went. Back at Jacumba, Jobyna Ralston, who is to Dick Arlen what Beatrice was to my old pal, Dante, joined us for dinner. Jobyna, the bridge champion, was anxiously waiting for us to swallow our meal, so the bridge game could begin. Nighttime was gorgeous. Wallace Beery — faithful man! — drove to a near-by field to fly home every night to his wife. Dick and T talked. Never once did he allude to himself or his work. Not until I commented on both. "I used to worry a lot when I was fighting to get a job," he told me. "The best thing that has come my way is the fact that I have worked up to my present position. I can leave all my worries behind. "When you have no money, no possessions what except the suit you are wearing, you learn what friend ship means, which people are worth while, and w' are fair-weather companions. T was always having worries and troubles in those days. When you're di and out you get all the troubles in the world — or seems." "Wings," which brought Dick such fame with the fans, had just been released. The future looked bright. But T always think there was something symbolic in getting to know him in that infernolike Carriso Goi for Dick was just coming out of a hard journey struggling. Time has gone on, as it usually does, since1 T dodged snakes on the Mexican border. I )iek has achieved more success and is one of the most popular of the newcon to fame. I noted all these happenings with relish, and felt it was about time I paid him a visit at his home in Tuluc.i Lake — now you know what I mean ! Not in the lake, but by it. He was sitting on his lawn under the shade spreading tree. T was greeted with gusto, and we both sat beneath the foliage. Jobyna was away at rehean of a stage play. Tt was nice to see Dick so well placed. His home, of Spanish architecture, is very picturesque. Recalling his joyful outburst a year ago about having left all his worries with his bad-luck era. I remarked that in such sylvan surroundings any one could be content and happy, without a thing to trouble him. "Worries?" Dick almost howled. "Say. I have ttion things to worry me since I gained what success I have. than when I didn't have a dime !" This outburst was startling. But I didn't dare my mouth, for all kinds of insects wire dropping upon me from the overhanging tree. Before I could mutter a protest, a stranger drove up and wanted to show Mr. Arlen some things he bad for sale, and would Mr. len see and possibly buy them? Dick crossed the lawn and stepped over the ! sent the man off again, without a sale, and returned to me. "There you are!" Dick groaned. "It's like that all the time. now. I don't dare sit out in mv own front gard pie come up and speak to me. God knows how ,find out mv address. T suppose they've heard that I live in Tuluca Lake, and go from house to house — to many — until they get here. FS1' ""I