Picture Play Magazine (Jul - Dec 1929)

62 They Got What They Wanted, But Sally Phipps, a piquant beauty, played leads in several popular pictures. This Hugh Allan created a furore in "Dress Parade," but his fans look vainly for him nowadays. thelmess in two pictures. tins engage ment finished, her films began to be shown and since then Lina has done nothing worthy of note. Apparently a case of a lucky break, with nothing to back it tip. Mary Duncan came to Fox fresh from her stage triumph as Poppy, in "The Shanghai Gesture." She was starred in her first picture as well as in subsequent ones — "The River" and "Our Daily Bread," both with Charles Farrell, and "Through Different Eyes" and "The City Girl." When "The Four Devils" was first shown as a silent picture in New York she was starred above the title of the picture, Janet Gaynor, Barry Norton, Charles Morton, and Nancy Drexel being merely featured. The picture was withdrawn to have talking sequences added and when it was released a second time, Janet was starred and Mary Duncan was only featured with the others. As this goes to press she is working in "Conquistador" as a featured player, but her breaks have meant nothing to her, for the public and the critics have never accepted her as a first-rate screen actress. Betty Bronson got all the publicity in the world when she obtained the coveted role of Peter Pan and created a sensation a few years ago. Mary Brian and Esther Ralston were merely members of the cast. The latter two rose to the heights without the usual breaks, while Miss Bronson dropped from sight for a time, eventually coming back to score another bull's-eye in "A Kiss for Cinderella." This seems to indicate that she is a one-part actress and there are, unfortunately not enough of those parts. She disappeared again after the latter picture, nothing much being heard from her save an occasional plaintive aria from one of the horse operas she was making. Suddenly the bell clanged loudly. Betty had hit it a third time supporting Al Jolson, in "The Singing Fool." I expected a starring announcement after that, but nothing happened except a paragraph announcing her departure for Europe on a vacation. She has the reputation of being the most ill-advised girl in pictures. Whether it is that, or the fact that she does not have to take her career seriously, or that she has been shifted from one type of part to another so frequently that the public has never had a chance to classify her, I do not know. But she has never achieved the position to which her distinctive ability entitles her. A similar case is that of Ruth Taylor. When she was exploited in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," you couldn't pick up a magazine or newspaper that didn't have a picture or paragraph about her in it. She was the "find" of the year, according to the studio. However, when the smoke of battle cleared, Alice White was marching serenely toward stardom, while Ruth listened rather vainly for the plaudits expected from her break. Finding film work scarce, she went on the stage and got some good notices. The talking craze hit Hollywood and now she is working in two-reelers for Christie, but it is doubtful if she will ever be able to cash in fully on the break she got. I think the public resented the choice of Ruth Taylor in preference to some of its favorites who were publicized as being very anxious for the role. Possibly this had much to do with the lack of enthusiasm which greeted her per formance in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." Malcolm McGregor got splendid notices for his work in "The Prisoner of Zenda" — better, in fact, than Continued on page 94 Mary Duncan was starred in "The Four Devils" and "The River," but what of it?