Picture Play Magazine (Jul - Dec 1929)

29 eaajps Fanny the Fan chatters of Hollywood's new restaurant that rivals Montmartre, and bewails the absence of newcomers crowded out by the influx of stage people. such a brave venture for her, and there were so many times when she wondered it her public would stand for it." And stand for it is just what they are doing, though I'd hardly mention that. "I wonder if it is really true this time that she and Douglas plan to make a picture together ?" Dear, dear, Fanny still believes in publicity announcements. Will she never grow a little skeptical ? I wonder sometimes why none of the younger stars ever learn from the Fairbankses how to get reams of publicity year after year between pictures. They do it by announcing one year that they arcto take a real vacation and go on a world tour. That makes the public rush to see their current picture for fear there won't be any others for a long time. Sometimes they get as far as France, then they come home, make another picture, and announce that they will make a picture together. But first each makes one without the other. Then they announce again that they arc going on a world tour. To make it news the second time — it seems more like the fourth — they add all sorts of homely, little details about how they expect to rough it. They announce how they plan to travel in an unpretentious car and go off the main roads, like the gypsies-o. with Mary washing out Doug's shirts in a roadside stream. What they actually do when they get to Europe is to rough it in some place about as primitive as the Duke of Alba's castle : but never mind, they've had the publicity— reams of it. Well, this year they're back to the costarring gag. And to make it a little more startling, they've announced it would be something Shakespearean, "Taming of the Shrew" most likely. Well, maybe they will. And maybe they won't announce again next year that they are going on a world tour. But if they do the first and don't the second, I'll be a little disappointed. They will have spoiled the greatest space-grabbing record ever based on nebulous plans. "You know, Mary seems to be getting much more fun out of life than she used to," Fanny broke in on my reverie. "She's become quite an aviation enthusiast. She and Douglas and Lillian Gish made a tour of the Southwest a while ago, visiting various points of interest. I doubt if she will ever be Mary Pickford is as pleased as a child over her triumph in "Coquette." t Hi Photo by Louise Alice Day will play opposite Ted Lewis in his jazz picture. come air-minded and go in for aviation seriously, the way some of the girls are doing. Bebe Daniels and Patsy Ruth Miller are taking flying lessons, and are apt to get their pilots' licenses any day. Ruth Elder is flying again. Her vaudeville and picture contracts forbade her making any solo flights, but ^j now that she is free lancing she can take up flying again. "But it is Ben Lyon who is really doing the most toward promoting interest in aviation. Every Sunday he gives his services to the American .Aircraft field, where he learned to fly. He takes passengers up for flights — tickets one to five dollars — and the crowd waiting for a chance to fly with him looks like the gang outside a de luxe first night. Even though he gets to the field early in the morning and makes one flight after another all day, twilight comes all too soon, and there is always a line of people who have to be turned away until the next Sunday. "Ben is making a picture called 'The Flying Marine,' for Columbia, and he is doing all Ii i s flying in it. "Bebe spends most of her time in the air now, because very soon she has to settle down to work. She is to make four talking pictures for RKO." "If I know Bebe at all — and I think I do — 1 bet she will wheedle the producers into shooting most of her scenes at night, so that she can fly by day." "But even Bebe has to steep sometimes," Fanny protested. But not much, as any of her friends will testify.