Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Jul 1929)

57 I^dti?hi ^Elxa ScKallert they even assume the names of some of the leading personalities for screen purposes. What is more, it probably helps to make them remembered at the casting office. Mourning Helpmeets. "Microphone widows !" That's a new one. And believe us, it has a pathetic meaning. So, at any rate, say the wives of a number of Paramount's leading actors, who have found their home life turned topsy-turvy by the working schedules at that studio. Ever since fire destroyed the sound stages on the Paramount lot, the leading players in talking pictures have been forced to work at night, and sometimes for long hours in the bargain. Home and social duties keep the wives busy in the daytime, while professional obligations keep the husbands away in the evenings. So domestic life just isn't in those households for the time being. Neil Hamilton, who was among the victims, therefore decided that since there were grass widows, golf widows, and various others, he might as well coin the new phrase "microphone widows." And it has become duly popular. Footlight Notables. Interest in the advent of stage players has been genuinely intensified by the arrival of Peggy Wood and Basil Rathbone. The former is playing in "The Wonder of Women," and the latter in "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney." Miss Wood is a capable actress, who has appeared in both dramatic attractions and musical shows. Rathbone achieved a conquest in "The Command to Love." We saw them both on the sets at the Metro-Goldwyn studio, and were rather impressed with their seeming adaptability to the film medium. Rathbone had one previous adventure in pictures, "The Masked Dancer," made several years ago with Mae Murray, and Miss Wood played opposite Will Rogers in a film ten years ago. Iris Ashton doesn't have to worry about her costume for the "Fox Movietone Follies," because it's painted on her. The Fatal Three Again. It's enough to make any one superstitious— this continual repetition of trios of deaths. The names added to the fatal scroll recently are Frank Keenan, Casson Ferguson, and William Russell. Keenan was the veteran of the trio. of age, he was in his the most successful of He made his debut un Seventy years prime one of screen actors. der the old Ince regime, his most famous performance, perhaps, being in "The Coward," which brought Charles Ray into his earliest triumph. Keenan had appeared infrequently in recent years, but was widely known to fans. Doris Dawson illustrates her own way of breaking into the movies, but doesn't advise you to try it. Ferguson was only thirty-eight years of age, and there was a bitterly tragic note in his passing, since both he and his wife were victims of death-dealing illness at the same time. They died within a day of each other, and the funeral services for both were held together. William Russell, who was about forty, was the husband of Helen Ferguson. They had been very happily married for several years. His passing was very sudden, and his wife, who was filling a stage engagement in San Francisco, returned just a few hours too late to be with him before his life ended. Russell was for a long time a star with Fox, and later achieved a distinct success in the role of the battling sailor in "Anna Christie." He had many friends in the colony. Toward Golden Goal. Forty years married ! Now let the pessimists croak about the ephemeral quality of all professional matches. A pleasant exception is furnished by Mr. and Mrs. George Fawcett. They can begin to look toward their golden-wedding anniversary. In case you are curious to know what Mrs. Fawcett looks like, it might be mentioned that she appears in "Innocents of Paris." Her husband is known for his numerous impersonations of character roles, usually with ample mustachios. Ruth a Theater Fan. Ruth Chatterton is scarcely a stay-athome. Indeed, we catch glimpses of her everywhere. She seems to love the theater, especially, and attends every play that is produced. Also the opera.