Screenland (Nov 1950-Oct 1951)

nonfeatured performance of the season. "Come another season and Broadway scuttlebutt has it that, due to illness, Jean Arthur is out of the cast of the new play the much-touted-in-advance play, 'Born Yesterday,' scheduled to open four or five days hence in Philadelphia. For the part opposite Paul Douglas, that of a witless courtesan, i e., dumb blonde, every actress over the age of six on Broadway was being paged, said scuttlebutt, by the play's justifiably frantic author and director, Garson Kanin. Someone thought of me, too. I think it was Mainbocher, the dressmaker, de luxe. 7 got there first, that's all there was to it. Just plain luck that someone thought of me and that I got there before anyone else got there and that I happened to be able to do it. I kept on doing it," said Judy, "for four-going-on-five years. "Then, luck again, although I didn't recognize it as such at the time, the part of the dumb blonde in the MGM picture, 'Adam's Rib' was offered me. So little, indeed, did I think of the offer as luck that I refused to do it for the longest time. T won't go back there,' I said, and kept saying, 'I won't, I won't!' " 'But the fabulous movie money,' friends said, 'doesn't that appeal to you?' "Remembering that one fruitless year of idleness, of beachcombing, of the face on the cutting room floor, I'd say, with a shudder, 'Not that much.' "But MGM is a big, strong lion and I," Judy laughed, "am but a poor, weak woman so I went to Hollywood to play the dumb blonde in 'Adam's Rib,' which starred Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy and it couldn't have happened to a more astonished girl! It was fun. It was great. Working with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy would melt the ice in the veins of the most anti-Hollywood actor even born to the mantle of Hamlet. I never met anyone, in New York or in Hollywood, who has so much selflessness as Katharine Hepburn. And Spencer was so easy, so genial, he relaxed me. I really had a good time. "Such a good time that by the time these words are in print, I'll be back in Hollywood playing opposite Broderick Crawford (who has, in the picture, the role Paul Douglas played on the stage) in 'Born Yesterday.' And very happy about the whole thing. Very gratified, truth to tell, that I got the part. It's a repercussion of," Judy grinned, "my repercussive luck. "Moreover, I've signed a contract with Columbia Pictures. The whole point of signing the contract was, however, that I was able to get a one-picture-a-year deal. I'm now a convert-to, not a hater-of Hollywood but I wouldn't be away from my husband and my home for more than the two months, sometimes less, it takes to make a picture. (We finished 'Adam's Rib' in thirty-nine days.) My family, all my best friends and all my interests are in New York. In fact, I'm that rare bird, a born New Yorker — luck again — and to leave New York is, to me, like losing a leg. "Besides, I am, primarily, a stage actress. I'm also one of those actresses who needs an audience. Being a comedienne I need the laughs, need to hear the laughs while I'm working which, when you're making a movie you can't hear since no one can laugh, though you're splitting their sides, while the cameras are grinding. "Only one life to live, enjoy it, say I." said Judy. "Enjoy your work, your play, your home, enjoy yourself — no dumb blonde would be dumb enough to think otherwise, now would she?" asked the blonde who isn't, oh, indeed, she isn't, dumb! Because Christmas is your own gayest season this latest ally to real loveliness by Ebb makes its debut at a most opportune moment. Longfella, that gives almost twice as many applications. • SWITCHING from Christmas gifts to Ebb may seem like a long jump, for Ebb is a completely new anti-perspirant and deodorant. We don't really expect you to go out and buy it for anyone but yourself, though you may actually want to when you know more about it. You see, Ebb has some new scientific ingredient in its formula that makes just three drops of this smooth white liquid all anyone needs to use for complete twentyfour-hour under-arm protection. Miraculously enough, Ebb has no lasting fragrance of its own to interfere with your favorite perfume. For A Lovely Christmas Continued from page 51 and stays on flatteringly, minus retouching. The new case has a Dreamflower design done in gold on the outside cover, inside there's a full view mirror, threequarters ounce of Angel Face, plus a satin backed velour puff. • WE'VE included two nail kits in our list of discoveries because they fill such basic needs. The Dura-Gloss kit comes in Christmasy red, green, or navy blue, and holds two popular shades of nail polish, Dura-Coat, emery board, orange stick and cotton picker. Cutex' notably compact little leatherette traveling case has all the essentials a man would want — fine encouragement too for teenage grooming. • BECAUSE perfume is such an unfailing source of feminine delight it's more than nice to find that romantic Djer-Kiss perfume in a lovely chandelier bottle to dress up a dressing table long after the snowman package is gone. 72 AS another short-cut to a man's heart, nothing could be more surefire than the after shave lotion and hair tonic that he's known and liked for years — Pinaud's Lilac Vegetal and Eau de Quinine. These come in special gift boxes; packed singly or in a pair. The bottles have a convenient non-slip contour that's as modern as the handsome wood knobs that top them. However, if your man clings with affection to the design of the famous long-necked original bottle, all is not lost. Pinaud still has them for him. • AS to the perpetually desirable new lipstick (stocking stuff er second to none) the Flame-GIo two-lipstick technique doubles your opportunity for giving pleasure. In case you haven't heard about this — the idea is to apply one shade of lipstick to the rim of the lips and fill in with a different tone. The Flame-GIo people have lipsticks in all shades, in the regular size golden metal case or in a sturdier, taller edition, called What Hollywood Itself Is Talking About Continued from page 17 in the clam-eating contest thrown at the Captain's Table, one of the seafood eatingest restaurants in town. Betty's unfavorite food is clams. So Roddy MacDowall sent her a birthday present — two dozen clams. * * * Gene Kelly's danced with some of the most delectable dishes in show biz — Rita Hay worth, Judy Garland, V era-Ellen, and French ballerina Leslie Caron. His new dancing partner in "An American In Paris" is named Mary Young — and she is 63 years young. * * * Vic Mature never lets life cool off, but he'll have to be quiet for a while. On location in Montana for "Wild Winds," a picture about forest fires, met his match in a motorcycle he was riding. He — and it — went over an embankment, strained copious ligaments, and is out of the picture, or any other picture for some time. Bet the motorcycle got banged up, too.