Silver Screen (Nov 1938-Apr 1939)

Left — Marjorie W e a v e r in "Hold That Co-ed," in a scene with one of the greatest actors in the whole world. And that raises her score. Two Girls From The North And Two Southern Belles In A Race For Stardom. Down in Kentucky and Tennessee, between which states Marjorie divided her time, the little Weaver gal devoted her energies to trying to stick to the back of one of her father's thirty horses. He owned a livery stable, and Majorie had her choice of any of his horses that weren't hired out for the day. By the time she was six, she could ride with the best of 'em and won honors in more than one horse show. For her part, Nan Grey was firmly resolved to be a newspaper woman when she grew up in Houston, Texas, and out of school composed the most lurid and fantastic adventures on paper. Little indication, here, that in days to come each would win laurels for her acting in Hollywood, that they would be rivals for fame and popularity in a hotly contested race. In the event you do not readily place each of the four girls . . . Lana Turner was the girl killed in the early part of Mervyn LeRo\'s "They Won't Forget," whose murder motivated the plot. And Hollywood's been raving about her ever since. Lucille Ball added to the zest of "Stage Door," as the hardboiled sister who teamed with Ginger Rogers in the boarding house. She enacted the title role in "The Affairs of Annabel." Marjorie Weaver walked away with all honors in "Second Honeymoon," as the angel child always getting into trouble: and appeared opposite Warner Baxter in "I'll Give a Million." Nan Grey played one of the "Three Smart Girls," Deanna Durbin's initial film, and was leading lady in "Love In a Bungalow." LTniversal thinks she's some pumpkins. Remember 'em? Of course, you do . . . but in the future, and not so distant, either, you'll see far more of them. Until she arrived in Hollywood, after having lived in various towns in the Northwest and San Francisco, Lana Turner had planned a fashion designing career. Upon the death of her father. Lana and her mother left San Francisco for Hollywood, not, as you might suspect, for the movies but for Mrs. Turner's health. How Lana entered pictures was purely accidental. She had skipped a typewriting class at Hollywood High School, and was in the drugstore across the street when a newspaperman chanced to see her at the counter. He managed an introduction, convinced her she should meet a friend of his, an actor's agent. The agent, enthusiastic at the possibilities of this golden girlshe is that, you know— was certain he had a "find" in his hands. It happened that Mervyn LeRoy, the director-producer, was "They Won't Forget" had the ring of prophecy, for they (meaning all of us, of course) never did. Lana Turner was accepted and the chariot of her career started upward. looking for a sixteen-yearold screen novice for the role of Mary Clay in his "They Won't Forget." The agent hurried the school girl to LeRoy 's office and arranged for a test. When LeRoy saw this test, along with those of some twentyothers, Lana's girlish wholesomeness was so marked that he signed her immediately for the role that startled the natives upon the film's release. The rest is history. Although she acted occasionally in college theatricals at the University of Indiana, from which she was graduated, it never occurred to Marjorie Weaver to turn thespian. It remained for her roommate and best friend, Judy Parks, to pave the way that eventually led to Hollywood. A magazine was conducting a beauty contest, the winner to receive a dance scholarship in New, York. Judy sent on her friend's photograph, and Marjorie won, just like that. After all, she had been voted her school's most beautiful girl four [Continued on page 68] for November 1938 27