Silver Screen (Nov 1938-Apr 1939)

Irene Dunne keeps a story of a gallant lady among her neverto-be-forgotten treasures. T11F. stars of Hollywood. I found myself thinking one summer day, what memories they must have . . . the young as well as the old . . . lor small < hirley Temple, surely, has more memories right now than most of us accumulate in a life time, what pressed flowers of what fame and glory they have in their Memory Books . . . Talisman roses and rosei tary for remembrance . . . what a multi-coloured tapestry from which to pull the threads of thought . . . and I wondered what their dearest memories would he . . . of Neon lights blazoning their names . . . of flattering crowds and wealth and material possessions ... of previews where their names first sky-rocketed to stardom ... or would they be of candlelight -and moonlight . . . childhood . . . the "little things" which do not glitter but yet are gold ... I fell to wondering . . . what would they name as the most poignant memory of all, the most pre e£ cious, the most unforgettable . . . and why . . . And so, from time to time, as we woe talking, the stars and I, I poked an inquisitive Imc-linger. geuth. I hope, among their memories ... Norma Shearer, the possessor of more triumphs | and conquests and wealth of many kinds than you or I could hope to have in twenty rich reincarnations said to me, tears in her eyes, "... of all my memories? Oh, I can answer that. For all the memories which are most precious to me belong with Irving. And, of them all, the most precious is knowing that I knew how much I loved him while he was here. So many times, I am afraid, we do not realize how much we love someone near to us until it is too late. That bitterness, at least, is spared me. For I can and I do cherish the thought that I knew how happy we were, knew how much I loved Irving, realized the preciousness of every moment we had together while he was here . . . there never has been, there never will be a memory more poignant than this. Because without it I would face utter desolation." When Norma told me this I had a premonition that the memories of the stars would come, for the most part, from their hearts; would have little to do with fame and limelight and the riches which can be touched and seen and spent. I remembered, then, how Mary Pickford once said to me "my mother's eyes when she looked at me ... I have had a rich and varied life, but no memory is so dear to me as this ..." I thought of how Jean Harlow said to me, in the year before she passed on, "If I should die this year I know what memories would warm me most . . . my mother's selfless love and service above all, of course . . . and then the remembrance of the little humble tasks people have clone for me, those 'little things' which, alone, make it possible for us to do the socalled 'big', spectacular things ... I would forget, I think, the things they call 'fame' and would remember how this one ironed my clothes for me, how my meals were planned foi me, how Blanche, my maid, would stay on the set with me, half the night through, if necessary . . . the errands that were run for me, the stitches that were taken . . . the tasks that are unrewarded, as we count rewards ..." Spencer Tracy told me, "During the year I was away from home I used to go to the house and have breakfast with the family almost every morning. One such morning my son asked me to drive him to school. I was late for my call at the studio and couldn't, and reluctantly told him so. And then he said 'You know, Dad, I think that a girl belongs with her mother but a boy belongs ivith his Dad." I guess I knew right then and there that I'd never forget charplays Were Ronald Colman in the rags of Francois Villon, the acter he in "If I King." Colman has a little incident of his childhood always fresh his memory 30 In Hollywood/ Where Every Day Brings Disap= pointment Along With Its JoyS/ The PI ayers Hold AAany Remembrances Dear. In the book of happy moments, Loretta Young's first romance trails clouds of glory. Silver Screen