Talking Screen (Jan-Aug 1930)

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The Vivid Life Story of Doug, Jr. comfort of a bachelor girl. However, it eventually became and is still the honeymoon palace of this popular pair. Now the Junior Fairbanks are working toward another goal. Their joint savings are going into a building fund, with which they plan to erect their dream home. It will be a larger structure of the English type and it will have broader grounds and gardens. To attain this place their expenses are held to the minimum at which two screen notables can livf.-. They travel to and from their studios in flivver coupes to save the additional costs of operating their two large cars. Their servants consist of a chauffeur, a maid and a cook. Never, since their marriage have the young Fairbanks thrown a parry. In the first place rhey don't care for them. In the second, Hollywood "affairs" are costly. Once or twice a week there are informal dinners at 'El Jodo," the Joan-Doug residence. The guests seldom number more than four — their most intimate friends. WORD of Doug's ability as an author had preceded him to New York when he went there on what turned out to be his wedding trip. During his stay there, he was besieged by publishers' representatives. Two things resulted. A volume of poems written by him over a period of three years will be published during the summer. And he signed a contract with a high-brow magazine for a series of eight articles dealing with the lives of motion picture notables and illustrated with his own caricatures. One of these will cover his Father and Mary Pickford. Another will be on Chaplin, his life-long friend. In his literary work, Joan has been a big help to him. Much of the research work necessary for both his verse and his magazine series has been done by her. JUST as young Doug has looked upon Doug, Sr., as a pal rather than as a father, he thinks of Mary Pickford as a sister instead of as a step-mother. Throughout his boyhood and until his marriage. Junior's own mother has been at his side. Then, too, for years he has towered above the diminutive Mary. In his younger days, he called her "Aunt Mary." But the "Aunt" has long since been dropped. She is just "Mary" to him now. However, Joan continues to use the "Aunt Mary" when she speaks of Miss Pickford. Since the marriage of Doug and Joan, they have spent many happy Sundays and holidays at Pickfair. As a rule, there is tennis on the Pickfair courts, dinner with Dad and Mary and in the evening a family gathering before one of the open fires. Usually they remain there until time to report at their studios on Monday morning. It is seldom that visiting notables are entertained at Pickfair without Doug. Jr., and Joan being among the guests, with a father pointing with pride to some new success gained by his son who has made his way to the top without parental aid or influence. DOUG'S mother once more is a resident of Beverly Hills, having returned from {Continued from page 66] the East after her marriage to Jack Whiting, the actor, which followed closely on that of Doug and Joan. It was her third matrimonial venture. Of his mother, Doug once said: Naturally, we have been very close, but the tie between us is more binding than that between the average mother and son, because of the privations we have faced together since I was a child. Of course, we had our prosperous times, but most of our years were a struggle. "It has always been my mother's ambition ever since she and Dad parted that someday I would be a great star. But I couldn't hold out very much encouragement to her until the talkies came along. I think the happiest moments of her life have been those since I won a foothold in pictures and took a real interest in my work." DOUG'S heart just wasn't in the movies until he played that featured role in The Barker with Milton Sills, Betty Compson and Dorothy Mackaill, because, he often said, it required no great ability to be a silent actor. But The Barker opened his eyes to a new and fascinating technique and aroused his enthusiasm, for it was his first dialogue production. Following on the heels of this picture, however, he won new glory in the "quiets" when he scored in a principal role in Our Modern Maidens. But this was not alone due to his new found love for Hollywood's principal industry. Here he was playing in support of his fiancee, Joan. 1IFE moved rapidly for young Doug after ^ that picture. His marriage followed within a few weeks, and, back in Hollywood, he found waiting him his four-picture contract with First National. Under that banner he made Fast Life, in which he was teamed with Loretta Young. So successful was this combination that it was continued in The Careless Age, which Doug refers to as his favorite role to date. Followed The Forward Pass and Spring Is Here. The box office returns began to pour in and before Spring is Here had been completed, First National handed him the longterm contract and eventually was to lead him into the cinema heavens as a full-fledged star. Under this new agreement, he made Loose Ankles and contributed his bit to "Warner Brothers' The Show of Shows. MEANWHILE, he found time between pictures to accept another stage engagement and he was cast as the star of The Youngest at one of the Hollywood theatres. Time, talkies and marriage had instilled in him a courage that he never before had displayed before the footlights. He was acclaimed by critics and public alike. Then came Doug's "big moment". First National announced that his next picture would be Sin Flood and that it would be his first starring vehicle. I was on the set awaiting his arrival on his first day in the new production. One of the emoluments of stardom is a portable dressing-room on the sidelines. Doug's new one was rolled in as I waited for him. On the door was his name and beneath the name, a star. Two studio executives and Frank Lloyd, who was to direct, were nearby. Doug arrived, greeted them and announced: 1 11 be with you as soon as I touch up this make-up." With that he hurried off to a corner, opened his make-up box and began dapping yellow powder on his face. "Hi, there!'" shouted Director Lloyd. Why not use your dressing room for that?" " Haven't one," answered Doug and he went on with his task. "Take a look," said Lloyd, ordering one of the electrical crew to turn a spotlight on the ponable. DOLfG did. He espied the name and the star beneath it. His face beamed. Gee, that's great. " And he rushed over and shook the director by the hand. "Gosh, I never thought I'd rate one of those things. " It just goes to prove that one can 'come back'," Doug told me afterward. I asked him what he meant. "Well, I was a star when I was thirteen and I got 'fired' because I wasn't any good," he replied. "There's the proof that I'm a star again." IT WAS in the new dressing room, later that day. that Doug told me of his hopes for the future — his future and Joan's. " I'm not a pessimist," he said, "but screen stardom today is short-lived at the best. I doubt if any of us will have the years on top of the heap that have been the good fortune of Dad and Mary and Chaplin. That's why I m looking ahead — pushing my writing, for that's what I think I shall do after the final studio check is handed me. "Joan and I want to hang on to our money — invest it. A home is always an investment, so we plan to get the kind we want the first thing. Then we want some babies. Joan loves children. So do I. Joan says six, but I'd be satisfied with two or three. "They may not mean so much when you are young, but in the mellow days they mean a great deal. I don't fear divorce in our case. I think our happiness will be lasting, for we have common interests and we made sure that we were in love before we discussed marriage. Then, too, children help to protect the marriage ties. " I would hate to think of a time when Joan and I might part. Divorce is bad at best. But if there are children, it's worse. It is the children who are the real sufferers." SOMEDAY, Doug would like to play L'Aiglon on the silversheet. This desire was expressed by him early in his film career. He is an enthusiast on the subject of Napoleon and all things relating to the First Empire. He would also like to do The jest as a talkie. Doug is very frank when he says he doesn't care for work in any way shape or form, but that he does it only as a mattet of necessity. "But when one has to work, thei ■ ■ c should work hard and well,"' says he. 80