The Exhibitor (1951)

SS-4 STUDIO SURVEY SHE CHOSE ACTING The legal profession lost a potential headliner but filmdom acquired a star when Paula Raymond decided to answer the call of Hollywood. Law lost its prettiest potential attorneyat-law when lovely Paula Raymond decided to switch to dramatics. That she would have been successful as a lawyer is a foregone conclusion. Considering her ability to deliver words of weight, to assume a dozen different character per¬ sonalities, convincingly, too, no jury would have been beyond the power of this per¬ suasive charm. Many writers have said that the most successful attorneys were those who also would have made great actors had they chosen this for their profession. Born the daughter of a prominent San Francisco attorney, Paula Raymond was headed for such a career when her mother, having had ample opportunity to study this remarkable daughter, decided that, contrary to her husband’s wishes. Paula would be happier with a career in the theatre. The mother was a very wise woman, as this change of course has given the motion picture screen a most talented and versatile actress. Ever since I first saw her on the screen in Metro’s “Adam’s Rib”, I had the yen to say “hello”, and get acquainted, but. somehow, the months slipped by with nothing done about this desire. Now under a long term contract at MGM, Paula Ray¬ mond has appeared in a succession of pictures with progressive success. Her sensitive performance in “Devil’s Door¬ way”, opposite Robert Taylor, brought her to the wide attention of the public, and her fan mail took a great big bounce, which naturally pleased Leo the Lion. Then, the exhibitors, voting in Exhibi¬ tor’s Laurel Awards poll voted her a Topliner New Screen Personality. I now decided that it was high time that I hied myself to the studio, and meet the gal. Another pleasant chore on the agenda was to present her with the Laurel Awards bronze plaque which records this honor for her, even if future honors may pale this. We met in the MGM publicity depart¬ ment, and, joined by Steve Miller, amiable and wideawake trade press contact of that studio, we ambled down to the studio eatery. I can say without any attempt at exaggeration that before we traversed the short distance between the publicity de¬ partment and the dining room, she had been stopped by more than a dozen people, all eager for a word or two with this engaging young lady. Frankly, I didn’t blame them, as being with her takes on the air of a sort of holiday, and who doesn’t like a holiday? At the table, I promptly forgot all the questions I was going to ask, and, for an hour and a half, we just had an honest-togoodness good time. It was easy to see why Metro snagged this flexible actress. Con¬ versation becomes a relaxed and per¬ fectly natural experience. You forget com¬ pletely that there are other people in the room. For an actress with the high ambitions and standards of Miss Raymond, life is indeed no feather bed. She is constantly making demands upon herself seeking to improve her talent. Even beyond the regu¬ lar dramatic chores given her by Lillian When she finds John Lund with Pamela Britten, Miss Raymond angrily crowns the astonished Lund with a bowl of popcorn in this comedy scene from MGM's technicolor musical, "Duchess of Idaho." PAULA RAYMOND Burns, drama coach at the studio, Miss Raymond has acquired the habit of pick¬ ing up any old script she can lay her hands on and enacting some of the better sequences. In this, she is eagerly joined by ambitious actors and actresses, who, like her, are truly desirous of becoming better suited for the big things that lie ahead on their chosen road. These sessions are worth everything, she says, and go a long way toward seasoning her for the real big jobs the studio has in mind. Following her success in “Devil’s Door¬ way”, Miss Raymond played leading roles in “Duchess Of Idaho”, “Crisis”, “Grounds For Marriage”, “Inside Straight”, “The Tall Target”, and the soon-to-be-released “Texas Carnival” and “County Line.” When Metro announced its huge produc¬ tion plans for the coming year, I felt certain that Paula Raymond will be called on to play her part in making this the biggest and bestest year Leo has ever had.— P. M. Miss Raymond is glimpsed with Robert Taylor in a tender scene from MGM's "Devil's Doorway." EXHIBITOR September 5, 1951