Glamour of Hollywood (Apr 1939 - May 1941 (assorted issues))

70 JULY, 1939 GRIITnER Don’t be a Susy-Droopy ! Gantner’s inner bra maintains that proud uplifted look, .slims your waist and hips to accent your beautiful, high bust! Glamourizing velvet Lastex, $5. 95. Other Floating Bra suits, $ 3 . 95 and up at smart shops. W rite for sty le book. GANTNER & MATTERN CO., Dept. R San Francisco 1410 Broadway, New York Bee Neat T€ n Dfi I L WAX Don t lot an untidy hairline spoil your appearance! F ragrant, non-greasy, easy-toapply BEE-NEA I I endril W ax gives you that perfectly groomed look al¬ ways. Use it on every style coif¬ fure to keep stray hair in place the nape, sides of head and lorehead. Use it for longer lasting curls. shampoo. Guaranteed. 35c Each at L vailiny Department Stores ant Beatify Salons CHARLES K. HILL 67 Pineapple Street • Brooklyn, New York He makes story-tales come true (Continued from page 27) theatre. As film executives or Mr. Jacobson sit here, the hopeful talent enters the other half of the room. Her side of the room is lighted. As she steps under the spotlight she is brought into great prominence. She cannot see those in the other half of the room — it is in complete darkness — nor can she hear those in that part of the room. Under the spotlights, before the microphones she goes into the audi¬ tion — singing, acting or merely talking. Mr. Jacobson sits at the control board and by pressing a key, he may talk to her, give her instructions. You see him on the lower left of page 26 at the control board. You see an appli¬ cant, almost as the studio watchers see her in the little room, on the lower right of page 27. In this particular case Miss Hayward posed. I saw no such audition room any¬ where else in Hollywood. It is not an easy “testing laboratory” hut it is very fair and very competent. I would haz¬ ard that many a girl has gone no fur¬ ther than this audition room — a far kinder halt than after a screen test. After we saw this room, we went to catch up with the little girl from Chicago. She was in the hairdresser’s hands and was in a state of numb¬ ness. Too much had happened in too few days for her to grasp. Jacobson would have been up there even had I not been on tour. He checks every de¬ tail of make-up and costume for each one of his potentials. Moreover he is a combination godfather, nurse and stern disciplinarian for each one. It was interesting to watch how he alter¬ nated between keeping this girl keyed up so that she could give a tense per¬ formance and relaxing her with off¬ hand compliments about her beauty. Nervous as she was, she could still be aware that it was almost supper time. But there was no food for young Jane Webb that evening before her test. “You’re always sluggish after you eat and you could afford to take off a lot of pounds anyhow” was her men¬ tor’s kind but firm reply to her request for food. The three of us did go to the commissary for a bowl of hot soup to stave off the worst pangs of hun¬ ger. Our potential star, the lovely black-haired, blue-eyed, nineteen-year old sat there — very subdued and obvi¬ ously going over her lines. All through that thin meal Jacobson would fire cues at her to see if she had thoroughly memorized her part. At seven we went to a big sound stage. As we were walking over Jacob¬ son told me that he had not rehearsed her with any sound or camera equip¬ ment. In this particular case he felt she would do better if she were not too aware of the technical end of movie making. Up until the very moment of the test he scolded her. “Get some en¬ thusiasm, a little sparkle into that per¬ sonality. Why don’t you act more alive? Don’t you dare go lazy on me.” These were his gentle words of encourage¬ ment. The same was true through the rehearsals. When the last rehearsal was over, Jacobson did a quick change. “That was wonderful, baby. You’re go¬ ing to be great. You’ve got it — now show ’em.” Then he turned to the twentyodd necessary technicians — the lighting men, the prop men, the sound experts. “This means a lot to this kid. Please give her every bit of help you can.” The short scene unfolded. Jane was playing a little New England girl about the time of 1870. Jacobson had skillfully picked a part in which her age and naivete would be at their best. Even her costume — a tight little bod¬ ice and a very full skirt — helped to conceal that plumpness which the studio can so quicky take off but which might make her selfconscious in a test. It seemed incredible as we watched the re¬ markably dramatic performance that this child had never been an actress. After it was over — those few min¬ utes that were a decisive factor for a whole life — Jacobson went up to the youngster and gently told her she’d done her best. Then began her period of wait¬ ing. It took two weeks before enough studio heads had seen the test to make a decision. It is pleasant to report that Jane Webb won her contract. What her first picture will be is as yet unde¬ cided. But she has a contract, and that is half the battle. This whole technique of talent¬ finding, which varies from studio to studio all over the whole of Holly¬ wood, is fascinating. It is unfortunate