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

Despite the cry for new faces, the public — which is you — goes right on patronizing the same stars INCREDIBLE as it may seem. Clark Gable | has been in the movies for ten years and a top favorite for most of that time. James Cagney has been in pictures from the first gangster film on — which was made about a year after the Crash. As for Wallace Beery — he's been playing tough good men and bad tough men since Jackie Cooper stood kneehigh to a sombrero. Contrary to general belief, the public is not fickle with its favorites. Given half a chance and a few decent scenarios, it will go right on worshiping at the same shrines until the objects of its devotion are eligible for Social Security. Political officeholders get shorter shift from their electorates. All the above named veterans — Gable, Cagney and Beery — were on Motion Picture Herald's list of the Ten Biggest Money-Making Stars of 1940. (The M. P. H. is a weekly magazine for theater owners and exhibitors.) Norma Shearer, star of the box office bo¬ nanza “Escape,” was a star in silents — -and so was Joan Crawford. There are as many come¬ backs as new faces. Tw o years ago a rash, if not rude, movie theater-chain owner gave out a list of film personalities to the press, all of w hom he deemed “box office poison.” Among them he named Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn. Miss Dietrich came back with two good movies in a year — “Destry Rides Again” and “Seven Sinners.” The lovely Miss Hepburn, whose picture graces the opposite page, has been poisoning the box office at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in “The Philadelphia Story” for all of six weeks — a record equaled only once before in tbe history of that plush establishment. WHEN a movie star “has it” — the mag¬ ic, indefinable combination of acting, personality and vitamins that starts the fan letters pouring in — he or she usually keeps it for years. “Age doth not w ither, nor custom stale her infinite variety,” to quote Bill Shake¬ speare, who also has done work for the movies. Although the clamor for new faces is justifiable enough in the long run. it isn't the public that sets it up so much as the pro¬ ducers. They usually w ant youngsters to keep the current favorites from getting magnified ideas of their own importance. Ginger Rogers, for instance, who last year made more money for RKO than any other star, has actually had three separate careers in the movies. At first she played small in¬ genue parts — sailors’ sweethearts, cigarette girls and the like. Then, Fred Astaire hit the movies and Ginger moved into her second career — the nimble-footed musical comedy partner, the light comedienne. Finally, when she and Astaire split, she went back to straight dramatic roles— and the triumphs of “The Primrose Path" and “Kitty Foyle.” EVEN the so-called child stars are veterans. Shirley Temple, who w ill resume picture¬ making soon, has actually been in the movies three-quarters of her life. Both Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, first and last re¬ spectively on the Box Office Big Ten list, have been in the movies for a long time — Mickey for seven years, Judy for five. Charlie Chaplin, Lord knows, can measure the advance of the film industry along with the years he’s been in it. The public, faithful for more than a quarter of a century, applauds “The Great Dictator” not only in America, but in whatever portion of the globe the film is permitted to be shown. Carole Lombard, another top-ranking star (“Mr. and Mrs. Smith” ) , was in the last crop of Mack Sennett bathing beauties. It would take too long to dis¬ cuss supporting players who have lasted down the years. Adolphe Menjou, for example, sup¬ ported Rudolph Valentino in “The Sheik.” All this must seem pretty discouraging to the newcomers who sit around and wonder when the Old Guard is going to give them a place in the sun. But as long as the public wants them — and the public always wants them — the Old Guard dies but never retires. Katharine Hepburn Fresh, beautiful and chic. Miss Hepburn makes her first appearance in Glamour' s portfolio of fullcolor star portraits. The radiant motion pic¬ ture actress is currently starring in "The Philadel¬ phia Story,” in which she appeared on the stage and in which she is making her triumphant return to the screen after an absence of more than two years. 48 CLARENCE BULL