Hollywood (1938)

# Itittd LOCATION his turn, received many requests fer pointers in acting in the movies, but forgot that question in the interest of his conversation about his famous little charges. The talk with the "little doctor" came later in the day, and hours intervening were packed with such absorbing events that no reporter could be blamed for missing one un it has been two years since the five little girls made Reunion. They were babies, then, and naturally no effort was mads to plan any special parts for them in the film. Now they are talking,' so in the new film they will have rather more to do with the plot and will be revealed as singing stars, in addition. Above, the house where the famous babies were born, four years ago, and in which the parents still live important follow-up question. The first contingent of the Twentieth Century -Fox had been in Callander only three days when I took off from the Newark Airport in a driving rainstorm to see how the quintuplets were handling their parts in the new feature length film, Five of a Kind. The vast outlines of greater New York fell out of sight almost immediately and the big plane swept smoothly through thin grey mist, tossing hundreds of miles behind it in a few hours. The speed and comfort of the flight on the powerful transport marked the sharp contrast between the overwhelming wealth, the nervous enterprise, bustling uproar of the biggest city on this continent and the primitive peace of the little village tucked away in the lake country of backwoods Ontario. AUGUST, 1938 | Never were parts more painlessly learned. The children do not even know that they are busily preparing for a picture that will carry their images to millions of people. They love to sing, and their repertory of songs in French is quite large. Their chief contribution to Five of a Kind will be a pleasant jingle dealing with their unbelievable similarity of appearance. "Who am I?" chirps one. "You're Cecile . . . no . . . you're Annette," sing the others. "No, I'm Annette, so you're Yvonne," protests another, and so the song goes. The children love it, and put a good deal of spirit into the rehearsals. The song is being learned, along with others, as part of their well-organized routine of work and play. One of the nurses sings it as she plays it on the piano. The children repeat the words with her. Before they have a chance to grow tired or bored, the tune is changed, or the singing lesson gives way to sandpile digging. ■ On this particular morning, Herbert Leeds was responsible for breaking up his own rehearsal. Ever since his arrival in Callander, Leeds had been "conducting" rehearsals by sauntering quietly into the playground with Jean Hersholt and Dan Clark and sitting for an hour in the sunlight while the children went through the regular routine of the day. This system had been wisely decided upon to accustom the little girls to the presence of strangers, so that the sudden introduction of many new people would not be upsetting to their carefully controlled lives, and so that they would not be self-conscious when actual filming started. On this particular morning, all five were sitting in a lawn swing when Leeds passed by the sentry at the stout gate, and dropped down [Continued on page 57} Above, Director Herbert Leeds and Llewellyn Miller inspect the washing in the Dionne side yard Right, Jean Hersholt, Azalee Leeds, wife of the director, and cameraman Daniel Clark show the editor of HOLLYWOOD Magazine sights of Callander