Hollywood (1939)

collide with another plane and possibly kill the two cadets it contained, he had crashed his own ship deliberately. If she lives forever Irene will never forget the words in Vernon Castle's will, in which he bequeathed everything to her "... not only as a token of my deep love and sincere affection, but also in grateful recognition of the happiness which I have enjoyed in your society during all our married life, and the great assistance which you have during all that time rendered to me in my professional work and career." Years later Irene Castle remarried. Unfortunately the marriage was not a happy one. Today, in her middle forty's, the mature, lovely woman whose dancing once electrified the world, busies herself bringing up two children, running her own business, taking care of the nationwide organization she founded twelve years ago to provide for stray dogs. Helping supervise the filming The Castles revived more vividly than ever the memories of her great romance and her professional career with Vernon Castle. And she insisted that every detail of the movie story be portrayed as faithfully and accurately as her memory would allow. Several dance sequences, for instance, were copied from a film made in 1914, showing the Castles in their own home. The lighting and photography were poor, the film itself badly faded. But it served as a model for several dances and costumes used in the current film. H On the clothes subject Irene brooked no interference. She and Ginger and RKO argued for days over the choice of a single gown. Irene insisted it should be a duplicate — frill for frill, bow for bow, line for line, gadget for gadget — of a dress she wore when she danced with Vernon twenty-five years ago. RKO wanted to modernize it. Irene was adamant. "I won't have it changed," she insisted. "It was beautiful then. It's beautiful now." Irene won. The dress you'll see on Ginger may look funny to you at first but Irene is positive it will look beautiful before you've seen it many times on the screen. And she hopes, wistfully, that it may start a new cycle in clothes, even as she hopes the film will revive an old cycle in dancing. Ej Whenever she hears Fred Astaire bristle in defense of the jitterbug mania, she smiles and lets him talk. Because reason, she knows, is on her side and Ginger's. "Jitterbug dancers," she told him, "are bound to break down their arches, ruin their ankles and their entire systems. I don't understand how anyone can stand the strain. As for being pretty, it's anything but graceful. "Sexy? Silly! These jitterbugs don't even have time to think of sex while in the midst of their eerie gyrations. On the contrary, it's so unsexy that possibly its only excuse for existence is as a safety valve for the very young to rid themselves of excess animal energy. "Of course, the modern dance craze can't last. It isn't even practical. It has no real place in dancing. It is a frightening, frightened hysteria. Like primitive dances of the jungle, that's where it belongs— back in the jungle. At worst it's only a fad, like the Charleston was. And the Charleston died." Wise words, those. And, coming from Irene Castle, probably they are prophetic ones. She knows the old dances are best. And she knows, too, that they will come back eventually. For whenever she weakens, she says that she seems to hear the voice of Vernon Castle saying to her the very words he used to say when things were black in their own early life: "Chin up! Chest out! And best foot forward!" DO GIRLS GROW UP TOO SOON IN HOLLYWOOD? Olivia de Havilland thinks so, and she tells you exactly why. Certainly no other actress is better equipped to speak on this subject. Four years ago, she was a little school-girl in a small town in Northern California. Today she handles an income of four figures a week, is a star in her own right, and is associated with distinguished men and women from all parts of the world. You'll find her story in April HOLLYWOOD On the stands March 10 This lovely village in the Mohawk Valley, Cana joharie, N. Y., can truly be called Flavor-Town. It is famous for Beech-Nut flavor and quality. PACKAGES OF GREAT RENOWN GOT THEIR START IN FLAVOR-TOWN All America looks to Flavor-Town (Canajoharie, N. Y.) for fine flavor and quality in chewing gum. Your choice of six different varieties. Refreshing and restful. Beech -Nut Gum One ctf/h*mic&5 OOODAafoft Visit the Beech-Nut Building at the New York World's Fair. If you drive, stop at Canajoharie, N.Y. and see how Beech-Nut products are made. 51