Hollywood (1941)

Tommy Harmo Invadei Hollywood By ERNEST BELL Tommy Harmon, AH-American football flash, hits the Hollywood line in Columbia's Harmon of Michigan. Tommy denies any heavy romance, but he's quite a hit with the ladies, as the picture at the left proves "Hollywood girls are such little squirts!" said Tommy Harmon. The great all-time, Ail-American football star made the statement with awe and admiration, his alert blue eyes not missing a trick as he gazed around the Hollywood Brown Derby. "On the screen, all the girls look about six feet tall. It was a shock to find them so tiny. The only tall girl I've met is Gail Patrick, and she never impressed me as being very tall on the screen. It's a bit confusing." Mr. Harmon had just finished his first movie, an epic called — of all things — Harmon of Michigan. And you can bet your bottom dollar that Mr. Harry Cohn and the other Columbia stockholders will beam all over when they see the box-office returns. The fabulous Tommy will attract not only the sports fans, but the kids, to whom he ranks with Captain Marvel and the Lone Ranger. It's his first venture into the professional cinema, of course, but he's posed for thousands of feet of newsreel film during his meteoric career, and the camera doesn't terrify him one little bit. "They didn't try to make me act," said Tommy with a disarming grin. "I was just my natural self — or as natural as I could be with all that make-up on my face. I was very lucky in having such a swell director and crew, because they didn't expect too much, and were very patient with me. So was Anita Louise, the leading lady — and such a beautiful girl!" Girls again. All right, Mr. Harmon. "I had an awful time getting a date when I first got out here," he confessed. "I didn't know many people — and had the dickens of a time finding a girl who would go dancing with me. But — •" he smiled blissfully, "I got acquainted after a while, and I've had a fine time." Tommy met some fine people like Ann 56 Sothern and Roger Pryor, the George Murphys, Cesar Romero and the entire Crosby tribe. Of course the latter were practically old friends. Bing had been one of Harmon's earliest boosters, and was the first radio star to present him to a waiting world. Tommy surprised everyone with his easy, assured delivery. He seemed a veteran at the mike. When questioned, the football hero admitted that he had been studying dramatics and speech at Michigan, along with his other studies. He had an idea that he might become a radio announcer and commentator when he left college. The Crosbys were fascinated. Bing immediately started pulling wires to have Tommy screen-tested at Paramount, and brother Everett Crosby promptly became his professional manager. But shortly after Harmon returned to Ann Arbor, Columbia stepped in with a handsome bid for the young man's services, with an option for more pictures if the first one clicks. And he signed. Said Tommy, sagely: "You know, Hollywood isn't as hard-boiled as I had heard it would be. Everyone has been swell to me, and I haven't seen any of the backbiting and jealousy that I was assured was on every hand. Take Bing Crosby, for instance. I've never heard him say one disparaging remark about anyone. Hollywood's no different from Ann Arbor. More pretty girls, perhaps — but the people are not unalike." Dancing, admitted Mr. Harmon, was one of his favorite sports, next to football. He's typically modern in his 22year-old musical tastes, and collects Tommy Dorsey and — yep! — Bing Crosby records. For a time in school he played the trumpet and drums, but football — not to mention track and basketball — interfered with his practicing. There was also a little matter of study ing to be considered. Tommy's grades — and this has always been a source of great pride to the University of Michigan — were always among the highest in his class! If it hadn't been for the gridiron, he might have ranked with the college intellectuals. He's a smart boy, this Harmon. He belonged to every honor society on the Michigan campus. Tommy started playing football shortly after he started high school in Gary, Indiana, where he grew up — although he was born in Chatsworth, Illinois, on Sept. 28, 1919. "I was pretty punk when I first started," he told us, "but I got stuck on a girl who gave me the needle in no uncertain fashion. She said, 'Look, bud, I want a real football player!' That made me sore, and I got in and worked like the dickens." So a girl was responsible for the great career of Tommy Harmon? "Gosh, no," he said. "Everyone just took it for granted that I'd be a good athlete. My three older brothers were all top-notchers. Louis was on the championship basketball teams of Purdue during their big years of 1932-'33-'34. Harold was also at Purdue, the sprint champion of the Big Ten. And Gene was the captain of the basketball team at Tulane for two years." His brothers weren't particularly encouraging, Tom says. "They used to stand by and watch me getting beat up," he said. "I had to fight my own battles — they wouldn't lift a finger to help me." But Tommy understands them, and loves them even more for it. "My parents made plenty of sacrifices for us kids," he said, "and I'll always feel that my first duty is to them." Any heavy romance in the offing, Mr. Harmon? Tommy grinned. "No," he said, "and I don't think I'd find it in Hollywood. Romance out here seems to be so temporary. I want mine to last." !|