Hollywood (1942)

By HELEN HOVER When Bette Davis discovered Richard Travis, Hollywood immediately assigned Helen Hover to get the story which appears on this page. However, Bette pulled a fast one on us, and set to work discovering John Sutton, whose story, written by John Franchey, appears on the opposite page. There seems to be no stopping the Davis lady, for a last minute flash brings word that Bette' s latest "find" is Ernest Anderson, a young Negro singer, who was given a role in Bette's forthcoming picture, "In This Our Life." The Editor | Now to look at strapping sixfoot-two Richard Travis, you'd say he was the last person in the world who needed someone to push him. He's a cross between Joel McCrea, Gary Cooper and Billy Conn — which makes him a fellow who can take care of himself. But the truth must be told: the direct force which changed Richard overnight from a nobody to a coming star, from a mouse to a man, is a nervous little 103-pound blonde named Bette Davis. To show you how trifling are the circumstances on which a person's Fate hinges : If Bette Davis hadn't wanted her steak well-done instead of medium rare one evening, Travis would still be an obscure young hopeful instead of a promising leading man who makes his debut in The Man Who Came to Dinner. Bette and her husband, Arthur Famsworth, were having dinner prior to attending the opening of The Bride Came C.O.D. Bette returned her steak for an extra once-over. That caused a delay of ten minutes and when Bette arrived at the theater she had missed the beginning of the picture. That was to change Richard Travis' life! Ordinarily, Bette leaves right after the main feature, but this time she whispered to Arthur, "Let's sit through the entire show. I want to see the beginning." So they sat through the newsreel. Then a movie short on national defense followed. Bette slumped into her seat. Suddenly, she sat up briskly, her eyes fixed on a good-looking, blond husky on the screen. The next morning Bette walked into the executive office of Warner Brothers and insisted that the young man be given a test for the romantic lead in The Man Who Came to Dinner! Bette has always believed that new talent should be developed, in spite of the fact that such a philosophy might endanger her own security. Her judgment is held high at the studio, so the boy was given a chance. 32 And that is how, one recent morning, Richard Travis happened to be called to the hall phone of the boarding house where he shared a $35 a month apartment with two other fellows, and heard Remembering her own bitter struggle to gain a foothold in Hollywood, Bette Davis goes out of her way to give promising beginners a helping hand. She is shown with one of her discoveries, Richard Travis, who has a fine role in Bette's film, The Man Who Came to Dinner the order to report to Warner Brothers to test for The Man Who Came to Dinner. "Huh?" grunted Richard groggily. But the caller had hung up. Now we must interrupt the little drama here and introduce our bewildered hero. At this point, Richard Travis was one of thousands of handsome young men trying to crash into pictures and getting nowhere. He had come from Paragould, Arkansas, a shy, ambitious small town boy, with no connections and no theatrical background. That morning, just before he received the telephone call, he wrote his folks that he was coming home. He wasn't the type who looked like an actor, anyway. A brief appearance in a high school play had made him stagestruck, and he followed that up by working in the town's movie house where he functioned as head usher and setter of the marquee lights. Then he made a trip to Hollywood to test his chances. He met Josephine Dillon, famous Hollywood coach who trained and was once married to Clark Gable. She looked him over like a racehorse on the auction block. "H m m m — c lean and wholesome type. You're the kind every girl likes for a boy friend and every fellow likes for a pal," she told him, while Dick reddened. "I'll teach you to act, but you must promise me never to change. Remain nice and natural because if I find you going hammy or Hollywood on me, so help me, I'll send you back to Arkansas." She advised him to join a little theater group, and through that he was given a small part in a defense short called, Here Comes the Cavalry. The part wasn't big, the pay wasn't much and the whole thing didn't dent the sensibilities of any producers. The job over, Dick was out of work, moping in the apartment one morning, wondering where he'd be going from here — when he was called to the phone! He walked slowly back to the apartment and told his two roommates that Warner Brothers wanted to test him for Bette Davis' next picture. "Miss Davis herself recommended me," he said. "Someone must be ribbing you," they hooted. Dick thought that too on his way to the studio. It must be a joke. But strangely enough, the receptionist recognized his name, had him ushered to a sound stage where everyone was waiting for him to make his test. HOLLYWOOD