Hollywood Low Down (Jan 1935 - Apr 1938 (assorted issues))

Page 46 January 1, 1935 Screen Shorts By GRAYCE BURFOOT Will Rogers played Santa Claus to each and every member of the technical crew of his latest film, “Life Begins at 40,” by enclosing a crisp new bill in a personally written gag card. The majority of these cards are being framed by the proud possessors. ♦ George Marshall, Fox director, has been in every phase and department of the making of motion pictures, from actor to production head, filling in other spots as property man, cameraman, assistant director and stunt man. ♦ Sterling Holloway, the comedian, has an aversion to parties. On one occasion he not only refused to attend a party, but threatened to jump his film contract if forced to do so. ♦ Pat Paterson, musical comedy and radio star, sailed “The Mermaid” in the 1932 King’s regatta at Cowes, England, and won the race, beating out King George’s entry. ♦ Hugh Williams, leading man from England, is not entirely a stranger in Hollywood, having played a role in “Charlie’s Aunt” when it was produced in the film center. ♦ Jane Barnes once worked in a Hartford, Conn., department store in order to earn money with which to take piano lessons, her ambition being to become a concert pianist. ♦ The father of Warner Baxter was a Columbus, Ohio, bank clerk and afterwards a hotel man. He died when Baxter was three months old. ♦ The day Spencer Tracy arrived in Hollywood, he threw away his hat and has never worn one since that occasion, except in a motion picture. ♦ Clara Bow, though a redhead herself, insists that she does not care for most women with red hair. ♦ Claire Trevor played the leading feminine role in “Whistling in the Dark” opposite Ernest Truex on Broadway for more than a year. e © © The Hollywood LOW-DOWN Malcolm St. Clair, the director, began his motion picture career as an extra for Mack Sennett. ♦ Lew Ayres is rated the best trap drummer in the film colony. ♦ Sid Silvers, though born in New York City, has never been able to establish citizenship because his parents neglected to register his birth. ♦ Irene Bentley is a member of the Daughters of the Revolution, being a direct descendant of David Crane, a corporal in the Continental army. ♦ Sally Eilers had to break down her parents’ objection before she was permitted to launch her screen career in “The Good Bye Kiss,” her first stepping-stone to success. ♦ Janet Gaynor and Clark Gable worked together as $7.50-a-day extras in “The Plastic Age” starring Alberta Vaughan. ♦ John Boles, during the Great War, was a spy, attached to the A.E.F. ♦ June Knight, now 21, who has danced her way to fame, was unable to walk until she reached the age of five. ♦ Jane Withers, juvenile film player, can give more than forty impersonations of movie celebrities. ♦ Jesse L. Lasky, pioneer film producer, was one of the first hundred men to reach Nome in the Alaskan gold-rush. ♦ Every picture that Lilian Harvey made in Europe was produced in three languages, English, French and German. ♦ Preston Foster was, at one time, a house-to-house canvasser for ice boxes and pianos in New York City. ♦ Helen Vinson is one of the few screen players of Hollywood who names archery as her chief pastime. ♦ Heather Angel, while hunting tigers with the Maharajah of Junjab, in India, shot at a tiger and killed an elephant. ♦ George O’Brien drinks, on an average, fifteen cups of coffee a day? ♦ Betty Blythe, famous vamp of several years ago, is making a film comeback. ♦ George White parts his hair in the middle. ♦ Victor Jory was born at Sixty Below Bonanzo, Alaska. 0 0 0 Nigel Bruce, famed comedian, joined the British forces on the day war was declared by England and he was almost immediately injured and hospitalized for more than two years. ♦ James Dunn was, at one time, a trick bicycle rider. ♦ Claire Trevor recently addressed a convention of 300 policemen attending the California Peace Officers’ conclave in Los Angeles. ♦ Catharine Doucet was, at one time, a school teacher in Chester, Pa. ♦ Spencer Tracy, in his earlier days as an actor, lived for five days on rice and water. ♦ Henry Garat at one time was playing at three Paris theaters at the same time and, not being able to afford a taxicap, ran from one to the other. ♦ Harvey Stephens is a third cousin of the late Edwin Booth, famous actor of his day. ♦ Preston Foster sang leading roles with the La Scala Opera Company in Philadelphia before he went on the vaudeville stage with Fritzi Scheff. ♦ When Florence Desmond made her stage debut in London, she drew a salary of five shillings a week. ♦ Lew Ayres spends a part of his spare time making lithographs. ♦ Mona Barrie went on the stage when she was sixteen years old as a member of the ballet in Sydney, Australia. ♦ When Minna Gombell first came to Hollywood she taught diction to the young players. ♦ Irving Cummings, the director, refuses to work on Saturday afternoons during the football season. ♦ Swimming after hats and props as they fell overboard from a ship during the filming of scenes in San Francisco Bay, was one of George O’Brien’s earliest motion picture jobs. ♦ Richard Cromwell never signs an autograph book. An artist of ability, Cromwell obliges by drawing a picture. ♦ Herbert Mundin, after a love scene with Clara Bow sometime ago, stood by waiting for Clara to tell him what a hot lover he is. Instead, The Red Head looked at him and said “For Heaven’s sake, why don’t you shave?”