Modern Screen (Dec 1937 - Nov 1938)

MODERN SCREEN here's tiOW I KEEP TOILETS CLEAN AS A CTINADIStt It's no trouble to keep a toilet sparkling clean and sanitary. You don't even have to touch the toilet with your hands. Just sprinkle a little Sani-Flush in the bowl. (Follow directions on the can.) Flush the toilet and that's all! Sani-Flush is made to do this job. It removes stains. It puts an end to toilet odors. It kills germs. It purifies the hidden trap. Porcelain glistens like new. Sani-Flush can't injure plumbing connections. It is also effective for cleaning automobile radiators (directions on can). Sold by grocery, drug, hardware, and five-andten-cent stores. 25c and 10c sizes. The Hygienic Products Co., Canton, O. CLEANS TOILET BOWLS WITHOUT SCOURING (dONDERFUL IRONINGS Here's that new way to do hot starching without mixing, boiling or straining as with old fashioned lump starch. Everything already included in powdered form. Makes starching easy. Makes ironing easy. See howelasticityand thatfreshnew look are given back to curtains, aprons, play clothes, soft collars and shirts. Your iron fairly glides Awonderful invention. Sendnow. THANK YOU THE HUBINGER CO., No. 591, Keokuk, la. I Your free sample of QUICK ELASTIC, please, ! "That Wonderful Way to Hot Starch." BETWEEN YOU HERO HEROINE VILU/MN "Why should an actor once typed remain so until doomsday?" a Minnesota fan pleads. $5.00 Prize Letter I Confess If you'd walk down a certain street in Seattle you'd see a legless man seated on a corner selling his pencils and needles. No matter how hot the sun, no matter how cold the wind, he's always there. If purchases aren't made, people stop to chat and leave a coin in the cup with the comment, "I don't see how you can keep so cheerful just sitting there hour after hour. It's a pleasure to talk with you. . . ." And then I say, "Well, I get it from the movies !" Twice a week a neighbor takes me to the movies, otherwise I couldn't go. I go to the movies for something real, not just make-believe. And I get it. I'm admitted into a land of youth and romance, a land where the memory of happier days is jogged, days when I was young and whole and dashing like Fredric March, when I had a wife like Norma Shearer and a son like Freddie Bartholomew. There, in the darkness of the theatre I feel a human warmth and sympathy, the world is brimming over with kindness, sparkle and interest. Perhaps I'm tired of just sitting on a corner ; I want to move, to feel free. There in a Western I see myself making a mad scramble for my broad-rimmed hat and my favorite "painted boss" and my craving for the far, green hills, wide plains and fast riding is satisfied. The movies have not only given me consolation, intelligent information and romance, but they have taught me to be brave, to have faith and courage. "Seventh Heaven" brought me my favorite philosophy : "Never look down, always look up." The movies — God bless 'em ! — M. Matthews, Seattle, Wash. $2.00 Prize Letter Please, Don't Type Them Did you see Irene Dunne in "The Awful Truth" and try to imagine her as she was in Magnificent Obsession?" Did you see "Night Must Fall" and picture Robert Montgomery as the charming Piccadilly Jim? Did you see "Parnell" and remember Gable in "It Happened One Night?" If you did, you're a fop ! and I can imagine how, much you enjoyed each picture. Yet one of our ardent fans writes to tell us that once you are typed on the screen you must remain in your particular groove until doomsday as far as he is concerned. To be specific — if you have the misfortune to play a swashbuckling villain well in several plays, you are doomed to remain in that category for the rest of your screen career. One honorable commentator goes even further — he cites an example. It seems that in the role of a priest in "Captains Courageous," Jack La Rue caused quite a sensation — due to his previous gangster pictures. Our "typester" says that when Jack came into the scene as a priest the audience howled. Now I saw this picture twice, and I don't remember the "howling" at any time during the entire feature. May I add that if anyone was fool enough to laugh at Mr. La Rue in that scene, regardless of the nature of his former roles, I hope with all my heart that he bit his tongue. I'm not advocating actors taking parts they cannot handle, but I do say that it doesn't hurt to try different characters so that they won't become "typed." The word "act" means to be able to portray all kinds of people and all kinds of emotions — and anyone worthy of the name "actor" should be able to step from one role into another with comparative ease. Don't, oh, please don't type our villains — let them have more than one screen personality — give them a chance to show what they can do. — E. A. Nelson, St. Paul, Minn. $2.00 Prize Letter Is That Relaxation? I have just returned from a section of the country where the double feature program has made little headway. What a pleasant change it was upon several occasions to leave the theatre after a two-hour varied program, feeling refreshed with a bit of comedy, broadened by the news, mentally stimulated by a brief educational feature, and inspired, perhaps, by the main feature. Mind you I said two hours ! But, woe is me, upon returning to the metropolitan area, I find that the double feature program is still packing them in at the neighborhood houses, and I'd like to know why ! Unless I foresightedly inquire the showing time of the feature presentation, I must sit through an inferior quickie, coming attractions, advertising, and maybe bingo or bank night before the title I've been waiting for is flashed on the screen. After three or three and one half hours of twisting and squirming to ease my — er — position, I leave the theatre, nigh onto midnight, with an aching back, a splitting head, and my bones fairly screaming protest. Now I ask you, is that relaxation? — Harriet Bossard, New York, N. Y. $1.00 Prize Letter Is it Fair? Is it fair? I ask myself that question every time I read about a "new discovery" — a star over night. Many of our foreign stars have been ushered to success over night — some justly, some unjustly — but what about our little starlets who strive for their big chance and get the cold shoulder from their studios? What about those grand little beauties who play bit parts, sometimes stealing the show, 94