Modern Screen (Dec 1938 - Nov 1939 (assorted issues))

MODERN SCREEN Hollywood, the star of 'Jezebel,' of 'Dark Victory,' 'The Old Maid,' now 'Elizabeth and Essex' a fool? Well, how would you answer her question? Yeah? Us, too!" "This business of playing Elizabeth," Bette was saying, "may have been a very foolhardy thing. For there's no fooling possible about this part. Either I'm Elizabeth or I'm not. Too many marvellous actresses, with far more experience than I've had, have been Elizabeth — Lynn Fontanne, Pauline Fredericks did an incomparable Elizabeth, Flora Robson." Bette quite shuddered. She said, "If critics look at me and say, 'That isn't Elizabeth,' the Queen will be in the hoosegow, not in the parlor eating bread and honey! "Loving acting so," she said, "it was a terrific temptation to me to play the part. I succumbed to the temptation without a struggle. But not without asking myself some questions. Frequently while we were making 'Elizabeth and Essex,' I'd look at my (Elizabeth's) fifty-year-old face in the mirror (I'm fifty throughout the picture, you know) and I'd say, 'You know, dear, this is ridiculous! You should have waited ten years.' I recalled the horrid cases of actors who, after a few successes, get to the point where they think they can do anything. 'Well, Bess,' I'd say to myself, 'are you getting to that point?' And the answer was, and is, 'I honestly don't believe that I am.' I do honestly believe that my ego is right where it belongs. "I don't think I've been a fool about succumbing to a belief in my own publicity. I can't believe this 'Greatest Actress In Hollywood' stuff. I'm still amazed that my career has worked out as it has. It's just been a job to me. I don't feel any differently about myself than I did Movie fans will see Zorina, the toast of Broadway, in "On Your Toes," a gay musical. Yes, she dances in it. before the twin Oscars came to my house to live. As my work has gone along, I have not gone along with it. I've never yet reached the stage where I've sat on the chair called Complacence and said to myself, admiringly, 'You're kind of good, Miss Davis." "That dangerous time, for me, might have happened about two years ago. I passed the crisis and here I am, still myself as ever was! My family, my New England birth and background, have probably saved me from that brand of foolishness. New England is considered a kind of queerish place, I know. But if you are born and raised there, you do inherit some of the integrity of the place, of people who have never lost their balance and never will. "I don't think I've been' a fool about succumbing to some of the more common 'temptations' of Hollywood either. More from observation than anything else, I should think that it might be a great temptation to be a little bit lazy about your work once your bank account is fairly solid. I haven't been a fool that way; in reverse, if anything. "But to get back to 'Elizabeth' and a little proof I had that my 'inferiority' is still with me, and still in good health, Blanche Yurka came on the set one day. I could have fallen to the floor from sheer inferiority, remembering, as I did, the punk kid, me, who played on the stage in 'The Wild Duck' with her. "Charles Laughton made me feel a little easier in my mind about 'Elizabeth.' He came on the set one day and I told him how I felt about it, my qualms, and how I was even talking to myself andyou-know-what-that-means! He said, 'It's very good for you to do a thing too old for you when you are young. Even if it turns out badly, it's good for you.' SH-H-Hf NOBODY MENTIONS BAD BREATH f THAT'S WHY CAROL WAS UNPOPULAR I WISH I'D NEVER COME ON THIS CRUISE! / HATE IT! \ EVERYBODY'S SO STAND-OFFISH NO, THEY AREN'T, CAROL | -REALLY! BUT YOU MAKE IT HARD FOR PEOPLE | TO LIKE YOU, CAROL. I KNOW NOBODY MENTIONS BAD BREATH, BUT--WELL"WON'r YOU TALK TO THE SHIP'S DENTIST ABOUT IT? I COLGATE'S COMBATS BAD BREATH ...MAKES TEETH SPARKLE/ "Colgate's special penetrating foam gets into hidden crevices beV* ,?! tween your teeth . . . ' " helps your toothbrush clean out decaying food particles and stop the stagnant saliva odors that cause much bad breath. And Colgate's safe polishing agent makes teeth naturally bright and sparkling! Always use Colgate Dental Cream — regularly and frequently. No other dentifrice is exactly like it." TESTS SHOW THAT MUCH BAD BREATH COMES FROM DECAYING FOOD PARTICLES AND STA6NANT SALIVA AROUND TEETH THAT AREN'T CLEANED PROPERLY. I RECOMMEND COLGATE DENTAL CREAM.ITS SPECIAL PENETRATING FOAM REMOVES THESE ODOR-BREEOiNG DEPOSITS. AND THAT'S WHV^^ LATER... THANKS TO COLGATE DENTAL CREAM I COME ON ,TED - GWf Wf REST OF US ■*4 A BREAK! EVERY MAN ON BOARD'S j I WAITI NG TO DANCE WITH CAROL, laafegM YOU KNOW! BAD BREATH KEEPS ROMANCE AWAY! PLAY SAFE! USE COLGATE'S TWICE A PAY! 70