Motion Picture (Feb-Jul 1932)

That's Holly wood! Things Yo u Never Knew Till Now About The Movie Town And Its People IF you're coming to Hollywood, you ought to know that the white-haired gent in white riding togs, prancing on a white horse along Sunset Boulevard bridle path, is Hobart Bosworth. And the girl with the Scotty on the leash may be Joan Crawford. The handsome fellow driving a touring car, wearing a blue beret, is Nils Asther. The blonde with the monocle will be the English actress, Heather Thatcher. The lady sometimes heard to sniff — that's Edna May Oliver. And the girl in mannish pajamas may be Tallulah Bankhead. She wears 'em. A mischievous and elusive smile characterizes Tala Birell, the new find of the Garbo school, and Lewis Stone often wears white spats. WITTY remark of the month is authored by Bob Montgomery. A bunch of reporters asked him why he didn't speak out more frankly. "Jackie Cooper does," one of them added. "So would I," Bob replied, " — if my position were as sure as Jackie Cooper's!" EVERYBODY, by the way, has been looking high and low for a little leading lady to play opposite the Cooper kid. "When they're pretty, they're too dumb," says Jackie, explaining the situation. "And when they're bright, they look awful !" SPEAKING of dumbness brings us to the latest foreign actor to arrive in Hollywood. He is Luis Trenker, the skiing champion you will see in "Mountains in Flame." Pale and perspiring studio experts hovered around the set where the picture was shooting. All was evidently not going well. "These dumb eigners," somebody muttered within our hearing. Then we got the story from Tala Birell, who plays the lead. Trenker didn't know a word of English, apparently, when he arrived in this country. He was put to work at once, however, and had some slight difficulty in understanding English directions. "Now he's doing better, he understands very well," Tala told us, and that was after he'd been in Hollywood a week. If that's dumb, we don't know what dumb means, and we'd like to see a few studio executives stranded in Vienna, trying to teach the natives to be yes-men! ANOTHER light on the persistence l\ and aptitude of these foreigners is supplied by Nora Gregor, whom you will see in "The Truth Game." She used to play in foreign versions at M-G-M. Then several foreign versions went out, and also manyplayers. Instead of retreating Europe-wards, Nora stayed on and learned English. She played on the stage just to show what she could do, and now Nora Gregor has a contract with M-G-M again, this time for English pictures. Wide World Dorothy Mackaill has skated on thin ice in many a picture, but this is probably the first time you ever saw her using ice skates. Dot, who does know how to use them, has been mascot of a Hollywood hockey team for STATISTICAL note: the Fox sound library has 1500 different sounds recorded, not counting musical instruments. During the recent freak snowfall over Hollywood, they got out the sound machines and took pictures — or whatever you call it — of the crunch made by footfalls in the snow. A chance like that come? once in a lifetime — about once in fifty-four years. THE weather was not appreciated at RKO, however, where they wanted to film Helen Twelvetrees sitting on a sunny beach. Day after day it rained. Finally they constructed an artificial beach inside the studio, and as the fake sunlight poured brightly down, all our weather-boosters were seen to drop big tears. PROBABLY the most puzzled fellow in town is Donald Fairchild, the writer. A pet play of his was turned down by several studios as too censorable — a young boy fell in love with an older woman. Then he went downtown and saw "Freaks," in which a midget marries a fullgrown woman, and has been asking em-, barrassing questions of the Hays office ever since. MORE superlatives have been used about that super-super, "Grand Hotel," than ever before in the history of this sometimes grandiloquent industry. One shot of 750 feet was made with John and Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Joan Crawford, Lewis Stone, and Jean Hersholt all represented. First they rehearsed these six players many times. Then they brought in the several bit players who figured in the scene, and rehearsed again. Then they added the hundred and fifty extras who had to walk 'back and forth in the background, and after more rehearsing they filmed it — eighteen times. HEART-THROBS: Johnny Weissmuller got lots of notes from lovelorn ladies who saw him in the preview of "Tarzan." We sat in front of a girl who'd never heard of the world's swimming champion, and who had never read any of the Tarzan books. Her escort had a pretty tough time telling her what it was all about. GRETA NISSEN has just eloped with Weldon Heyburn, the boy who looks so much like Clark Gable that Charlie Farrell brought him to a party, introduced him as Clark, and even Clark's best friends were tricked by the impersonation. ISITORS to Caliente, the gambling resort, were rather disillusioned when they saw the big shots of the movies, Doug and Mary and Harold Lloyd, gambling excitedly over mere fifty-cent pieces. It was several actors whose names were only dimly familiar who ' were throwing around the $100 bills. And one fan felt that his Big Moment had come when a little fellow, who had lost hisreadycash and succumbed to the general excitement of the moment, rushed up to borrow two dollars from a complete stranger. The little fellow was Bert Wheeler. DO vou know that Tom Mix paid $12.50 for Tony? And he's named after the old Italian from whom Tom bought him? That Irene Dunne won't have pictures in her dressing-room — thinks they are bad luck? That AJae Clarke has made (Continued on page Sj) 16