Motion Picture (Aug 1936-Jan 1937)

Humphrey Bogart is going places since The Petrified Forest By Grace Mack WHEN an actor steps into the movie spotlight as a gangster, a killer or a villain of darkest hue, it is customary for writers to assure the reading public that in real life he isn't like that at all ; that actually he is as gentle as a lamb, loves little kiddies and wouldn't harm a flea. Personally, I've always wondered whether readers like to have their villains so completely whitewashed, whether they wouldn't prefer to keep on thinking that there is at least a dash of similarity between the actor and the character he portrays. So, just for the sake of variety and because he would loathe it if I made him out to be a plaster saint, I am going to refrain from pinning a halo on Mr. Humphrey Bogart. And that's what he gets for telling me: "I don't give a damn what vou write about me — go as far as you like — only DON'T label it The Loves of Humphrey Bogart or Humphrey Bogart' s Dream Girl. If you do, I'll put ground glass in your soup the next time we have lunch together." 34 MeetingUp with a New Menacing MAN Humphrey Bogart is virile and volcanic, and as a screen menace has moviegoers interested Though he was well known on the stage, the rank and file of movie fans had never heard of Humphrey Bogart until he stalked into that little sun-baked restaurant in The Petrified Forest. In looks and manner he so closely resembled the man who had for months been front-paged as Public Enemy Number One, and so realistic was his performance, that among audiences everywhere you could hear the whispered comment, "He looks just like Dillinger." Now, as a matter of fact, Bogart doesn't look anything at all like Dillinger. (It was all done with whiskers — which he grew himself.) And of course I am not going to tell you that he is as cold and ruthless as the character he portrayed in The Petrified Forest. But I AM going to say that in real life he has that same vital, dynamic something which made his portrayal of the killer in that picture one of last year's outstanding performances. There is nothing zephyr-like about him. He is as explosive as a firecracker. To quote one of his friends : "You never have a discussion with Humphrey. It's always an argument." He is direct in manner and speech and hates any form of pretense. He says what he thinks and believes. The things he says do not always come under the heading of what Hollywood calls "diplomacy." Humphrey contends that Hollywood diplomacy is on the side of log-rolling and back-slapping. CHORTLY after he signed his picture contract he was ^ forced into a spot where he had to make a choice between doing. the politic thing and the thing which he, personally, believed was right. Characteristically, he chose the latter — even though he was well aware that it might put him in disfavor with the powers that be. "But I couldn't have lived with myself if I had done otherwise," he explains. And means it. He is a staunch defender of the underdog and is easily stirred by any form of social injustice. Recently he was a guest at a smart dinner during the course of which a certain celebrated case that has taken up considerable space in newspapers and magazines came up for discussion. For a time Humphrey managed to sit quietly through a lot of high-sounding phrases that were hollow with their own emptiness, spoken by people who, like the lilies of the field, had never either toiled or spinned for their daily bread. Suddenly he could stand it no longer and bringing his palms down on the table with an emphatic gesture he spoke his mind with no mincing of words — and then walked out on the party! [Continued on page 88]