Motion Picture (Aug 1940-Jan 1941)

The Talk of Hollywood [Continued from page 48] will be the bookkeeper and financial manager. It's all Mama Withers' idea. She figures that some day, Jane won't be a picture bet — and then it'll be nice for the gal to have something else to fall back on — even if it's only a hamburger-on-a-bun. With onions. Wonder if Shirley Temple doesn't wish SHE had a hot-dog emporium, too? Landslide ■ Most Obvious Election-Result of the year came when the University of Pennsylvania's freshman class voted on the question : "With whom would you prefer to be shipwrecked?" The vote, but UNANIMOUS, was for Ann Sheridan — and it was the whole class, not just the biology section. . . . Cinemadrigal 2 A gal who looks Like Hedy Lamarr Needn't keep books To know she'll go f arrrrrrr ! Wants To Be Happeeeee ■ Reformation-of-the-Month in Hollywood seems to be that which has swept like a lush warm flood over Frances Farmer, the one-time To-hell-with-Hollywood Gal. . . To the quite obvious amazement of those who didn't get along so well with Frances in the days when, as Mrs. Eeif Erickson, she was telling Hollywood off, Frances has come back to movieland breathing sweet words of adoration for the film colony. Frances just can't understand why people thought she was up-nosing Hollywood. "I think," says she, "that maybe I'm a victim of circumstances. . . ." The "circumstances," she explains, were that she "crawled into a shell" because she was so scared when she first came to Hollywood, that she didn't know what else to do. And when she learned that Hollywood was interpreting her behavior as fatheadedness, she was so shocked, she says, that she crawled even deeper into the shell. But now she's back, making South of Pago Pago, and, pleads she, with tears in her eyes, "I want to be happy in Hollywood !" O-kay, Toots. . . .! Cinemadrigal H: Gals who squeal For Spencer Tracy Want Life Real and Raw and Racy! One's Meat, Another's Poison ■ Just to show that one Hollywood family's meat may be another Hollywood family's poison, consider the case of the Powells and the Halls. Take the Powells — Dick a n d Joan Blondell. Dick just loves to go sailing. But even so, he has had to sell his beloved 60foot cruiser, the Eroica, on account of Joan gets seasick every time she goes out in it. And because Dick doesn't believe in doing things Joan doesn't like, too, he's gotten rid of it. And on ihc other hand, take the Halls — Jon and Wifie Frances Langford. Not con 66 tent with the boats they have already — three of them : a 44-foot sailboat, a speedboat and an outboard racer — they're building a new 74-foot schooner, in which they intend to sail across the Pacific, back to Jon's beloved Tahiti. And if international affairs are a bit less Hitlerish by the time the boat's finished — a half year or so — they even want to extend the. cruise on westward, to return home via the Atlantic and the Panama Canal ! Take THAT, Mrs. Powell ! ! Baseball Nut ■ Screwiest Sight of the Holfywood Season— is Marlene Dietrich, glamorous in a long, clinging black gown and a huge hat with ostrich feathers, and a million dollars' worth of make-up — sitting in the grandstand gnawing peanuts and yelling like hell for the Hollywood baseball team to win ! Marlene's gone ball fan in a big way. Building Blocks Next B Most souped-up automobile in all Hollywood, in case you haven't heard about it yet, is the jaloppy that Freddie Bartholomew has devised — Here's a list of the gadgets on the Bartholomew Automotive Monstrosity : a set of chrome-plated super-charger pipes that lead nowhere at all ; a gearshift knob of the form of a skull ; twin exhaust pipes that make a most embarrassing sound ; trick parking lights in the shape of twin devils' heads ; two rearview mirrors ; chrome-plated running boards ; a set of three horns and a cowbell, all hooked up together ; two novelty horns that play hail-hail-the-gang's-all-here ; and the usual soupie stuff like fender flaps, chrome bumpers, radio, fender-guards and what have you. Now, if he only had a set of building blocks. . . . ! Or a meccano set. . . ! Communique fll Hollywood takes no time at all to adapt current terminology to its needs. For instance, hardly had the Ritz Brothers and the studio gone into that recent beef over their latest picture than the wags started calling it the trio's latest "ritzkrieg!" Lost— A Half Pound! K Even though an awful lot of other things about her have changed, no end, there's one thing about Joan Crawford that's just the same as it was five years ago. That's her figure. It all came out the other day, when Joan and Adrian, going through the studio's old wardrobe storerooms, came upon a dress she'd worn in 1935 in / Live My Life. Out of sheer curiosity, Joan slipped it on — and discovered that it fit perfectly, without a required change. Curiosity went further, then, and Joan checked her current measurements with the old records made at that time, and found all but one item just the same : height, 5 feet 4; bust, 35 ; hips, 36 ; waist, 25. Only change was her weight: now, 110 pounds. In 1935, she weighed HOVl She thinks worry may have taken off that half pound. Was His Face Red! H Most Embarrassing Moment of this month — descended upon Bill Powell. He was in his dressing-room on the I Love You Again set, when he heard Director Woody Van Dyke hollering for him to come out and meet some friends. Expecting to be introduced to some of Woody's male pals, Bill dashed out — and found himself surrounded by a bevy of visiting co-eds. What made it AHEM was the fact that all Bill had on was a pair of striped pajamas. The co-eds just LOVED it! You Wouldn't Know Wally ■ Talk of Hollywood concerns itself, these days, with the metamorphosis that has come over Wally Beery. Never one of the most gracious and pleasant souls in Hollywood, Wally seems to be suddenly softening, and all Hollywood is wondering whether it's the influence of little Carol Ann, or whether Wally's softening under the wallops life has been dishing out to him lately. For years, the nastiest feud in movieland was that between Wally and his brother Noah. But part of the transformation of Wally includes the complete reconciliation of the two brothers, who are now closer than a freshman'd like to be to Ann Sheridan. As if to make up for his years of turning his back on Noah, Wally has even extended his new-found family love to Noah's son, Junior, who's just gotten married. One of the newlyweds' best pals of the moment is Uncle Wally! And toward little Carol Ann, Wally's love knows no bounds. They're telling the story of how, when Wally was on location in Death Valley a few weeks ago, brother Noah drove Carol Ann up there to see him, and they decided to stay overnight. Carol had no change of clothing with her — so what did Wally do but get down on his hands and knees in front of an old-fashioned tin washtub (because there weren't any better facilities in that rough-and-ready location) and wash out Carol Ann's things. "Aw, I don't want her to wear dirty clothes," he grinned, when they ribbed him about being the family washerwoman. Any day, now, they expect to see Wally take up marshmallow sundaes. Cinemadrigal ■ Boys who pray For Brenda Joyce Had better play With other toyce! Waiting For Egg To Drop H Gladys Cooper is worried again. It all dates back to the parrot which she had as a child. She called it Robert. But, after a number of years Robert laid an egg. And after Glady's mama explained some things about life, Gladys changed Robert's name to Roberta. That was years ago. Today, Gladys has a pet duck. It follows her on a leash around Santa Monica, where she lives. She calls it Romeo. But Gladys has learned her lesson ; she's all ready to call the duck Juliet, the minute she spies an egg. And you'd hardly think that in Hollywood, of ALL places, the sex of a mere duck would be anything to worry over !