Motion Picture Classic (Jan-Jun 1929)

Exspeeding the Limit " 'Alexander Carr,' he shouted so loud you could have heard him a block. 'U'hat was the last name?' I inquired, trying to burn him up some more. 'Carr — Alexander Carr, Ambassador Hotel,' he yelled and handed me a lot of abuse for holding him up. I took plenty of time testing his headlights. To me he wasn't any better than the next fellow, but he sure thought he was some pumpkins." "Victor McLaglen was a big surprise to me," said officer Elmer Miller, another of the traffic officers. He patrols the Hollywood boulevards in a fivepassenger car. "He was doing forty miles an hour down Melrose Avenue one day. I knew who he was all right, but after I stopped him, asked, "What's your name?' he broke into that good-natured grin that rnade such a hit in 'What Price Glory,' but instead of the roar and cussing out I expected, he answered in a polite, weak little voice, 'Mister .McLaglen.' "Ralph Lewis was a bit chesty with me," he went on. "I chased him six blocks before he would stop and he sure was sore. I knew him too, but as usual asked his name. 'I'm Ralph Lewis. Know me?' he asked. 'Never heard of you. What do you do for a living?' I answered, as I started to fill out a citation for speeding. A Ticket for Ralph "TTIS wife who was sitting beside him X JL gav'e measly, little winkasheshouted, 'I work at FBO studios.' He waved his hand towards a big sign-board at the side of the road, which had letters over a foot high announcing that 'The Mailman,' with Ralph Lewis in the leading role, was being shown at one of the big theaters. I had seen the picture and thought it was great. But I only glanced at the sign-board and repeated, 'Never heard of you.' " 'I wasn't doing a thing against the law,' grumbled Mr. Lewis as I handed him the ticket. 'I have lived with this man over twenty years,' smiled his wife, 'and I have found that he is always right.' Mr. Lewis, with never a glance at either of us, jerked his car into gear and immediately moved off." A torrent of Spanish and English cuss words did not allow Lupe Velez to get away with driving forty-five miles an hour down Sunset Boulevard one day. As a result of her little encounter with the law, she had an appointment to meet Judge Strelinger in {Continued from page 22) Beverly Hills the early part of the following week. Few people know that the nifty little open foreign car that is often seen upon the boulevard is driven by Gloria Swanson. With a hat pulled well over her eyes," Gloria alone and unaided makes her way around town. This car, from France, is her favorite. One of the most Watkins. It is arresting personalities in Hollywood is Motorcycle Officer Jimmy said that he has distributed more expensive tickets to famous people than even Tex Rickard has Gloria's Last Arrest "QHE likes to step on her, too," said one O of the officers. "But she is a good fellow all right. Just reaches out for her ticket with never a word. The last time I arrested her she asked me up to her house for a drink." He didn't say whether he accepted the invitation or not. The lovely Claire Windsor occasionally acts as her own chauffeur. One day not long ago she found herself crowded over to the side of the road by an officer asking her what she meant by driving fifty miles an hour. "Why, officer," she said pleadingly, "that's impossible, I haven't been out that long." Carmel Myers, who has been arrested for speeding several times, has hit upon a unique device. A bell attached to her speedometer rings when she is traveling thirty miles an hour. This immediately warns her to slow down or watch her step. Barry Norton is at present having a little set-to with the law. He was arrested on three counts. A heavy fine will probably let him off, but he will need to be careful in the future. "The Duncan Sisters were always getting into trouble," said one of the officers. "Vivian, who did the driving, got so used to being pinched that she held her hand out whenever she met an officer." To get some of this information we had stopped at the Hollywood Police Station on Cahuenga Avenue, half a block below Hollywood Boulevard. While there, we persuaded officer Miller to pose for the camera, after a photographer from a local newspaper had finished taking a picture of one of the prisoners. We asked the officers if there was any way for an offender of the traffic laws to dodge arrest. The answer was "No." The good-looking Captain McCaleb gave us this information. "You make your case much worse by not obeying an officer when he signals you to stop, and by using profane language or by being sassy. When you have broken a law, admit it and take your medicine like a man," he advises. A few jail sentences have been meted out to picture players who have broken traffic laws. Everyone remembers Bebe Daniels' sad experience with the Orange County courts a few years ago. A certain judge who presided in Santa Ana, a thriving town about thirty miles from Los Angeles, made it a rule to sentence all f>ersons brought before him who were found guilty, of driving over fifty miles an hour in Orange County, to thirty days in jail. The charming Miss Daniels was found guilty of such an offense. Many people accused her of pulling a publicity stunt when her pictures, with details of her arrest, trial and sojourn in the Santa Ana jail were printed in newspapers and magazines all over the world. But it was stark tragedy to Bebe. "Aren't you ever tempted to let off some of these lovely young girls that you crowd so ruthlessly into the ditch," we asked one of the officers. "Isn't it difficult to resist the smiles of such charming girls as Sue Carol, Laura La Plante or Colleen Moore?" "It sure is," he answered, "but our job is to stop accidents, and we can't make any exceptions. After a ticket is made out it can't be fixed either," he added. "The amount of the fine can be reduced and often is, if it is the first offense or if there is a legitimate reason for the law infringement. We try to be reasonable, you know." But each week there are new arrests for speedy traveling in Hollywood. Even front page pictures and detailed descriptions of the indiscretions of the guilty ones do not stop the giddy pace that the Hollywood picture stars insist on taking. 70