Motion Picture Classic (Jul-Dec 1930)

Beautifi lers f fragrant distinction The delicate fragrance of Duska toiletries is the very odor of beauty itself. Beautiful women everywhere choose the clinging, silken-smoothness of Duska F ace Powder ...the elusive, captivating Duska perfume. And Duska brings beauty . . . giving the skin the fragrant bloom of youth. You'll be proud of the dist inguished Duska containers on your dressing table. Sold only at Rexall Drug Stores. Liggett's are also Rexall Stores. There is one near you. D-D-Doing H-H-His S-S-StufF 10 {Continued from page 6j) have the hat still. But it's a different cigar. Before he walked the dog along the George White Way to the Double-Cross Roads of the World, the kid's square monicker was Louis Josephs. The name of Frisco he picked from the freight car that carried him from nowhere in particular to a spot where he can draw ten thousand dollars for six days' work. He cut his last name in half and put it before instead of behind — hence, Joe Frisco, a name that means dough when it appears in lights above the Palace Theater. And will soon mean S.R.O. to the movies. He Won't Rehearse WITH the derby and the cabbage for props, he'll step on at a moment's notice and stop the show. All they have to say is: "Get out there, kid, and be comical." Give him the key and he'll sing in any flat. He ad libs his stuff and won't rehearse. When he works in pictures, he stays up all night to be at the studio on time. When on the stage, he catches an hour's rest after the last show. Then he rounds the Square until the appearance of those early birds that get worms for their trouble. He's kind to showgirls and other dumb animals — as witness the business with the horse and the doughnuts. He hasn't much faith in the sincerity of women. One time he asked a girl to marry him. "I d-d-don't t-t-talk very f-f-fast," he says, "and it t-t-took me a 1-I-long time t-t-to tell her that I 1-1-loved her. When I f-f-finally proposed, she s-s-said to m-m-me, 'Oh, J-J-Joe, this is s-s-£o s-s-sudden.' I knew d-d-different!" Some say Frisco started life as a train announcer. But by the time he got through calling the track number of the departing choo-choo, the passengers arrived at the gate just in time to be too late. Then they transferred him to the Information Desk. One day a woman with a little boy approached him and inquired the time of departure of the two-twenty-two to Toledo. Joe responded: "Th-th-that t-t-train, the t-t-two-t-ttwenty-t-t-two t-t-to T-T-Toledo 1-1-leaves f-f-from t-t-track t-t-two at t-t-two t-ttwenty t-t-two." It was quite a task. But when the prospective passenger returned to ask again, he courteously repeated the information. The third time, however, he chided: " M-m-madam, I've t-t-told you three t-t -times about that t-t-train." "I know," she replied, "but my little boy likes to hear you talk." How He Lost the Job THE way Frisco is said to have lost the railroad job is that he ran after the president of the road with a package the Rig One had forgotten in the waiting-room. "H-h-here's your p-p-package, S-s-sir," stammered Frisco. And the Chief of the Works spluttered back: "S-s-say, w-w-who in h-h-heli d-d-do you think you're k-k-kidding!" Frisco's pockets are invariably filled with rock candy, of which he nibbles and knoshes a couple of pounds daily. If Dave, of " Blue Room" fame, hasn't the particular dish Joe wants, he'll insist that the restaurant send out and buy it from a competitor. More than once Frisco has seated himself at a table during the midnight rush hour, pro ' duced a piece of pie from his pocket and demanded plenty of service while he ate it. Dave is glad that Frisco's favorite dish is a concoction of mushrooms, red peppers and noodles. He can't carry this in his pwcket. Once Joe won an argument with a movie producer who was known as the Cackling Kid because of his fast patter. The movie man talked with his hands as well as his tongue, and there was every reason to believe he'd out-talk Joe. But "You s-s-see," reminisces Frisco, "1 g-g-got him j-j-just after a s-s-strenuous g-g-golf game. His arms w-w-were t-t-too t-t-tired to w-w-wave, so he c-c-couldn't t-t-talk so f-f-fast." At times Joe kind o' brags of the fact that he can't write. Not even his name. A close observer may notice that he introduces this subject into the conversation when the waiter presents the dinner check for signature. Or when he is asked to indorse one of those rubber checks that the holder may have for keeps after it bounces back three times. His Money Is Elsewhere NOT exactly careless, Frisco carries two.' wallets. " One f-f-for the t-t -thieves,"' he explains. And that one is put in a sp)ot>. where its presence is obvious to the leather' workers. But why he goes in for such rank^ ' deception — one that has made him unpopu-t 1 lar in certain Broadway circles — is a mys-^j tery to the mob. For neither pocketbook^j contains anything but membership cards toSj Main Stem Anti-Volstead Associations. Ther real jack is secreted in another place. AH ofi which may lead you to believe that Frisco isj a member of the Caledonian Society. ButJ he's not a Scotch spendthrift. Rather is he known as a liberal spender. Frisco goes in for all the superstitions And wherever he runs across a deck crackers he reads his own fortune in the cards. He declares they told him of a dark man who would send him on a long tri^ with plenty of jack. Warner — Hollywood--^ pictures. He's partial to purple robes nuit, which is safe to print, because JoeJ won't know what it means. 1 In Chicago, recently, Frisco sat aroundj until dawn and bedtime before returning ten his hotel. Finally sun-up came and he madel ready to turn in, having reached that stage] of dishabille calling for the removal of the] trousers. Suddenly a voice barked: "Put your hands over your head!" Frisco dropped the trousers and held th^ hands toward Heaven. Tremblingly, awaited the bandit's next move. In telli^ of it he says: " H-h-hovv did I k-k-knovv the hotel had i r-r-radio in every r-r-room, and tha s-s-some ch-ch-chump would be b-b-broadj casting s-s-setting-up exercises j-j-just my b-b-bedtime? " Personally, there are some doubts as whether Frisco's stuttering is an affliction o| an accomplishment. He was overheard in telephone booth one night, and there was trace of a stammer in his tones. The hoy demanded an explanation. "W-w-well, it w-w-was this w-w-way, said Joe. "Th-th-that was a 1-1-long diSjl tance c-c-call, and I w-w-was p-p-payinga f-f-for it!" J And that's Joe Frisco, folks. You'rS g-g-going to 1-1-like him in the m-m-moviesS Some of the feminine stars of the silent drama lost out in the TALKIES because they were evidently too beautiful for words.