Motion Picture Classic (Jul-Dec 1930)

The Favorite Indoor The house that Jack built: Jack MacDermott believes that a man's home should be not only a castle, but a battleground. In more ways than one, it is Hollywood's trickiest house Above, Jack MacDermott in his den, furnished from movie sets. In circle is the entrance to underground passageway, Below, in square, is the exit to this passagement. In circle, the dining-room — an old ship's hull Sports Of HollywooM placard beneath it reads, "This is the only known base-|l ball in existence not autographed by Babe Ruth." I The cocktail-shaker deserves a word. Ingenious, best! describes it. Joe discovered, quite by chance, that thosejl punching bags that grace penny arcades were operated b>n a complicated series of springs. He promptly bought onejl and dismantled the gauge by which the poundage of youi<l blow is registered. In its place, he mounted a clamp.(| Thus the formula is simplified. The ingredients for th^l cocktail are simply poured into the shaker, which is thenll placed in the clamp. One punch at the bag suffices. The'l vibration of the springs thoroughly mixes your drink. I Now-, in any other town but Hollywood, the weird antics \ of Mr. Cook and the stories of his New Jersey home would have been laughed off. Holl>nA-ood, however, chose to consider him a pretender to the throne of Practical Jokedom. Local talent included some uncrowned kings at that \ game. Every time a Cook anecdote was told, someone in the crowd seemed hardly able to wait for its conclusion to remark: "Yes, that's very funny— but what about the time Doug Fairbanks gave three newspaper men the juice on his wired couch?" Crazy House JACK MacDERMOTT'S home in the Holl^-wood hills has been another " I-hate-to-go-you-one-better-but — ." xMacDermott built the place himself. You need no assurance of that fact. One look at it is proof positive. No architect ever went that loco. It would have to be a scenario writer. Each room is a separate building, gathered about what mav be called a living-room, which also serves Mac as a study. Here most of his writing is done, performed or perpetrated. This room has five entrances, only two of which are visible — the front door and one leading onto the patio. A bookcase slides back to reveal the staircase to the roof and a sleeping porch. Another hidden passagew^ay leads to the tiled swimming-pool. A well by the side of the fireplace takes you down a runged ladder to the subterranean labyrinth connecting all rooms. If this sounds confusing, all I can say is: I'm sorry. As Mac himself explains, his home beggars description. You have to see it to believe it. Take one bedroom, for example. Here an old fireplace arch is suspended from the ceiling of an alcove. The bed proper is built in the alcove with four steps on each side leading up to it. Underneath the bed and between the steps IS the fireplace. The dining-room is an ancient ship hull, sawed oflF at both ends. The rafters and side walls are the unboarded ribs of the vessel. Concrete now forms its anchor and base. Drives Insanely MACDERMOTT drives Fords exclusively. They are the onlv cars he will trust to carry him up his hillside. The Ford he owned before his current one was the despair of all his friends. One day, he discovered that the steering wheel was loose on the shaft. .As he lifted it off. an idea was born. Taking the car to a garage, Mac had a knee drive installed for dual control. Inviting folks for a ride, he would purposely drive recklessly, calling for the friend to remark, "1 don't care much for vour driving." "You don't, eh?" Mac would reply. "Well, drive it yourself." .And he would hand his companion the detached wheel. Usually it would take several seconds for the fact the car was apparently running wild to percolate. Then a {Continued on page lod)