The Motion Picture Studio Insider (1935)

54 Motion Picture Studio Insider April, 1937 THE REAL GLORIA STUART ( Continued from page 17) She was a tow-headed little girl then who would always “take a dare.” After I returned from New York to continue my schooling in Santa Monica High School, Gloria and I met again and went on from where we had left off, only this time we were on High School dance committees in unison. It was Gloria who took the lead in the High School plays and I who wrote the glowing accounts of her perform¬ ance in the school paper. It is strange that we did not see what the future held for her then. I graduated and we saw no more of each other until, under the bright lights of a sound stage, I was in¬ troduced to Miss Stuart and wondered if she would remember an old school friend. You know how people change after a few years? It was with some idea of saying nothing of our adolescent days that I met Gloria. If she remem¬ bered. it would be nice; if not — then it would be “just another interview.” At first we talked of other things, but in the clear light of her dressing room she looked at me closely. “Aren't you a girl I used to know?” she asked, in surprise. “Didn’t your name use to be Pauline Jenking?” “Yes,” we replied, happy to meet a star who was glad to meet an old friend. “And you’re Gloria Finch.” After that we gossiped happily about our friends. Conversationally we were constantly interrupting each other: “Do you remember the night the peach tree in the ‘Mikado’ fell down? — Whatever became of Edna Bader — Remember the marvelous apple sauce in the school cafeteria? — Remember being caught smoking a cigarette on the school grounds ? — Remember ? — Remember ? ” It was grand fun, it was a feminine tea-party; but — and I suddenly came to my senses — it wasn’t an interview! “Gloria,” I cried, “I have to get a story from you, you know. I’m here to interview you!” It seemed too funny for a moment. “Let’s begin, then,” she said, “what do you want to know?” I opened my mouth and then closed it as the director called in through the door. “Miss Stuart on the set, please.” She shrugged at me despairingly and went out. For a half hour I listened to the screams of the drowning and the curt directions of the men behind the cam¬ era. Gloria’s voice came to me, muffled by the walls of the dressing room, call¬ ing out to a woman who. according to the script, jumped from the rail of the ship. “Stop her! Stop her!” called Gloria. Then a lovely scream. The maid hurried in, took up a package of cough drops and hurried out again, bent on relieving Gloria’s throat. The shouting, scuffling and bellowing of several hundred people was very sooth¬ ing and I was about to doze comfort¬ ably, when Gloria came in, laughing and shaking her head. “I think I’ve struggled to get out of that lifeboat at least a hundred times,” she said, sitting down with a sigh, “but I do think they’ve got the scene finally finished.” We were off again on the “do you remembers.” Gloria is not a person who forgets friends, as I realized when she mentioned people she saw fre¬ quently whom I knew in Santa Monica. She’s a very real personality and truly sincere. “I want to do a picture in England,” she said. “They have made me some nice offers, but I don’t want to go un¬ less my husband, Arthur Sheekman, can go with me. You know, I have a baby less than a year old, and she keeps me at home.” We launched into some more feminine conversation and then another call came for close-ups. Time had flown and it was five-thirty, so we said good¬ bye, after planning to meet for lun¬ cheon. “But Gloria,” I called, remembering that I had not yet interviewed her as I should. Gloria was making a close-up and 1 left the set, feeling warm and cold at the same time; warm, because I had found again a good friend: cold, be¬ cause I had no story. You see, I never did get a proper interview, after all! PRESENTING FERNAND GRAVET ( Continued, from page 23) ticularly those of historic military in¬ terest. This carried him so far afield that today he has more than five hun¬ dred military chapeaux of French cam¬ paigns alone, faithfully reproduced in miniature. Uniforms have come in for the same intense scrutiny, so that today in that particular sphere he has come to be recognized as an authority by the French Museum of History. But all the above, he believes, is on¬ ly adequate preparation for a cinema career. Because questions of technique of design arise in all pictures, and it behooves the thorough actor to be ful¬ ly familiar with all details. That thoroughness is characteristic of the man. Having worked in so many countries under such varying condi¬ tions, it is only natural that he is also a close student of world politics and particularly of European-American re¬ lations. That facet of his personality can per¬ haps best be explained by quoting what he said on his first arrival in Holly wood: “Europeans too frequently fail to understand American democracy, because they have a feeling that true democracy comes only when poverty compels large groups to band together as a family for self-preservation. They cannot understand a democracy such as this, built on competition and desire for mutual success.” This internationalist then perhaps can assist in these troublous times in explaining the various nations to each other, and by means of his art, which is universally recognized, interpret them to each other. After his first American experience, which endured for only that one pic¬ ture, he returned immediately to Eu¬ rope, and already, perhaps, he is ex¬ plaining “the American Way” where it will do the most good. He had to go back to Europe to ful¬ fill previous motion picture commit¬ ments, but as soon as they have been finished he will return to America to act again under the LeRoy banner. In his next vehicle he will be costarred with Ethel Merman, in a mus¬ ical as yet untitled. Still in his early thirties, Mr. Gravet feels that he has just embarked upon his career, but if “The King and The Chorus Girl” can be used as a criterion, that career bids fair to become increas¬ ingly brilliant through the years to come. Congratulations are also due Mr. LeRoy for bringing such a scintil¬ lating personality to the American screen. MILESTONES IN THE MARCH OF MAKEUP ( Continued from page 42) with that abundant vitality that is nat¬ ural at twenty. The moist rouge will merge into the powder base if it is properly applied, so that when the face is powdered and the dry rouge lightly dusted on there will be no harsh line of demarcation to proclaim the artificial coloring. This is also the time to start using skin and tissue cream consistently, at least every other night. The natural oils that start drying up at thirty must be replaced, because a well-groomed skin will be even more important ten years later. The same systematic cleansing is necessary, and if the skin is the dry type, skin freshener should follow the washing. If it is oily then