Movie Classic (Sep-Dec 1931)

'OMEDAY smiling fortune will escort you to the uorld famous "Cocoam Gpovc" at the Ambassador Los Angdcs There, beneath an azure sky, graceful palms and twinkling lights you will dance, as you never danced before, to the most alluring of dance music. You are sure to see many of the world's most famous rJMotion Tiffure~> Stars In fact, at the Ambassador you are sure of enjoy California at its b rin g est. Open Air Plunge, two Golf Courses, MotionPicture Theatre and every outdoor sport. Writer for Chef's Illustrated Cook Book 44A rn mi i , i nn-mn Crawford — Sh ea rer Garb Are Now Three Of A Kind {Continued from page 23) straight!" we demanded, irritably. "Are you going to give us some more swell performances, like 'Paid'? Or are you going to go back to representing the more deplorable aspects of modern civilization? Huh?" Joan (we regret to report) made a face at us. She was all done up in astonishing black velvet pajamas with no back to them, designed, certainly, for one of those seduction scenes. "You're asking me?" she said, crushingly. She ran a comb viciously through her newly-blonde curls, piled upon the back of her head in an entirely new coiffure — a sort of sunburst effect. "Look at my hair!" she commanded, just as though we weren't already doing it, and wide-eyed, too. "I thought it up myself, f had to do something. First, people said I was trying to imitate Garbo — so I changed it. Then they said 1 was trying to imitate Norma Shearer. I don't know what they'll say now — but I'm sure no one ever did her hair like this, before!" A light began to dawn upon us. Garbo. Shearer. Emotional actresses, doing much the same sort of thing — on the same lot. And now Joan. They are alike, the three of them! Amazingly alike, when you come to think of it. Joan may be less mysteriously seductive than Garbo. Less coolly poised and sophisticated than Shearer. More flaming and impetuous than either of them. But she is enough like them to be a younger sister! And to have her turn out to be an emotional actress, suited to the same type of roles — well, imagine Metro-GoldwynMayer's problem! The Youngster Grows Up And — Bang! THERE are only so many good stories of that kind available at any one time. There is only a certain section of the public, itself, sufficiently addicted to that type of story and actress to make them profitable. The studio must feel like the ambitious mother of t«o lovely and marriageable daughters who suddenly discovers that the tnird child —the baby — has sprouted overnight into just as beautiful and marriageable a creature — demanding clothes and parties to give her, too, her chance in life. Apparently that is exactly the way the studio feels. "They still treat me like a baby!" Joan said, rebelliously. "When I talk about doing dramatic parts, they pat me on the head and say, 'Run along! There's plenty of time for you. Why, you're just a child!' "Of course, I know I have a long way to go. I know I have a lot to learn. But I did think I showed that I could do something — at least, that I had promise — in 'Paid,' didn't you? "I'm not," she went on, with lifted chin, "imitating anybody! No one ever got anywhere by being an imitation — even a good imitation. There's not room for two of anything worth while. Not two Chaplins or two Marie Dresslers, or two of any other individual. If you're not something unique, something special, then you aren't anything. "But I'll tell you this! In spite of everything, I'm going to be the best in my line — some day ! " Dramatic actress? ' Yes!" we ventured. They Wanted Her— And Proved It WE pondered this awhile. Garbo's contract still has months to run. No doubt about her. Her stories are probably all scheduled ahead right now. And Norma Shearer is married to Irving Thalberg, who's high in studio councils — which should be an advantage. It was while she was away that Joan made "Paid" — and when Norma came back, she got "Strangers May Kiss" and Joan, apparently, got whatever was left lying around the offices — as is the way of younger sisters. M-G-M apparently has not the slightest notion of losing Joan. She has just signed a new contract that ties her up, we understand, for seven years. And at a neat increase in salary. You might think it odd that Joan would sign up again if she felt that she was not being given the opportunities she deserved (and I have never yet met a player who felt that his opportunities were suited to his abilities) — especially since it is understood that several other companies were anxious to make her offers. But there are lots of things about contracts. . . . Joan's old one still has two years to run. The company was willing to scrap it and give her much more money at once than it called for, if she would sign with them for five more years — the five to begin at the termination of the two. Thus the company would be assured of profiting from her after exploiting her. Still In The Spotlight, But— IF she did not re-sign with them, she still had two years to go, anyhow, at the old salary. And the company could, if it chose, deliberately put her in lesser roles, dim the spotlight. There was a time when Garbo, facing a similar situation, was brought to terms by the possibility of being cast as a maid in an Aileen Pringle-Lew Cody picture. But the question is, now that they have her all neatly sewed up, what are they going to do with her? The studio says that it plans to alternate her stories — a "jazzy" picture and then a serious one. Are there enough good, serious roles to go around, we wonder? After Garbo and Shearer are provided for, what will be left for Joan? She can do the other sort of thing — the dancing daughters — for a while yet. And won't the tendency be to cram her back into those parts, if only for variety? It will be too bad if M-G-M doesn't develop Joan as an emotional actress. We have few enough of them who can contribute much to the screen. Strange that one lot should be positively congested with the type ! Already there are storm signals ahead. Already Joan has been heard to say, "I won't!" in no uncertain terms to stories suggested for her. Her potentialities are unquestioned. Her determination and ambition are terrific. But the obstacles look pretty big to us. . . . Wonder what really is going to happen to Joan? Kid You finoir That— Anna Q. Nilsson, fully recovered from her long, serious injury, is back in town and ready to star again? Alice White comes back in Tiffany's "The Monster Kills"? 66