The New Movie Magazine (Jan-Sep 1935)

Hollywood Scares Hell Out of Me "Is Arlen really an actor, after all?" Well ... am I? THAT'S another thing I haven't learned in my years of Hollywood service. That's not phony modesty, either. It is, instead, a delicate point that has always intrigued me. After the release of such pictures as "Wings" . . . "Ladies of the Mob" and "Touchdown," I was called by the newspaper gentry such endearing terms as: ". . . that sterling actor . . ." "... a splendid performer" and so on down to such nice-to-hear adjectives as "swell . . . sincere . . . natural charm . . . and talented." On occasion, since that time, I have been rated by the same critics as "Dick Arlen, as usual" . . . "Arlen walked through his part" . . . or . . . "the disputable ability of Dick Arlen." I ask you! The greatest opportunity of my career came in "Wings" for which I was paid $75.00 a week. Since I got over the $2,000.00 a week hurdle, I haven't had anything to compare with it . . . and all the while at the same studio! Over and over again, I ask myself the same question: "Was I faking in 'Wings' and 'Touchdown' ... or was I really doing a capable acting job?" I can't answer that question. But I am quite sure that if I was an actor then ... I still am. Since leaving Paramount, I have done one picture: "Heldorado" and it has been very well received at the box office and by the critics. Who knows, maybe I am an actor again! DUT the dangers and uncertainties of *-* our profession are few compared to all the dangers of Hollywood. The personal, private-life hazards are just as great, just as frightening. Jobyna and I have been married eight years. During that time we have been ardently publicized as a "happy marriage" . . . maybe we've had too much of it. A little over a year ago, Ricky was born . . . the crowning happiness for both of us. I had the impression that it was pretty well understood Jobyna and I were making a grand go of things, that our marriage was more or less free from the scare-rumors that infest most Hollywood unions. Yet, the other day, I was playing golf at Lakeside when a newspaper reporter came tearing out of the clubhouse and dragged me away from my impatient foursome. "Listen, Dick," he panted, "you're an old friend of mine and I wanted to check with you before we did anything about the story. The tip just came into the desk that you and Joby have separated, that she's moved to Palm Springs with the baby and that your house is up for sale. Have you anything to say about it?" Does Hollywood scare me? I'm telling you, the perspiration stood out on my forehead. I was no good for golf after that. It took my breath away that such a story could have landed in a newspaper office . . . carrying such an implication . . . from such an innocent series of events. It was perfectly true that Joby was at Palm Springs with the baby. She had gone down there for a little vacation and a chance to sunbathe a cold out of Ricky. I had given the servants a few days off because it was really easier for me to eat at the club. I was in town (and not at Palm Springs where I wanted to be) because I had been detained a few days for re-takes on the picture. But never, in my most Hollywood-scared moments, did I ever dream that such circumstances could be twisted into a divorce story ... to be denied immediately ... or be flashed on the wires all over the country as a rumor. Suppose this friend of mine hadn't been able to locate me? Or, suppose his editor had decided to put through the story without bothering to investigate? Imagine Joby's feelings, to read such a thing in the papers. Realize my feelings, when I thought how accidentally it was that I had been able to stop it! F'M going to admit it. I'm scared of ■*■ Hollywood rumors. Oh, of course, you can deny them and try to laugh them off. But, believe me, they actually do something to the people involved! True or not, they are equally terrifying. Even if your wife has the good sense not to become suspicious following every silly story . . . rumors have a way of making you both prisoners of: What will people say? You don't dare take a vacation apart because the old divorce rumor will start again. You become self-conscious if you are caught walking across the lot to the studio restaurant with the leading woman in your latest picture. On parties, you must be careful not to dance too often with another woman . . . and your wife must be equally careful of her dances with other men. For the finger of suspicion will rest on you . . . and once it has pointed your way, you're never free of it again. I think more marriages have been wrecked in Hollywood because of trying to live down the rumors of divorce . . . than by all the other women and other men put together! But I can just hear you saying: "Yeah . . . sure . . . but when you have laid all your criticisms end-to-end, think of all the MONEY you get. That ought to make up for everything . . ." Well, I'm not going into the details about what happens to movie money in Hollywood . . . you've probably heard it all before. But after the government gets its half . . . your trust fund gets a portion of the balance and you live up to your reputation . . . there isn't even much for the get-rich-promoters! And, Lord knows, Hollywood has a promoter hanging from every tree looking for some of that so-called easy money from the movies! Hollywood may be uncertain on careers . . . death on happy marriages . . . and generally tough on the nervous system, but it's a magician where money is concerned! Now you see it . . . now you don't. And it isn't always a case of squandering it, either. I've known actors who have "invested themselves into the poor house" just as sensibly as others have thrown it away. For instance, there is the little matter of those business lots I own over in . . . but there, that's a sore point at our dinner table now, so I won't go into it. Seriously, though, Hollywood has the ability to send you straight up to Paradise at a million miles a minute . . . but before you get a chance to look around and get your bearings, ZOOM . . . down you go again even faster. Your money is over three-quarters gone before you have a chance to count it . . . your home life and even your baby is constantly at the mercy of rumor and libel, and you know ten times as many questions as you ever will answer! I'm sincere when I say: Hollywood scares hell out of me! Not all Sun -Tan is Becoming Ctyfica/Mackinejittifsjlnswerfo DULL TAN.. HOT RUDDY TAN.. FADING TAN (above) MISS SALLY HANFORD uses Pond's Brunette in winter. In summer, Rose Brunette, (right) MRS. ALLEN WHITNEY uses Natural in winter. When sunburned, the new Pond's Sun Tan. Every summer your face changes its color scheme! 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NameStreet City — Copyright 1935, PoDd's Extract Company The New Movie Magazine, July, 1935 49