The New Movie Magazine (Dec 1929-May 1930)

One of Hollywood's Most Brilliant Hostesses In the first place, she dressed too well. Hollywood still has a tinge of the provincial attitude that it is immoral to be perfectly chic. In the second place her wit was too vivid and too impersonal. And thirdly, she was too honest. Being used to deal with people who could jolly well take care of themselves, Tashman said what she thought in a blunt fashion which delighted the few and scandalized the many. Lil is no respecter of persons. There are no sacred cows in her conversational forays. Likewise, she made no pretense of an innocence which the variest debutante would repudiate, but which the screen ingenue often thinks she must simulate. Nor did she claim a distinguished family background. None of this had been necessary where she came from. For a while, Lil let the whisperers whisper, ignored the slights and laughed at the whole business. 'TPHEN, because she is a very smart -* gal, Lil suddenly decided to give battle. Not on her own acj^unt. As Lil Tashman, I think she would have gone on contemptuous, amused, impudent to the end — or returned to her beloved Broadway. As Mrs. Edmund Lowe, she must figure differently. It behooved her to make a place for herself in the society where her husband's greatest earning power lay. As a wife, she desired to hold her own and to carry her end of a marriage which she passionately desired to make successful. It shows Lil's real character that she saw this and conceded it. Ambitious, intense, fearfully proud, somewhat scornful of the small town she conceived Hollywood to be, her man came first. Which is more than I can say of a lot of other women. Facts had to be faced. Socially she wasn't "accepted." Professionally she wasn't getting the work her ability and name entitled her to. Something must be done. The citadel must be stormed. It had become a strategic point. La Tashman took stock of the situation. Then she made a brilliant tactical move. She didn't attack direct. She didn't storm straight into a position she knew to be already well fortified against her. She didn't buck the line where she knew it was strongest and prepared to meet any offense she might conceive. She attacked by an unexpected flank movement. Thus: All Hollywood desires social prominence outside its own limited circle. Not as a steady diet, but artistic and professional people are as a rule soon bored by mere society. But recognition by the social leaders is coveted by nearly all theatrical people. At Pickfair LA TASHMAN — as Hollywood first knew her, a smartly gowned young woman who was too honest, too vivid and too impersonal in her wit. they entertain Princes and Princesses and cement their royal dominion over the movie colony. Marion Davies. the acknowledged social power of all moviedom, gains prestige when dukes and earls, ambassadors, and celebrities flock to her "Hollywood is no worse and no better morally than any other place. It is only more dramatic in everything it does." brilliant table. HP HE vivid Lilyan, ■*■ knowing well how the bloods and playboys of the Social Register and the Racket Club love to stray into the fascinating circle of the stage, determined to go over the heads of those who had refused her recognition. Always sure of her power as an entertaining dinner guest, of her wit, of her perfect costuming, Lilyan conceived the idea that in the west as in New York, society might like a new sensation. She would be it. She was. There is in Pasadena, in Santa Barbara, in Del Monte, in Burlingame real {Continued on page 128) 91