Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1931)

Photoplay Magazine for December, 1931 109 The Comeback Champ [ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 45 ] in Paterson, New Jersey. A paper had printed he was an old stock player. People must never know this was his initial stage appearance. A reporter came back after the performance. "Vaudeville isn't so different from stock, is it, Mr. Cortez?" He shook his head. He didn't speak; his teeth chattered. " You proved you were an old hand, all right." He is prouder of his vaudeville success than any which may come to him. He will talk by the hour, if you let him, of how he sang for the first time in Boston. He'd never sung in public before in his life. No training. But he was fighting for bread and butter. People do what they have never done before for bread and butter. A breakdown. Alma was playing in vaudeville in the same section of the country. She was fighting another kind of fight. She was losing. The long strain of the past three and a half years was too much for the husband. He cancelled his tour and took the money he had made and went to Europe. There, Ricardo Cortez thought it over. Fight had been born during the vaudeville tour. You have seen the sun burst through black clouds when the storm has spent its power? The sun burst through Ricardo Cortez' life when he returned from Europe. A telegram from Pathe asked if he was open for picture engagements. What had happened in Hollywood, he didn't know; he doesn't know today. But picture producers have a way of forgetting the past when vaudeville producers prove there is box-office in the present. He took an airplane to Hollywood at his own expense. He made "Her Man." It was the elevator from the bottom of that toboggan slide. How the man on that elevator had changed from the one who stood on the peak four years before! Charles Rogers, head Hollywood producer for Pathe, said he thought William Le Baron at the sister studio, Radio, would give Cortez a contract. Lc Baron told him at two o'clock one afternoon that he would let Cortez know by six that evening. Ricardo went home and waited. He admits his nerves were frayed, and he doesn't hang his head when he tells it. He also prayed. Salary? Parts? He would leave them to fate and his own ability — once he secured steady employment. They gave him the contract. He has played the-man-after-the-other-man's-wife ever since. Now, they're going to remove him from the stereotyped role and make him a hero. He plays Mary Astor's love-interest in a new film for Radio Pictures. His brother lives in his big house at Beverly. Ricardo lives in an apartment. He has no valet; no chauffeur; no secretary. He plays golf, rides and plays polo. "I play on other people's horses; I can't afford a string. I would like to play on Darryl Zanuck's team, but I would have to get my own horses. I can't do it." "You don't talk like an actor, Mr. Cortez," I ventured. "I wasn't one for so long that I hope I learned something about being a man," he answered. You know, I really like these people better when they are comebacks. Gloria Swanson had a bodyguard when she first hit the big money. Not today. Joan Crawford has one today. But Joan has never slid down the toboggan. ' 'Bad Girl " was Sally Eilers' elevator, and it is the best picture she has made, before or since. Ben Lyon was formerly a national play-boy. Since his comeback he is a model husband and father. Pola Negri is a different human being, she thinks of others — and all Hollywood loves her now. Yes, those who live in our little hamlet of comebackers prove the one-word explanation of the champion. " Fight!" what fun to be good-looking! Here's a brand-new one! Marjorie King, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer actress, makes sure of remembering Bob Montgomery's birthday by pasting his picture on her calendar. But she was pretty sad just the same when Jack Gilbert left for Europe WHEN poisons collect in the system, you can count on missing many a good time ! Nobody is attracted to the muddied skin and dull eyes and slow wits that show you've neglected internal cleanliness ! Keep clean within — with the saline treatment— and watch your charm come back! You'll have a clear complexion, bright eyes, and sparkle! Keep internally clean with Sal Hepatica. A laxative? Yes. But don't get Sal Hepatica confused with ordinary laxatives. For Sal Hepatica is a saline. It contains the same salines as do the waters of the European spas where thousands of Continentals go to recover their vitality and health! Because Sal Hepatica is a saline, it can't irritate the normal digestive tract. It isn't habit-forming. And if you're trying to reduce, remember this — Sal Hepatica never has a tendency to make its users stout. Rid your body of wastes with Sal Hepatica —begin today — and find out what it is to be good-looking and to feel fine! Sal Hepatica helps you to enjoy life morel Write Bristol-Myers Co., Dept. ^ G-121, 71 West St., New York City, for a free booklet, "To Clarice in Quest of HerYouth. " i