Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1933)

I IO cam. Julie llaydon, RKO Star WxNZ Photoplay Magazine for March, 1933 Alec has led a sort of dual screen life with Louise Fazenda. He has been her father and has had to make love to her. "She was perfectly at ease when I was her father," he smiled reminiscently, "but on the other occasion she was rather terrified at first for fear that she might shock me. She told me afterwards that she thought me such a dignified sort of chap. However," and the kindly eyes twinkle amusedly as he adds this — "she found me quite receptive, I think." Gloria Swanson was the star whom Alec found easiest to work with, and he found, too, that she had the coolest nerve. It was during the making of "The Great Moment" that this incident occurred: "We were out on location in the Chatsworth Hills," he says, "and in one scene, after riding some distance, Gloria had to get off her horse. She got off — and almost stepped upon a huge rattlesnake, lying there coiled. But Gloria, instead of fainting, pinned the snake's head on the ground with the handle of her riding-crop while one of the men killed it. Then she did the scene over again without turning a hair." ENTICING EYES O EVERY movie star knows this beauty trick! Dark, heavy lashes give your eyes fascination — allure — appeal. Dark, heavy lashes make eyes look larger and sparkling . . . Winx — the NEW type mascara — gives you such lashes — easily and naturally . . . Without smudging, smearing or smarting. Try it today. Two forms — Liquid Winx — absolutely waterproof — 75c' . . . Cake Winx in a slim compact — $1.00. winx Found ANSWER TO UGLY PIMPLES EVEN when she knew that unsightly, blemished skin was hurting her popularity she could find nothing that helped — until a friend hinted "constipation" and advised NR Tablets (Nature's Remedy). They toned and strengthened the entire eliminative tract — rid her system (^ ^ of poisonous wastes thoroughly, j , naturally. Soon skin blotches vanW iFished, pale cheeks glowed again. Try ^ this safe, dependable, all-vegetable laxative and corrective tonight. Nonhabit-forming. At all druggists'— 25c. FREE! Mercolized Wax Keeps Skin Young It peels off aged skin in fine particles until all defects such as tan, freckles, oilincss and liver spots disappear. Skin is then soft, clear, velvety and face looks years younger. Mercolized Wax brings out your hidden beauty. To remove wrinkles quickly dissolve one ounce Powdered Saxolite in one-half pint witch hazel and use daily. At all drug stores. In a picture with Clara Kimball Young, Alec actually played her screen father while her real father, Ed Kimball, played one of the other parts. "They chose me," said Alec, "because they said that I looked more like the type of father she should have than her real father." "D ECENTLY Alec has been on tour on the -^vaudeville stage, telling audiences his experiences on the screen. As he speaks and the names of his film children fall from his lips, face after face is conjured up for ears that still remember them — Doris Kenyon, Eleanor Boardman, Mabel Normand, Betty Compson, May McAvoy, Jacqueline Logan, Norma Talmadge, Bebe Daniels, Billie Dove, Lila Lee, Lois Moran, Clara Bow, Dorothy Mackaill, Joan Bennett, Anna Q. Nilsson, these and dozens of others. Like a parade from out of the past right down to the present. He has had more children than any father living — but not one of them has ever cost him so much as a solitary dime to bring up! Glorias New Troubles CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35 heap beside me in her gorgeous apartment at a hotel in London, I accidentally called her "child." The word slipped from my subconscious because it was so fitting. Women who live on emotional gusts as does Gloria always remain, somehow, like children. The world calls them sophisticated. But the world does not know. Truly sophisticated women are those who never feel deeply. Those who cry from suffering one moment and from joy the next remain peculiarly untouched by their hardships — like infants. It is only when tears do not come that woman is truly sophisticated. SO Gloria listened to advice in this case, whereas a truly sophisticated or "hardboiled" person with her background would have learned long before then not to listen. She had listened too, to advice on how to make this "cheap" picture in London. When she was told that a certain American director had written the original story and dialogue, and had directed a successful picture in Hollywood, she did not question the statement. Where a true sophisticate-in-pictures would have cabled or telephoned Hollywood to have verified whether he was, indeed, the master of all the studio arts, Gloria believed. Later =he learned there had been many minds on that Hollywood picture. Lack of ordinary sense on her part? Of course. I do not claim Gloria has ordinary sense. Those who always remain young usually haven't. Those who achieve greatness do not follow the charted minds. She also listened when it was suggested that her new husband, Michael Farmer, play the leading man. Farmer is no fool. He knew he lacked acting experience and that talking pictures require trained people. He protested. But Gloria believed. She was told of a young actor in America who had been directed without experience and had proved a sensation. Again, Gteria didn't check the story. She urged Michael to play the role. And again this was typical of Gloria. She was still in bed from giving birth to this husband's child. She wanted him with her. When a woman like Gloria loves, she gives of her all to the one loved. If Michael Farmer could be directed so he would be a sensation — So the dissenting husband was persuaded. They shot the first scenes at Cannes. There was no script. Remember one man was doing script and direction. Gloria thought everything had been taken care of. Again foolish but typical of the woman. The first shots were in a casino where playboy Farmer had lost and won fifty thousand dollars in one evening not long before. It was his habitat as a sportsman, but not his habitat as an actor. There were no screens to protect him from the crowd which had gathered to watch the making of Gloria Swanson's new picture. Helen Hayes and Charlie MacArthur were among those on the sidelines. There were dukes and lords and ladies and marquesses. Friends of the Farmers. And hosts of strangers. New-actor Farmer felt he should have had privacy for his first shot. Training. What did he know of timing and expressions and the best-side-to-the-camera? With all this mob looking — He walked off. You can picture the scene. Any of us who have read about the making of pictures need no detailed description. The outdoor scenes were finished somehow. In some inexplainable way picture scenes always get finished no matter how many actors walk off or how much it rains or fogs. The troupe started back for London where the interiors were to be made. There was still no script. Then, one of those chance occurrences, which look so unimportant beforehand and assume such gigantic proportions afterwards. The troupe was traveling on a slow train. A member had been in one of those horrible continental train wrecks on the way down. She had spent two hours describing it to Gloria just before they started back! WHEN Gloria and Michael were in their compartment, Gloria was seized with fear. She just knew that poky train, which was jerking and rattling its way over a shaky road bed was going to be wrecked. She couldn't sleep, tier nerves were edging to one of those cascades in her hectic stream of life. Then she had an idea! She and Michael had spent such a marvelous time at Marseilles when love was first bloomiitft. It had been like a beautiful dream — "Let's slip off at Marseilles, Michael. Remember the glorious days and nights we spent there. Let's not tell anyone. Oh, it will be wonderful. We will forget all our worries — ." Just another woman trying to recapture glories once lived.