Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1934)

102 A LESSON IN A COMFORT HOW SMART WOMEN ESCAPE PERIODIC PAIN Photoplay Magazine for April, 1934 Screen Memories From Photoplay 15 Years Ago Ruth takes Midol in time and avoids the expected menstrual pain entirely. Midol saves the dayl Even for the girl whose menstruating periods have always meant agony. Not a narcotic. M I D O Takes Pain Off the Calendar TDhotoplay gave space to some ■* popular writers who belittled the movies (April, 1919), and challenged them to show their superiority with some ideas fit for screening. Gertrude Atherton said: "The movies get worse every day." How 'bout that now, Gertie? Already ancient history was the extravagant era before the industry was bothered with efficiency— the so-called " Golden Age of picture-making," when costly "permanent" settings were left standing, to crumble in neglect. We pictured some of these wasteful ruins, on the old Triangle-Ince ranch. Editorially we commented on imminent war between producers and exhibitors, for control of the industry. We also urged the screen to "discover" the middle class, figuring so largely in novels, news, and on the stage. There was too much piffle about millionaires and abjectly poor Cinderellas. William S Hart An article recognized the enlarged importance of the cameraman in making motion pictures. There was a story about how pictures found Charlie Chaplin and, after finding him, didn't know 'quite what to do with him, until he asserted himself. William S. Hart was up for some keen competition — Texas Guinan having put across her idea that there was a place in movies for a "lady Bill Hart." We concluded the life story of Geraldine Farrar, and told interesting facts about Ann Pennington, Wanda Hawley, Johnny Hines, ZaSu Pitts, Ruth Roland, and Marjorie Rambeau, among others. D. W. Griffith's "A Romance of Happy Valley" and Cecil B. DeMille's " Don't Change Your Husband" were not such hits as "Mickey," with Mabel Normand, and "Here Comes the Bride," a farce with John Barrymore. On the cover — Marjorie Rambeau. 10 Years Ago " TTHE radio is going to put -* theaters out of business again," Photoplay commented with a grin (April, 1924). Seems somebody had another new invention for broadcasting motion pictures from studio to home. Ho, hum. Such a phrase as " The greatest picture ever made" was stale publicity technique by this time, and Photoplay was sorry the Rockett boys couldn't think up something better for "Abraham Lincoln," a worth while production. "Such a meaningless bromide," we advised, "will crowd the theater about as fast as an inscription from old Tut's tomb." Voluptuous Nita Naldi related "What Men Have Told Me About Other Women," and the blonde serial queen, Pearl White, a Parisienne by now, said "I'll never work in another picture." "The Autobiography of Pola Negri" was concluded. Listing ten men most adored by Pearl White women, in the order of adoration, Adela Rogers St. Johns found Wallace Reid's name first, even after his death. Then came Rudolph Valentino, Richard Barthelmess, William S. Hart, Ramon Novarro, Conway Tearle, Thomas Meighan, Antonio Moreno, Douglas Fairbanks, Reginald Denny. Cal York's choicest gossip tidbit was about Charlie Chaplin flooring a boisterous oil operator in a Los Angeles cafe. The six best pictures of the month were: "Secrets" (Norma Talmadge, Eugene O'Brien), Lubitsch's "The Marriage Circle" (Adolphe Menjou), "The Humming Bird" (Gloria Swanson), "Thy Name is Woman" (Barbara La Marr, Ramon Novarro), "Three Weeks" (AileenPringle, Conrad Nagle), "The Stranger" (Richard Dix, Betty Compson). Cover honors went to the lovely Sylvia Breamer. 5 Years Ago ■"THE aviator had replaced the *■ cowboy as the hero most beloved of juvenile screen audiences. A turn of things which grew out of Lindbergh's epochal night to Paris, Photoplay observed editorially (April, 1929). As the magazine went to press, last minute news included the death of William Russell. "How? Talkies Are Made" was a timely article; people stood in awe of the mechanical marvels of the chattering cinema. Remember them? — "great disj coveries" whose greatness never developed in Hollywood — Dimples Lido, Eva von Berne, Mona Martenson, Ruth Taylor, Natalie Barr, Andre Mattoni, Lya de Putti, Dita Parlo. We told of their heartbreaks, and of the grand C uneback of Warner Baxter in the film, " In Old Arizona." Cal York whispered that Charlie Chaplin was "that way" about Georgia Hale, his leading woman in "The Gold Rush." The Lupe Lillian Gish Velez-Gary Cooper thing was Hollywood's hot tamale. Jobyna Ralston said "One Star is Enough" in one family, and retired to keep husband Dick Arlen "sane and level-headed." Lillian Gish was "fighting alone for her artistic honor," with Max Reinhardt — her choice for a co-worker in Hollywood, and Hollywood not friendly to her ideas. We carried an interesting account of Gary Cooper's family history. The six best pictures of the month were: "The Broadway Melody" (Bessie Love, Anita Page, Charles King, James Gleason), "The Pagan" (Ramon Novarro), "Why Be Good?" (Colleen Moore), "Strong Boy" (Victor McLaglen), "The Dummy" (Ruth Chatterton), and "Weary River" (Richard Barthelmess). And Clara Bow was a flaming girl .on the