Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1939)

oner, John Carradine. in unwilling tow. Grinning Director John Farrow, says "Rock 'em," and we notice a dozen huskies grab levers and roll the cabin back and forth. They're supposed to be flying. When the "Cut!" sounds the stars stagger down a ladder and weave across the set like drunken sailors. A couple, and we won't give them away, hustle outside with a pale green look. "Airsick?" we inquire innocently. They give us dirty looks. "Setsick," they answer. "This is the third day of this rockaby baby stuff. O-o-o-o-o — here we go again — " Youth is rampant at Paramount as "What a Life." the scholastic comedy that amused Broadway for a year, gets transferred to film with Jackie Cooper, Betty Field, John Howard. Janice Logan, Lionel Stander and five hundred Los Angeles High School kids. We look in on a high-school dance in a gymnasium set. Immediately a hundred couples speed past us having something resembling epileptic fits and. when the food appears, there is a rush like a cattle stampede. Before we know it. we're outside. We should have known better. We'll never crash a high-school party of five hundred kids again, even if it is only make-believe. Too dangerous. The "Heaven on a Shoestring" set next door takes us backstage at the Bijou Theater for an always interesting and colorful set atmosphere to us — a vaudeville house. Theatrical trunks, costumes and gaily painted vaudeville paraphernalia clutter the long corridor beneath the curtain ropes. Through all this Pat O'Brien weaves his way, drunkenly, singing, reciting lines, cracking jokes. He climbs an iron spiral stairway, goes along a balcony upstairs and inside a door with a star painted on it. All the time the camera, perched on a large crane, follows him. "Heaven on a Shoestring" brings Pat, George E. Stone and Director Lewis Milestone back together for the first reunion since "The Front Page." It is the story of a brilliant Broadway producer's rise and fall and rise again through the talent of his daughter, Olympe Bradna. We're about to move on when a boy comes in— "Telegram for Mr. O'Brien," he says. Pat rips it open. It's from his pals at Warner Brothers, congratulating him on starting the picture at Paramount. It reads: "Twinkle, twinkle, our favorite star. "Now we know just where you are. "You're at Paramount with Bradna, "But don't forget the gal's your daughter!'' Well — it doesn't seem to rhyme very well — but the advice is good. We'd hate to have to stick to a paternal complex, though, around lovely Olympe. IHAT old stage thriller, "The Cat and the Canary," is our last stop. Laura La Plante did the first Hollywood version in 1926. Elliott Nugent played it on the stage; now we find him directing Paulette Goddard, Bob Hope, Gale Sondergaard. Douglass Montgomery and John Beal. Producer Arthur Hornblow looks on critically. The set is a gloomy, vaulted mansion. The relatives, says the script, are gathered around to hear the reading of a rich eccentric's will, ten years after his death. Paulette inherits the money, then mysterious meanies try to frighten her out of her wits so they can take it away from her. There are plenty of dark doings and much sinister stuff. Alligators swarm in an artificial swamp near by. One of them is yawning (we hope he's yawning) as we pass. Paulette is togged out in a black and white checked dress. Seems they had a hard time finding the dress. They tested thirty or forty, but Paramount designers failed to hit the right pattern. Then, one day. Paulette showed up at the studio in this checked number. "Migosh!" cried the high-priced studio designers. 'That's it! That's the dress— exactly what we've been trying to find. Where did you get it? How much did it cost?" (< "It's my mother's," confessed Paulette. "I borrowed it. It cost fifteen dollars at a bargain counter!" The bargaincounter dress got the job. LEAVING the movie lots to their fate, we change the scenery for a look at the ether temples of Radio City. Three new developments in the Hollywood radio picture strike us at once. First, the big program boom in dramatics; second, the simmering down of movie star bookings to a tested few; and third, preparations for summer air vacations. As we wander around the modernistic rehearsal studios we learn that star interviews on the air are passe. Good actors and actresses are all radio wants out of the Hollywood studios now. As a result, radiogenic stars get repeat calls week after week. Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Madeleine Carroll^ Spencer Tracy, Robert Montgomery, Lionel Barrymore, Virginia Bruce, Errol Flynn. Edward Arnold and Basil Rathbone are a few who are in radio to stay. Basil Rathbone, we learn, has rescued "The Circle" since taking over from Ronald Colman. His dramatic sketches have done it. Good News has vastly increased its emoting spot. So has Chase and Sanborn with Don Ameche and his movie guests. Charles Boyer's dramatic ten-strike is the talk of Sunset and Vine. After three years. Cecil B. DeMille's Lux Radio Theater is still at the top. Rudy Vallee. always attune to radio trends, is now spending more money on his air playlets than on any other part of his show. On the summer slump side, Jean Hersholt has joined Joe Penner and Jack Haley. Dick Powell follows soon when Tuesday Night Party leaves for the vacation months. Bob Hope, the Good News Show, Charles Boyer's Woodbury Playhouse, the Lux plays and Jack Benny all are set to vanish when it gets hot. Rudy Vallee, the Screen Actors' Guild Gulf program, Chase and Sanborn, The Circle and the Kraft Music Hall plan to stick it all year. Hollj-wood Radio City chatter: Jack Benny hasn't suffered in popularity from his smuggling mixup . . . the reason, they say, is that he's always the poor boob in his scripts! . . . Jack's sponsors are solidly behind him and won't hear of his resignation. . . . The golden voice of Marian Anderson, the Negro prima donna, broke down the "no applause" rule on The Circle and kept it down . . . Deanna Durbin is the godmother for Jimmy Wallington's new baby boy. . . . Fannie Brice has a complete beauty treatment across the street from NBC a couple of hours before she does a Good News Snooks . . . Miliza Korjus always brings her daughter along to cheer her singing on Good News. . . . Ned Sparks is planning "surprise appearances" on all Hollywood air shows . . . CBS ushers call all bad days "Gable Days," because when Clark is on a show the crowds are terrible . . . Bing Crosby is so lazy he now wears zipper shoes to broadcasts . '. . Bing's "new" panama is eight years old. And the radio insult of the month comes from Groucho Marx. Introducing Alexander Woollcott to the studio audience on The Circle, Groucho cracked. "The fat man is Alex Woollcott. Double-o, double-1, double-t — and double-chin!" NOBODY'S SWEETHEART BECAUSE SHE'S NOT SWEET ONE THAT NEITHER BATH NOR EXERCISE CAN RENDER INEFFECTIVE" /?HE spends hours grooming herf^ self for an important evening and yet neglects the one essential to long-lasting daintiness! She hasn't learned that every girl needs a long-lasting deodorant — one that cannot wash off in a bath or fail you after tennis, an afternoon of shopping, or one or two dances. You may think because you start out sweet, you'll stay sweet. You may think you don't perspire enough to matter. Every girl does . . . after exercise, when you're nervous or excited— just when you need to make your best impression! Test Yourself! If you don't believe it, smell the armhole of the dress you are wearing when you take it off tonight. You may discover why no one calls you "sweetheart." You'll understand, too, why so many thousands of women rely on Liquid Odorono to guard their feminine appeal. Liquid Odorono keeps your underarm dry from 1 to 3 days. Perspiration can't collect on your dress and grow more offensive every time you wear it! Perspiration is simply diverted to other parts of the body where it can evaporate freely. A doctor's prescription, a true perspiration check — Liquid Odorono scientifically controls dampness, odor, staining. Easy to Use Two applications of Liquid Odorono a week are usually enough. No dread of dampness or offensive perspiration odor for as much as three days! No fear of ruining your favorite frocks with ugly stains. How easy that makes it to be dainty every day, all day! Liquid Odorono comes in two strengths — Regular and Instant. Also in Ice form. Tested and approved by Good Housekeeping Bureau. The large size is more economical. Buy a large-size bottle or jar today! The Odorono Co., Inc., New York, N.Y. JULY, 1939 75