Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1939)

Cal York's Gossip of Hollywood (Continued from page 61) Gary Cooper's a familiar sight about the studios — not so Judge and Mrs. Cooper, visiting the "Real Glory" set thinks any girl can contrive at least a measure of glamour, if she wants it; that, with attention to the points she has mentioned, the rest of glamour is just a state of mind. Happy Though Married A VISIT to Jeanette MacDonald's and Gene Raymond's hilltop home reveals an answer to all those in-pouring questions of "Why Can't Hollywood People Stay Happily Married?" Jeanette and Gene both feel a successful marriage requires as much thought and planning as a career. Even more. Accordingly, they have arranged their lives together to insure success. Gene heads the household. It is where he wants to go and what he wants to do that gets the final vote. Bonds are built like bridges. Because Jeanette speaks French fluently, Gene is studying daily to learn the language. The musical talent they hold in common, Gene as a composer, and Jeanette as a singer, is strengthened in their musical work together. Because he likes homemade ice cream, Jeanette daily sees to the mixing and freezing. Because she sincerely believes marriage needs time for both husband and wife to live as a husband and wife, she is asking for less time at the studio. Gene, off the screen for a year in his determination to capture more suitable roles, finds Jeanette standing by his side loyally in the battle. So here's to them. A Cal salute to Jeanette and Gene. Long may they be happy — together. Young Fry— Young Love Department JACKIE COOPER at Ruby Foo's, smiling at Pat Stewart, over a dish of chow mein. "Sure I have to be in by twelve o'clock," Jackie tells one and all. "And mom's right, too. Nothing will tag a kid as a smarty more than being seen around too late at night" . . . Billy Halop smiling at "Sugar" Kane over a soda doesn't even know what time it is. Billy has it bad . . . Frankie Thomas has Phyllis Howell in the front seat of his car more than any other girl these days. They make a "cutie twosome." all right . . . Marcia Mae Jones is showing off the very first beau she's allowed to have. His name is Don Barry. The local soda fountains work overtime for Marcia Mae and Don . . . Judy Garland wears the broadest grin of all Young Fryers. "I'm sixteen now," Judy says, "and I can go dancing with any boy mother approves of". . . . Carole's Little Girl P ART of the job of any studio's casting director is to find children who resemble various stars, to play either the star, himself, in childhood, or to play the children of stars. Such a situation arose in "The Kind Men Marry," RKO's new picture starring Carole Lombard, Kay Francis and Cary Grant. The plot called for a little girl of six, to be Carole's daughter. Well, you'd think it would be easy to find a yellow-haired tot with round, blue eyes and a heart-shaped face. But casting directors are particular, and they actually tested three hundred children before they found Miss Peggy Ann Garner of Washington, D. C. Strangely enough, Peggy, who was visiting her grandmother, Mrs. Shields Craig of Hollywood, was seen by Douglas Corrigan, one day, when she was visiting "The Flying Irishman" set (Corrigan's picture, you will remember). Corrigan was struck by her remarkable resemblance to his own sister, and she was tested for the part. However, they considered her hair too light and nothing came of the test, until — the day before she was to return home to Washington, someone on the RKO lot remembered it and she was signed to play Carole's daughter. Well, it was a happy choice. It gave us a start to see her and Carole together. You'd think they were mother and daughter for fair! However, their tastes in men are different, as witness this conversation we overheard between small Peggy and her grandmother. "Is Mr. Grant really married to Miss Francis?" Peggy inquired. (They're supposed to be married in the picture.) "No, that's just in the picture," Mrs. Craig told her. "Well, is he in love with Miss Lombard, like he told her just now?" "No, that, too, is just in the picture. Miss Lombard just recently married Mr. Gable. Why?" "Well," confided the precocious Peggy, "to tell the truth. Mr. Grant is just the sorta man I could fall for!" Telling on Raft IT'S been printed that George Raft has a grown son, who recently moved to Hollywood. But there's still more to the story. George's grown son also has a young son — which makes George the youngest and the most sexy grandfather on and off the screen. George has never denied his grandparentage. No one happened to ask him, and he's never taken the trouble to volunteer the information. Dearest Friend and Severest Critic LuPE VELEZ did a splendid piece of work in "The Girl from Mexico." A well-known critic stopped her in the Brown Derby for the sole purpose of telling her just how splendid she was in the role. Lupe listened politely until the critic had used up all his adjectives, then she said, "Yes. I think so. too. but I liked best the part where I sing and I stink." T for Two nHEN the cameras quit grinding on "The Rains Came," director Clarence Brown invited the entire cast to a weekend party at his Valley Ranch, some forty miles from Hollywood. Most of the guests had arrived, and were having a gay time when a plane droned overhead. Clarence is a pilot, and something told him that the pilot in the droning plane was in trouble. He hurried out into the yard, then called back to his guests: "It's Ty Power, and he's looking for a place to land. Down everybody, down full-length on the ground." Guests and directors lay prone upon the ground in the form of a letter T to guide Tyrone Power to a landing spot in a wheat field near by. When the plane landed, the "markers" leaped to their feet and ran forth to greet an amused and grateful Ty and Annabella. Traveler's Aid? Lew AYRES, wandering around Warsaw during his recent trip to Europe and wishing he could get hold of a Baedeker, tried to put over what he wanted in a Polish travel bureau. By sign language, he managed to designate that it was a book, and by his appearance, he says he guesses the clerk figured out that he was an American and, therefore, desired a book in English. But the book the man proffered him, finally, with a pleased smile at his understanding of Lew's requirements, was not a Baedeker. It was a copy of "Robinson Crusoe." Yes, Lew says he bought it because he didn't want to hurt the clerk's feelings. Occupation Barbara stanwyck has a new name for herself. Since working with Robert Preston, who is twenty, and William Holden, who is twenty-one, advising them, and sharing her knowledge of acting before the camera — Barbara calls herself "The Children's friend." Director Rouben Mamoulian wasn't any too considerate of Holden on the "Golden Boy" set. So Barbara was constantly soothing his ruffled feelings. One day Holden came to Barbara, and said he had decided that nothing was worth so much heartache. He was going back to selling baloney. "Well, what do you think you are doing now," Barbara cracked. So Holden decided to stick. Feet First I HIS is what makes 'em great. When Madame Maria Ouspenskaya arrived back in Hollywood to play the Maharanee in "The Rains Came," the studio had slippers made to go with her costume. Madame went to bat and said a real Maharanee always walked in her bare jeweled feet. The studio argued they were afraid she might step on a nail and hold up production. But they forgot they were arguing with a Rus —=•-{= Tops in a comedy trio: Leo Carrillo entertains Fred Stone and author Irvin S. Cobb at lunch in RKO-Radio studio cafe 74 PHOTOPLAY