Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1941)

my campaign to become a star. I never once let up on it. "I tried to be honest with myself when I worked as an extra. No use kidding myself. I looked around at the hundreds of other girls like m\ living from day to day on the fringe of the movie industry, with only one chance in a million of becoming a star. We all looked alike, we dr. alike, we talked alike. "I took stock of myself and realized that I was pretty much in demand as an extra because I could dance1 and I had some dancing costumes. That meant I made about Sll a day and my weekly earnings were sometimes over $50. "I figured things out and decided that if I was to get anywhere I needed two things immediately: Training and clothes. My earnings couldn't ; modate both, so I thought some more and decided that getting the clothes first would be putting the cart before the horse. First, self-improvement. Second, self-display. "I went over myself critically. My voice was thin and singsong, didn't have enough resonance. My diction was forced and unrhythmic. My acting, of course, needed the works I I had had so little experience. Beca I was self-conscious, I didn't know how to walk. "i enrolled with the best teachers in Hollywood. My diction and \ lessons were Sid a session. Dramatic lessons were even more. I took as many lessons as I could possibly afford. I made a tew Western pictures at $200 a picture. I took more lessons with the extra bonanza. As I earned more, I spent more. At one time I was taking diction and voice lessons four times a week and dramatic lessons five times a week. It came to $90 a week! And I was earning $100. "I had to put new clothes out of my mind because I just couldn't afford them. But I didn't make the mistake ol being seen around town looking I did. If I couldn't be seen at my very best, I wouldn't be seen at all. nbia Pictures was looking for a dark. Latin-appearing girl who could speak Spanish to appear in some of their C pictures. I got the job. The salary was $200 a week, which was good and steady. Now I could afford to graduate to Step No. 2 to wit, the clothes. Of course, I was -till keeping up the dramatic and voice lessons and I didn't have very much over lor clothes, but I decided to save until I could sink a good sum into a knockout outfit. "The fust clothes splurge took the breath out i I could hardly believe I had done it. It was a gray caracul coat, form-titled, pinching my waist in snugly and flaring from the thighs down. The dress was a dream. Three shades of grey, and it fit like silver fluid poured over my body. The hat was one of those tall startling things that was meant to be carried on a head held high. I paid $500 for the outfit and I had a few uncomfortable moments thinking of my extravagance. Not a cent in the bank — and $500 for one outfit. But when I saw myself in the mirror, I felt reassured. I had never looked like that before. THE first evening I wore it I went to the Trocadero. That was no accident. It was done deliberately. At that time the Troc was the hangout of the stars and the star-makers. It was the beauty-jaded moguls of Hollywood I was trying to reach. It was up to me, and my $500 investment, to make them aware of me. So aware that they would say, 'There goes a girl the public will enjoy looking at because I enjoy looking at her.' "When I walked in, I felt eyes turning towards me. Marlene Dietrich was at one table, Norma Shearer at another. The most glamorous, most highly paid stars in Hollywood there, and people looked at me! "I noticed Howard Hawks, the producer, and Harry Cohn, the president of Columbia Pictures, at a ringside table. I tried to be nonchalant and not stare at them. Toward the end of the evening Mr. Hawks came to my table and introduced himself with a charming compliment I shall always remember. " 'I noticed you as you came in and you look lovely in that outfit. You seem to stand out from the others. I'd like to talk to you about a part in my new picture. Will you please get in touch with me in the morning?' "Well!!! I learned later that this had happened: Hawks and Harry Cohn were going to put their combined talents into the film 'Only Angels Have Wings' and they were both at the Trocadero to get their minds off shop. When I walked in Hawks looked at me and asked, 'Who is that girl? I use her in our picture.' Cohn stared at me. then nearly exploded. 'That girl' Why she's on my lot. Never noticed her before, though.' And then it happened." Rita was screen-tested and got the part. It was that roll of the sultry Wife of Richard Barthelmess and exflame of Cary Grant that made Hollywood notice her. "Now that I had my fust big chance, I had to go on with my campaign even more than ever," continued Rita, lighting a cigarette with long flame-tipped lingers. "1 was encouraged. My clothes investment had attracted the attention of the Big Producer, my investment in dramatic lessons had Cinched the screen test I'.ul I had to keep my name, my face before the producers and the public. I had to make them know me and want me. "That all took money. It takes money to buy evening dresses that won't be seen on every Thomasina, Dixie and Harriet. It takes money to buy furs and cars so that people will turn around and say, 'Who is that?" It takes money to make people remember you if you are a nobody. It takes money, and some shrewd thinking." First, Rita hired a press agent, one of the best, at S75 a week. "Because he is an expert in his business. I followed his orders and asked no questions. Only once did I balk at a publicity assignment. A national picture magazine wanted me to pose in a series showing college girls how not to behave on a date. I wouldn't let myself be photographed looking drunk or disheveled. I didn't think it was wise." AN example of the Hayworth tact in dealing with the public is the type of photographs she sends to her fans. There are two stacks of pictures reserved for this occasion. One is Rita in a bathing suit, bursting with smiles, legs and S.A. This goes to the men. The female fans receive a picture of Rita in a smart sport outfit walking her dog. This is what the French call "finesse." Her wholehearted willingness to co-operate with photographers and the 3 has paid unmistakable dividends. She has a scrapbook that bulges with 3800 separate stories, her photos h. been reproduced more than 12,000 times, she was the face on six m; zine covers in one month and 36 m; zines have devoted entire pages to her wardrobe, her career and her beauty. When you consider that she has appeared in only four big pictures and has played (Continued on page 86) Cm IWJYW rcn da am& GINGER ROGERS as Kill Y FOY LE Another in our series of full-color star portraits, appearing exclusively in PhotoplatMovie Mirror L* :•! 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