Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1942)

Cozy attitude on the part of John Wayne with costar Marlene Dietrich in "The Spoilers" may make him say the same things about her as did Fred MacMurray after "The Lady Is Willing" What Hollywood Thinks about Marlene Dietrich (Continued from page 49) how it really happened. She was doing a scene with the baby in her arms and got her foot caught in the toy fire engine. She was falling face down and to save the baby she caught the sill of the door and twisted herself around. Her foot wouldn't turn and she knew she would probably ruin the ankle she had sprained in making the picture "Manpower," or maybe even break a leg. But she was too game to drop the baby or risk falling on it. And that's just one of the reasons she tops my list of favorite people." ELEANOR BRODER, Director Mitchell Leisen's secretary, checked dialogue on "The Lady Is Willing." "Dietrich didn't turn out as I expected," Eleanor admitted frankly. "She had the glamour and the famous international air, as advertised, but instead of cold brilliance she had a warm sparkle. She wanted to have fun. Before her accident she was all over the place, mimicking opera singers, ballet dancers and oldtime street musicians. We never knew what she would do next. "But her various activities and interests didn't lessen her drive for perfection. She rehearsed endlessly, devoted unlimited time to her make-up, was satisfied with nothing less than the exact result she wanted in lighting and stood for fittings till she was ready to drop. Time and effort apparently mean nothing to her. "Dietrich's self-control was positively amazing. No amount of irritation or annoyance can fuss her or make her raise her voice. What does bother her, though, is people's not getting along together. She sensed there was friction between two of the girls on the set and managed to adjust their misunderstanding without seeming to be doing so. She's infinitely more diplomatic than the average star." Kj OT everyone your inquiring reporter ■ * interviewed cheered Dietrich. The magazine contact at one of the studios where Marlene made a picture doesn't clap hands at the mention of her name. This publicity worker said: "You can have my part of Dietrich. I didn't think much of her when she came on the lot and less when she left. I've worked with too many stars to be impressed by 74 snootiness. I went out on the set to arrange for an important magazine interview for her. It was an off-the-picture story and it didn't mean a thing to my studio or to me personally. "But she let me stand for five minutes or more beside her make-up table without so much as glancing up. She couldn't help seeing me in the mirror, but she let me finally walk away without indicating she knew I was on earth. I tried again that afternoon, but she was telling the electrician how to light a scene and looked right through me. "So, in my very best English, I mentally told her to go to the deuce, and let it go at that. There were too many stars and players on our own lot who were willing to co-operate for me to stand around coughing and hemming in the hope Dietrich would finally notice me." Walter Ruf, Columbia's publicity unit man on "The Lady Is Willing," unknowingly explained this magazine contact's experience with Marlene. "The first day or two on the picture," said Walter, "I thought Dietrich fancied herself a bit exclusive. But later I learned that her apparent aloofness was just concentration. When she's in the middle of something she won't give anybody a tumble. But the instant she finishes the job in hand she really extends herself to be friendly and gracious. "Making up is one of the things Marlene concentrates on. She takes longer to make up than anybody I've ever seen. But when she's finished, gosh, how she's finished. Other stars continually rush back to a mirror for assurance or to adjust or add something. But not Dietrich. Once made up she went through scenes, kidded with the^ boys, cuddled the babies and relaxed all over the place without once giving a thought to her make-up. And it was always perfect. "Dietrich is very methodical. While in the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital with her broken ankle, she kept a complete record of every wire, letter and gift sent her— and there were hundreds. Once they removed the cards before delivering her flowers and she had the whole hospital staff looking for them so she could make personal acknowledgments. "She loves to use the telephone and one call seems to inspire another. She really had a field day with the phone in the hospital. She literally crawled under the bed covers and cooed into it." A player who did a small part in one of Dietrich's pictures and who, for obvious reasons, doesn't want his name used, says: "Dietrich is too sure of herself and too officious for me. She wants to tell everybody how to do his job and has an exaggerated notion of her own importance. I also don't like her condescending way with bit players and extras. Nobody has to go out of his way to be nice to me I just want to be treated as an equal, or let alone." Joe Wald, a veteran cowboy and stunt man, says: "I sure never expected to be in a picture with 'Legs' Dietrich. And when us tobacco chewers did get 'Destry' call we figured we'd have to gentle down and not get too close to the glamour gal. We figured we'd have to muffle our spurs and hold our breath. "But after we saw Marleenie tear into Una Merkel in that knock-down and drag-out cat fight, we kinda figured she was human, after all. "And. by gum, she sure was. Before they got done with the big barroom sequence where we put on the roughhouse she had hog-tied the whole kaboodle of us. Yes sir, she was a full-fledged honorary member of our cowboy and stunt man's association. We liked teaching her to whirl a rope, but sure hedged when she wanted to start six-gun practice in the back lot. "If Marleenie's what they call a glam our gal, I'd like to have me one out on my ranch." VOUR reporter was told to contact ■ George Raft's pal, Mack Gray, for .n opinion on Dietrich. But when we called to see Mack, George was home alone. He said: "What do I think of Dietrich? Just that she's the swellest person I ever met. She's loyal, sincere, game and a good fellow. I don't understand how anyone can say she's stuck up. She's just the opposite of that. She was swell to everybody who worked on 'Manpower' and at the end of the picture she gave them all watches — grips, juicers, wardrobe girls — everybody. "In the scene where I was supposed to hit her I wanted to fake it. But she made me do it legitimate. She said I'd look bad if I didn't. And she made me hit her so hard she fell and sprained her ankle. "When she came limping back to work I with her lips all swollen, I felt pretty , bad. But she teased me out of it. That's i the kind of a gal she is." "It wasn't the big things Dietrich did, like taking care of all the expenses of the wardrobe girl who got hurt on The Lady Is Willing' that won all of us." -aid I Roselle Novello, who works in Columbia's wardrobe department. "It was the hundred little considerations she showed us. Like bringing home-baked cakes to the studio almost every day and g birthday parties for Director Mite ell Leisen, for 'Chico' and for two or three' others who had birthdays while working on the picture. "Dietrich is an excellent cook and nude the cakes she brought us. layer cakes and; big square fruit-filled cakes. One day she'd bring apricot cake, another day peach cake and another day pineapple, cake — and everybody who ate lunch on the set got some. "She made working on that picturo a pleasure by always thinking up little ways to surprise and please us." Harold Johnson, a young man from Cincinnati out here to work in the Di photoplay combined with movie mirbor.