Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1930)

Brickbats £? Bouquets YOU FANS ARE THE REAL CRITICS Give Us Your Views $25, $10 and $5 Monthly for the Best Letters The Playback IN the past few months a flood of Brickbats, aimed at the guileless heads of various Photoplay writers, has brought to light an interesting fact. There are, it seems, in the roster of film celebrities, certain controversial names — names which spell dynamite to those who write for fan magazines, however well-meaning they may be. Heading this list are Garbo, Bow and Crawford. Whatever the luckless writer may say about these three he is wrong. Let him just dare to intimate that Garbo does not dress in the height of fashion, that Clara is taking on an ounce or two, or that Joan was not always as sane a young person as she now is — and off with his head ! This month places a new name at the very head of this group of ticklish personalities — that of Rudy Vallee. Cal York remarked in the January issue that Rudy did not exactly knock Hollywood for a row of megaphones. It was said with an entire absence of malice, but it brought in a batch of brickbats that knocked old Cal wellnigh senseless. He was found in a corner of the office, softly and penitently crying over an old still from "The Vagabond Lover." Cal wasn't the only one who took a beating. You fans came in for your share. You're to stop panning the stars. Who says so? You do, yourselves ! Many of your number wrote in deploring the super-critical spirit manifested by some of the fans. There was a note of optimism and uplift among the letters this month that would turn the original Pollyanna pallid with envy. Garbo still heads the bouquet list, rating almost three times as many posies as any other star. Bow, Daniels, Swanson and Vallee tie for second place, and Chatterton, Crawford and Boles for third. " Rio Rita " is still the ace picture, with "The Trespasser" and "Gold Diggers of Broadway" second and "Disraeli" third. "Romance of Rio Grande" drew some enthusiastic praise. 10 This is your department. Come right in, hang up your hat and pat or spat the players. Just plain spiteful letters won't be printed, and don't spank too hard, because we want to be helpful when we can. Limit your letters to 200 words, and if you are not willing to have your name and address attached, don't write. Address the Editor, 221 West 57th Street, New York City. We reserve the right to cut letters to suit our space limitations. Come in — you're always welcome ! They're from Peoria, Too The $25 Letter New York City. I am sort of sick of reading about the poor lonesome girls who live in small towns and have only the movies to amuse them. Please tell those poor girls that there is an army of probably a million or so perfectly lovely girls with exciting jobs (stenographers,etc.) living in the CITY of New York who have discovered, since arriving from Peoria or Newark, that sugar daddies are hard to meet (and when they are met, they prove to be also from Peoria or Newark); that Gloria Swanson in "The Trespasser" furnishes the dramatic excitement that the stenographers themselves expected to experience in New York; that Norma Shearer is wearing the clothes that the stenographers hoped to get from the sugar daddy, and Clara Bow is raving all the fun, anyhow. What I'm getting at is that the movie is a godsend to us — a thousand thanks. Mildred. Less Super-Flops The $10 Letter Hugoton, Kans. I wish we were offered more short films and comedies, instead of long productions. I would like to see more short phonoplays like the film "Confession" Lionel Barrymore directed last year. Or more short comedies like "Faro Nell. " I get more enjoyment out of two short features than I do out of a six or seven-reel phonoplay. There is more action, snap and vigor in the short film. Ronald Dallas Reazin. Talkies Save a Home The $5 Letter San Francisco, Calif. I can truthfully say that the "talkies," as they are today, have been the means of keeping my family away from the "breaking point" — my husband and I. Where there is a childless home, just being alone all the time can become deadly. But we thought we would tryjust one thing more to keep us interested, and that was to go to a talkie twice a week — just make it a habit. We soon had something in common to talk about. And when we came back into our home after viewing a talkie, where people seemed to have the same trials as our selves, we decided our home could be made a "home, sweet home" again. Mrs. John S. They Can't All Be Good Jackson Heights, L. I. The critics of the phonoplay, both professional and amateur, apparently expect every picture to be perfect. They seem to forget that ideas as to perfection often differ. It is impossible to please all. Considering the extremely short time the talkie has been in existence, the quality of the average production is very high. Surely many books, stage plays, etc., provide but mediocre entertainment. A masterpiece is rare in any line — why expect every talkie to be one! While the silent movies reached a high state of perfection, I am confident the phonoplay will far exceed them. Joseph M. Berg. Movie Psychology Buffalo, N. Y. I am a teacher of psychology. Have been for years. I know something about human nature and the inner workings of the mind. I know that thoughts are things. _ That the impressions of today make us the kind of men and women we are tomorrow. That we all must have an ideal, an objective to strive for. Few of us know where we're headed, what we want to do, to be. If we do know, the majority of us lack the fundamentals with which to forge ahead. Knowing all this, I encourage my classes to use the movies as object lessons. In them every conceivable obstacle is portrayed and solved, simply and successfully; the moral and reward resulting from the various situations revealed. It has worked beautifully. The older ones feel younger. Depressed ones much happier. Chronic ones healthier. Dowdy ones neater. And all of us doing better by the ones most important in the world to us . . . ourselves. (Mrs.) Irene M. Batz. So This Is College! Watkins Glen, N. Y. How does the average father judge college after he views it on the screen? Unfolded before his eyes, he sees, as if it were a warning, the evils of modern college life. After working and saving for years, and with only one aim ahead of him — an education and a chance for his children — his dreams are shattered, and so he abandons his ideas of college for them. Please send us some clean, wholesome college pictures for encouragement. Mabel B. Belknap. A Message for Mabel Normand Denver, Colo. Our local paper carried a small item the other day, saying that Mabel Normand is still very ill. After reading the beautiful article about our [ please turn to page 136 ]