Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1930)

Lonely Lew "She would ask me about love. She's the sort of woman I admire the most. I don't care so much for flappers. I guess it is because she is older and more experienced, and I am so young." HIS own life has been as amazing as his brief, meteoric career in pictures. He was born in Minneapolis, and until he reached his "teens" he had no other name with his playmates than "Fat" Ayres. He now carries just 150 pounds on his five feet, eleven inches of height. He came from a musical family. His mother was a pianist, and his father had played with the Minneapolis Symphony. His grandmother has taught piano there for fifty years, and it was she who started his musical education. He didn't really become interested in music until he took up the banjo. He wanted to be the greatest banjo player in the world. Now he thinks that it is a "tinny," limited instrument, and he never plays it. He prefers the organ, and more than once he has played all night. The height came to Lew while he was attending the San Diego high school, and the weight was lost during the months he attended the University of Arizona, going out for basketball and track. His mother was delighted in the change. She wrote to her mother that Lew was taking interest in music at last, and that he was "actually handsome." For the last four years Lew has been away from home. He says that there is no one dearer [ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 71 J to him than his family, but he wants to be alone. During those four years he has played with musical revues, had a season with the orchestra at one of Detroit's leading hotels, and played in the smartest hotels and cafes in Los Angeles. When he was eighteen, for a lark, he played and sang for several months in a Mexicali cafe. He sang love ballads while congenial drunks grew maudlin and wept bitter tears into their cocktails. Mexicali is a drear, blowsy border town. Agua Caliente is the smart resort that draws the movie crowds. They even stop at Tia Juana for a last look at the gallop'ing dice, but it is unlikely that any of them ever saw him in Mexicali. Lew lives alone in Hollywood. "I couldn't live with anyone," he explained. "It would worry me. I like to play for hours at a time, and that would probably drive another person crazy. I don't like to play jazz any more. I had enough of that when I was playing in dance orchestras. I don't go out very much. Big parties scare me. I get lonely and think that I would like to go to a party. I go, and then have such a miserable time that I wish I had stayed at home." "V\ THAT else do you like to do besides »* play?" I asked him. "I like to model," he answered. "I carried a big hunk of clay around with me. I had to give it away because you have to keep it cool, and it smelled up all the food in the icebox." Lewis is about the quietest boy among the many youngsters on the "All Quiet" set. When he finishes a scene he retires to some cornert and then when he is wanted they have to shout for him. William Bakewell and Russell Gleason have had a marvelous time on the picture, joshing each other about their shaved heads, They are lively, humorous — and good showmen. Lew is friendly with everybody, but his own natural aloofness would preclude many warm friendships. XJATURALLY a great deal depends on the *■ ' outcome of this picture. Lew is not the type, that will go on for years as a moderate success. He will either be a tremendous hit or a failure. He makes one think a bit of Richard Barthel-' mess and Charlie Ray, the wistf ulness of the one 1 and the simple youth of the other, in the days 1 when they first appeared on the screen horizon. I If Lewis is the success that Universal pre1 diets of him, a great deal will be written about | him. Not many people will understand him, | for Hollywood has little time or patience for I people that are hard to know. He will be I called "high-hat," of course. He will have few I friends because not many people will take the I time to batter down that wall which he has I built around himself. And he will be unhappy most of the time, the usual reward for people I who build such a wall. But he will be one of the most interesting | young male stars in pictures. At least he will have the courage to be himself. $5,000.°-° in Cash Prizes Another Famous Photoplay Contest PHOTOPLAY'S original and famous Cut-Picture-Puzzle Contest is a national institution. Simple enough for all — difficult enough to be fascinating. You only have to be able to recognize the stars' pictures. Cut out and reassemble the scrambled faces. This three-part picture represents parts of the faces of three stars. The clues given with the pictures in the contest give you ideas to work upon. It's a barrel of fun, and there are big money prizes when you guess them right Starts in the June Issue— Out May 15 PHOTOPLAY offers seventy cash prizes, totaling $5,000 to winners of this new CutPuzzle Contest, which begins in the June issue. There are no misleading traps and no false clues. Just use your knowledge of the fans' favorite stars and win a money prize. Order From Newsdealer Now — On Newsstands May 15 92