Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1930)

Sunday Night at Jetta's regarded in California, always has a place in her apartment. The apartment is as exotic as its mistress. Dinner was served by an Austrian maid in the little French dining room, lit by crystal candelabra. Jetta's dinners are famous. Sin said she was hungry. During the day she had eaten only an apple and drank half a cup of coffee. Her lunch usually consists of a raw carrot. Lillian Gish jdiscovered the carrot first. Jetta might do as much for a turnip or a Bermuda onion. The menu consisted of cream of tomato soup, oysters, squab with mushrooms, wine jelly, peas, a salad of chicory and persimmons, and pistachio ice cream. Coffee was served in the living room. BY the time the squab course arrived, Jetta was sniffling. Oh, in a very ladylike manner. With the ice cream she began to sneeze. She had an early call the next morning at M-G-M, so she thought it would be best not to go to the party. Somebody that had something important to do with General Motors was entertaining. I was ajbit sorry not to go. I always have thought that if I could reach the right individual, something could be done about my car using so much gas. The rest of the evening was spent in front of a roaring fire, with the heat apparatus turned on, too, and with Jetta wrapped in a warm shawl. Her inability to keep warm is famous. She actually relishes talk of fire and brimstone in the hereafter. "Did I ever tell you about the time I took [ CONTINUED FROil PACE 60 ] one of those electric cabinet baths? They turned the thing on full force, and after I had been in it for some time, they asked if I could stand it. I said I was just comfortable, thank you. They finally had to give up in despair. I couldn't even perspire." She was particularly interested in hearing about the dates that preceded her. She had read in Photoplay that the night I dined with Lupe, she had given an impersonation of her. "Was it good?" she wanted to know. I was forced to say that it was good, but not flattering. It isn't necessary to go into ancient history to say that Lupe and Jetta are not exactly the Ruth and Naomi of Hollywood friendships. However, Jetta had not a word to say against the madcap Mexican. A quiet Sunday evening, and firelight, always rather begets confidences — whether the firelight be in Peoria or Hollywood. Jetta told her philosophy of life. It is based on Olive Schreiner's "Dreams" — "To be content is to be happy." It was a surprising philosophy for Jetta. I had never imagined that she was particularly happy or content. Somehow a Pollyanna complex isn't just the right thing for her. She is a confirmed fatalist. What must be, will be. If fate gives her a nasty wallop, she tries to think what she has done to deserve it. But she's & fighting fatalist. This was not my first conversation with Jetta. I have known her for a long time. The first time I met her I wasn't quite sure whether she might go into a temperamental spasm and throw bric-a-brac at me. The Goudal temperament is a Hollywood legend. I've never seen it. If she errs at all, it is in the direction of suppression. The fear of the first meeting has given place to respect for a clever woman. To me, at least, she has always been one of the screen's most interesting women — ever since the days of "The Bright Shawl." She acts all the time, but she does it well. She has an unerring instinct for the center of ' the stage. When she enters a drawing room, a cafe, or a theater, it is all eyes front and center 1 for La Goudal. • For the young man just embarking on a I Hollywood social career — here's a tip. If you I sit next to Jetta at a dinner party, don't ask, questions about her past. It isn't cricket, you know. JUST pick one of the Goudal rumors, the one you happen to like best, and let it go at that. I have heard that she is the daughter of MatiHari. That she is the daughter of a French father and a Javanese mother. That she is | suffering from some strange, incurable tropical disease. That she was born in New York's East Side, and that her French accent is so much hooey. I wouldn't want to know her past. I might be disappointed in it. I prefer to think of her as the woman from nowhere, and that some day she will disappear as suddenly as she came. She says she will end her days in a convent. And if she does, a new note of mystery and interest will enter that quiet place, and Jetta will at least have found release from difficult managers and all the other odds and ends of a strange and devious world. H One of the largest and most exciting picture sets in the history of the films, devised and erected by MetroGoldwyn-Mayer on the lot at Culver City. Officials say it is the highest so far built. On the stage, Austin Young and the Dodge Sisters are leading a number for the big picture tentatively titled "The March of Time," while to the rear guards and pretty convicts are doing a lock-step dance planned by Sammy Lee. Note the enormous battery of lights needed for the scene