Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1936)

102 PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE FOR SEPTEMBER, 1936 TO THE ONE woman, OUT OF 10 WHO IS A Albolene McKfSS0NfeR08ilH* xnmOa -o»'"" WE A pharmaceutically pure and delicate solidified mineral oil that acts as a SKIN PURGE! "One woman out of ten at most can stand hearing the truth about a beautiful skin," our dermatologists said. But it looks as if every icoman who hears about Albolene Solid is that woman! For greatly to the scoffers' surprise, the country's loveliest women . . . actresses, beauty editors, movie stars . . . are facing the facts without blushing or turning a single hair. . . . That skins are actually sluggish nowadays— clogged with dust, cosmetic residue, oily auto exhausts, which keep the pores from functioning! And that the action of a pure, gentle mineral oil is needed to loosen this matter and leave them clear as a baby's. It may not sound romantic to use the pure, pharmaceutical hospital preparation used on babies themselves to cleanse your face. But these thousands of women can assure you the results are romantic enough to please the most frivolous, beauty-loving soul. You can now secure it (at only 50c a jar or §1 a pound) at all <lruj_'j;ists. Or join the ranks of beautiful realists this way: ■ MAIL THIS COUPON TODAY! M, ^^ PLEASE PRINT PLAINLY ^^ McKESSON & ROBBINS, FAIRFIELD, CONN. Manufacturing Chemists since 1833 Dept. P-9 Please send me a pencroiis sample of Albolctic Soiid. I enclose 10c to cover postage and handling. I\a m e . Iililrcss City Sfafe i 'ounty My most convenient *lrun gtore is_ his discovery and is afraid to try it on the lovely patient. You see, Bob is supposed to be in love with Barbara — that part is very easy for him to portray — and he's afraid to risk her life. The players' faces are daubed with vaseline and glisten as if with perspiration. This is a tight, emotional moment. Finally, Bob breaks down. Then Hersholt accents a pep-talk. And Rob, trembling, tries out the new serum. You'll have to look in the papers to see if Miss Stanwyck lives. A little farther down the M-G-M lot, you come across an artist studio. This is for a scene in "The Devil Is a Sissy." Just as 20th Century-Fox, with Shirley Temple and Jane Withers, has a corner on the little girl market, M-G-M has all the little boys. Freddie Bartholomew, Jackie Cooper (quite tall now) and that miniature Cagney, Mickey Rooney, have the leads in this. ^\NE of the silliest scenes of the month is ^-^"'the one that Joe E. Brown does for his final picture at Warners before he leaves for RKO. In "Polo Joe," Brown has developed an amazing trick. We can see him practice it between every take. He places a spoon on a table. Then he slaps the edge of the spoon, sending it twirling through the air to any target he names. He was flipping it into cups when we arrived. We saw him do this in a scene with a gambler who wants to bet fifty dollars against Joe's accuracy. Joe does the trick and wins Then the gambler wants Joe to flip the spoon over his shoulder into a cup five feet away. The gambler bets five hundred dollars of prop money on this. Five hundred sounds like a lot of dollars. But it will really cost the studio more than that in retakes if Joe misses too often. W/HILE we are on financial subjects, you ** probably never could guess which actor makes the most money. Well, it's Jack Benny. He is just about the busiest personality in the entertainment world. And the weeks when he is combining radio, personal appearances and movie work, as he often does, he cleans up about four times as much as Clark Gable. Right now, the smart-cracking Mr. Benny is at Paramount where he is starring in "The Big Broadcast of 1937." In this, he plays the boss of a big radio chain and we see him in one of his more harassed moments. He is riding an elevator. Studio elevators don't move. A curtain unrolls before a light and it seems as though you are moving. It's just as good as a real elevator, except that if you want to get to the second floor, you'll have to wait for a miracle. Jack has evidently had a swift ride, for when the door opens, he says to the elevator boy, "Say, bring my stomach up on the next trip, will you?'' AT Paramount's next door lot, RKO, marriage — before and after the wedding ceremony — is being studied in two films. The pre-marriage conflict is portrayed in "Count Pete," which stars the decorative Ann Sothern and Gene Raymond. In this sprightly comedy, Ann Sothern. as regular as she is attractive, is seen as a spoiled daughter of the idle rich. In fact, Ann is so spoiled that when she just mentioned that she would like to have a certain man for her husband, her family went out and rounded up the lucky guy and hid him in the parlor as a surprise. I : . second of the marital life studies undergoing treat mint at RKOis" 1 In Second Wife," in which Gertrude Michael and Walter Abel learn the bitter facts about wedded bliss. THF slam-bang scene of this studio visit is ' at Columbia. Here Jimmy Dunn, who got his face flattened in "Bad Girl," is once more in the squared ring. In this picture, called logically enough, "The Fighter," Jimmy is seen as a free-wheeling pugilist who likes fighting so much he can't wait until he gets a match The scene is a fight manager's office, and for reasons known best to himself and the scenarists, Jimmy and an acrobatic partner start one of the wildest studio scraps I've ever seen. They knock over tables, tear pictures from the wall, fall over desks, break windows and vases, land on their heads, get kicked in the teeth and do everything but turn themselves inside out. Elocution school must have been a great preparation for this scene. The whole routine is done without cuts, and when it is over Dunn ies flat on the floor. We can still stand, though, so we go next door to watch that rising star. Jean Arthur. do a scene with Joel McCrea and Reginald Owen. This is for the mystery film, "Adventures in Manhattan." The scene is a rather ornate New York apartment and the three players are eating pie as they discuss a recent series of robberies. It is so hot on the stage that McCrea and Owen take off their coats as soon as the cameras stop. They are fanned between each take. But since it is supposed to be brisk Xew York weather outside, they are dressed to the necks. A prop boy holds a dampened cloth to their faces until just before the take. Some day Hollywood is going to discover the Draculan creature who schedules all snow scenes for the summer, all tropical scenes in the cold of an early morning fog. But at present, this creature is still at large, probably writing some beach scenes to be shot next winter. Even Universal, which has been making pictures since 1915 and should know better by now, can't get together with the weather. We walked in out of the bright sunlight to find Director Arthur Lubin shooting a rain scene. This is for the murder mystery, •'Yellowstone Park." Ten years ago Lubin starred in the Universal film, "His People" and now he is celebrating the decade by directing his first Universal picture, which is also the first picture about Yellowstone Park. If you think that you'd like to win the Academy Award for acting, then don't think about it any more. It isn't worth it. Yic M J.aglen won the award last year and all he gets for it is potatoes. And he hates potatoes. This is for a long scene in "A Fool for Blomh s" which is just as good a thing to be a fool for as anything else. In this bit, Billie Bumid. Henry Armetta. McLaglen and a guest are seated around a table while the blonde Jean Dixon, serves heaps of potatoes. McLaglen gulps them in every scene. Between times, he groans and raises his eyes to heaven. He estimates he has eaten close to a peck since the picture began. To get away from spuds to more intellectual interests. McLaglen asks the guest why he has a book. To read, the guest answers. " Books are no good," Yic says. "They only fill your head with nonsense. Isn't that right. Tony?" he asks Armetta. "Sure." Armetta gestures. "I had a book once and there was nothing in it but writing." That's just like the movies. There's nothing in them but acting.