Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1939)

PbOTOPI x1. i\\ ■ . prizes ;.. ill no longer be • appearing on litis page. ■ OUT r,,l(i,r not played fab with us. inasmuch as they tubmitted and accepted checks for pr'r.ts for them in ■ hand, many t lucked upon this as a department and for that reason ■ d in their spontaneous and candid opinions concerning the ■ : picture industry, its stars or pic It :s^ir aim to give the public a n exprrssing its likes and dislikes ■ ning this great industry. This is pagi IIV welcome your PHOTOPLAY reserves the right to use gratis the letters submitted in whole or in part. letters submitted to any contest or departappearing in Photoplay become the property of the magazine. Contribuill not be returned. Address: Boos and Bouquets, PHOTOPLAY, 122 12nd Street. New York, N. V. With Wallace Beery to provide the fights and Florence Rice the fadeout kiss, Bob Taylor comes in for another de-glamorizing build-up in M-G-M's story of the bitter rivalry between stagecoach lines and pioneer railroads in "Stand Up And Fight" along being different people and letting the rest take care of itself — just like Grandpa said to do. Lionel Barrymore is like that, too, not afraid of Hollywood and flops. All this cast, including the raven, Jim, ought to have some kind of a prize. I'll take back what I said about that example. When I left the show house with "God Bless Our Home" in its proper place, I refused to go back to the lumber yard for the rest of the afternoon. They said they got along just as MORE MORATORIUMS THE MERRIER THANK heaven I've been to one picture show that set no example anybody could follow. Thank heaven for one show that featured no disaster or historical epoch. For we providers who have gone through the sixth year of the New Deal, along with a yellow fever epidemic, the Chicago fire, San Francisco earthquake, the French revolution, a simoon, a hurand a Texas stampede need a rest from calamity. We even enjoy a moratorium from wisecracks and the answers. you guessed it. I'm talking about "You Take I' With You." the stage play that Kaufman and Hart the Pulitzer prize and stuck another feather in Frank Capra's already thered cap when be turned it into about [ol-duro moving picture of the year. First about the Bettings. I figure everything in those three rooms at Grandpa Vanderhoj's ut $150— that is if you leave out rks Then there were no orchids, no gin bills, no wardrobe-, noth bul Anthony P. KirUy's duds, and of course being a banker, lie paid for his and Mrs. Kirini's clothes I liked this for it got my mind off overhead. I like James Stewart who makes love so confounded eas\ You don't have to worry whether I oomph or not, or if he made three flops, lied be out. This chap just goes well without me said they would. like Grandpa Vanderhof K. M. Vaughn, Tulsa, Oklahoma. MAYBE WE'RE PUNCH DRUNK IOU are the most attractive movie magazine and the one which can really have effect on movie trends. So why don't you champion some real honest-to-goodness emoting on the screen? When girls cry, they don't sound the way the girls I know do when they cry — it is always a" well-bred sniffle. Not since Clark Gable manhandled Norma Shearer and Jimmy Cagney pushed that grapefruit in Mae Clark's face have the actors been anything but gentlemen or else dyed-in-the-wool villains. It must be against some movie law for a man to look as though he'd like to make more than a halfhearted pass at some luscious dame like Hedy Lamarr or Andrea Leeds. Sure, I know that the movies have cut down on bad taste, thanks to Will Hays and the League of Decency, but that ought not to keep actors from being human enough to kiss Myrna Loy longer than five seconds. Wouldn't you like to see someone act like Jean Harlow, when she was an obvious, but thoroughly satisfying wench in her screen roles? Your campaign for simplicity helped bring movie audiences pictures like "Four Daughters." How's for promoting us a little more punch and reality? Bob Finlay, Glen Allan, Mass. REELING AND 'RITH1NG AND RITHMETIC I WANT to say something about my very special favorite, Deanna Durbin. I am a young fellow, eighteen years old, and am simply, uncontrollably nuts, foggy, goofy, and else-what over this nightingale of the fillums. I recently became a member of the Deanna Durbin Devotees and have been doing nip-ups ever since I received my card of membership, which I carry with me always. Why shouldn't I like her? When a guy depends upon the movies for entertainment, he wants the movies to give it to him. Deanna Durbin gives it to me — right smack-dab between the eyes and the surrounding territory of my heart. Her freshness, vitality, youthful loveliness and extreme beauty are unsurpassed. I heard Deanna when she made her debut on the Eddie Cantor hour and, when Eddie said she was only thirteen, I was ready to call him a fibber. Who ever heard of a thirteen-yearold singing "II Bacio" with a voice like that? But, a thirteen-year-old did sing "II Bacio" and with a voice like that too! A columnist recently said "Hollywood is a place where: Deanna Durbin gets bad marks in arithmetic."' I knew we had something in common! So, I'd like to meet Deanna for the following reasons — to see if she is as natural off screen as on. to see if she is as lovely off as on and to have a real talk with her. What would she and I talk about? Arithmetic, of course! Arthur G. Barrett, Norfolk, Virginia. (Continued on page 84) PH OTOPLAY