Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1951)

that’s HOLLYWOOD for you BY SIDNEY SKOLSKY I have trouble recognizing Farley Granger when he isn’t Sidney Skolsky with Shelley Winters . . . When they do a restaurant scene in a picture, why don’t the actors leave tips? . . . John Wayne pretends to be surprised by his tremendous success, but I wonder. This Wayne can’t compare with David Wayne as an actor but there isn’t a better movie personality than John ... I remember sitting in a projection room with Hedy Lamarr watching Elizabeth Lamarr Taylor in “National Velvet” and beautiful Hedy remarking, “Now there’s what I call a beautiful girl.” And now Liz has supplanted Hedy as Hollywood’s most gorgeous actress ... Jeff Chandler, for my money, is the best bet of all the promising new actors . . . When Linda Darnell walked into Schwab’s wearing blue jeans, Tom Jenk remarked, “Now there’s a case where the end justifies the jeans.” A sex bundle that has been somewhat overlooked, except by Tony Curtis and me, is Janet Leigh. She’s going to blossom in some forthcoming movies and will prove that she measures up to, say, Lana Turner . . . Ann Sothern deserves a better deal than being typed as a Maisie type ... 1 don’t care how many hard-boiled detectives Dick Powell plays, I’ll always remember him singing in those enjoyable Warner musicals . . . Doris Day is the most normal actress in the movies . . . Honestly, after seeing certain pictures, wouldn’t you think that the gamblers got to the stars to “throw” the picture? . . . Jack Henley believes that “Up Front” is a documentary about falsies . . . Mike Curtiz, directing a group of actors: “Don’t pay attention to what I say. It’s what I mean that counts.” I’d say that if Bill Holden registered more S.A. on the screen, he’d lead the male parade of stars. They don’t come more capable than Bill, or nicer . . . Funny, but Errol Flynn isn’t as brave in pictures as he used to be ... In the list of box-office champions, only two females, Betty Grable and Esther Williams, appear. One is a dancer and singer, the other a swimmer. It could be that movie-goers don’t like actresses . . . Marilyn Monroe is the best hunk of cheesecake around ... I can remember when it was fashionable for the movie stars to have a house at Malibu . . . Why doesn’t Paulette Goddard make a movie, instead of just making romantic items? She should be on the screen ... In every war period a comedy team makes a hit comedy about the Army. There were Beery and Hatton in “Behind the Front,” Abbott and Costello in “Buck Privates” and now Martin and Lewis in “At War with the Army.” None of them amused me ... I’d say that in Hollywood some couples get a divorce just to keep their friendship from going on the rocks. Include me in, as the saying goes, as a member of the Judy Holliday fan club. And for your information, Judy doesn’t talk that way when she isn’t in front of a microphone . . . You can always spot a new successful writer in Hollywood : He carries a pipe, wears a loud sports jacket and gets around in an open job . . . Motto in Gordon MacRae’s dressing room: “After all is said and done, more is said than done” . . . Robert Mitchum offered Jane Russell a piece of candy on the set. Jane said, “No thanks, I’ve got to watch my figure.” “You mean you get a kick out of it, too?” asked Mitchum . . . Eleanor Parker doesn’t resent the fact that fans often tell her she isn't anything like a movie star . . . No matter how hard the critics pan him, the fans love Alan Ladd . . . Kirk Douglas should button up his shirt and stop displaying his chest . . . My favorite description of Ezio Pinza is that he is a hormone shot for the middle-aged man . . . Only in the movies do laborers sing while they work . . . Bette Davis isn’t Tallulah Bankhead any more than Tallu is Bette, but they are both daahling! . . . Hollywood is a place where Frank Sinatra’s girl friend Ava Gardner played love scenes in “Show Boat” with Robert Sterling who, when he finished, hurried to keep dates with his girl friend Nancy Sinatra . . . Two of the most underrated pictures of the past season were “The Breaking Point” and “In a Lonely Place” ... I never sit in a Hollywood night club that I don’t think I’m back on Broadway. Night clubs seem out of place in Hollywood . . . When Lana Turner put her fo» prints in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, a spectator said, “That ain’t what made her famous.” Yes, that’s Hollywood for you. Parker Flvnn INSIDE exhausted ... It happens to one out of a million, but Francis Lederer’s new automobile license is the same as his street address . . . Jeanne Crain and Paul Brinkman inviting Joan Evans and Bob Arthur to “come sit with the old folks” at a Hollywood party . . . Howard Duff invading the kitchen of the Villa Nova and exchanging autographs for their famous spaghetti recipe . . . Starlet Kathleen Hughes rendering first aid to her car-sick pet duck (so help us) by feeding it dramamine, the new drug for seasickness. Inside Hollywood: Cal was amused recently, because in all the excitement of writing about Alan Ladd’s fabulous new Warner contract (they say he’ll receive a percentage and $250,000 a picture) reporters completely overlooked the most dramatic phase of the story. Actually it will be the second time for Alan on the Warner payroll. Years ago when he was an insecure, inhibited unknown, he was one of the gang who worked on the sets. Many a day as he watched actors from the sidelines, he wondered if he would ever find his rightful place in the world. The deserving guy did, as you know, and he’s never ceased to be grateful. Going back to Warners should be a great source of satisfaction for Alan Ladd. “Peeks at Parties”: Barbara Stanwyck and Nancy Sinatra carrying on a corner conversation that looked as if their subject was an unpleasant one . . . Jeanne Crain and Esther Williams comparing waistlines, on account of because both girls took those special exercises for new mothers and got their old figures back . . . Richard Widmark taking over the drums and Gary Merrill wielding the stick in the popular Garden Room of the Bel-Air Hotel . . . June Allyson, by some strange coincidence, producing two dozen pictures right out of her evening bag, when Mark Stevens inquired about the Powell offspring . . . Joan Crawford looking very beautiful and not a bit frightened, as she dances with Mel Dinelli, whose prolific pen produced such hectic little hair-raisers as “The Window” ana ‘rlhe Sp.ral btaucase.” Caught between raindrops, at Ciro’s, are Donald O’Connor and wife Gwen, in smart matching parasol and raincoat