Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1952)

THAT’S HOLLYWOOD FOR YOU By SIDNEY SKOLSKY Sidney Skolsky You might not believe this from her appearance but in her set Janet Leigh is considered “one of the boys” . . . Danny Thomas is proof that the handsome movie hero doesn’t have to be handsome . . . Bing Crosby can revive “Down the Old Ox Road” in his next picture as far as I’m concerned . . . I have never seen Joan Crawford in a movie and believed she was a poor working girl . . . Maybe Ezio Pinza needs Mary Martin in order to have sex appeal . . . I’m willing to bet any amount— and give odds — that Betsy von Furstenberg will never be a movie star . . . Former candy-store owners should make the best movie theatre managers . . . The most goodnatured actress I’ve ever met is Marie Wilson. She’d give you the shirt off her back. And I mean back. It’s off already in front . . . Chorus girls in movies don’t seem to be as pretty as they used to be . . . Whenever an actress makes a pal out of her hairdresser, I tab the actress to be a very lonely person . . . James Mason told me, “The average Hollywood actress has enough talent to permit survival, but not much more.” Guess Bill Saroyan isn’t the only person Mason slapped . . . My old friend Tom Jenk says that money doesn’t talk these days — it goes without saying. Mickey Rooney no longer dreams of growing taller . . . I’ve seen Scott Brady in a laundromat doing his own washing just like a housewife . . . Most trailers give away too much of the picture and spoil it . . . To me Errol Flynn is a dope to go on a trip alone when he can have “Legs” Wymore with him . . . George Raft’s hair is all gray and he looks like a dignified gangster waiting to talk to Kefauver . . . Hollywood to me is the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. And I wish they’d stop putting footprints of unworthy actors there just for the publicity . . . When Bebe Haas asked Hedy Lamarr, “How’s your husband?” Hedy answered, “New!” . . . Leo Genn should be in Hollywood making a movie ... I don’t think even Elizabeth Taylor looks pretty in her poodle haireut . . . This style haircut makes many catty actresses look doggy . . . Rita Hayworth’s picture will have to be very good to overcome her bad publicity ... I must admit that since TV I hate to go to anything I can’t tune out . . . Complaint department history has no record of a woman who ever tore an old pair of stockings on a movie seat. Gene Tierney deserves better movies . . . Denise Darcel Admits she can’t resist big American men, particularly those with blue eyes ... I must admit that I never would have picked Leslie Caron, and her appeal still eludes me . . . Marlon Brando is not particular where he sleeps. I’ve seen him take a snooze on the floor. Marlon’s as unconventional about bed as about anything else . . . Some of the latest photographs of Patricia Neal leave no doubt about what Gary Cooper saw in her . . . Hollywood to me is Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. But I wish actors would go there once in a while so the tourists wouldn’t be so disappointed . . . When I know an actress wears falsies, she isn’t sexy to me . . Definition of a starlet: a promising actress who gets along famously with everyone, as long as they’re famous . . Walter Bullock tells about the producer who said to him, “This script has the same old stuff. Can’t you give me some new cliches?” Joyce Holden is good fun at a party . . . Gregory Peck seldom tells a funny story. “It takes a special talent to be a comic,” says Greg . . . Jane Russell is an actress who can forget her lines when she has nothing to say . . . Shelley Winters told me that platonic friendship is someihing only possible between man and wife . . . I’m looking forward to Charlie Chaplin's “Limeiight” . . . Gloria Grahame is now on my list for my desert island. She’s got it . . . Clark Gable and Ava Gardner look as if they belong together on the screen. It’s too had they can’t get a good movie . . . All I know about Rock Hudson is that he goes with girls . . . Jerry Lewis reminds me of a bellboy in a middle-class hotel . . . Jan Sterling and Paul Douglas get along splendidly, even when they quarrel . . . The trousers of June Allvson’s pajamas are generally baggy .... At Romanoff’s there’s a blackboard where the celebrities write their names in chalk. There is also an eraser. Fame written in chalk ready to be erased. That’s Hollywood for you. Gloria Grahame Leo Genn ...Inside . Silver Lining: If there was a dark moment in Dale Robertson’s marriage, take it from Cal these two couldn’t be happier today. They’ve dated the stork and they admit it because it merely happens to be true. Twice before it was rumored and twice before those Hollywood columnists were playing their usual guess game. Over the holidays Dale drove Jackie to Oklahoma to meet the home folks. She fell so in love with them she wanted to stay back there for a longer visit. Wisely, they finally decided it would be better for her to be back here where she could be closer to their family doctor. Dale’s mother and brothers have been invited to visit Hollywood when the baby is born this summer. Wanna bet our casting directors won’t blow their tops when they get a gander at the other Robertson men? They’re equally as handsome as Dale. Hollywood Hog Wash: That Katharine Hepburn drives a beat-up jalopy that looks like it escaped from a junk yard. It’s an old model Ford, newly painted black and polished to shining perfection . . . That Robert Arthur’s parents made a special trip here from Washington to meet his new girl friend, Wanda Hendrix. The kids were under contract together several years ago at Warners . . . That Janet Leigh is going to retire, raise babies and just be little ol’ Mrs. Anthony Curtis . . . That beautiful and popular Virginia Grey, who gets more phone calls than any gal in Hollywood, is toting a torch for one Mr. Gable . . . That Ann Sothern is, or ever has considered, entering a religious order as reported. Sights You See: Farley Granger and terrific dancer Jimmy Mitchell (M-G-M always casts him to play those unworthy heavies!) congregating with friends at Trianon, a charming little French restaurant on the Sunset Strip . . . Jane Wyman with Travis Kleefeld adding additional glamour to singer Fran Warren’s glam Mgjpi^sr.v Ann Miller and Barbara Lawrence prepare for the spotlight they shared at big premiere of their picture, “Two Tickets to Broadway” 16