Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1935)

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hi few actors Hfe born comedin s. Most of lem acquire the le or have it rust on them By Winifred Aydelotte EICATURES BY FRANK DOBIAS [ know I'm funny on the screen, but ill don't know why," she said. "The li't time 1 went to a preview of a talkie I wi in, I was mystified by the audience reaion. But I'm getting used to it. Just let n| face come in view and everybody laughs." lit isn't vour face," I told her. "It's your vice." •Perhaps you are right," she said. "It must I my voice. Because in the silents . . . But imy voice that bad?" It 's just funny. What about the silents?" Jimmy Durante's sidewise leer was protective. You see, he began his career in a section where audiences were plenty tough. And Jimmy developed the habit of watching the crowd out of the corner of his eyes — to duck missiles! Edna May Oliver was flabbergasted when an audience howled at her first sniff. She added the nose wrinkling after that. But she hates slapstick Laurel and Hardy fought bitterly against being teamed as comics. Their gestures are naturals, Hardy's tie twitching, Laurel's wild hair •Well, when I played in silent piclures, I wasn't funny. They thought 1 was the Gish-y type, fluttering through the night, sort of a waif in the storm. Nobody laughed at me then. Even at home, nobody laughed at me— because they were used to my voice, I suppose. 1 never meant to be funny. I was going to be a great dramatic star. But then talkies came, and I opened my mouth, and everybody began to laugh. Well, well, so that's why I'm a comedienne!" And there you are! An invention shatters the celluloid silence, and a star of the Lillian Gish type has comedy thrust upon her overnight. The origin of ZaSu Pitts' comedy trade-marks is as vague as her hand waving. I went out to see her early one morning recently, and found her all done up in a blue jumper effect, apron, and towel wrapped around her head. She was cleaning house and baking Brownies, the best cookies ever made. ZaSu etched a vague arch in the air and said, "I really don't know when I first began waving my hands. 1 mean, I never noticed that it was funny until an audience laughed at it. My hands have always waved I'M \SK TURN TO PACK 108 |