Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1935)

108 PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE FOR DECEMBER, 1935 TEST.. .the PERFOLASTIC GIRDLE . . . at our expense ! The Private Life of Fred Asiaire CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28 /"WE want YOU to test the Perfclastic ^00 Girdle and Uplift Brassiere at our expense! Test them for yourself for ten days absolutely FREE! We are so sure that you can be your slender self without diets, drugs or exercises, that we make this unconditional offer . . . REDUCE Your Waist and Hips ? Inches in 10 Days ... or no cost Massage-Like Action Reduces Quickly ■ Worn next to the body with perfect safety, the tiny perforations permit the skin to breathe as the gentle massage-like action removes flabby, disfiguring fat with every movement . . . stimulating the body once more into energetic health ! Don't Wait Any Longer — Act Today ■ You can prove to yo-jrselfquicklyanddefinitely in JO days whether or not this very efficient girdle TnunccaiS^u^',11x,redu,ce your waist and h'Ps THREE INCHES! You do not need to risk one penny ... try them for 10 days ... at no cost! SEND FOR TEN DAY FREE TRIAL OFFER! PERFOLASTIC, Inc. Dept. 9112, 41 EAST 42nd St., New York, N. Y. Please send me FREE BOOKLET describing and illustrating the new Perfolastic Girdle and Brassiere, also sample of perforated rubber and particulars of your 10-DAYFREE TRIAL OFFER! Name . Address City State Use Coupon or Send Name and Address on Post Card Fred is that way about stores; but usually it's hardware stores. He likes to wander around them and try out the new gadgets — he's probably looking for a necktie-chooser — but he seldom buys anything himself. Before his marriage, his mother bought even his ties. I never knew him to go wild on pop-corn before, but he has a sweet tooth. He used to send Walter out for vanilla ice cream on matinee days at five o'clock, when, if he were as English as some people think he is, he'd be having tea. Fred's favorite viand, as you may have read, is noodle soup. But, of course, he didn't send Walter out for that at five in the afternoon; not because he wouldn't gladly eat it then — he'd eat it for breakfast — but because he knew Walter couldn't find the kind he liked in any of the Forty-second Street soup kitchens. Freddy's noodles must be flat and broad like his neckties, the kind of noodles he used to get at Alfredo's in Rome. TA7ALTER, as you may have gathered, is * » Fred's dresser, valet, handy-man, errandboy and butt. He is of the same color persuasion as Mandy and Louise, but he has a much harder time. His master has a quick temper and a quicker sense of humor, and Walter never knows when he is going to run afoul of one or the other. Of the two, he'll take the temper any day. It is less of a strain on the Ethiopian mentality. Walter causes Fred plenty of trouble, too. Five times he has been to Europe, and five times he has had to be sent back home — for no other reason than that he was lonesome for the Cotton Club of dear old Lenox Avenue. "The world to Walter," his master once said, "is Harlem surrounded by a lot of unimportant territory." But Fred doesn't dare fire Walter, for the dresser is the only human being who knows where the Bridgeport bath robe is kept. On the first night of every show and the first day of the shooting of every picture, Walter solemnly produces this funny old red-andgreen dressing gown, which Fred bought many years ago in Bridgeport, Connecticut. During that night or day, Fred dutifully wears it. Neither acknowledges the incident by word or look. It is not considered good form. Then, Walter, solemnly packs the robe away, and nobody sees it again until it is time for it to be dragged once more out of the woodwork. This sort of thing has been going on for about fifteen years, during which Fred has had many more successes than failures, so, although he insists he isn't superstitious, he'd kind of hate to open without the bathrobe — and Walter. The brightest spot in the latter's life are days when he is mentioned in the papers. For instance, this — with an accompanying description of Fred's dressing room during the run of "The Band Wagon" — from the late Graffic: "Over at the New Amsterdam, one flight up, you find Fred Astaire tenanting the star's quarters. "You are apt to find a Whitney or a Vanderbilt in Astaire's place. The youthful dancing star claims most of the younger social set as bosom pals, or, perhaps I should twist that around and point out that they claim him. "Fred's droll colored dresser provides a lighter note for the guests here, providing he knows them. If he likes them, he will even go out of the theater to get them a glass of Fred's favorite afterperformance beverage, milk." This "quote," although substantially accurate, omits one or two characteristic details about Fred's dressing room at the New Amsterdam. On the dressing table, in a prominent position, stood the china horse and jockey with which a grateful management presented him the night he opened in "Funny Face." Above the mirror, also in a prominent position, was the sign, "No singing"or dancing around this dressing room." And stuck in the side of the mirror, were invariably to be found a collection of magazines and newspaper clippings — showing that the boy is human, and does care what people say about him! — a postcard or two, and always a cable from Europe telling of the condition or performances of his prize colt, Nick the Greek. Fred had become by 1931 a real figure in the racing world. Besides Nick the Greek, he owned Mavis, Objection, High Hat and Topsy Turvy. In England Nick was consistently successful, and crowned his noble career by bringing home the buff-and-blue Astaire colors in front of the rich Glasgow Plate. Fred sold all the horses when his American engagements began to make his stays in England shorter and rarer; but if he ever starts to race his own stable at Santa Anna, he'll show Hollywood some race horses that are race horses. Fred knows. It has cost him a lot to find out. But he does know. He knows about dogs, too. Adele had five in "The Band Wagon" period: a golden retriever and a Dachshund in London, and two West Highlanders and a Scotty in New York. She called the Dachshund Freddy, because he looked like her brother. Fred himself had about a dozen of assorted breeds. At one time the Astaire family had over twenty. .."Puppies were always expected," Fred explained, "which made life very interesting." DOG days continued in the Astaire family, even after Fred's marriage to Phyllis Potter. Phyllis' cocker spaniel, Scamp, won at this year's show in San Francisco. You might know! If Phyllis Astaire had a dog, it would be a prize-winner. She's the blue ribbon type. "The Band Wagon" was the last show Fred and Adele did together, and there was "Lady Be Good" and "Funny Face" in between, not to mention, out of respect for the dead, Mr. Ziegfeld's wry "Smiles." "Lady Be Good" — remember the song of that name! — was another "For Goodness Sake," only immeasurably better. The Astaires took this show to England, too, after its run on Broadway, and duplicated, perhaps even exceeded, their previous success. It was a heavy English joke during this period that whereas the Astaires' first show had had almost as long a run as the British Museum, their second threatened to become a career. Fred tells some swell stories about their European experiences, but characteristically they mostly featured Adele in the leading role. There was, for example, the classic one about Bernard Shaw.