Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1938)

FIRST PRIZE— $25.00 THE WINNER! SITTING down to the breakfast table, I open the morning paper, and the first thing to give my day a bad start is the headlines, screaming the possibilities of a foreign war. My wife, spying said headlines, starts worrying how soon I'll be sent over. While I go out to start my car, she starts bemoaning the presence of the week's wash ahead of her. Getting into the car, I am not astonished to find the battery dead. As usual, I'm late for work. For the next eight hours, I have to listen to the boss harping about the recession and his vain attempt to cut down overhead. At the quitting whistle, I go home to more worries, still wondering how long my job will last. Home — ah — the wife's washer went on the bum. The foreign situation is worse. The battery is still dead. The recession is still on. Oh, well. We've still got enough left, after fixing washer and buying battery, to go see a doctor, whom we need badly by now. I get out the latest medical directory (latest issue of Photoplay) and see what they advise in our case. Dr. Waterbury heartily recommends Drs. Deanna Durbin and Herbert Marshall in "Mad About Music" as a tonic — or for a severe case, recommends that able surgeon for the blues, Dr. Shirley Temple. Doctor Temple treats us with "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," and what a pleasant prescription that is! And after taking one of the treatments recommended by Professor Waterbury under the capable hands of any of our swell Hollywood doctors, we leave our neighborhood "blues sanitarium" (theater) feeling completely rejuvenated. The foreign crises are forgotten. A country with such fine ideals as ours won't send us over unless for our own safety — then we'll be rarin* to go. The wife, thinking over the funny incidents of the previous night's treatment, has the wash done before she knows it. And as for me — thanks to Drs. Waterbury, Durbin, Temple, etc., the new batter y went right off, I got to work on time, and the boss — well, he took the same treatment, and he's forgotten the^re ever was a recession. J. L. Westmont, N. J. The Bureau of Home Economics of the Department of Agriculture announces that out of every dollar spent by the American public for any type of amusement whatsoever, twentynine cents is for motion pictures. Each family spends between ten and sixteen dollars a year in admissions, and here's one Photoplay reader who seems to think he gets his money's worth! SECOND PRIZE— $10.00 THANKS FOR THE MEMORY! I think one of the greatest credits to the screen, and one of the finest gifts to the public, is Sonja Henie. We cannot have too many pictures where there is skating on ice, as long as "Skating Through Life" Sonja is the skater. I will never forget the Friday night I attended the weekly prize fights at the Hollywood American Legion Stadium. My companion was a cabinetmaker, an all-around film studio worker. He had worked on the ice rink, getting it ready for Sonja and the picture "Happy Landing." He was telling me, as we saw her enter with other film celebrities, that she never forgot faces and names; that she was nice and spoke in a friendly way to all the studio workers. In a jiffy, my friend had left his seat, and to my surprise I saw him confront Sonja inside the main entrance. I saw her smile, and put out her hand. Quickly he came back, and said, "Hurry, Sonja is waiting for her escort to pick hotoplay awards the following prizes for the best letters received each month: $25 first prize, $10 second, $5 third, and $1 for every other letter published. Photoplay reserves the right to use the letters submitted in whole or in part. Contributions will not be returned. Contributors are warned that if letters are copied or adapted from previously published material, which constitutes plagiarism, they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Letters submitted to this magazine should not be submitted to any other publication. Address: Boos & Bouquets, Photoplay, 122 East 42nd St., New York City. up the tickets. I told her I had a Danish friend I wanted her to meet." Well, I was a bit surprised, but I hurried back with him. I greeted .her in Danish, and she smiled and took my proffered hand, giving me a clever, friendly comeback in her own language. Then her escort turned up, and she returned our farewell wave, as her admirers closed in upon her beaming self. To me she is not only a great skater and actress and a fellow Scandinavian, but a deep, With St. Bernard "Buck" as arbiter, the Fighting Irishers Dennis O'Keefe and Maureen O'Sullivan declare a long truce in M-G-M's new film, "Hold That Kiss" intelligent bright light of friendly joy. Those who surround her are very fortunate indeed. Martin H. Herlick, Long Beach, Calif. Returning from a hugely successful skating tour, Miss Henie is now working on her newest picture for 20th Century-Fox, "My Lucky Star." Opposite her will be Richard Greene, a young Englishman, new to American pictures, and rumored to have more than a professional interest in the little skater. (Continued on page 68)