Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1938)

FwDRLDsI <5%3^^lMUSICAL* Rl IKE FOLUES , L DIRECT FROM MADISOH SQUARE GARDEN. NEW Yl 'MMB> E¥GAGEMENT...NK5lfm dt 8:30 JMifiStt. ; ,i The Ice Follies of 1 938 brought out the town. Myrna Loy and husband Arthur Hornblow made an informal evening of it . . . . . . while J. Walter Ruben kept a formal date with a lovely blonde — Virginia Bruce Ruben get close enough to the book to find out, until one day Rudy carried the book from his set dressing room and carelessly laid it down on a chair. With one fell swoop the cast was on the book. It was called "How to Act." Rudy was then on the chapter dealing with repression and its value. Hollywood on Trial A THIN wisp of a woman, still girlish in spite of more than thirty years before the footlights, tells an amazed reporter: "I am definitely through with films," in commenting on an offer of $85,000 for one picture. Helen Hayes, who reached cinematic heights in "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" and "A Farewell to Arms," ignores Hollywood to do onenight stands on the road in her sensational stage success, "Victoria Regina." In her devotion to the theater as opposed to the more lucrative field of motion-picture acting she is like such other stage favorites as Katharine Cornell, Lynn Fontanne, Gertrude Lawrence and Ruth Gordon, all deserving of the term: "Great." Some years ago, Miss Fontanne made one picture for M-G-M, "The Guardsman," which was a great artistic success but made no money. In the early talkie days, Gertrude Lawrence *^8M made several pictures, but the results were so unfortunate that the very sight of a motion-picture studio makes her ill. Neither Katharine Cornell nor Ruth Gordon has ever faced the camera. True, neither is beautiful in a conventional sense, yet each is far from unattractive. There is no reason why, with the aid of expert make-up and skilled photography, they should not emerge as extremely personable on the screen. What is there about motion pictures which makes them refuse to make so much as a motion-picture test? Is it because they have seen other fine actresses, such as Julie Haydon, Helen Chandler and Zita Johann, all of whom have youth as well as great acting talent, ignored and mishandled simply because Hollywood producers seemed unable to bring out to the fullest their rare and unique talents? Is it because of the impersonal methods necessary in the studios geared to turn out a great many pictures each year? Whatever the reason, fans are being deprived of an opportunity to enjoy the greatest acting talent of our age. Hollywood owes this debt to the legions of motion-picture devotees who have helped to make it the rich, powerful industry it now is. The question now is what are we, the film-going public, going to do about it? an a^ee° v<eve Jl \ose?aT >o rf* Vfte Preview Peep of a Newcomer— HlS name is John Litel. Already fans are beginning to write in about the smoothness of his work and to ask questions about Warner Brothers' newest contribution to films. So, just so you can be ahead of the parade, we tell you: He's direct from the New York stage. His father, a Wisconsin banker, insisted his son follow the family profession. He became an actor instead— only to play the banker friend of Kay Francis in "My Bill." He's so tickled to exchange the uncertainty of the stage for the security of movies and his orange ranch, he can't see straight. Thinks actors who keep yelling for the stage are blockheads. Joined up with the French during the early stage of the World War and can tell stories 'til the cows come home. Pours coffee over his vanilla ice cream, has gone wild over petunia planting in his garden, knows how to meet all kids on a man-to-man basis and has stirred the fancy of all theater-goers in "Little Miss Thoroughbred," "Alcatraz Island" and others. What's more, he's a honey. Take our word! Farewell to Fans and Fame I LL occasionally make a picture if they want me — providing I'm in California and providing it fits in with my husband's plans," Kay Francis told us recently over the telephone, "but otherwise the day I marry I'm finished with pictures as a career. I always said marriage and movies wouldn't mix, remember? "Well, I meant that." And so, with the pealing of wedding bells, a beautiful actress says farewell to fans and fame. "A good sport," Hollywood agrees. "Kay took the hard luck with chin up, no alibis and no tears of regret." They refer to the recent series of "B" pictures handed Kay by her studio. Without a word, Kay accepted her lot and gave them her best. 42