Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1938)

BOOS AND FIRST PRIZE $25.00 THE WINNER! OUT here in California, we look on movie people as our neighbors and friends. A few weeks ago, I woke up one morning to find a Paramount truck almost in our front yard. Just around the corner, on a quiet little side street, Bing Crosby and Fred MacMurray were hard at work on "Sing You Sinners." Every kid in town . . . and a nice crowd of grownups followed that truck just as they would a circus parade. They couldn't lose us! Now, I'm almost sixteen years old. I've been a movie fan for half my life. But I learned more about movie stars in that week or so than I ever learned from the many pictures I've seen on the screen. To tell the truth, I'd always had the sort of feeling that working in the movies was something like falling into a feather bed. Pretty soft! Just playing around a while in front of a camera . . . and then playing around some more with the dough you made. Now I know. I know that movie people must get just as hot standing around in the sun as other people do. Their feet must get tired. They must be just as bored with going over a silly little scene a hundred times . . . and then going over it all over again. I got tired. But Bing Crosby and Fred MacMurray kept right on smiling and writing autographs. I saw Bing do one scene in which he had to prime a pump all day . . . and, when I saw the preview, the scene had been cut out entirely. Just so much waste motion. I'm beginning to believe that working in the movies is . . . working. It means earning your money. Other folks can work in peace, without the assistance of the dear public peeking through hedges at them, leaning from roofs over their head, but I saw how men had to push back slightly crazy movie fans in order to prevent wasting many feet of film and hours of time. I'm not so sure but what I may change my movie ambitions from now on and become a plumber. Right now it seems kind of simple and easy. Fernando Lopez, Pomona, Calif. P.S. The Clark Gable cover was swell. Just the same old smile and everything. You'll get plenty of letters on him. SECOND PRIZE $10.00 SHIRLEY— AMERICA'S SWEETIE PIE A couple of weeks ago, I left my office one Saturday afternoon to meet my wife and go to the movies. Immediately after the feature they announced they would show a preview of Shirley Temple's latest picture, "Little Miss Broadway." Just then the lights flashed on. The theater was packed to capacity and the crowd went wild as they spotted our prodigious little star being escorted to her seat. The applause continued to ring throughout the entire picture — let me tell you that little girl is loved. . . . We were very fortunate in having seats a couple of rows from Shirley. I wish I could tell ;he world that Shirley is a charming and un 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. spoiled child. She left immediately after the preview — only to run into thousands of admirers who had gathered outside the theater, struggling to get a glimpse of her. "Little Miss Broadway" was marvelous entertainment. You may cry a little, but you will get many laughs for every tear you shed. The following morning, I passed the Mayflower Hotel. Just as I got to the side entrance I met Shirley with her father and mother, who certainly were gracious to the people who had gathered there to see their daughter. The lovely little star passed out several autographed cards which read, "Love, Shirley Temple" and had a photograph of her in the corner. When she handed me a card, I lost my heart. As the big black limousine roared away, I said, "There's the grandest little girl in all the world." Joseph F. Santon, Washington, D. C. THIRD PRIZE $5.00 HOW TO STAY HAPPY THOUGH MARRIED I wonder if you have any idea what movies mean to the Young-Marrieds? Before you were married you took movies in your stride — several With a bad start in "Dinner at the Ritz," imported Annabella takes another whack at fame in 20th Century-Fox's gigantic "Suez," with Tyrone Power and Loretta Young a week, probably — and it didn't matter too much whether they were good or not, for at least it gave you the chance to be alone. After you're married, though, you /shop around for movies and choose them for themselves. When there is coal to be paid for, house rent, and, after a time, probably orange juice and cod liver oil, you don't feel like throwing away a dollar on a poor show. Therefore, a movie becomes something to look forward to, and one item of your courting days still holds good — a picture theater is practically the only place of amusement where you can recapture that intimate sense of there being only two persons in the world who matter — and those two are your husband and yourself. And if, for some reason, your feelings have been a bit ruffled before you go, there's a good chance that, as the romance unfolds on the screen, you'll begin to wonder why you were so impatient. For, after all, the man beside you still spells romance, and it's easier to make up in the dimness of the theater than to say you're sorry when the lights are brighter. The picture over, perhaps you hurry home so as not to keep the girl who stayed with The Young Man too late. Then you'll raid the icebox, bring your cocoa and sandwiches into the living room, feeling relaxed and gay, to talk the picture over. All in all, I think movies should have some award for Achievement in the Promotion of Married Happiness. Linda Douglass, Terre Haute, Ind. $1.00 PRIZE FOR ADULTS ONLY We have noted with interest your feature, "For Adults Only," in a recent issue — especially the two pictures on venereal diseases, "Damaged Goods" and "Damaged Lives." May I congratulate you on your interesting presentation of films relating to social subjects. Our staff is particularly interested in your comments as to whether films of this kind succeed in their avowed aim to educate the public. For the record, I would like to say that in the case of the film, "Damaged Lives," at least, social hygiene agencies in communities where it was shown were able to make quite definite measurements of its educational effect on the public through increased attendance at clinics for venereal diseases. Both in this country and abroad, communities making such measurements noted an increase of 25% or more in the number of infected persons seeking treatment from physicians and clinics. Jean B. Pinney, Associate Director, The American Social Hygiene Association, Inc. New York, N Y. (Contmued on page 84) PH OTOPLAY