Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

40 Pictures and PichjreOuer AUGUST 1924 Louise Fazenda diets rigorously to keep her girlish outline. Many a film star thinks with dread of W. S. Gilbert's lines " There'll be too much of me in the sweet bye-and-bye." 11 is not perfect in Hollywood ! Much as you might envy the gorgeous movie queen who never has to wash her own dishes or stay home to take care of the baby — despite your envy, she has her troubles, too ! That is, unless she is one of the very thin ones who couldn't possibly get fat if she ate ice cream sodas every ten minutes. All others have their troubles. They have little clauses in their contracts, for instance, that stipulate how much they should weigh — or, rather, how much they shouldn't weigh. If their poundage goes up above a certain figure — mathematically and otherwise — the contract is null and void and absolutely no good in general. A slim, svelte beamy, the producers quite reasonably figure, is worth dollars and cents at the box office; the same beauty, with twenty pounds additional weight, is something else again. So you can sec t'or yourself what a screen star's figure means to her ! It's important enough, goodness knows, in tlic life of plain everyday Stella, who has to " lay off " bread and potatoes and caramels. But at least she has one advantage over her famous sister. She isn't getting her bread and butter because of her looks. Her figure isn't her fortune. Probably she has a husband to hand her half his pay envelope; and getting fat isn't cause for divorce, even in Reno. But with a screen star it's different. Her figure is her fortune. Getting fat is a cause for divorce — from her con tract. And she has to count the calories every time she takes a bite. At least, all but the lucky few. As for the rest — each has her own means of {keeping peace with the scales. Many of them feel that breakfast is taboo — it doesn't do to start the day with too much fuel. Louise Fazenda is one advocate of the frugal breakfast. Two cups of coffee — with not much cream, thank you — and two slices of unbuttered toast, and Louise is fed for the morning. Many a custard pie has she thrown with no more ammunition than that. Lila Lee has rather a healthful method for keeping her figure just where she wants it. One day a week she eats nothing but orange juice. Where could anyone find a more delightful way of keeping down the avoirdupois? Nor are the men of the screen indifferent to their effect on their mirrors. Men are supposed to be entirely free from vanity — we onlysaid supposed — but that doesn't apply to handsome heroes. It can't ! Their bread and butter — certainly their cake and ice cream — are likely to depend on their remaining handsome heroes, they have a tendency to obesity, they keep away from potatoes and sweets. Oh, they have to think of food, these screen stars ! You'd expect that people living on such Olympian heights — up among the stars — as they do, would cat nothing but nectar and ambrosia. But nectar and ambrosia are fattening, probably; and if the Hollywoodsmen, and women, were to dine on such rich fare, they probably wouldn't stay up among the stars for long. Alma M. Talley [f