Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1925)

50 Pictures and Pictxjrepver FEBRUARY 192> With a philanthropic desire to brighten up the corner where she is, Betty brought eleven trunks of Paris finery back with her ! Corinne Griffith and Norma Talraadge indulge their feminine love of fig leaves, and Myrtle Stedman doesn't consider being the flapper mother of a two hundred pound son any A stable of six polo ponies runs away with a substantial portion of Jack Holt's income. <* ;<.,*; Ilfpp* i.Y " *w^ Monte Blue puts a whole lot of his cash into " view lots " in Los. reason for economising in her wardrobe. Moth and rust does not get a chance to corrupt Myrtle's earnings, for she invests them in the fine art of living and entertaining lavishly. The " diamond breakfasts " which Cecil B. De Mille gives his casts at the finish of a picture are Arabian Night affairs in which butlers pass trays of diamond-studded jewellery among the guests for their selection. On one Below : Leatricc Joy deposits a cheque at the Commercial National Bank of Los Angeles, of which Cecil De Mille is VicePresident. i c ■ : <§i Km side of his nature De Mille is a keen business man investing in a bank, a phosphate company, and a real estate development, on another side the love of luxury which his pictures display is expressed in his marble palace of a home, his yacht, "The Seaward," his ranch playground, " Paradise," and the finest private collection of diamonds of a 1 1 colours in America. Curiously enough, his own sleeping room is as ascetic and bare as a monk's cell. C")n evenings when an awestruck world is permitted to watch Bull Montana step out in all his splendour of diamond studs, stick pin and cuff links, one wonders that the traffic laws do not require him to put dimmers on his headlights. Even in informal wear the Bool dazzles with his diamonds and solid gold dental display. A friend once ventured, the story goes, to hint to the Bull that it was not correct form to wear — quite so many carats at a time. Mr. Montana gazed fondly down his vast expanse of sweater front studded with rainbow fires. " Them as has 'em, wears 'em !" said he succinctly. But the Beau Brummel of Hollywood is that son of the great open spaces, Tom Mix, with his hundred suits of clothes, his fifty pairs of shoes, his monogrammed sports shirts made to order at forty bucks per, his hundred dollar hats. " And yet, what the d — am I working for?" Tom demanded of a friend the other day. " When I was poor, I could go hunting if I felt like it — now I got the finest collection of guns in California, and all I hunt for is my director ! I got the most expensive carved bed outside of a museum, and last year I spent a hundred and forty nights in it and the rest of the time in bum hotels on location. I got a yacht and no time to sail on her, I got dude clothes — and all I wear is buckskin riding breeches and flannel shirts ! Who am I working for? I'll tell you who — I'm working for Levy the jeweller and Bernstein the tailor!" The Mix jewels, in which the cowboy star has invested much of his wealth because no insurance company would take him as a risk, include several anklets and a wrist watch set into an eleven carat diamond, but lest any ambitious young huruiar should happen to read this. I may add that they are kept in a bank vault. Valentino is another star who purchases luxury. When he was in Europe last year he travelled with a suite of secretaries and a train of automobiles. (Continued on page 74.)