Picturegoer (Jan-Jun 1938)

January I. 1938 same church , " Edna added . ' ' Miss West' s brother — Jack — was always very strict with her: it was early to bed and early to rise for her, because of Jack's big plans for her future." In the meanwhile, I notice that Miss West is now being sedulously boosted in the official bulletins as "the world's highest paid star." What about it, Gracie ? Hollywood Defined # Dorothy Parker, whose caustic tongue is the terror of Talkietown, has been at it again. Her latest barb is a definition of Hollywood as "the land of yes-men and acqui-yes-women." And when a friend confided that she was in love with a movie star not particularly notable for brains, she remarked : "That isn't love; it's zero worship." It was Dorothy Parker, too, who christened Buddy Rogers "Mary's Little Lamb." Guiding Deanna's Destiny • Joe Pasternack, the producer who has contributed so much to the success of Deanna Durbin, has determined views about her career, and is to some extent defying his stuaio in adhering to them. He is convinced that if her films cling to one formula, the youngster's popularity will fade in short order. A star, he says, has a cash value of £2,000,000 to a studio, and every bad picture is responsible for a £400,000 depreciation. Pasternack believes, too, that surrounding the child with but one organisation schooled in the method of handling her will spare her the devastating adulation that has been an adverse influence in the careers of other young stars. While Deanna is aware of her significance, mature reasoning is proving efficacious in retaining her charm and simplicity. In her new picture, Mad About Music, she plays the daughter of a famous motion picture star who is kept out of sight in a Swiss school because the mother fears that acknowledgment of the child will destroy her glamour. Pasternack chuckles at this phase of the story, because he says it will strike at two or three of Hollywood's dream children. Short Shots After working with her in True Confession, Una Merkel is Carole Lombard Fan Number Two (Number One, of course, being Clark Gable) — Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone celebrated their second wedding anniversary the other day. And May Robson celebrated her 72nd birthday; now she's busy planning a career in television. Jimmy "Schnozzle" Durante returns to the screen in Start Cheering. Sonja Henie's legs are insured for £50,000; that's Twentieth CenturyFox's story, anyway — Jeaaette MacDonald is learning trick riding for her role in The Girl of the Golden West. Gale Sondergaard has been signed by M.G.M. Although he is generally regarded as the screen's number one gangster, Edward G. Robinson has only played five gangster parts in his entire screen career. Gladys George will have a comedy role in her new picture Love is a Headache. Frances Dee has been officially promoted to stardom as a result of her work in Wells Fargo. Malcolm Phillips Phil Lonergan Sends it Hot from Hollywood REAL-LIFE DRAMA ON FILM SET WHILE a scene was being taken for The Adventures of Robin Hood, police marched in and seized an extra who was garbed in the costume of one of the " Merry Men." He was far from merry when he was driven off to gaol, where he pleaded guilty to a charge of vagrancy, and was given twenty four hours to leave town. The man was recognised by a detective from the East, detailed to the Los Angeles Police Department to locate undesirables from his section of the country. He had been arrested thirteen times in New York City. He was also known to be a friend of Hymie Miller, cafe owner, who played small parts in the movies, and who was recently shot and killed by gangsters as yet unapprehended. Wedding Present • Jackie Coogan received a wedding gift he would gladly have passed up, shortly after he married little Betty Grable. The newly-weds were bowling along merrily at sixty miles an hour, when they were halted near Ventura by a motor cycle officer, who handed the actor a summons for speeding. PICTUREGOER Weekly Sad to say, in that particular section practically every motorist travels at sixty miles per hour or more. This is demonstrated by the fact that the average driver covers the 400 miles between Hollywood and San Francisco in ten hours. Hollywood Record # Not once since Bette Davis became a star has she ever worked on a closed set. And Bette says she never will, showing that she is different from Katharine Hepburn, and other stars, who prefer to work in seclusion. The little actress told me that closed sets annoyed her, although she admits that she does not like forty or fifty visitors at a time But she prefers to see a few strange faces behind the camera when she is working. She took a vigorous slap at film actresses who axe always announcing their yearning for the theatre where they have audiences watching them, and, in the studio, refuse to act because there are three or four visitors on the set. Grateful City • One of the hardships of being a movie star is that you can't shop just anywhere in Hollywood, Kay Francis tells me. That is, if you don't like to have prices "boosted" on you because they recognise you as a star. Kay solves it by having friends shop for her. Which cuts her out of a pleasure — for she likes to potter around the stores. Hollywood would be like a deserted village if the movies departed, but the tradesmen apparently do not realise it. Monkey Business • Forty monkeys, who were being used in a film at the Major Studios, escaped from the lot, and pandemonium reigned in the neighbourhood. Studio employees hurried out to catch the missing simians, but had scant success. Swarms of small boys, lured by the offer of a reward of one dollar per monkey, joined in the chase. But, so far, only fifteen of the animals have been captured. To attract the animals, imitation palm trees were erected outside the studio, but the monkeys evidently know a real palm tree when they see one, for they refused to swing in their branches. Luxury Denied # Ben Blue, who graduated from the radio to the movies, was hailed into court by his wife, who sued him for separate maintenance. The comedian told Judge Brand the sums he needed from his salary of 750 dollars a week on which to live properly. The items included 250 ..****«:,. (Continued on page 6)