Picture-Play Magazine (Jul - Dec 1930)

Over the Top \tfith Lev? ■ >,, responsible for mj getting the part in 'All Quiet.' Wasn't that swell of him? And 1 hardly know the man. Until the premiere of 'All Quiet,' I'd never even seen him outside the Studio. Why," In. added naively, "I still call him Mr. Bern, which shows how slightly 1 know him." It does, indeed, in Hollywood. Lew is one of the very few hoys I've met out here who i a gentleman at heart. A lot <.>i them have acquired a veneer along with their cars, hank rolls, and one thing and another, but it is inherent in Lew. 08 I asked him it he chased around much. In Hollywood, either you i\o or you don't. Arthur Lake. Billy Bakewell, Frank Albertson, and Stanley Smith all have large cifcli friends. They are on the <,ro constantly and are boyishly proud of their jKtpularitv. On the other hand. David Rollins. Rex Hell, and Phillips Holmes loudly protest that they never go out. and then launch into lengthy dissertations to prove that they don't. But try to catch one of them at home after eight o'clock in the evening! Lew looked at me in blank astonishment as though to say. "What possible interest can any one have in I hut!" But he didn't say it — he's too much of a gentleman. "No," he said quietly, *'I don't chase around much." And that ended it. He is extremely shy. particularlv in the presence of -tranter:-, and seldom speaks unless first spoken to. It takes some time for him to warm up to a n. and he violently dislikes having people pay the slightest attention to him. Yet, with it all. there is a certain quiet dignity about him that commands respect. On another occasion he told me about the course of -prints he was put through while being initiated into a fraternity. The prank would have been considered sport ordinarily, hut in this case one merely wondered how even a group of boys could take such liberties with the Awes body. I'd as soon think of slapping Jetta Goudal or Gloria Swanson on the hack with a "Hi. kid. how's trick-?" And a matterof-fact recital of sordid details by Lew gives you the feeling of having had a glass of cold water flashed in your face when you weren't expecting it. "You've u"'t the wrong idea about Lew." Billy Bakewell told me. "He isn't a prude and he isn't standoffish. He likes to kid as well as any one, and don't think that he can't top your wisecracks." Lev. he alone, hut he i naively pit when any one taking him to meet some one he's seen and liked on the screen. He gives you the impression of being moody. A if he wa-. he gave me another of those baffled look> and -aid he didn't know. He looks you squarely in the eye. hut he has a trick of hesitating before he -peak-, as though he was not exactly Mire of hi answer. A matter of fact, he isn't He hasn't quite found himself yet. L :ig through a period of unrest and ad justment. Uy Jone: Lew Ayres is called by Mr. Mook a gentleman at heart, without being "ga-ga" in any respect. 1 asked if he is easily depressed. "Oh. I don't kno 1 don't think so — except music. That does things to me." "Music!" That sounded funny. A chap who played in jazz orchestras. "Yes. There's been -"me kind of metamorphosis in me during this pa-t year. I used to he crazy about jazz. Xinv I don't can for it at all. When I first started playing the banjo, I wanted to he the best banjo player in the world and all that sort of thing." lie grinned and looked at me rather sheepishly, as though afraid of being laughed at. But you don't laugh at young Mr. Ayres. You listen attentively. If Jack Oakie told you he'd fallen in love with a prince--, between shouts of derisive laughter you'd find yourself "oh-yeahing?" and asking if she came from the water front or the Bowery. If Lew \\n told that, you'd find yourself sympathizing with him. the passion was hop< ' And speaking of princesses brought us to the all-important topic of girls. "I fall in love with almost pretty fdrl I meet, hut it doesn't last long. I'm no g with them and they SOOn tire of inc. I'm not a hoofer. tinm •! "i